Essence of theBuilder

This drop of liquid constantly shifts appearance between clay, resin, and liquid concrete, and smells of freshly cut hardwood and broken ground. When you consume it, you are transformed into a Builder.

• As a Builder, your base form changes into a puddle of silvery liquid, and you gain the ability to shift forms to new forms to blend in with the locations you may end up Building in. Your first assumed form is based on your original non-Builder shape, and you are not forced to abandon assumed forms unless you so choose, or if you suffer sufficient damage to kill your assumed form. In your base form, you are difficult to harm and able to move quickly to safety. It is possible for you to die permanently, but would require truly massive amounts of force applied in a way that you couldn't move away from. Builders have been known to escape nuclear explosions with relatively little damage by swiftly moving underground. Recovering from a non-voluntary shift to base form requires a great deal of rest before you can take on an assumed form again.

• While you still do require sustenance, you can either eat/drink/absorb life energy/what have you as appropriate to your assumed form, you can also absorb small amounts of Material from your Inventory to sustain you. At a somewhat greater cost of Material, you can also heal your assumed forms of damage, or sustain the integrity of, and speed up your recovery from, your base form.

• Builders can gain abilities related to their assumed forms, but typically do not retain them after moving on. If you expend a great deal of Energy you can internalize an ability related to an assumed form, but once internalized, they can be used no matter what form you are currently in.

• Builders have access to telekinesis, regardless of their form. It starts out fairly basic and weak unless being used to directly Build, but grows in strength and versatility as you gain experience with it.

• Builders also have an affinity towards magics unrelated to construction that can be learned, Energy can be substituted for the normal costs of working magic. They also have a knack for developing the ability to walk between worlds via magic to find new and interesting places to Build, even without a specific example to learn from.

• All Builder abilities cost Energy. Energy, once expended, must be recovered by rest, and the available pool grows with experience.

• Builders can study creatures, devices, magics, buildings and other constructions and produce archetypal mental Blueprints from them. For instance, if you study Bob, who is a soldier who uses a sword on the battlefield, you would gain the Swordsman Blueprint. Studying a drinking establishment would produce a Tavern or Bar Blueprint. Underground areas studied produce Room Blueprints.

• Builders can Claim areas. A claimed area must be either wild, or must be negotiated with the owner of the area. In a claimed area, a Builder who chooses to build things manually does so at many times normal speed. You can also manifest any Blueprints you have acquired if you have the required Materials, save for Units. To create Unit Blueprints, you must instead create an associated Building and set it to produce Units, such as a Barracks producing Swordsmen. Created Units that last long enough have been known to become real and independent from the Builder who created them, though they are usually well disposed to their creators. Room Blueprints can be manifested under Claimed areas. Blueprint created things are not exact or even close replicas of whatever was studied to create the Blueprint, except by very rare chance.

• Builders can deconstruct structures and raw materials in Claimed areas, or raw materials in unclaimed wild areas. The materials collected are converted into Materials in an internal Inventory. Much like Blueprints, Materials are Archetypes, and each Blueprint requires specific Materials to be created. What specific raw materials map to Materials depends on the circumstances. A fantasy forest might produce Lumber, and a rocky outcropping near by might produce Gold. Blueprints from a particular area will always require Materials that can be deconstructed in that area. While there is a finite amount of space in a Builder's Inventory for Materials, it will grow as you gain experience, and most Builders never find their limits unless they are trying for massively ambitious projects, such as an entire town town's worth of buildings at once for new Builders. Some Buildings can also produce Materials. For instance a Lab from a superhero world might produce both Science! and Energy. The higher tech or more mystical the area, the more likely it is you will need a building to produce Materials rather than Deconstructing them from raw materials.