Tinkerer starting focus

[Frankatron]

I'm trying to create a tinkerer. I have an artefacting rank of 3 and starting scripts of $10. As a tinkerer I get Darlin magical theory. The books says:

Quote

This character must have a special mechanical or pneumatic device in order to cast her spells. Creating the device (which is known as a Focus) requires an hour of work and an amount of scrip equal to five times the character's Artefacting Skill Rank.

This means I need at least $15 scripts to create my focus, which is $5 more than I start with and I still need to purchase some starting gear. Does that mean I can't cast spells until I can afford to create a focus? That seems a bit unfair.

[Lithaine]

@Frankatron You beat me to the post. 

Adding to the above, this would seem to include being unable to cast the Animate Construct spell gained from Tinkerer until he saves up enough scrip to make the device. It also would follow that he cannot animate the construct from character creation until after the game gets underway enough to earn some money.  

The wording seems pretty clear, but was this the intent? The pursuit starting gear is effectively shelved at the start. 

@Frankatron did request a hard game with lots of player disadvantages, I would be happy to oblige.....

[solkan]

As far as I can see there are some options:

• Don't set your Artifacting to more than you can afford.  Unless you flipped a red Joker, you had choices and didn't have to put that 3 there.
• Be prepared to beg for Scrip.
• Beg your Fatemaster to be allowed to pay for a rank 1 focus, under the pretense that it's your old focus that you made while learning Artfacting.

 

[EnternalVoid]

2 hours ago, solkan said:

• Beg your Fatemaster to be allowed to pay for a rank 1 focus, under the pretense that it's your old focus that you made while learning Artfacting.

 

This honestly strikes me as the best option and one I would be keen on as a Fatemaster

[Oni_no_chinmoku]

I had the same issue as Frankatron, in my game they didn't want me starting with a focus 3 thinking that would be too much of an advantage.  What we did was allow me to create on using less scrip but wouldn't give me the full bonus.

ie: spent 5 scrip for a -1 tn focus or spent 10 scrip for -2 tn focus

[Lithaine]

Thanks for the responses all!

12 hours ago, solkan said:

• Don't set your Artifacting to more than you can afford.  Unless you flipped a red Joker, you had choices and didn't have to put that 3 there.

 

This was my suggestion as well as Frankatron's FM. He could always increase the skill later pretty easily, particularly after earning enough money to pay for the associated focus. I haven't done the math on it but having a lower artefacting would mean fewer construct points, however, I think those extra points would be wasted due to cost as well so it's not much of a detriment. 

The suggestions of creating a weaker focus for the time being sound like possibly the way to go. As a new FM, I was hesitant to start house ruling until I had a better handle on the game (a request of "These rules make things hard for me, let's ignore them" from a certain someone ).

Another possibility: since he doesn't start with a grimoire, the only spell he has is animate construct. Perhaps a cheaper focus that allows only casting that particular spell? It would be enough to get started playing the character, but doesn't circumvent the Theory in the event of gaining more spells early on. 

[Sernus]

In my first case with this same situation, as Fatemaster I just allowed the starting-out Tinkerer to have the full-level Focus Item without worrying about how many Scrip they had... but in this case it was only a Focus-2 item in any event.  I didn't make my player actually pay for making the Focus Item: I really couldn't see how a starting Tinkerer wouldn't already have a properly-rated Focus Item, since a Darlin Theories practitioner can't cast spells at all without one.

That said, I do like Solkan's suggestion of allowing a starting Tinkerer to have a lesser-level Focus than their starting rank in Artefacting would allow, rationalizing it as an older one, if as Fatemaster you really want to be strict on the starting equipment monetary values!

[Mason]

This question is addressed in the FAQ that I just posted to this forum. 

[Lithaine]

6 minutes ago, Mason said:

This question is addressed in the FAQ that I just posted to this forum. 

I just saw the FAQ go up and was going to post in this thread but you beat me to it!

Reference:

Q: Can a character with the Darlin Theories Magical Theory create a focus at a lower Rank than her current Artefacting Skill Rank (so as to be able to afford the focus at character creation, for instance)?

A: Yes.

Thanks @Mason !

[Lithaine]

23 minutes ago, Sernus said:

In my first case with this same situation, as Fatemaster I just allowed the starting-out Tinkerer to have the full-level Focus Item without worrying about how many Scrip they had... but in this case it was only a Focus-2 item in any event.  I didn't make my player actually pay for making the Focus Item: I really couldn't see how a starting Tinkerer wouldn't already have a properly-rated Focus Item, since a Darlin Theories practitioner can't cast spells at all without one.

2

I agree it seems to make sense that they would have the necessary tools to use their starting abilities. I was less concerned about the money directly, more so that it would give that player more starting gear/value of gear than the other 3 players - [25(gear)+10] vs. [25(gear)+10+10or15(gear)]. That and I thought there must be a reason it is that way and wanted to play towards intent, at least for the intro to the system.

[spooky_squirrel]

As an FM, you can dangle things like debt to one faction or another in exchange for access to tools. I wouldn't do this at the creation step (instead, make use of @Mason's FAQ response), but it could come up relatively early in the campaign to give the Tinkerer access to something a little higher powered at a cost that opens up story options with character obligations and faction dynamics.

[Sernus]

9 hours ago, Lithaine said:

I agree it seems to make sense that they would have the necessary tools to use their starting abilities. I was less concerned about the money directly, more so that it would give that player more starting gear/value of gear than the other 3 players - [25(gear)+10] vs. [25(gear)+10+10or15(gear)]. That and I thought there must be a reason it is that way and wanted to play towards intent, at least for the intro to the system.

I may have also fudged things to let the rest of the players have similar little "extra goodies" too...