Power Components (Dragonstar)
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There are many kinds of power components used in the Dragon Empire. The most famous type of power component is the liquid mithral used to power starcasters, but this is only one example. With an empire encompassing thousands of stars, many of which are virtually untouched by civilization, the possible assortment of power components is huge. Want the heart of a volcano for a fire enchantment? How about a bit of crystallized planet core, harvested from an asteroid belt? Or perhaps a silicone life form from a vacuum world? The possibilities are endless.
In general, no two enchantments use exactly the same power components. You have to mix and match. The Imperial Society (and certain other well-reputed alchemical societies) certifies power components for diverse enchantments, and these are safe to use, but very expensive. Such power components cost 10 cr. per XP that they save.
A skilled Alchemist can try to concoct their own recipe for power components for a specific enchantment. This allows the use of cheaper than normal power components, bypassing the certification system. This is completely legal, but a bit chancy. The base price of such a concoction is 12 cr. per XP, but an alchemy roll is allowed to try and reduce this. For every 5 points on an Alchemy roll, there is a 1 cr. reduction in price. This roll is made once per enchanting project - the unreliability of the process makes it chancy. It is possible to take 10 on this if a particular procedure has become routine, but not to take 20.
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