Armor use skill

Skill 'armor use', a clan skill of the Artificers.

• This is a passive skill, it works automatically.

The craft of keeping the kit in shape: the steam jacket and the multitool every Artificer gets on joining. Their bonuses show under this name, and the kit rebuilds itself to its owner's level on its own.

Each piece starts at tier 1 of the mechanism and climbs two more tiers. The courier brings the blueprint of the next tier; craft it at a lit forge with the piece carried but not worn. What the rebuild takes is written on the blueprint itself. This skill is the chance that the rebuild works; a failed one can ruin part of the materials.

MULTITOOL MODES Usage: use multitool mode The multitool rebuilds itself into another tool. Only the current mode counts, and only in its owner's hands:

• axe -- a carpenter's axe, for wood blueprints and wood repairs. It does not fell trees: for that you need a real two-handed axe.
• hammer -- a smith's hammer: forging, tempering, metal repairs and the Guild's own blueprints.
• knife -- a carpenter's knife, a tattoo knife, and a jeweler's graver for crafting and repairs. Drilling, setting and clearing sockets still takes a real graver.
• pick -- a shovel: a bare use multitool digs.
• saw -- a weapon only, no craft asks for it.

One multitool is one tool at a time: a blueprint that also wants a second tool in your pack needs an ordinary one.

A higher tier means better stats, more compass charges, shorter cooldowns, a faster craft and, for the jacket, a stronger automaton. The tier belongs to the master: a lost kit comes back from the guard at the same tier, and a remort does not reset it.

In a fight the multitool in your main hand sometimes strikes on its own terms, by mode: the axe splits the enemy's shield (a mob's too, loot and all, but limited and indestructible shields hold), the hammer dazes for a few seconds so skills and spells go worse, the knife leaves bleeding, the pick pierces armor. The saw can't do any of that. The chance grows with the multitool's tier, and so does the strength of all but the axe.

The skill works in melee too, jacket or not: a blow aimed at you may meet practised armor work, and your armor holds better against it. The better the skill is learned, the more often. It grows as you take hits.

CLAN UPGRADE armor-use+ from the clan catalog: the multitool strikes on its own more often, and it can now do so from your off hand too, though less often than from the main hand.