Making Force Artifacts

[CRMcNeill]

"Magical Items" powered by the Force is a trope that appears multiple times throughout the EU, with the greatest detail being found in the Sith chapter of the Tales of the Jedi Companion. Obviously, this opens the door to the importation of magical items generally from other settings (within reason, obviously; some of the fantasy items are just going to be too fantastical to really "fit" the setting).

I'm curious as to what everyone's thoughts are on this:

1) How are artifacts made/created? By what mechanism is an inanimate object granted a permanent connection to the Force? There is precedent for gems having a connection to the Force (the Kaiburr Crystal from SotME), so maybe Force Artifacts need to incorporate a gem of some kind?

2) Can an item be "recharged" by a Force user putting power into it?

3) What's the process of making such an item? Obviously making a Force Artifact would require a Force user, as well as the appropriate components. Spending CPs or even FPs seems fair. Maybe even a blood sacrifice for some of the dark Sith items (using another creature's Life Force to power the creation process).

4) Limits? What can a Force Artifact do?

I'm leaving for work here in a bit, but I wanted to get the ball rolling on discussion.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Mamatried]

The first thing that comes to mind is using the rules for imbuing a melee weapon with the force.

I am not sure of that is actually in the raw, but I do know it is in the d20 version and I think it can be translated to the d6 system fairly easily.

My initial thought would be spending a force point, you can basically give the holocron a DX rating to the relevant attribute, lets say Knowledge in the case of a "force secret" thing. it adds +XD to knowledge-jedi Lore
and the content is the secret power of malacia, which can now be learned as if
having a teacher.

that is basically the first thing I can think of.

A jedi/sith can then use more force points/darkside points to add more things to the holocron, maybe at a cap of 3FP total for "attributes and content"

[Naaman]

d20 has a few:

Dark side talisman (protects against hostile "light side" force powers such as malacia, sever force, morichro, and force light).

Sith sword (spend a FP -- which is similar in concept but less "nuclear" than in D6 -- to add the FP's bonus dice to damage for one minute).

Force weapon (non-powered melee weapon, like a staff or sword, gains a damage bonus based on the experience level of the force user).
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SpecForce Combat Elements
All About Lightsabers: Designing, Building, and Fighting

[MrNexx]

One option might be tools of some sort that allows a force-trained holder to use a certain power, without teaching them that power. I could see these being common with dark side powers.
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[CRMcNeill]

To clarify, I’m more interested in how such items could be made than I am in what sorts of items might exist.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[MrNexx]

[Raven Redstar]

(A)Artificer skill might be the way to go. A skill I'd assume would only be available on a really old holocron.
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RR
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[Naaman]

[MrNexx]

I mentioned lightsabers, but I realized where I got the thought: KotOR. In the two games, there were a number of special lightsaber crystals that would provide various effects to your lightsaber.

I would be inclined, as I said, to make it a specific process, and I think the idea of making it a special skill* is a good one... but I'm not sure what would be the best base skill option.

So, let's consider two special skills: Force Alchemy (which makes changes to living creatures) and Force Artifice (which makes changes to an object). Of the two, Force Artifice is easier; Force Alchemy might even be an Advanced skill of Force Artifice (I can see the lessons of Alchemy being useful in Artifice). Force Artifice should have prereqs about Alter 5D, Sense and Control 4D. Alchemy should be closer to Alter 8D, Sense and Control 6D, and maybe Force Artifice of 4D or so. Alter is obvious... you are making a change in something else. Sense is so you know what you're doing to the target. Control is to focus your own Force, making you a conduit for the Force, providing energy and direction (and, quite frankly, because something this massive should require a lot of basic force mastery).

Both are going to be similar to Technical repair/engineering skills, but I don't have set difficulties in mind, yet.

*Special Skill: Category I just made up. Like advanced skills, it has prereqs to be learned. Unlike advanced skills, it adds nothing to the use of those prereqs.
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"I've Seen Your Daily Routine. You Are Not Busy!"
“We're going to win this war, not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/

[CRMcNeill]

Why not just make it an (A) Skill with parallel Knowledge/Technical skills and specific Force powers as Prerequisites? I've toyed around with (A) Skills for Force Powers in the past, and it would seem appropriate to put a really high bar in both the Knowledge and Force aspects of it.

Either that, or just have a construction process that requires separate Artifice/Alchemy and Force Skill rolls (with Knowledge of the specific required power to complete). It doesn't have to be all rolled up in a single package.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[MrNexx]

[CRMcNeill]

I watched a video recently on how the magical rings were created in Lord of the Rings, where the point is made that anyone who creates a magical ring puts a portion of themself into the ring at the moment of creation. Considering Yoda's statement that "Life creates it [the Force], makes it grow," it would make sense that the creation of a Force Artifact would require the transfer of Force energy from living source to a non-living receptacle of some sort (I like the idea of gems and/or crystals being an essential component of such). So, at the very least, any sort of Item Creation powers would require Transfer Force as a prerequisite...
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[cheshire]

That's an interesting idea. I could also see requiring the power and spending Force Points as a part of the "transferal procedure."

Unless, ya know, you're pouring your own (or someone else's) life into it. Though I think that's getting into dark side artifacts.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[CRMcNeill]

[cheshire]

And I think that it can also affect the kind of ongoing effects that the object can have, not just the immediate use of the item.

I had a force artifact that someone picked up in a game, and it granted a general floating +1D to any one Force skill. It was quite a useful and tempting thing to use for a low-level starting Jedi. That +1D allowed someone to get a power up that they might have struggled with. The thing was, after several uses, they had temptations to use it for sketchier and sketcher things. They started to have to make Willpower checks not to do evil whenever they used it. They kept succeeding in the willpower checks so they didn't stop using it.

Pretty soon, it the difficulties were getting too high, and they didn't want to risk it. So I said, "You've become accustomed to using the artifact. Make a willpower check to not use it.

Unfortunately it was years ago and I think I lost the mechanics I had written out for it.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.