Items: constellations

Constellations form on their own when every socket on an item is filled all the way to its own maximum -- not however many you've drilled, but everything the item can possibly hold -- and the stones read in drill order match a blueprint you carry: loose in your pack or bound into a recipe tome. The instant the last stone clicks home the pattern lights up by itself: no craft command, no ritual, nothing to fail. If you haven't reached the blueprint's level yet, that last stone stays in your hands instead. The blueprint is never used up -- keep it and repeat the trick on the next item.

HOW IT WORKS

• A constellation needs every socket the item can have, not just however many you drilled -- a three-socket sword with two stones set is still two stones, not a constellation, even if those two happen to match a pair's order.
• The item's own maximum decides which constellations it can ever host: 2 sockets (a helm, a mask or a dagger) hosts a pair, 3 sockets (a one-handed weapon or a shield) hosts a triad, 4 sockets (body armor or a two-handed weapon or bow) hosts a quad.
• Stones fill sockets in drill order, and that ORDER has to match the blueprint's order exactly -- swap two stones and nothing forms.
• Any grade satisfies a slot: rough, cut and flawless amethyst are all just "amethyst" to a blueprint.
• One constellation at a time -- once the pattern locks in, the item is done, and there's no room for a second one on the same set of sockets.
• If every socket is full and nothing matches, the stones just sit there -- the game tells you they don't add up to any constellation you know.
• Clearing the sockets strips the constellation along with the stones.
• A one-socket item (a ring, an earring, a glove) can never host one -- there's no constellation sized for a single socket.

THE STONE ORDER Reading a blueprint (use) prints its own order, host, the level you need and its complexity (the jeweler level it asks for). Stones match by Path, any grade, never by the exact item.