Guild Secrets - Smiths [Mind]

While anyone with the Smithing sub-skill from Craft, or even a high enough Craft score, could claim to be a blacksmith, membership in the Smith's Guild is far more illustrious. The Smith's Guild is well organized, very secretive and highly possessive of its territory; they will go out of their way to shut down, drive off or replace anyone who as the gall to practice ANY smithing without membership in their guild, or at least without their permission (which requires a sizable tithe). Having this skill means that you have been trained by a member of the Smith's Guild, you know their secret hand language and their code words, and you can call on them for support and protection; in turn they can call upon you, and you are obligated to tithe 10% of your income to the guild. Your Smith Secrets indicates your rank within this powerful organization, which has its benefits and drawbacks.

In addition to determining your status, your Smith Secrets skill can be used to grade the temper and quality of metal, ore, weapons or jewelry with a simple check. You also have at your fingertips the lore of the smiths concerning feats of weapon-crafting and famous weapons, armor and artifacts from ages past; a skill check might bring important details to light. You can judge the value of any manufactured metal object with a check as well, and possibly see through forgeries or concealed workmanship. In order to do any actual creation, you will need the Craft skill of Smithing; your guild membership merely covers secrets passed along, not skill with the basic ability.

Detect Weapon
You've spent so much time around weapons that you find them easy to spot. Use this step instead of your perception when making tests to spot concealed weapons, be they on a person or constructed into a room.

Conceal Weapon
You have learned how to carry weapons without having that be obvious. When you want to conceal a weapon on your person, roll your Conceal Weapon step; the result becomes the difficulty for anyone to find the hidden weapon. Obviously, this is limited to fairly small weapons; nothing longer than a long knife or short sword, please.

Improve Armor
This takes a week and access to a forge. At the end of that time, make an Improve Armor test against the armor's Armor Rating step. Success raises the Armor Rating by one, failure as no effect. You can use this up to Rank times on a single weapon (counting failed attempts).

Improve Weapon
This takes a week and access to a forge. At the end of that time, make an Improve Weapon test against the weapon's damage step. Success raises the damage rank by one, failure as no effect. You can use this up to Rank times on a single weapon (counting failed attempts), or to up to twice the standard base damage of the weapon (a non-magical broadsword's maximum damage step is 10, which is bloody well high enough!)

Hone Edge
This adds a temporary bonus to the damage step of a weapon; make an Hone Edge test against the weapons current damage step. If successful, the weapon damage goes up one step for a number of attacks equal to your Hone Blade rank. If it fails, the weapon is blunted and damaged; eliminate all previous Hone Blade uses and reduce the base damage step by one until properly repaired in a forge. You can use this up to Rank times on the same weapon, but each successive uses raises the difficulty. This skill takes a half hour and some tools to use.

Spot Armor Flaw
Make a spot armor flaw against your opponent's Spell Defense (or their armor's Spell Defense, if it has one). If successful, you add your Spot Armor Flaw rank to the damage rank of all further attacks against that opponent; you know where to aim for to maximize effect, and do a lot more damage as a result. This lasts Rank turns.

   

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