Enchanting (Shadowrun 6th Edition)
Skills
Definition
Enchanting is the patient branch of magic. Alchemy loads a spell into a preparation that fires later, artificing builds foci and other lasting items, and disenchanting takes apart what another magician made. It rewards planning over reflexes. A magician who spends downtime enchanting arrives on the run with effects already paid for, and a team that keeps running into wards is glad somebody can dismantle them instead of walking around.
How it works
**Linked Attribute**: Magic **Dice Pool**: Magic plus Enchanting, with each 5 or 6 counting as a hit. **Requires Magic**: Awakened only, and Magic caps at 6, so the attribute limits your ceiling as much as the ranks. **Time**: This is downtime work. Preparations and foci are made before the run, not during the firefight.
Tips
**Best for**: Magicians with a support role, and any Awakened character whose player likes preparing rather than improvising. **Character concepts**: A talismonger with a shop front, an artificer supplying the local shadow community, a hermetic who never casts what she can bottle. **Synergies**: Sorcery supplies the spells you store, Astral finds the wards worth dismantling, and Influence sells the surplus.
Frequently asked questions
Why enchant when I can just cast?
A preparation fires without drain in the moment and can be handed to a mundane teammate, which casting never allows.
Is Enchanting useful mid-run?
Mainly through disenchanting a ward or focus you meet. Making things is downtime work with real time costs.