Runes, Mods, and Engines¶
Working draft, not locked in. These rules replace WWN's equipment modification rules (Deluxe, pp. 56–57) wherever the two differ. See also Spells and Arts, Mechanika.
Tir Hathar's gear can be improved in three ways. Mods are mundane craftsmanship. Runes are visible magic, inscribed into an item and powered by an engine. Magic items are true enchantments, and the rarest and most expensive of the three.
The Three Tiers¶
| Mods | Runes | Magic items | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What they are | Craftsmanship; salvage lets some do magic-like things | Visible magic inscribed into an item | True enchantments |
| Built with | Craft | Magic | Magic |
| Who builds them | Bodgers, Partial Bodgers, and anyone with the Artisan Focus | Mechaniks | Mechaniks and other Mages, by WWN's magic item creation rules |
| Upkeep | Daily Maintenance | Carried by the engine | None |
| Cost | WWN's mod prices | 30% less than the equivalent magic item | WWN's creation costs |
Items from during or before the Long War also turn up that don't fit any of these. Nobody alive fully understands them.
Who Can Build What¶
- Mods need the Artisan Focus, or the Bodger class (full or partial). In Tir Hathar even an Expert needs the Focus. Anyone can take it, whatever their class, and a Partial Mage with it can make magic items for their own school. A bearer of the Builder Sigil gets a discount on the work (First Pick), but doesn't need the Sigil to do it.
- Runes need the Mechanika school. A rune's requirement is a Magic level: a Magic-2 rune needs Magic-2 skill.
- Engines are mods, built with Craft, so a Mechanik who wants to build their own needs the Artisan Focus, or to be a Runewright (Partial Mechanik/Partial Bodger). A Partial Mechanik/Partial Warrior relies on a Bodger for engines and upkeep. That's deliberate: supporting each other is part of how this works.
- Artisan Level 2 requires 5th character level, except for the Bodger, who gets it at 4th.
Building and installing. Mods, runes, and engines all follow WWN's procedure. It takes one week per level of the required skill, an assistant with level-0 skill halves the time, and working through all your waking hours halves it again. Mods and engines need no roll. Each mod or rune is fitted to one specific item, and the same one can't go on an item twice. No combination of mods, runes, and enchantments can raise a hit, damage, or Armor Class bonus above +3, or a skill check bonus above +1.
Inscribing a rune takes a roll, as WWN's magic items do. At the end of the work, make an Int/Magic check against difficulty 8 plus twice the rune's Magic level: 10 for a Magic-1 rune, 12 for Magic-2, and 14 for Magic-3. An assistant adds +1. On a failure, choose one, as for WWN's magic items: start over, paying the silver and time again, or take a flaw from WWN's Magic Item Design Flaws table and try again in half the time at a cumulative +1. Runes don't need masterwork gear; they're war gear, made for soldiers who never had masterwork. They also take far less time than WWN's magic items, though they're still not factory work. But as with any permanent magic item in WWN, making a rune takes at least one adventure to gather its materials, even when the engine has brought its salvage down to zero.
Maintenance. As in WWN, a crafter's Maintenance score is their Intelligence and Constitution modifiers plus three times their Craft level. That's how many things they can keep running without cutting into their adventuring time. Anything unmaintained for 24 hours stops working, and after a week the whole item becomes too fragile or dangerous to use. An hour's work clears the backlog.
Engines¶
An engine powers runes, and sometimes mods. It's named for what it's built into: a Personal Engine, an Armor Engine, a Vehicle Engine. Most runes need one, though a few minor runes are self-powered.
Output and draw. An engine's Output equals the Craft level it takes to build. A rune draws power equal to its Magic level. The total draw of everything on an engine can't exceed its Output. When an engine is spent, its runes go dark until it's swapped or refueled; nobody tracks charge use by use.
Elements. An engine is fire, storm, stone, or water, or it has no element. An elemental rune needs an engine of its own element. A rune with no element runs on any engine.
| Element | Its energy |
|---|---|
| Fire | Fire damage |
| Storm | Lightning damage |
| Water | Cold damage, since ice is frozen water |
| Stone | Magnetism: push and pull, never damage |
The engine carries the upkeep. Runes and mods running on an engine need no Maintenance of their own. Instead, the engine needs fuel, cleaning, and tuning:
- A disposable engine needs none, because replacing it is the upkeep.
- A permanent engine costs 1 Maintenance.
- A storm chamber or ember furnace costs 2, plus 1 for each add-on part. A Vehicle Engine can need a crew, and a Warcaster wants a Bodger working on the armor alongside them.
- A self-powered rune costs 1 Maintenance, the same as a mod.
Salvage. A rune or mod that runs on an engine needs one fewer unit of salvage, down to zero. This applies after the Artisan Focus's own reduction, so it can go below that Focus's minimum of one. Every engine needs one unit of salvage itself, or two for a storm chamber or ember furnace. So the more an engine powers, the more it pays for itself.
Multi-part engines. The two largest engines are a housing plus add-on parts, all built at the housing's Craft level. Each part adds a fixed amount to the housing's Output:
- Ember furnace. A Craft-4 housing (Output 4) plus crucibles, at +2 Output each. Engineers call them Severius crucibles, after a famous Imperial Warcaster. The furnace runs so hot it can only be mounted where armor shields it: in armor, or in an armored boat, carriage, or wagon. It burns coal.
- Storm chamber. A Craft-3 housing (Output 3) plus Leyden jars, at +1 Output each. They're named for Leyden, the Dwarven Mechanik who perfected them at the end of the Long War. Most people just say "jars," and laymen call them thunder jars.
Anything a person carries or wears holds at most two add-on parts. A Vehicle Engine holds up to four.
Workshops. A masterwork workshop counts a builder's Craft as one level higher for what they can build, as the Artisan Focus does, up to Craft-5.
| Engine | Element | Output | Lifespan | Maintenance | Salvage | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alchemical cell | None | 1 | 1 week, disposable | 0 | 1 | 250 sp |
| Brine accumulator | Water | 1 | 1 month, disposable | 0 | 1 | 1,250 sp |
| Clockwork spring | None | 2 | 1 day; rewound in 15 minutes | 1 | 1 | 4,000 sp |
| Lodestone cell | Stone | 3 | 2 years | 1 | 1 | 8,000 sp |
| Storm chamber | Storm | 3 + 1 per jar | 1 year | 2 + 1 per jar | 2 | 7,500 sp + 2,500 sp per jar |
| Ember furnace | Fire | 4 + 2 per crucible | 12 hours per load of coal | 2 + 1 per crucible | 2 | 15,000 sp + 5,000 sp per crucible |
The prices are what a buyer pays. Building an engine yourself costs half, plus the downtime.
Mods¶
Mods use WWN's prices as written, in silver plus, often, a unit of salvage. Salvage is found, not bought, so getting it means adventuring. A unit might be fresh Dwarven ore, Bloodwood, or Long War wreckage, and any unit can be used for any mod, rune, or engine.
From WWN's list: every mod, as written: Arrow Storm, Assassin's Trinket, Augmented Gear, Automatic Reload (for hurlants), Customized, Flying Razor, Harmonized Aegis, Long Arm, Manifold Mail, Omened Aim, Preserving Grace, Razor Edge, Tailored Harness, and Thirsting Blade. The ones that seem magical get there through salvage, not runes, and they stay Bodger work.
More mods (first pass, reskinned from Ashes Without Number):
| Mod | Craft | Effect | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honed | 1 | A melee weapon gains +1 damage and Shock | 2,500 sp |
| Flexible | 2 | Armor loses its Heavy quality | 5,000 sp and 1 salvage |
| Tailored Rig | 1 | +1 Readied and +2 Stowed Encumbrance; plainly visible | 2,000 sp |
| Concealed | 2 | A weapon is far harder to spot; a pistol-sized one needs a full minute's search to find | 2,500 sp and 1 salvage |
Runes¶
A rune costs 30% less than the magic item that would do the same thing. Runes need one unit of salvage unless noted, and the engine they run on takes care of it.
Enchantment runes. These do what a +1, +2, or +3 enchantment does, at 70% of its creation cost. Each needs a Magic level equal to its bonus, and its inscribing roll matches WWN's enchanting difficulty (10, 12, or 14).
| Rune | Magic | Effect | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edge Rune +1 / +2 / +3 | 1 / 2 / 3 | The weapon gains the bonus to hit and damage | 8,750 / 17,500 / 35,000 sp |
| Ward Rune +1 / +2 / +3 | 1 / 2 / 3 | The armor gains the bonus to Armor Class | 17,500 / 35,000 / 70,000 sp |
Effect runes (first pass):
| Rune | Magic | Element | Effect | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keen Rune | 1 | None | +1 to hit | 4,500 sp |
| Ember Rune | 2 | Fire | +2 fire damage and Shock for two fights, then an hour to cool | 7,000 sp |
| Storm Rune | 2 | Storm | Once per fight, +2d6 lightning damage on a hit | 7,000 sp |
| Channeling Rune | 2 | Varies | +2 damage and Shock of whatever element powers it; works only on a fire, storm, or water engine | 7,000 sp |
| Bane Rune | 2 | None | The weapon counts as magical | 7,000 sp |
| Recall Rune | 1 | Stone | A thrown weapon returns to the hand as an On Turn action | 3,500 sp |
| Breath Rune | 1 | None | Self-powered. As a Main Action, seal the wearer against smoke and gas for 30 minutes | 3,500 sp |
| Featherweight Rune | 2 | None | Self-powered. The armor's Encumbrance drops by 1, for any wearer | 5,000 sp |
A powered rune is magic. While its engine runs, a weapon with any rune counts as a magical weapon. When the engine goes dark, the item is ordinary again. Mechanik's Surge and Disruption can both darken engines (see Spells and Arts, Mechanika). Runes fail in dead-magic zones.
Comparing the Tiers: +3 Plate Armor¶
| Route | Parts | Cost | Upkeep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magic item | Masterwork plate (10,000 sp) and Armor +3 (100,000 sp) | 110,000 sp | None |
| Magic item, the efficient route | Masterwork plate, a Customized mod built into it by its maker (2,000 sp; no Maintenance), and Armor +2 (50,000 sp) | 62,000 sp | None |
| Mechanika | Plate (1,000 sp), a Customized mod (1,000 sp), a Ward Rune +2 (35,000 sp), and a clockwork spring (4,000 sp and 1 salvage) | 40,000 sp and 1 salvage | 2 Maintenance, and the spring wound daily |
The Mechanika suit is the cheapest, but it needs someone to keep it running, it goes dark when its engine does, and it isn't masterwork, so it doesn't get magic armor's lighter Encumbrance.
The Bodger¶
The Bodger and the Partial Bodger, the classes built for mods and engines, have their own page: see Bodger.
Warforged¶
A Warforged with Runebearer (see Warforged) counts as both armor and an unarmed weapon for runes and mods. Its body has a built-in engine with no element and an Output of a third of its level, rounded up, and its shutdown maintains that engine.
Still open¶
- First-pass entries: the four new mods, and the effect runes' Magic levels, elements, and prices. The Recall Rune is now a stone rune, since pulling a weapon home is magnetism.
Sources used¶
- Worlds Without Number Deluxe: Modifying and Customizing Equipment (pp. 56–57), Building and Crafting Gear (p. 58), Creating Magic Items (pp. 92–93), and the magical armor and weapon creation costs.
- Ashes Without Number: Modifying Gear, Armor Mods, and Weapon Mods (pp. 75–83).
- Iron Kingdoms RPG Core Rules: Mechanika (pp. 279–284).