Template:Operate Technology/Artifacts
Operate Technology/Artifacts (Lore)
In the First Age, Exalted sorcerers and artificers built wonders that dwarf the achievements of modern craftsmen, from fleets of skyships and towering warstriders to advanced infrastructures capable of regulating local weather or maximizing crop yields. Precious few of these wonders survived the Usurpation of the Solar Exalted and the scourge of the Great Contagion, leaving broken and dormant ruins scattered across Creation. Characters who come upon such wonders can attempt to reactivate them, but in the absence of instruction manuals, the sophisticated controls of most complex artifacts require a high level of education to discern. Roll the character's (Intelligence + Lore) as a dramatic action with a difficulty based on the complexity of the device. Personal weapons such as plasma tongue repeaters or minor utilitarian devices such as memory crystals are difficulty 1–2. Sophisticated devices such as flying machines and geomantic artillery emplacements are difficulty 4, and the most elaborate machines such as the Realm Defense Grid are difficulty 6 or higher. Storytellers can easy interpolate intermediary difficulties as necessary. Simple artifacts such as daiklaves or suits of basic magical materials armor do not need such rolls. Their function is innately intuitive. Having a tutor or manual obviates the need for a roll, but the character knows how to make the artifact do only what the manual teaches.
Once a character knows how to work a device, she must still take time to familiarize herself with the controls. Doing so generally takes (the Artifact rating of the device – the character’s Lore rating) hours and does not require further rolls. Until this familiarization process is complete (which might not be possible for weapons with limited ammunition or dangerous machines where the slightest mistake can prove catastrophic), characters require a standard (Wits + Lore) roll to use the device (difficulty 1–2). Botching such rolls yields consequences as dire as the object's function allows. A priceless memory crystal might "only" lose its recorded contents, while Essence munitions might detonate.
If the Storyteller generously determines that a character has a chance to operate a device despite the fact that she does not comprehend its controls, roll one die. If the result is less than the Artifact rating of the machine (Artifact N/A devices are the equivalent of Artifact 6 to 9 as appropriate), the character automatically botches. Otherwise, her player may roll the character's (Wits + Lore) for her to use the artifact at a difficulty of its rating. Once a character has made a device perform a particular function once through sheer luck, she may thereafter do so using the normal rules. Making the artifact do something new requires a new luck check, making trial and error a very dangerous way to learn.