Forgotten Suns: Science
Certain tasks are to complicated to be covered solely by an Ability. To accomplish them, a character must master a body of knowledge before being able to use his skills effectively. In the Forgotten Suns campaign, such knowledge is represented by sciences. Sciences are traits that live outside of the normal attribute/ability system. They are rated in dots like other traits, however these dots do not provide dice pools or other "active" effects. Instead, sciences act as a passive limitation on certain tasks. That is, some tasks are not possible unless you have a certain number of dots in a related science.
Most sciences have steeper requirements than Abilities, usually requiring the character to know one or more Abilities at a certain level. In addition, sciences always require instruction of some kind, either from a tutor, book or other source. This requirement is often the limiting factor in learning sciences, particularly those dealing with First Age technology.
At low levels, sciences are cheaper to learn than abilities, but become much more costly as they progress. The first dot in a science costs only 1xp (assuming all the requirements are met). Additional levels cost a number of xp equal to the current level times the new one. Training time is 20 times the xp cost, in hours. These times assume the required instruction. So, the progression goes like this:
| Science | Cost | Training time (hours) |
|---|---|---|
| ● | 1 | 20 |
| ●● | 2 | 40 |
| ●●● | 6 | 120 |
| ●●●● | 12 | 240 |
| ●●●●● | 20 | 400 |
Alchemy
Mortal Alchemy
The level of the science acts as a limit to the power of the potion that may be produced. A rating of 1 in the science allows the creation of 1- and 2-dot recipes from the Player's Guide. An alchemy rating of 2 allows production of 3- and 4-dot recipes, while a Alchemy rating of 3 allows production of 5-dot recipes and beyond.
| Science | Requires | Allows |
|---|---|---|
| ● | Occult ●, Craft (Water) ●, instructions found in Salt |
Creation of ● and ●● alchemical potions |
| ●● | Occult ●●●, Craft (Water) ●●, instructions found in Aether |
Creation of ●●● and ●●●● alchemical potions |
| ●●● | Occult ●●●●●, Craft (Water) ●●, instructions found in Gold |
Creation of ●●●●● alchemical potions |
Magical Alchemy
| Science | Requires | Allows |
|---|---|---|
| ● | Mortal Alchemy ●●●, Occult ●●●●●, other abilities by formula, instructions found in Alkahest,Comprehensive Deliquescence Cauldron |
Creation of Artifact ● consumables |
| ●● | Mortal Alchemy ●●●, Occult ●●●●●, other abilities by formula, instructions found in Berith,Transformative Touch Crucible |
Creation of Artifact ●● consumables |
| ●●● | Mortal Alchemy ●●●, Occult ●●●●●, other abilities by formula, instructions found ???,Prayer Subverting Tears |
Creation of Artifact ●●● consumables |
Architectonics
This science covers the detailed, multi-disciplinary knowledge and skill needed to design manses. In order to use the canon methods of manse design, a character must have a rating in this science equal to the rating of the manse being designed.
| Science | Requires | Allows |
|---|---|---|
| ● | ?? | Design of Manse ● |
| ●● | ?? | Design of Manse ●● |
| ●●● | ?? | Design of Manse ●●● |
| ●●●● | ?? | Design of Manse ●●●● |
| ●●●●● | ?? | Design of Manse ●●●●● |
Charmcraft
Under canon rules, all exalts can teach themselves most charms. Under this system, learning more powerful charms on your own requires detailed knowledge of charm magic, represented by the Charmcraft science. Rating in this science is compared to the minimum Essence requirement of charms (referred to here as ME). Characters can learn an existing charm without a tutor only if they have a Charmcraft rating equal to or greater than the charm's ME minus three. (This means that any exalt can teach themselves Essence 3 charms or lower without Charmcraft.) Characters with charmcraft can also invent brand new charms; however in this case, the science's rating is compared to ME minus two.
| Science | Requires | Allows |
|---|---|---|
| ● | ??, Essence ●●●● | Creation of charms requiring Essence 4. |
| ●● | ??, Essence ●●●●● | Creation of charms requiring Essence 5. |
| ●●● | ??, Essence ●●●●● ● | Creation of charms requiring Essence 6. |
| ●●●● | ??, Essence ●●●●● ● | Creation of charms requiring Essence 7. |
| ●●●●● | ??, Essence ●●●●● ●● | Creation of charms requiring Essence 8. |
Enchantment
Enchantment 1 allows production of 1- or 2 dot enchantments. A rating of 2 in the science allows production of 3- or 4-dot enchantments and Enchantment 3 allows production of 5-dot enchantments and higher.
| Science | Requires | Allows |
|---|---|---|
| ● | ?? | Creation of ● and ●● enchantments |
| ●● | ?? | Creation of ●●● and ●●●● enchantments |
| ●●● | ?? | Creation of ●●●●● enchantments |
Genesis
Described in Wonders of the Lost Age, this science works just like magictech does, but replacing Craft (Genesis). This science requires the Wood craft and cannot be higher than the lowest of the character's Lore, Medicine or Occult ratings.
Geomancy
Ratings in geomancy allow for the production of geomantic effects using the three possible levels in the science the same way the levels of Enchantment are used.
Magitech
Described in Wonders of the Lost Age, knowing the science of magitech allows use of Craft skill on magical devices. Anywhere rules call for a Craft (Magictech) roll, use plain Craft ability (plus any magitech specialties) as the pool. The rating in this science acts as a limit: characters can only use the magitech science on artifacts, manses or devices with a rating equal to their magitech science rating or less. This science requires the Air and Fire crafts and cannot be higher than the character's Lore rating.
| Science | Requires | Allows |
|---|---|---|
| ● | Lore ●●●●, Occult ●●●, Craft ●●●, instruction from ??? |
Design of Artifact ●, Repair ●● |
| ●● | Lore ●●●●●, Occult ●●●●, Craft ●●●●, instruction from ??? |
Design of Artifact ●●, Repair ●●● |
| ●●● | Lore ●●●●●, Occult ●●●●●, Craft ●●●●●, instruction from ??? |
Design of Artifact ●●●, Repair ●●●● |
| ●●●● | Lore ●●●●● ●, Occult ●●●●●, Craft ●●●●● ●, instruction from ??? |
Design of Artifact ●●●●, Repair ●●●●● |
| ●●●●● | Lore ●●●●● ●●, Occult ●●●●● ●, Craft ●●●●● ●, instruction from ??? |
Design of Artifact ●●●●●, Repair ●●●●● ● |
Necromantia
The science of necromantia works exactly as spellcraft, but for necromancy instead of sorcery.
Necrosurgery
Introduced in Abyssals and expanded in the Book of Bone and Ebony, necrosurgery is the science of assembling and animating dead flesh and harnessing necrotic energy. Anywhere rules called for Craft (Necrosurgery), use plain Craft ability (plus any necrosurgery specialties) as the pool. The rating in this science sets an upper limit on the size class (BoBE? 97) or artifact rating of an item created using this science. Necrosurgery does not require knowledge of a craft art, but its rating may not exceed the lowest of the character's Lore, Medicine or Occult ratings.
Perfection
This science deals with creating exceptional weapons and other creations and represents the dedicated knowledge of metallurgy, heat and other minutia that are need to forge exceptional weapons, armor and other items. It requires an art for creating such equipment (usually Fire). The first dot of this science allows objects to be made up to the level of "Exceptional" (Ex2 365). The second allows creation of "Perfect" items (Ex2 366). Generally learning this science beyond this is pointless. The magitech science may also be used for the creation of exceptional items, so this science is rare among exalts; however, the requirements for this science are less stringent, so mortals (and some exalts) may prefer this path.
Spellcraft
Under canon rules, all exalts can teach themselves most charms. Under this system, learning more powerful charms on your own requires detailed knowledge of charm magic, represented by the Charmcraft science. Rating in this science is compared to the minimum Essence requirement of charms (referred to here as ME). Characters can learn an existing charm without a tutor only if they have a Charmcraft rating equal to or greater than the charm's ME minus three. (This means that any exalt can teach themselves Essence 3 charms or lower without Charmcraft.) Characters with charmcraft can also invent brand new charms; however in this case, the science's rating is compared to ME minus two.
| Science | Requires | Allows |
|---|---|---|
| ● | Terrestrial circle sorcery | Design of terrestrial circle spells |
| ●● | Celestial circle sorcery | Design of celestial circle spells |
| ●●● | Solar circle sorcery | Design of solar circle spells |
Weather Working
Ratings in Weather Working allow creation of weather effects, using its three possible levels the same way as Enchantment rating is used.
Simple Sciences (aka "Arts")
- Astrology
- Exorcism
- Summoning
- Warding
- Acupuncture: A healing technique based on treating the flow of Essence within the body, using needles, pressure, heat or other modification to parts of the body that block that flow, acupuncture's primary game effect is to speed healing. While resting under the care of an acupuncturist, a character's heals each health level as if its wound penalty is a category less for purposes of determining healing time.
- Herbalism: Less concerned with brewing potions (see the Occult science of Alchemy), herbalists hold a vast knowledge of plants and their effect on the body and reduce the difficulty of identifying plants with medical purposes and diagnosing those under the effects of plant or animal toxins by 2.
- Surgery: Those skilled in the surgical arts reduce the difficulty of any surgical test on a living patient by 2.