SoF Exalted/Artifacts
Artifacts and Items of Power
Hearthstones
Hearthstones... I'm treating as a type of Facility, actually, but instead of being a physical place they are a Power Item with a Potency equal to their Facility rating. The easiest way to obtain one is to take the Headquarters Expert Advantage, use the Facility gained as your Manse, and then use your starting Facility as your Hearthstone. It's rating isn't calculated by Resources, but is instead equal to your Manse's rating (I don't want to give high Resources characters an absurd advantage at every turn).
Every Hearthstone grants the Regeneration Power tied to the Essence Stress Track, which doesn't count as an additional power for the purposes of Potency calculation (It still has to be paid for, though).
Artifacts
Artifacts are items of wonder and power, crafted by supernaturally-potent craftsmen out of exceptionally rare materials. Though in the current age they tend to simply be superior versions of existing technology, in the First Age there were artifacts capable of feats that mortal men can scarcely imagine. In mechanical terms, Artifacts are built using the Power Item rules in the SoF Corebook. This section is intended to provide guidelines and custom rules for their construction and use.
Gear Aspect Guidelines
The most common way for a character to obtain an Artifact at character creation is through the Gear Aspect. One of the first things a GM should in regards to Artifacts is determine the Maximum Potency a Power Item can have if obtained through the Gear Aspect.
In a Heroic Mortal game the Gear Aspect might only grant access to exceptional equipment, such as an heirloom sword crafted by a master craftsmen generations ago. Use the rules for Equipment Modifications found on pg. 301 in the SoF Corebook. The Item's Cost should not exceed 6.
In an Enlightened Mortal, God-Blooded (assuming the God-Blooded aren't backed by their supernatural parent), or an Outcaste Terrestrial Exalted game the Gear Aspect might only provide Potency 4 or 5, representing a magical trinket you obtained in the Scavenger Lands or a keepsake that is a reminder of your unique heritage.
In game involving Exalted, whether Terrestrial or Celestial, the Gear Aspect should provide Potency 10. This can be used to represent a single, incredibly powerful Artifact (A relic from the First Age that a Solar obtains from their tomb, for instance), or it may represent several objects of lesser power. Terrestrial Exalted that are backed by the Realm or Lookshy tend to use the Panoply and Minor Artifact options listed below.
Panoply and the Gear Aspect
Sometimes you don't want your Gear Aspect to represent a world-shaking Artifact that will allow you to terrify armies simply by brandishing it. Sometimes want several items of lesser potency. A daiklave and set of platemail forged from Jade, for instance. If so, you simply build the Artifacts as a single Power Item, though having a single Power Item function as both armor and a weapon will increase the Potency cost accordingly.
Minor Artifacts
Some characters, such as Dynasty-backed Dragon-Blooded, have access to more Artifacts than a Solar Exalted can possibly hope to scavage from his tomb. With GM permission, these characters are allowed to purchase Power Items of Potency 4 or lower using Resources, as laid out on pg. 337 of the SoF Corebook.
Artifact Construction
Artifacts are built using the Power Item rules in SoF Corebook. Below are some guidelines and appropriate modifications.
Converting 2e Artifacts to SoF
Matching an Artifact's Dot Rating to the Potency of a Power Item is quite simple. One dot equals two points of Potency. Thus, a two dot artifact is equal to a Potency 4 Power Item. Some Power Items, much like Artifacts in 2e, are more powerful than their Potency suggests. A suit of Celestial Battle Armor, for instance, is more powerful than Artifact Platemail. This is because of Weaknesses and Limitations built into the Power Item.
Power Choices
One of the most important things to remember about Artifacts is that they don't have to hew to the thematic limitations of the Exalted they are constructed by. A Lunar cannot develop, through Powers, the ability to animate a sword so that it will defend her against attackers, yet this didn't stop an ancient Lunar from designing Flying Silver Dream.
Attunement and Magical Material Bonuses
When constructing a Power item that functions as a mundane item, you may ignore the increase of up to 2 Potency per 5 Potency of the Item. In other words, a Potency 10 Item receives a discount of 4 Potency for the purposes of caculating the object's final Potency, while a Potency 5 Power Item Only receives 2 (Potency 4 and lower are out of luck).
This should be used for the purposes of making it better than the mundane item that it is representative of. A Potency 10 Spear, for instance, might reduce its Huge(P) Aspect to Large, and increase the item's WR by +1, while a Grand Daiklave might simply increase its WR by 2 and be done.
I'm really not sure about this last one, but I'm including it in here for the purposes of gathering second opinions.
Wonders of the Past
In the past there were many people in the world who were capable of creating Artifacts of world-shaking power. This is represented by access to Metro and World-Class Powers. A sword forged in the First Age by a Master Twilight Artisan might be capable of World-Class Powers, while a group of ancient Dragon-blooded Armorsmiths might produce a set of jade platemail with Metro-Class Power. The latter might still be possible in the current age if the crafter is truly a prodigy, and the former is sure to become a reality once more now that the Twilight Caste roams Creation once more.
Example Artifacts
Forthcoming.
See pages 299-340 of the SoF rulebook for more details on Equipment.
