Fabricators are machines that reassemble blocks of an elemental compound into common substances, such as detergent, paper, raw ores, and so on. Fabricators can only create inorganic and very simple organic substances, however—no foods or pharmaceuticals—and only non-complex items; a fabricator cannot create an items with working parts, such as a clock or gun, but it could create a simple blade or club. Each block of compound can create up to 8 pounds of materials, at a rate of 1 minute per pound.

All fabricators come with factory-installed inhibitor circuits to prevent users from fabricating illegal items, but it only takes a DC 10 Repair check to bypass the circuit—despite the fact that’s it’s illegal to do so.

Clever third party manufacturers of fabricator accessories also release add-on kits that enable the fabricator to create a limited number of bio-organic or restricted substances—mainly alcohol and pharmaceuticals. Again, users commonly install a biomaterial add-on and bypass the inhibitor circuits, their own distilleries and drug labs. Used in this manner, these add-ons eat up compound blocks at four times the normal rate: one block of elemental compound per 2 pounds of materials.

Another popular third party add-on is the garbage converter, which allows the user to replace the block of elemental compound with garbage as a form of recycling. “Garbage in, garbage out,” however: items made from garbage are vastly inferior, having half the hardness of the regular item and conferring a –5 penalty on any attempt to use the item as part of a skill or ability check.

All fabricators come with a library of templates for a wide variety of simple and household materials. The GM may rule that attempting to create any particularly unusual or ambitious substance or item requires a Computer Use check and/or a Craft or Knowledge check, as appropriate.