Crafting an Echo

If you haven't already, go review Echoes to get a better sense of the system and its intent before continuing. This guide assumes you've already done so, and while it may reiterate some comments for clarity, instructions like how to make your Chamber of Echoes thread won't be found here.
An Echo is for all intents-and-purposes an artifact, but custom tailored to the heroes that make them. Artifacts are famous for being some of the most powerful items in existence, but the real takeaway is how they were created as part of a greater story. They are the remnants and memories of powerful beings and historical moments. The Chromanexus is living through one of those "historical" moments, and with it awakened the means of making new artifacts - items that may very well outlast your characters, preserving your character's story for generations to come.

The Base Item

The start of any Echo is the "base item". This can be an existing magical item (provided it's not an existing Echo artifact, a hoard item, a Stellar Armament, or an item off our Complete Restriction list), a mundane item like a sword or a shield, something no more magical than a trinket, or a Note. For the purposes of this system we do also permit Vehicle Stations to be Echoes, but not the vehicle itself.
Your base item determine's the Echo's item type (Armor, Potion, Ring, Rod, etc), which in turn effects how you normally use it in spite of the other abilities you use. For example, if you start with a suit of armor and later add a magic weapon to your Echo, the Echo continues to be a suit of armor - however, the magical properties of that weapon transfer to your armor, allowing you to use them with or without the weapon. We'll explain more about this later.
You can then bring the item to a master craftsman or offer your own Ruby Tear to begin the crafting process. Echoes cannot be crafted by non-master craftsmen, as they require Resonance properties to be considered an Echo. When the crafting is complete, your item gains Resonance properties (note these in your Chamber of Echoes thread), and no matter what the base item was, as soon as it becomes an Echo, it gains the "Requires Attunement" property. If you're looking to make something that doesn't require attunement, stop reading this page and go over to Crafting a Note instead.

Ingleheimer travels abroad with his trusty warhammer, an otherwise mundane thing to him that he would rather not part with. During his adventures, he gets his hands on a Flame Tongue (a magical sword capable of lighting itself on fire) and as cool as it is, he's not particularly good with swords and thinks it would be a lot cooler if he could transfer those properties to his warhammer. It's his favorite warhammer after all. He's had it since he was a baby, whenever that was.
To do so, he starts by turning his warhammer into an Echo. He brings it back to his forge to reforge the item, and with focused intent, awakens the item's hidden magic resting within the hammer's core as Resonance properties, naming it "The Forge Master" as he does. The Forge Master is now an Echo with the "Weapon" type, with the traits of a mundane warhammer, and a need for attunement.

Frequency

All Echoes once created have a Frequency level. It's an abstract concept, really -there's nothing in or on the item that says "herr derr I'm level 6", unless you've got one of those items that mutters shit under its breath when it thinks you're not looking, but that's neither here nor there. This is all really just a basic way to keep track of an Echo's relative strength and power compared to other Echoes.
An Echo's Frequency begins at 1, and can be increased up to 16 through Tuning, explained below. Go ahead and note your Frequency as 1/16 for now.

Tuning

Tuning, in a few words, is giving your Echo magical properties it wouldn't otherwise have. As your Echo gains these magical properties, its Frequency increases based on what you've added. The cost to tune an Echo is ten pieces of Chromatite depending on how you're Tuning the Echo (explained below). Log your changes in your Chamber of Echoes thread for the item, edit the post itself, and update your Echo's Frequency.
Bear in mind that if your base item was an existing magic item, your Echo automatically increases to the relevant Frequency level to account for it (see Magic Transfer), and that an Echo cannot exceed 16 Frequency.

Magic Transfer

The first and most common method of Tuning your Echo is to take a magic item you don't want with properties you do want and transfer them to your Echo. To do so, you need to have a copy of the item you're planning to break, as well as ten pieces of Chromatite matching the rarity of the item you're breaking (so if you're breaking down a Very Rare item, you need to use Chromatite Slabs). Just like the base item, you can't choose an existing Echo, an artifact, a hoard item, a Stellar Armament, or an item off our Complete Restriction list. You can pick Notes, though that might be a little advanced if you're still just learning the system. Come back to that later.
Based on the item you intend to break down and transfer to your Echo, consult the above table to see how much your Echo's Frequency increases. You can't choose consumable items (read as: one time use items, like potions, scrolls, or tattoos).

Ingleheimer sets Forge Master aside, and pulls out the Flame Tongue he found on his earlier journeys. Having no use for the sword itself, he tosses it in the forge along with ten Chromatite Slabs (as Flame Tongue is a Very Rare item, it needs Very Rare Chromatite). The slabs break down the Flame Tongue until nothing more than its magical essence remains, at which point Ingleheimer tosses the Forge Master in and works it in the forge until it absorbs the left over magic from the Flame Tongue.
Before Ingleheimer began, the Forge Master had a Frequency of 1 (out of 16). Since Flame Tongue is both a very rare item and requires attunement, we know it adds +8 to the item's Frequency. In other words, as soon as Ingleheimer finishes transferring the magic of Flame Tongue to Forge Master, its Frequency increases from 1 to 9, leaving him 7 more points to work with.
The end result is that Forge Master is now a magic warhammer that can do anything Flame Tongue could do, such as light itself on fire to deal extra fire damage, or light up a small area around Ingleheimer when he needs it.

Sentience

In exchange for ten Chromatite Slabs, you can give your Echo sentience. Doing so increases its Frequency by +8.
Keep in mind, most sentient Echoes lack much more ability than being helpful for a task or two and being good conversation partners. They're not much more than glorified assistants. You're essentially creating the spirit within the item from scratch, after all, by harnessing the loose scraps of ether necessary to do so.
There are some exceptions, however, that come in the form of Eidolons. An Eidolon was previously a living creature whose spirit or soul is bound to your Echo. Mechanically, this is no different than normally creating a sentient Echo would be, but Eidolons have the added capability of both casting and concentrating on spells for you, freeing your concentration up for other things. They're still reliant on your attunement to pull this off, but many mages strive to get their hands on a cooperative Eidolon (keyword being "cooperative"). See the linked page for more details.

Spellcasting

Any Echo can be given the ability to cast spells on the wielder's behalf. The spellcasting "rarity" determines how many charges the item gains, as well as the number of options it can have listed. An "option" comes entirely from consumable items (scrolls, tattoos, potions, etc - your "one time use" items). If you give the item a 6th level or higher spell as one of its options, the Echo gains the trait "Requires attunement be ", where is a list of all classes where the spell appears on its default spell list (so for example, if you give the item the control weather spell, the item now requires attunement from a cleric, druid, or wizard).
You must have all the options you wish to include present at the time of giving your Echo the spellcasting feature, which are then consumed as part of the Tuning process. Later, when you choose to use this feature from your Echo, keep the following comments in mind:

• If casting a spell, you must spend a number of charges equal to the spell's level. A 1st level spell costs one charge, a 5th level spell costs 5 charges, etc. You can upcast spells you've added to the item if the spell has the means to be upcast (so yes, you can cast a 5th level magic missile if you added the 1st level spell to your Echo's options). Treat cantrips as a 1-charge spell, though they automatically cast at the appropriate level for your character.
• If using a consumable effect, like a potion of speed, it uses charges based on the consumable's rarity. Common consumables are 1 charge, uncommons use 3, rare consumables use 5, and very rare consumables use 8 charges.
• If an option you use would make a creature roll a saving throw, or the option would gain a spell attack bonus, refer to the Tuned spellcasting feature instead of using your own spellcasting save or attack bonus.

It should go without saying, but if you don't have enough charges to use an option, you can't use that option. Any spent charges are recovered after you complete a long rest.

Ingleheimer's Forge Master is pretty hot now, but he's not finished with it yet. He'd like to give it the ability to cast a few helpful spells. With only 7 points left to work with, he can't give it "very rare" spellcasting... but he can give it "rare" spellcasting, which he does. Forge Master now has a Frequency of 15, leaving one point left to work with.
Since Rare spellcasting items have a list of five options, he prepares the items he'd like to put on the list. He gets his hands on a potion of speed, a potion of invulnerability, a scroll of incendiary cloud, a scroll of fire storm, and a scroll of create bonfire. When he adds the spellcasting trait to his Echo, these five items are destroyed and now become options on Ingleheimer's list.
It's worth noting that incendiary cloud and fire storm are both spells higher than 6th level. Incendiary cloud appears on the spell lists sorcerers and wizards, and fire storm appears on the lists of clerics, druids, and sorcerers. Since the only class both spells share in common is the sorcerer, Forge Master changes from "Requires attunement" to "Requires attunement by sorcerer", which is fine, because Ingleheimer's a sorcerer.

Reshaping

If your Echo's base item has weapon trait, you can spend ten Chromatite Slabs to add, remove, or swap up to three of those. Want a chain sword that functions both as a whip but deals the damage of a longsword? Do it! Want to have a smallfolk-friendly greatsword? Also an option! Do what sounds cool, as long as it's within the boundaries of the system.
No matter what or how many changes you make, the item's frequency increases by +1. You can spend ten more slabs later to modify your choices or revert the item back to its original properties.
There are a few call-outs here:

• You can change the weapon's damage type, but only to bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing.
• You cannot remove a firearm's Misfire trait.
• If you choose to add a thrown trait to your weapon, it gains an effective range of 20 feet and a maximum range of 60 feet.
• If you choose to add a ranged trait to your weapon, choose an existing ranged weapon. Your weapon gains the option to make a ranged weapon attack roll using that weapon's damage and effective and maximum range, as well as the ammunition, loading, or reload property of that weapon if it has one. These additional traits do not count against your three trait limit.
• Alternatively, if you remove the thrown or ranged trait from your weapon, you lose the above associated traits.

Ingleheimer's Forge Master now catches fire and lets him cast a few spells he knows will help him on his adventure. He's still got 1 Frequency left, and being a short guy, he finds he often has to get closer to the things he wants to hit with his hammer than he'd like.
He decides to give Forge Master the reach property, represented as a magically telescoping handle that lets him sideswipe not immediately next to him, then additionally gives it the thrown property. Forge Master can effectively be thrown up to 20 feet away, and has a maximum throwing distance of 60 feet. When thrown, it deals the damage of a warhammer. He doesn't feel the need to change anything else, so he calls it good enough.
With his changes complete, Forge Master is now a 16 Frequency Echo! It's done! Or...
... is it?

Harmonization

Now that the Echo is fully built to your heart's content, it becomes Harmonized. It begins to undergo a dramatic metamorphosis as it transforms into a proper legendary item.
First, it gains a Minor Artifact Property. The property can be chosen or rolled from the minor beneficial properties table under Artifact Properties. Alternatively, you can request an equivalent custom property, as described at the end of this page.
Then, it gains the potential to develop additional artifact properties through Tuning using Pure Chromatite:

• Minor Artifact Property (5 Pures). A minor artifact property costs five Pure Chromatite. Your Echo cannot have more than three minor artifact properties (including the one gained on reaching legendary status).
• Major Artifact Property (10 Pures). A major artifact property costs ten Pure Chromatite. Your Echo cannot have more than two major artiffact properties. Like minor properties, a custom option of equivalent power can be granted in lieu of the listed options.

Once the Echo has a total of three minor and two major properties, it is considered to be a completed item and is upgraded from Legendary item to Artifact, meaning the item effectively becomes indestructible except as otherwise noted, and is unaffected by areas of antimagic. Furthermore, it gains the Union property:

Union. When two Echoes with this property are brought together and bound by the same wielder, the Echoes lose this property and instead gain a unique property that only works while both items are attuned to the same wielder (if the Echo does not have the "requires attunement" trait, it gains it as a result of this effect). The exact nature of this bonding process is at your discretion, but is considered to take a significant length of time to successfully complete.

Custom Artifact Properties

Never let it be said that rule of cool is insignificant. Whenever you invest enough Pures into your Echo to grant it a Minor or Major property, you may request a custom property from staff. You can do so in the comments under your Echo's "Chamber of Echoes" thread but for best results, create a post in blame-a-gan referencing your Echo and your desired property (minor or major).
As with any other staff request, please give it 24 hours before pinging Administration for a response.
Please keep the following notes in mind when making your request:

• A minor property is a subtle effect that changes the "flavor" of the item more than any distinct mechanical benefit. These properties usually won't be game changing, though can change how the item works in minor ways. For example, a minor property might give a thrown axe the ability to magically return to its wielder's hand after being used to make an attack. While mechanically this does permit the wielder to make more than one attack with the axe in the same turn, it's ultimately not game changing in the sense that if they just held the axe instead of throwing it, they could have made those same attacks in melee. Minor, but flavor altering.
• A major property is a significant effect that can and should have noticeable impact when it's used or referenced. These are effects that significantly alter a character's stats or conditions, or grant powerful (though often temporary) boons and buffs throughout the adventuring day. For example, dealing additional damage whenever you attack with the Echo and hit would be considered a major property, or adding spells to the wielder's known spells list are both examples of major properties.