Artifice is the study of magical crafting and item enchantment. It involves studying the magical properties of many kinds of materials, and learning or experimenting in ways they can be put together to create an item through which magic flows. It is a very similar branch of study as Alchemy, but where Alchemy is primarily magical chemistry, Artifice is primarily magical construction, engineering, and art.
While artificers often study or dabble in all of these, many artificers specialize in certain styles or materials, such as:
- woodcraft
- glasswork
- magical architecture (often involves kinetics, earth evocation, and abjuration for wards)
- engineering/mechanical tinkering (often involves kinetics)
- crafting magical constructs (magical robots of all sorts of materials)
- armor and/or weaponsmithing
- general metalcraft
- stonecraft
- art (enchanted paintings, etc)
- tailoring/fashion and cloth (including cloaks)
- leathercraft (including boots and gloves)
- scrolls and papercraft
(game off note: campers are not required to limit themselves to one type. These are only for flavor purposes)
Ultimately, an artificer cannot by themselves craft an item with magic types that they do not know how to cast. In those cases, however, a crafter may enlist a willing helper to cast the spells and magic types the item may need, such as a lightning bolt to imbue a sword with storm magic.
Artificers also study symbols such as runes, and some even develop their own personal symbols, alphabet, or even an entire language to use to imbue magic in their crafted items.