Can anyone clarify the following holes in crafting consumable charms?
Forged by dragons fire does not provide enough specific details.
The Mage Storyteller's Companion from MtA Reviewed (a book published a few years before Forged by Dragons) has some rules on this (page 54).
Artifacts and Inventions maybe created with Prime 3 if the mage uses Tass of appropriate Resonance, Prime 4 with regular Quintessence or Prime 5 in the case of making a living Artifact. (A mage may use Prime 4 to create a living Artifact if he uses the right sort of Tass.) The mages working the enchantment must perform an extended ritual, and the players must score total successes equal to twice the value of the Artifact. An equal quantity of Quintessence must be invested as well. Naturally, this undertaking is extremely difficult. Making even a simple item can require a great outlay of time and Quintessence, since the Effect must be rendered more or less permanent, which could require greater success at the Storyteller's discretion. As with any sort of Wonder-creation, making an Artifact or Invention is a heroic undertaking. These quests are excellent stories for mages who want to search out special components, ritual formulae and resonant Tass in the pursuit of the creation of an item of ultimate craftsmanship. Some sorts of pseudo-Artifacts, such as silk shirts with the strength of steel, can be created solely with Pattern magic. Such enchantments actually rework the Pattern itself into a new form, though, instead of leaving a magical enchantment bound to the item's Pattern. A creation of that sort can functionally be considered an Artifact, but the magic can only be undone by reversing the Effect.
This is for general artifacts, next page contains how to do charms:
One builds a Charm or Gadget just like an Artifact or Invention, but because it is not permanently empowered, doing so requires one less level of Prime Sphere skill. With the right Tass, apprentices can forge Charms with Prime 2, so these items are key stepping stones in the creation of more powerful magical Wonders.
So, to answer your questions:
It success at Storyteller´s discretion as RAW. Also states that you requiere double de success of the charm. So a level 1 charm requieres 2 success, and a level 5 charm requieres 10 success.
An equal quantity of quintessence is needed (again, depends on the level).
When you create an artifact you assign a series of spheres effects depending on the level (5 per level), you must have that spheres to begin with (you cannot create a time 4 effect if you yourself do not have time 4). The power of each effect is rolled every time you use it (you throw one dice of arete for every level of the artifact). The same happens with the charms (since they follow the same rules), with the exception that charms can be used by sleepers if they believe in the paradigm. The maximum arete that you can assign an artifact (I believe, I haven´t double checked this) is your own arete. So the maximum amount of dice that you could get depends on the level of the artifact and that depends on your arete (you can, of course, create an artifact of a level lower than your arete). The selection of effects has some additional rules on charms (again, same page)
Charms are valuable according to their one-shot power. If a Charm duplicates a particular Effect or Merit, then its value is one-tenth the Sphere rating or Merit cost. Therefore, it is best to buy Charms in groups (like a box of candles, a bunch of flowers or whatnot).
