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Message: <blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 4041653" data-attributes="member: 14159">While I generally do believe that most "offscreen" stuff should be plausible (or at least theoretically possible) under the rules, I do see that in some rare cases special exceptions should happen.An example from a campaign I ran: I wanted to put a Philosopher's Stone in-game for the PC's to find, but I wanted there to be an explanation for where it came from.  In a huge goblin's lair, there was a set of a few rooms crammed with alchemical apparatuses and charts and racks of supplies.  I knew my PC's had a "kick in the door and chuck a fireball" attitude towards clearing out places like this, so I set up a bit of a trap for that mentality.They kick open the door and see an elderly goblin in robes with some flasks in his hands standing at a workbench.  They immediately think it's a spellcaster (true, but he was an Adept) and throw a fireball.  He was wearing a Necklace of Fireballs, and one massive explosion later he's history, and most of his lab went up in the blast as well (too bad he had a stockpile of Alchemist's Fire as well, lots and lots of fire).  In the rubble the only thing they could salvage was a quartz flask containing a sooty rock.  Some skill checks later, they realize he had created a Philosopher's Stone. . .and they blew up the lab where he did it and completely destroyed the notes.  Speak With Dead wasn't much help. . .the alchemist was himself relying largely on notes handed down from his deceased master that he had been working for decades to decipher and perfect.So, while there are no rules for creating artifacts, one happened offstage in a way that was completely unduplicatable by PC's but there was a solid explanation for why they couldn't do it.</blockquote>

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