References on speeding up/improving Crafting w/ magic?

[Liantefaron]

Dear fellow GURPS players,

I was pondering how to gauge the effects of G:Magic spells on crafting, e.g. on Smith, Armoury, Leatherworking, ...

There is M&B Inspired Creation (M115) to guarantee a critical success while taking normal time. I am a bit unclear on whether the HP/FP cost to the artisan is also a daily cost or only paid once, at the end, and if it would stack with the daily "mana" cost of 5FP (using Threshold Magic here, so that is more of a theoretical question at this point) if caster and artisan are the same person.

There are the Essential <stuff> spells, which can provide top quality wood, stone, metal, etc., but possibly make them harder to work. I see a skill malus and/or time multiplier here if one assumes that transformation works only on raw materials instead of finished products, i.e. you have to work the stuff after transformation. Somehow, I rather see an ingot transformed into Unobtainium in some lengthy magical/alchemical process than I would see a ready-made armor be hexed into such a stuff (in part because many items are not made of just one material, so I'd rule that transmutated items become one solid item, i.e. no moving parts, it all gets melded into one thing).

There are the Shape <stuff> and Reshape (M&B) spells that give different (or no) indications on bonuses granted... With Shape Plant, it is +2 on Carpentry or Artist(Woodworking), while Shape Earth, Shape Metal or Shape Plastic speak of material movement rates and just mention Architecture without giving further hints. To generalize, would you rather say that these spells replace the tools normally used and set a quality modifier, perhaps +1 for success by 0, +2 for success > 0, +TL/2 for critical success - oder maybe spell margin of success/2 as a bonus to the crafting roll? How about a time multiplier? Should crafting by a Shape spell be faster than with tools?

The Alchemy chapter mentions Food spells like Mature for speeding up brewing. I'd be interested in spells that magically speed up other crafts, e.g., I think it would not be out of tune to have ultra-fast seamstresses (or maybe rapid-sewing needles?), etc. Perhaps (Great) Haste or variants thereof tailored not to combat use, but crafting?

Locksmith helps with fine parts manipulation, so it should give +5 to Mechanics, Jeweller, etc. Manipulate helps with larger parts. Might also affect crafting time.

Dancing Object with ST 15 will be a huge helper for smiths in the way water- or steam-powered hammers were, no?

Another idea would be spells (or charms) to provide IQ/DX bonuses (that the artisan could use to improve the item or to cut some time) or direct skill bonuses.

The problem with many of these is duration: Crafting often takes several days, while many of the above spells are maintained per minute. How does that fit together?

Thanks for your thoughts and helpful RAW/non-RAW references!

[Mirtai]

Originally Posted by Liantefaron

Should crafting by a Shape spell be faster than with tools?

Very much yes. Of course, a Shape spell should be faster than using tools. A Shape Earth spell can move 2 cubic yards of earth up to two yards a second... AND shape it to any shape you can imagine.

Excepting a bulldozer, what sort of tool can do that? In a combat situation, an Earth Mage can block an underground passage in an instant... the wall they make is created with a single thought. A man with tools could not possibly create a wall so quickly. And yet even a simple wall needs skill to create.

So why would making, say, a stone statue with magic take the hundreds of hours it often takes an experienced sculptor to create such a statue. The sculptor, in either case, imagines the result, and uses his tools to shape the stone into his desire... with tools, a sculptor would need to chisel away for days, but with magic, that imagined shape forms instantly as the stone simply flows into the shape imagined.

It's no different than when a mage creates an illusion. It doesn't take a mage several days to create a visual illusion of, say, an attacking dragon to scare someone off, even though it would take a painter (or animator) that much time to create the same illusion, does it? It's simply the act of imagining the result and letting the magic make it so.

So yes, Shape spells should be able to create things much, much faster than doing so with tools.

Does that totally destabilize the economy when it comes to the difference between magical craftspersons and non-magical craftspersons? Hell yes. A non-magical craftsperson would be completely outclassed by his magical competitors. Magic isn't fair. It's magic.

Except, of course, that if two craftspeople have equal amounts of character points, a non-magical craftsman will have more points for their primary skill, so that, while a magical sculptor artist will finish his statue in an instant, the non-magical craftsman's work will be higher quality.

But for stuff requiring only moderate skill, like stonemasonry and the like... a magical craftsman would have a huge advantage over the muggle.

[Refplace]

You night consider a Cadence variant as well.
As for the Shape spells I would say they can use the same skill and decrease the time but their are limits.

[Humabout]

A very different approach would be using the rules from Powers for Altered Time Rate that apply to lengthy tasks outside of combat. I'd be willing to give a substantial bonus if it was limited just to crafting magic items and had no combat applications. Smack Magical, -10% on it, too, and you could probably push it down into the low tens of points as a powerup.

[Mirtai]

Originally Posted by Refplace

You night consider a Cadence variant as well.
As for the Shape spells I would say they can use the same skill and decrease the time but their are limits.

I'm curious. What limits would you set?

It took between 1 to 3 years for most of the great Renaissance statues to be sculpted. How long should it take a mage with, say, Shape Earth to make a similar statue? Assuming the same level of Sculpting skill, that is?