Changeling/Hedgespinning

What is Hedgespinning?

Hedgespinning is the act of creating a wondrous and magical item from the materials found in the hedge. One must create the object within the hedge, by binding tangible and intangible ingredients together with a focused effort. One does not 'craft' the item in the traditional means by stitching, hammering, and gluing; instead a hedgespinner massages the ingredients together as an act of magic. Every hedgespinning effort draws the spinner (and possibly his friends) into a story that inspires or infuses the creation, and this story must reach closure before the item can be created.

Hedgespun items are a kind of token, but different than most tokens a Changeling will encounter. Regular tokens require a mundane item to be left/lost in the hedge and over time it becomes infused with the magic of the fae. Tokens have powers that mimic changeling contracts, and require drawbacks and catches. Hedgespun items have none of these.

For the rules on crafting full tokens, please see the Token Making page.

The Rules:

Hedgspinning rules on Safe Haven Harbor will attempt to follow the spirit of the book (Rites of Spring pg 138) with some slight modifications to the mechanics in order to ensure ease of play and a sense of fairness from a game wide standpoint. We have broken hedgespinning down into three phases to make it easier to comprehend. If you have questions that's OK, because hedgespinning is a little strange. Just give any of the Changeling Staff a shout and we will be happy to help you out.

Phase 1: Submit Hedgespinning +req to staff. / Research (Optional)

• To start a hedgespinning job, you need to notify staff through +request. You need to let us know what you are making and what the point level and abilities of it are. You may also note what sort of story would fit the item. Perhaps you want to create a suit of armor that sparkles like the stars, so you could suggest tracking down a Dragon of the Night Sky and obtaining its scales for your creation. Level it open ended enough, so that the ST has some flexibility and is able to both challenge you and help you have fun.

• Researching for a hedgespun recipe prior to the story & crafting is allowed by anyone who has the correct resources. It is totally optional, and does not need to be done. To research a hedgespinning recipe one must possess an occult spec in Hedgespinning or a library/archive with a spec in hedgespinning. A single roll is allowed to find/remember an old recipe. This roll may not be modified by mundane equipment such as computers. It may be modified by the bonus granted by applicable merits. This roll will act as an assistance roll on the final crafting attempt, granting a +1 modifier bonus to the crafting roll for every 2 succ gained on the research roll. The researcher does not need to be the same person as the crafter.

Phase 2: Story. Hedgebased. PRP accepted with approval.

• Hedgespinning will require a certain number of scenes, which revolve around the story of the item to be crafted. These scenes must happen in the hedge, must be related to the item in question, and must involve some element of risk and failure appropriate to the nature of the item crafted and story told. These scenes must be a PRP (with staff approval) and xp will be earned for them (or you can use them for xp reduction as per house rules on justification in '+news xp spending' in lieu of earning xp). They must involve a 'Story' appropriate to the level of the item, and cannot simply be a jaunt to collect ingredients. This story must be concluded before a spinning roll is made, and the story must center on the spinner though others may be involved.

• Hedgespinning items can be collected in a PRP that was not dedicated to finding hedgespun items. The scene log must be provided to staff for approval if it meets the requirements to be able to use those items.

- A lvl 1 or 2 creation requires a single story scene.
- A lvl 3 or 4 creation requires two story scenes.
- A lvl 5 creation requires 3 story scenes.

Note: You may only have one story scene for hedgespinning a week, therefore a lv 5 creation should take three weeks to complete the story before the roll is made. Logs of the scene must be posted for staff review, and should include rolls made in response to challenges encountered.

Phase 3: Spinning roll & XP Spend

• This is an Extended roll of wits or strength + crafts.
  

- You may use a crafts specialty in hedgespinning to add +1 to this roll.
- You must spend 1 glam per roll.
- Target number is 3x the number of merit dots in the creation.
- The number of times you can roll is capped at your hedgespinning stat pool. (That is, the Attribute+Skill and hedgespinning specialty you're using to roll such as wits+crafts+speciality. So if you had wits 4 and crafts 3 and +1 from specialty your roll cap would be 8. Other bonuses such as environmental or clarity based as well as equipment aid you, but do not affect the roll cap.)
- Each roll takes 1 hour of work.
- You may spend willpower on these rolls.

• XP must be spent at the time of crafting to create a hedgespun item.
  

- If the crafting rolls fail, then no XP is spent. The glamour spent however is NOT returned and must be regained or harvested on the crafter's own time. Failure also does not ruin the materials involved.
- The XP cost follows the standard merit cost but for making a hedgespun item it reduces it to half total cost.
- If the creation is intended for someone other than the spinner, then either party may spend the xp.

Potential Modifiers

Research Roll Mods

• Distractions while researching (-1)
• Inadequate research material (-1)
• Character possesses the Archive merit in Hedgespinning (+ Archive <Hedgespinning> rating)
• Character possesses Encyclopedic Knowledge (+2)
• Item is from (or is similar to) an item featured in a well know story (+2)
• Item has been made previously from a recipe, and the same recipe is sought (+3)

Spinning Roll Mods

• Recipe demands an intricate design (–3)
• Distractions (–2)
• The character has Clarity 8 to 10 (–1)
• Each ephemeral or intangible ingredient included in the recipe (–1)
• Character has Wyrd 6+ (+1)
• Any kind of tool such as a hammer or awl (+1)
• Character features Contracts of Artifce at any dots (+1)
• Character has Clarity 5 or below (+2)

Possible Effects

Automatons

Automatons start at 0 for all attributes and 0 for all Skills. They start as Size 1-3. They cannot have Wits or Int above 3. All Automatons must have at least 1 attribute in: Intelligence, Wits, Dexterity, Stamina, Strength. No skill can exceed 5. This cannot go above 5 dots.

Hedgespun Automaton require 1 Glamour per week to stay active. If they do not receive it, they fall inert, unable to move or act until they are fed 1 glamour. Whoever feeds them the 1 Glamour last has Control of the automaton until the next feeding.

• 1 Dot Hedgespun Automaton - 7 Dots to spend in Attributes, 4 Dots to Spend in Skills.

• 2 Dot Hedgespun Automaton - 8 Dots to spend in Attributes, 6 dots to spend in Skills.

• 3 Dot Hedgespun Automaton - 9 Dots to spend in Attributes, 8 dots to spend in skills.

• 4 Dot Hedgespun Automaton - 10 dots to spend in attributes, 10 dots to spend in skills.

• 5 Dot Hedgespun Automaton - 12 dots to spend in Attributes, 12 dots to spend in Skills.

+1 Dot - +1 Size

+1 Dot - 1L Melee Weapon. This may be stacked up to 3

+1 Dot - Fly at Speed 10

+1 Dot - 2 Toxicity on an existing Melee Weapon. This may be stacked.

+1 Dot - A level 1 Contract to use. They do not have to spend glamour to activate this contract.

+2 Dots - A Level 2 Contract to use (Just the level 2, not the level 1). They do not have to spend glamour to activate this contract

+3 Dots - A Single level 3 Contract to use (Just the level 3, not level 1 and 2). They do not have to spend Glamour to activate

Automatons require the same number of scenes and time as a Hedgespun of comparable cost. (1, 2 dot = 1 scene, 3, 4 dot = 2 Scenes, 5 dot = 3 scenes).

Machines

• Equipment Bonus: This item provides an appropriate equipment bonus at a rate of +1 dice for each dot spent.
• Durability: One dot can be used to increase the machine's durability rating by 1.
• Piercing: Each dot spent can be used to ignore one level of durability.

Raiment (Any clothing or armor)

NOTE: Please use the following form to request these items: Hedgespun Raiment Request

• Speed: Each dot spent provides a +1 bonus to initiative or +2 speed.
• Disguise: Each dot spent adds +1 to subterfuge based disguise attempts.
• Social Bonus: Each dot spent adds +1 to a specific social roll (Intimidation, persuasion, etc.)
• Fortified: Points in the Hedgespun armor may be used to directly increase the armor's rating in either ballistic or standard categories. (For example, hedgespinning Reinforced Clothing (1/0) with three dots could be used to make the Reinforced Clothing 2/2, 4/0, 1/3 or any other combination.)
• Unencumbered: You may spend points on a one-for-one basis to remove a Defense penalty from armor. (For example, spending two points on Hedgespun chainmail to make it Unencumbered would remove the Defense penalty altogether.) Note: You may not use this to create a positive Defense modifier.
• Limber: You may spend points on a one-for-one basis to remove a Speed penalty from a piece of armor. (To use the previous example, you may also remove the -2 penalty to Speed from a suit of chainmail by spending two dots of Token on making it more Limber.) Note: You may not use this to create a positive Speed modifier.
• Stealthy: For every point spent in this category, the weapon adds +1 to Stealth rolls for the wielder.
• Light: For every two dots spent on this category, the Strength requirement to use the armor is reduced by 1. (By spending two points on making chainmail Light, it reduces the necessary Strength to 2.)
• Fitted: You may make Hedgespun armor that is easier to move around in, being fitted directly to the wearer's body. Fitted armor tends to be less protective than others, but provides a positive modifier to Athletics rolls based on the number of points spent to increase it. You may not spend Hedgespun dots to give an armor this property if it has a Speed penalty. (For example, you may spend two dots to make Fitted leather armor that provides a +2 bonus to Athletics rolls while wearing it, but may not make Fitted chainmail.) Note: If you make something Limber to the point that it no longer has a Speed penalty, you may apply this property.

Weapons

NOTE: Hedgespun weapons begin with a +1 bonus dice to the most commonly used skill by default, and the cap is a bonus total of +5.
NOTE: Please use the following form to request these weapons: Hedgespun Weapon Request

• Dice Bonus: Each dot spent add a further +1 dice bonus to the skill associated with the weapon.
• Defense: Each dot spent adds +1 to users defense (Cannot more than double the base defense of the user - this is added /after/ dodge multipliers.)
• Durability: Each dot spent adds +1 to durability.
• Piercing: Each dot spent this way bypasses one level of durability and Armor.
• Poison: Each dot spent adds to the toxicity of the weapon by +1 to a cap of +5. Please see the house rules for Poisons.
• Unlimited Ammo: For five points, this gives ranged weapons unlimited ammunition. Note: Mortal bullets will not work in hedgespun guns. If you do not take this as part of your hedgespinning, you need to specify what sort of bullets you are shooting (Goblin fruit pits, hedge bees, thorns, etc) and will have to occasionally replenish your stock.
• Shadowed: For every two points spent on the weapon, making it Shadowed, the effective size of the weapon when used in contested rolls for another character to detect a concealed weapon decreases by one type, to a minimum of #/P. (For example, crafting a 2-dot Shadowed bastard sword would make the weapon able to be concealed in a long coat.) Note: As stated, this does not decrease the size of the weapon. All this does is create a concealing effect around the weapon. Powers designed to pierce illusion may still notice the weapon (such as Auspex). See Armory, pg. 198 for more information on item concealment.
• Light: For every two points spent to make the weapon lighter, you may decrease the required size of the weapon specifically in regards to how much Strength is necessary to wield it by one. (To go back to the previous example, that bastard sword with two points spent on it being Light would only require a Strength •• instead of •••.)
• Swift: You may spend points on a one-for-one basis to remove an Initiative penalty from a weapon.
• Skilled: For every point spent on Skilled, the weapon adds an additional +1 equipment bonus to Crafts rolls of a specific type, which must be chosen at the time of the weapon's creation. (For example, a one-dot Hedgespun bowie knife could either have a +2 modifier to Crafts rolls regarding woodcraft, or a +1 to rolls regarding woodcraft and +1 to rolls regarding skinning animals.) Note: You may not add bonus dice to weapons to make them better at Hedgespinning. You may select more than one category and split bonus dice between them. This must make some amount of sense. A knife would not add to rolls regarding blacksmithing, but a hammer or axe could.

Shields

• Vicious: This is a shield property. With each point spent on this, you may make a shield give you a bonus dice when being used as a weapon. Normally shields do 0dmg or 1dmg; two points spent on this property would give you +2 dice to your roll to hit someone with it. If you were to spend two points to make the damage lethal and not increase the damage bonus, the shield's total damage bonus would be -1(L). Note: See rules regarding shields in Armory, pg. 178.
• Aerodynamic: This is a shield property. By spending two points, you may remove -1 penalty when attacking with a shield. Without the Ambidexterity merit, attacking while holding a shield normally has a -2 penalty (-1 with Ambidexterity). Spending 4 points on this property would remove the penalty altogether. (Spending two points with an ambidextrous bearer would remove the penalty as well). Note: Having Ambidexterity and 4 dots spent on Aerodynamic does not give a positive modifier to attack rolls.
• Defensive: This is a shield property. You may spend one point on increasing the Defense bonus of a shield by one (to a maximum of Size+Dots=5). (For example, a small shield has a size of 2, spending 3 dots on it will give you a +5 defense bonus behind.)
• Concealed: This is a shield property. You may spend one point on increasing the concealment modifier by one (to a maximum of Size+Dots=5).(For example, a small shield has a size of 2, spending 3 dots on it will give you a +5 concealment modifier against ranged attacks)
• Supported: This is a shield property. By spending two points on this property, you may reduce the Strength requirement by 1, as it is supported by strapping much of its weight to the bearer's body. (For example, a medieval shield may be made to require Strength 2 by spending two points on this property.)

Hedgespun Art

• Radius: The standard radius of a hedgespun artwork is 50 yards. With each point spent on the hedgespun piece another 50 yards may be added. Viewers must be able to see the artwork to be effected.
• Modifier: With each point spent in this manner anyone in the effective range of the artwork suffers a positive or negative dice modifier. Most commonly used for social or mental skills. +1/-1 per dot.
• Emotion: With each point spent in this manner anyone in the effective range of the artwork is forced to roll resolve + composure. Upon failure, they become subject to a particular emotion that the artwork carries with it. Rage, sorrow, joy, are all example emotions one might associate with an artistic piece. This effect lasts for a scene. Upon dramatic failure, the effect lasts for 24 hours. The results of this emotion do not have an impact on rolls, but may be used for harvest.
• Hedgespun artwork can now be imbued with a specific emotion. Anyone attempting to resist this emotion is forced to take a composure.resolve roll. Upon failing, they are effected by the emotion for the rest of the scene. Upon a dramatic failure, they are effected for the following 24 hours. This emotion carries with it no mechanical penalties, but may be used for harvesting.
• Hedgespun art that can 'leach' WP from Mortal' Targets. It can at most take 1 WP from each target, and it does not affect anyone with a Supernatural Power Stat.

It costs a 2nd dot to be able to store that WP for further use (Otherwise it just waifs away into the aether) - When you buy that second dot, the artwork can hold up to 4 Willpower points for future use. Each additional point spent on 'Storage' can hold another 2 willpower (so a 3 dot hedgespun artwork could 1dot: absorb willpower, 2dots: hold 4willpower, 3dots: hold 2 more willpower.)

• To withdraw this willpower takes a successful Meditation Roll (see WoD Core: p51). This means that withdrawing such willpower is an extended action (as presented in the book). 1 Willpower may be withdrawn per meditation act. You can meditate as many times per day as you want.

Wonderous Allure

• Each visible hedgespun item a changeling wears or displays provides a +1 socialize bonus in regards to other changelings.

Zero Dot Trinkets

• Hedgespun items that are not weapons/armor and provide no tangible bonus (besides the +1 to social rolls in regards to changelings) are effectively zero-dot items. They do need to be requested and noted. They do not need a story scene run (Though you may under the normal rules of PRP) nor must you spend xp on them. You should still roll a hedgespinning roll to create them, and spend the glamour for the roll.

Format for Submission

Please submit all hegespun items in the following format

• Original Item Stats
• Hedgespun Modified Stats
• Mien

So for example:

Hedgespun Quarterstaff:

Original Stats: Damage: 1, Initiative Penalty: -2, Size: 4/N, Durability: 1, Cost: 1 +1 Defense.

Hedgespun Stats: Damage: 1 (+1 to Weapony Rolls, Free), Initiative Penalty: -2, Size: 4/n, Durability: 1, Cost: 1, +1 to Defense Conceal (2 dots)

Mien: His hedgespun quarterstaff is made out of volcanic glass, with deep red lines of lava flowing within its depths.