The Means
For someone who knows their tools, knowing what they need is easy. Getting it is another question. Most of the tools needed for a workshop are pretty expensive but absolutely necessary if they want to make sophisticated gear and their ammunition and batteries from scratch. These workshop items don't come with their relevant basic tools, so acquiring Smith's Tools and Tinker's Tools would be necessary as well. You can try and scavenge tools if you fancy yourself a badass as well as a mechanic, or just steal them if you fancy yourself as broke.
Martillo y Clavo Electric Furnace
- The Electric Furnace, like a forge, is needed to smelt anything to then work, shape or reshape metal material to use with your bandsaw.
- Proficiency Required: Smiths Tools.
- 200GP
Bosque Eléctrico Wood Sander, Shaper and Planar
- A wood sander and shaper is not absolutely necessary to make the furnishing or frame of weapons as long as you have wood carvers tools, but will reduce the time to craft items that uses significant amounts of wood by half of their crafting time to a maximum reduction of three workweeks off of a project.
- Proficiency Required: Woodworkers Tools.
- 550GP
Collado Bandsaw & Drill Press Package
- This pack comes with two workstations necessary for crafting items of a sophisticated nature along with a bunch of other power tools like Grinders and Welders to give you everything you need for your completely legitimate projects.
- Proficiency Required: Smiths Tools.
- 550GP
Dita Ammunition Bench and Defense Tool Package
- This workstation is necessary for breaking down and building ammunition, and also comes with rifling tools for the finishing touches on the barrel and a vise.
- Proficiency Required: Smiths or Tinkers Tools.
- 300GP
Saver Biotecnología Chemistry Kit
- A chemistry station with acid resistant table tops, ovens, fume hoods, muffle furnace, centrifuge, and aggregate mill, along with a wide variety of glassware necessary for experimentation, production and development of anything to synthesize chemical products in a safe and efficient manner. It's not absolutely necessary in order to produce chemical products, but it reduces the manufacturing time by half, making mass production of something far easier.
- Proficiency Required: Alchemist's Supplies or Poisoner's Kit. What proficiency you have determines what you are able to make.
- 750GP
Tormenta Electrica Soldering Station
- Soldering is needed in order to craft and refurbish sophisticated electronics like computers, radios, generators, or specific components.
- Proficiency Required: Tinkers Tools.
- 250GP
The Knowledge | Schematics & Licensing
Congratulations, if you weren't already on a watchlist, you probably are now. The police in Puerto Esperanza are bothering you about your new "hobby," and you still don't know how to make the weapons to fuel the coming revolution. You have two options: either sell out and purchase the required licenses from companies who will sell weapons to anyone with a pulse, or use the collective brainpower of you and your comrades to figure something out on your own, like true punks of the post-war era.
Original Invention
So you think you're smart. Maybe you are, but even the brightest minds need time and resources. To make something new, talk extensively to your GM about what you want to make and they will determine if it's possible, and if it is, they will determine which category it falls in below:
Simple | Not Complex
Requires little to no extra resources to experiment and the cost is just the cost of resources to make one, and is heavily based off of a known technology. It will take around 15 weeks, with the time reduced equal to the engineers/scientist intelligence modifiers reducing it to a minimum of 5 weeks.
Moderate Complexity
A unique take on an existing design, combining different technologies, or a design that presents a challenge but not something that is seen as insurmountable or impossible. It will take around 45 weeks, costing in between 100-300GP each week on the project for prototypes and testing, depending on the invention, with the time reduced equal to the engineers/scientist intelligence modifiers reducing it to a minimum of 35 weeks. It would be wise to seek funding from a benefactor to provide you the resources you need to commit to a project.
Completely New | Highly Complex
You are likely inventing a new solution to a new problem, or a new problem to a new solution. Either way, coming up with working designs that may or may not change history can take years, and cost anywhere in between 500-1000GP or more each week on the project. It is highly unlikely that an adventuring party would participate in research on a project like this directly, but may invest in one that is presently happening, or will hop on or start a project like this when they retire.
Reverse Engineering
To do this, a character needs an intact and mostly functional product to reverse engineer, and must spend the same amount of time to figure out how to manufacture it as it would take to normally produce it. The required time is reduced by the engineer's Intelligence modifier in workweeks, with a minimum of 4 workweeks. Once completed, the character can reproduce the product like any other. This practice can be especially profitable when discovering previously lost technology.
Governmental or Corporate Licenses
A common route for merchants or military organizations is to purchase or obtain a production license from an entity that has tried and true designs and schematics. These agreements are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and arms dealers like Dita may be unwilling to grant a license to someone who is not interested in making long-term profits. For many outside of these organizations, they have simply created their own schematics to produce copies of particular items and sell them to anyone interested in doing the same. Prices vary depending on the item and location, and must be actively sought after to find them.
However, it is important to be cautious when attempting to sell these items without permission from their proprietary owners, especially if you find yourself in their territory. Corporations such as Dita and Etzil are notorious for hiring muscle to eliminate the competition, and if you become enough of a nuisance, they may send a hit squad to pop and drop you to the next life.
Governmental licenses can be even harder to procure, and is more of a matter of secrecy and politics rather than money to do so. In rare instances would a state owned company like Tworca and Tirita would give license to other manufacturers to produce their designs within their own country usually to fill in orders in times of high demand, and it's unheard of for them to give anyone in Arenia explicit permission to produce their products because of the potential backlash in doing so.
The Material and Labor
It's finally done comrade, you have your means of production, the knowledge, and now it's time to get to work. There is a slight obstacle however, you need the material to actually make your items. This is not a huge hurdle thankfully, you can purchase materials from local suppliers, or go and find materials yourself like you may have found your tools. In unique circumstances, you may get discounted or even free supplies from the local government or interested organization to harness your craft as long as you also make items for them as well. With all this in place, you may finally proceed to do whatever you were planning. When it comes to making these items, the amount of time it takes to craft an item like a sophisticated firearm uses the rules for the Crafting Downtime in Xanathar's Guide, however you can have up to four people working on a project at once to greatly reduce the time it takes to make as long as you have a workshop to use.
