True Element Gathering

[Meat Puzzle]

I have read the section in the player's companion about Elementalists gathering true elements via half-magic tests and I have a few questions about it.

1. Do Elementalists need any special tools like miners use or do they literally just "call" the elements to them magically?

2. Do Elementalists still need orichalcum containers to hold the kernels or can they magically store them some other way (what way would that be if they can)?

3. What happens to these elements if they are not stored in orichalcum containers and how long do you have (I see true water can be stored for 2 or 3 days but what about the others)?

4. Do you need to refine the true elements or is that just for orichalcum and are they any special tools or set ups needed for that process or can an elementalist do this out in the wild?

6. I noticed the cost per kernel for true elements and see that they are much cheeper than their elemental coin counterparts is this because the coins contain several kernels or is there another reason for this?

7. When you purchase kernels of an element is the listed price including a container for the kernels or is that extra?

Extremely specific questions I know but I don't want to leave any room for argument if and or when this comes up in my game.

[arma]

1) No, tools are more for large scale operation. However: They're often found in volatile environments, and you'd have to take that into account. Basically, the difference is that you can gather small quantities without special equipment, but you will need it if you want to mine more than just a few kernels (there's a real difference here between gathering and mining, and only elementalists can really gather). For example: You can't stick your hand into death's sea to pull out a kernel of true fire, you'd need some sort of tool for that. But you can wander the shores of death's sea looking for a kernel that got expelled out of it.

2/3) Yes. If you don't put it into a container, they will react with whatever they are stored in (except for true wood). True Fire actually burns. True Air actually flies. etc.. Most importantly, they react with each other (see the litany of elements that's in there somewhere), so you even need containers with separations, or separate containers, for some of them.

4) No, they're more or less pure. Large scale mining may need some refinement, but that is just a minor offset to the advantages it offers. For example, True Earth is dug up with other earth. You'd just need a guy with a shovel to dig it up, but may need someone skilled to separate the two.

5) ^^

6) The value of the coin isn't equal to the value of its materials. Much like a $100 bill is just a piece of paper.

7) No, that's extra, and more expensive than the elements (it's in the Player's Guide). They are re-usable, though.

[Neverbourne]

Orichalcum boxes have a list price of 5000s. Does that mean you cant craft any common magic items that require true elements until you have at least 5k for the box, or 20k if you want to deal with multiple elements?

[Meat Puzzle]

The box in the book holds 20 kernels you could probably get a smaller one for cheaper if you don't need that many kernels

[arma]

[thezombiekat]

[thezombiekat]

[arma]

It's mostly a setting thing than about game mechanics.
There's the "immunity" of orichalcum and volatility of true elements, and there's the large mining operations that somehow have to make sense.
The books, however, focus on player character use of these things.
So, for example, there's probably large chests lined with orichalcum that can hold the thousands of kernels of True Air gathered by Theran mining vedettes, but it's unhandy for a character to lug that around.

[The_Gun_Nut]

In my game, the PC's have run across some Theran storage boxes that hold 40 kernels apiece. These are obviously larger and harder to carry around, but the players gleefully stole as many as they could carry, anyway (turns out that number was 11). A kila is expected to use its firepower more, so the larger chests made sense for restocking their fire cannons.

[thezombiekat]