Tinkering

The Basics

The art of tinkering has grown significantly over the past several decades, leading to the development of large transport vehicles such as trains, steamships, and even a few slow dirigibles to small personal conveniences such as clocks, pocket watches, and the legendary Mrs. Coffee machine.

Tinkered Weapons are a special category of weapon. Any tinkerer is automatically proficient with these weapons.

Prices listed are for purchasing the device from a store or private manufacturer. When crafting a tinkered item, it costs only half as much. A tinkerer can make up to 50 gp worth of tinkered items per day with a set of standard tools. Creation time for items costing more than 50 gp is one day per 50 gp in the standard price (so an air crossbow, with a store price of 200 gp, takes four days and 100 gp to make), and the tinkerer must work for a full day (8 hours) at a time. The tools needed to make tinkered items are large and bulky, weighing about fifty pounds total, and significant workspace is needed. For these reasons, making tinkered devices out in the wild is generally not possible.

Tinkering checks are not actually required to make an item, though Tinkering as a skill is calculated as normal and can be used for other purposes. It is keyed to Intelligence. Common uses for the Tinkering skill would be inspecting or maintaining a steam engine, working on a trap box, or understanding a complex mechanical device.

A character must be trained in the Tinkering skill to craft tinkered items. Other uses of the Tinkering skill may or may not require this training.

Tools

A full set of tinkerer's tools suitable for crafting new items from scratch typically costs 500 gp and weighs 50 pounds, though most cities have workshops that will rent out tools and workspace for 30 gp per day. A fully stocked laboratory costs 5000 gp and doubles the amount of tinkered items that can be produced in a day (100 gp per day), but is so elaborate and heavy that it is essentially non-mobile. Portable tools that are only suitable for performing maintenance or making most non-crafting uses of the Tinkering skill cost 50 gp and weigh 10 pounds.

Item	Cost	Notes
Air Compressor	200 gp	Refill air cylinder
Air Crossbow	100 gp	Prof. +3, Damage 1d6, Range 15/30, Weight 5 lb, Properties: Load Minor, Special Bolts (20): 5 gp, Extra Air Cylinder: 5 gp, Poison Reservoir: 100 gp
Air Cylinder	5 gp	"Powers" air crossbow and dart pistol
Appliance	20 gp	Household amenities
Bladeboots	30 gp	Prof. +2, Damage 1d4, Range —, Weight negligible
Camera	50 gp	5 gp per picture
Clock	50 gp (small), 100 gp (pocket watch), 200 gp (grandfather clock)
Dagger Gloves	30 gp	As per dagger, but cannot be thrown.
Dart Pistol	100 gp	Prof. +2, Damage 1, Range 10/20, Weight 2 lb, Properties: Load minor, Air Cylinder: 5 gp, Darts (20): 5 gp, Clips: 5 gp
Expandable Pole	10 gp	This device is a ten foot pole with telescoping sections. It can be collapsed to a size of one foot.
Glasses	5 gp (basic), 100 gp (precision)
Glidesuit	200 gp (basic), 600 gp (deluxe)
Mechanical Torch	15 gp (basic), 100 gp (deluxe)
Mrs. Coffee	25 gp	one quart of coffee in ten minutes
Poison Reserve	100 gp	Damage/range as per weapon, the wielder of a weapon with a poison reserve can release the poison stored in the reserve onto the blade as a free action.
Rockets	25 gp	As per alchemical item + enlarges Burst by 1, Range 30/60, Properties: Load minor
Rocket Pack	500 gp
Spring-out Spike	30 gp	Spear: Damage/range as per spear; Category: As per spear, Projectile: 1d8 damage, Range: 10/20, Category: Tinkered Weapon
Sprocketfire Quill	20 gp	(1 gp for a refill)
Spyglass	10 gp (2x), 100 gp (4x), 500 gp (8x), 1000 gp (16x)	When used to spot something at a distance (DM's call if the bonus is applicable), a spyglass grants a bonus to Perception rolls equal to half the magnification level.
Underwater Breathing Apparatus	100 gp
Water Purification System (Personal)	20 gp + Filter Costs	One filter costs 1 gp and can clean approximately one gallon of water (1 gp per person per day).
Water Purification System (Large-scale)	2000 gp + Filter Costs	One of these can provide enough water for one thousand people at a cost of about 10 gp per day (or about 1 cp per person per day), plus the cost of fuel and labor to keep it running.
Wind-up Toys	1-5 gp

Air Compressor

Cost: 200 gp
Air compressors are large, bulky devices about the size of two large helium tanks. They can fill air cylinders and perform various other tasks (many of which are not useful for most adventurers). Many people who own these will refill air cylinders for the modest price of 1 sp.

Air "Crossbow"

Prof. +3, Damage 1d6, Range 15/30, Price 100 gp, Weight 5 lb
Category: Tinkered Weapon/Crossbow, Properties: Load Minor
Special Bolts (20): 5 gp, Extra Air Cylinder: 5 gp, Poison Reservoir: 100 gp
This device, which doesn't actually use a string, can fire crossbow bolts propelled by compressed air. The crossbow can hold six specially made bolts at a time in a cylinder design, much like a six-shooter (cylinders can be easily swapped out as a minor action), and is as long as a sawed off shotgun (though considerably bulkier). While this weapon makes it easy to fire several crossbow bolts without having to reload, it isn't overly powerful, and its expense means that it's largely a weapon of the rich, mercenaries, and adventurers. This weapon requires compressed air, and must be refilled every 48 shots. Places with air compressors usually charge a mere 1 sp for a refill.

For an additional 100 gp, the air crossbow can be fitted with a device that can hold up to 24 doses of poison (this device can be added later; it's modular). The poison is applied to any bolt fired, and the poison can be switched on or off as a free action. The reservoir can only holds one kind of poison at a time.

Another popular modification is a power upgrade. This costs an additional 100 gp, doubles the air consumption, and reduces the number of bolts that can be loaded from six to four, but increases the base damage to 1d10.

Any tinkerer is automatically proficient with this device. A non-tinkerer who is proficient with crossbows gains only a +1 proficiency bonus.

Air Cylinder

Cost: 5 gp
This is a fairly simple device that holds compressed air. It doesn't really do much on it's own, but it can be loaded into an air crossbow or dart pistol to power it. One air cylinder is usually enough to power such a device 48 times (eight cylinders/clips).

Appliance

Cost: 20 gp
Appliances can be anything from a blender to a powered knife that can saw through a turkey with ease. Appliances are not useful in combat (or to most adventurers) but are quite handy to the average household.

Bladeboots

Prof. +2, Damage 1d4, Range —, Price 30 gp, Weight negligible
Category: Tinkered Weapon/Unarmed, Properties: None
These appear to be ordinary boots at first glance, but they hide spring-loaded blades. They can be extended or retracted as a free action by tapping the boot heel against the ground in a specific way. Bladeboots are difficult to detect, imposing a -10 penalty to any attempt at finding concealed weapons on you unless the searcher specifically looks for the device.

Camera

Cost:: 50 gp (5 gp per picture)
Camera technology is still in its infancy in Teras, but basic cameras are available. Pictures taken are black and white only and of modest resolution. They are also expensive, making them largely a tool of the rich. The 5 gp price per picture includes plates, chemicals, flashpowder, and all the various tools needed to produce a picture. When taking a picture, the target must remain still for at least one minute, and developing the plate takes about 30 minutes and relative darkness.

Clock

Cost: 50 gp (small), 100 gp (pocket watch), 200 gp (grandfather clock)
As one might expect, these devices will tell you what time it is. Most towns, even small ones, have at least one grandfather clock (frequently located in the town hall or equivalent) so that the villagers will know what time it is. Most middle class people own a small clock for their own personal use.

Dagger Gloves

As per dagger, but cannot be thrown. Cost 30 gp
These appear to be leather gloves at first glance, but they hide spring-loaded, thin claw-like blades. The claws can be extended or retracted as a free action. The dagger gloves can be wielded as if they were normal daggers. Dagger gloves impose a -2 penalty to any attempt at finding concealed weapons on you unless the searcher specifically looks for the device.

Dart Pistol

Prof. +2, Damage 1, Range 10/20, Price 100 gp, Weight 2 lb
Category: Tinkered Weapon/Crossbow, Properties: Load minor
Air Cylinder: 5 gp, Darts (20): 5 gp, Clips: 5 gp
This is a small, gas powered pistol that can fire syringe darts. The darts are primarily for delivering poisons, and do not deal much damage on their own; the darts are loaded in a clip that stores six rounds at a time. The darts have a base damage of 1, but a high ability score modifier (frequently Dexterity) increases the damage normally.

When the dart strikes the target and deals damage, the poison's assault on the victim's Fortitude or Will defense is made with a +4 bonus because of the dart's syringe design. Wolf-Bite, Liquid Agony, and Widowmaker cannot be loaded into the syringe, but they can be applied to the needle itself.

The dart itself does not need to deal damage for the poison to take effect, though it does need to connect.

Unlike the air crossbow, this weapon is fairly quiet and can be quite useful for stealthy infiltrators. It's just a little bit louder than a blowgun (mostly from the sound the metal parts clicking against each other).

Forty-eight shots will deplete an air cylinder. Refilling an air cylinder requires an air compressor; shops that have air compressors will refill an air cylinder for a mere 1 sp.

Expandable Pole

Cost: 10 gp
This device is a ten foot pole with telescoping sections. It can be collapsed to a size of one foot.

Glasses

Cost: 5 gp (basic), 100 gp (precision)
Basic glasses are used for vision correction, and thanks to modern technology they have become cheap enough to be available to most. A high precision version is available also, and grants a +1 bonus to any sort of precise work, such as disarming a trap or carving a jewel.

Glidesuit

Cost: 200 gp (basic), 600 gp (deluxe)
A complicated suit with expandable wing membranes. They have recently become popular with Guardia, as troops can glide down from airships into enemy territory. The basic suit has a 3 to 1 glide ratio and takes about five rounds to ready. The deluxe model has a 6 to 1 glide ratio and can be readied in a single round. Both versions are relatively delicate and can't take much abuse; any fire attack (and some other types of attacks also, at DM discretion) that deals five damage or more to someone using a glidesuit destroys it and sends the user plummeting to the ground.

Mechanical Torch

Cost: 15 gp (basic), 100 gp (deluxe)
This device sheds light like a bullseye lantern. It requires a supply of copper to generate light; one copper piece per hour of use. Up to five copper pieces can be loaded at once. Mechanical torches are not extinguished from excessive winds, but they cannot operate underwater.

The deluxe model can operate underwater, and has a dial that can adjust the light output from the intensity of a candle all the way up to that of a sunrod.

Mrs. Coffee

Cost: 25 gp
When loaded with coffee beans and water, this device will produce approximately one quart of coffee in ten minutes. It has an ominous-looking red button on top which activates the process, and makes all sorts of strange noises while it's working. The coffee, however, is surprisingly good.

Poison Reserve

Damage/range as per weapon, **Cost: 100 gp**
The wielder of a weapon with a poison reserve can release the poison stored in the reserve onto the blade as a free action. The poison reserve can store only three doses of poison at a time. Both conventional and alchemical poisons can be placed in the reserve.

This enhancement can only be placed on some weapons. Daggers and most swords can have it, but weapons with wooden hafts such as axes and most spears cannot.

Rockets

Cost: 25 gp
As per alchemical item + enlarges Burst by 1, Range 30/60
Category: Tinkered Weapon, Properties: Load minor
Rockets are small cylinders loaded with propellant on one end. While they do not deal much damage on their own, their primary purpose is to be loaded with an alchemical substance, greatly increasing the effectiveness of thrown alchemy. Any substance used with a rocket gains Burst 1 (or has it's existing Burst increased by 1 if it already had a Burst radius). Firing a rocket requires a rocket launcher, a fairly simple device (little more than a tube, handle, and ignition device) that usually only costs 15 gp.

Alchemical substances do not have to be specially created for use in a rocket.

Rocket Pack

Cost: 500 gp
This experimental device can allow an individual to fly short distances — albeit somewhat unsafely. For this reason only someone trained in the Tinkering skill has any real chance of operating a rocket pack safely. A full pack has twenty charges and weighs about thirty pounds. The pack can be used to jump horizontally at a low altitude ten squares at a cost of one charge, or twenty squares for three charges. The pack can propel the user vertically at the cost of one charge per five squares. It can slow a fall at the cost of one charge per 25 feet of safe falling (this is often needed for vertical jumps).

Any use of the pack is a standard action, though multiple aspects can be combined — for example, a user could choose to jump ten squares horizontally and five squares vertically to reach a high ledge as part of a single standard action.

Spring-out Spike

Cost: 30 gp
Spear: Damage/range as per spear; Category: As per spear
Projectile: 1d8 damage, Range: 10/20, Category: Tinkered Weapon
As a free action, the wielder of a a quarterstaff enhanced with this mechanism can activate the spring-out spike. This turns the quarterstaff into a spear, or fires a small projectile similar to a crossbow bolt.

Sprocketfire Quill

Cost: 20 gp (1 gp for a refill)
Invented by Nicodemus Sprocketfire just a few years ago to aid in designing his many inventions, these quills have only recently become widely available. When loaded with an ink cartridge they can write about ten pages before needing a reload.

Spyglass

Cost: 10 gp (2x), 100 gp (4x), 500 gp (8x), 1000 gp (16x)
These devices range from simple, low powered scopes to high precision devices capable of allowing the user to see far away. More powerful versions are quite expensive and have to be precisely engineered. When used to spot something at a distance (DM's call if the bonus is applicable), a spyglass grants a bonus to Perception rolls equal to half the magnification level.

Underwater Breathing Apparatus

Cost: 100 gp
This device essentially looks like a bulky version of a small scuba tank. Most of the time, goggles, flippers, and a diving knife are included at no extra charge. It contains enough air for thirty minutes, or double that for a small sized creature using a medium sized tank. Refilling this device requires an air compressor; any shop that has an air compressor usually refills any air-powered device for 1 sp. UBA gear can be heavy and cumbersome, and it weighs about thirty pounds on average with a full tank.

Smaller "emergency" versions of UBA gear can be created for easy carrying, but as they still require many delicate parts, the cost is the same. They hold just 5 minutes of air but weigh only five pounds.

Water Purification System (Personal)

Cost: 20 gp + Filter Costs
This device looks like a soup can-sized device (the filtration system) attached to a metal pitcher. The filtration portion has a funnel on top for easy pouring and a pump that forces the water through the filters, cleaning it. One filter costs 1 gp and can clean approximately one gallon of water (1 gp per person per day). This item is particularly handy for adventurers or travelers going to an area where the water quality is questionable, such as swamps or even the island of Nodus. The significant amount of manual labor required, as well as the cost of the filters, makes this device unsuitable for the large-scale cleaning of water.

Water Purification System (Large-scale)

Cost: 2000 gp + Filter Costs
This is essentially a large version of the small water purification system, though it operates on steam power and can purify much higher volumes of water for much lower costs. One of these can provide enough water for one thousand people at a cost of about 10 gp per day (or about 1 cp per person per day), plus the cost of fuel and labor to keep it running. Most towns with one of these devices have a water tax to cover some or all of the costs. While they are a great deal more efficient than their small counterparts, the size of one of these devices (a square about 20 feet on a side) makes traveling with them nigh impossible.

Wind-up Toys

Cost: 1-5 gp
These small toys can have a wide variety of forms, but are generally no bigger than about one square foot.

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