Forging

Forging is the Artisan skill related to the creation of weapons. The skill includes crafting, forging edged weapons, forging blunt weapons, forging polearms, forging two-handed weapons, and forging brawling weapons.

Forging Process

The forging process consists of, essentually, three parts. Crafting the handle, forging the blade, then combining the two.

Crafting the Handle

Any wood or metal can be used when crafting the handle. Generally, using a block of wood would be ideal because wood is very cheap compared to metal. Basically, to craft the handle, while holding the medium in your left hand, stare at the appropriate handle-glyph, available in your local forging shop. Once the medium is "scribed" with the appropriate glyph, turn the grinder. There are four possible outcomes:

• Major failure - The entire medium is destroyed. You are left with a toothpick.
• Minor failure - Try again. The weight of the medium is reduced slightly, which means you may need more medium.
• Success - You've a crafted handle. Not great, but functional.
• Major success - This can become a part of a perfect weapon, with the right amount of luck.

Upon completion of the grinding portion of the forging process, you must polish the finished piece by leaning on the polisher.

Forging the Blade

Only metal can be used to forge a blade. You place water or oil in the trough, then scribe the medium simular to the grinding process using a blade-glyph. Once the medium is scribed with the appropriate glyph, put the medium in your left hand and a forging-hammer in your right hand, then get the tongs. There are five possible outcomes:

• Continue working - You've more work to do on this part. It means nothing, it just takes longer to create larger pieces.
• Major failure - The entire medium is destroyed. You are left with nothing.
• Minor failure - Try again. The weight of the medium is reduced slightly, which means you may need more medium.
• Success - You've a forged blade. Not great, but functional.
• Major success - This can become a part of a perfect weapon, with the right amount of luck.

Same with crafting, you must polish the finished piece by leaning on the polisher.

Combining the Pieces

After the blade and handle have been polished, hold both pieces, the blade in your left hand, and turn the vise. There are four outcomes:

• Major failure - The pieces are combined, albeit at a severely reduced quality.
• Minor failure - Merely try again.
• Success - The pieces are combined. You will not get a perfect weapon from this result, but if the two pieces going into the vise are "best" pieces, the resulting weapon will be a superior weapon.
• Major Success - The pieces are combined at increased quality. If the two pieces were "best" pieces, the resulting weapon will be a perfect weapon, provided that you are a master of crafting. If the two pieces are not "best" pieces, then the resulting weapon will be a superior weapon.

After this step, the blade is complete. The weapon will be a <quality> <material>-handled <material> <weapon>. The handle portion of the short can be removed using the polisher (LEAN on polisher with clean).

Learning to Forge

Learning to forge involves actually doing it. There are six skills that make up the forging Artisan Guild Skill: One-handed edged, two-handed weapons, brawling, polearms, blunt weapons, and crafting. For each skill, there are 500 ranks, and for each attempt at using each individual skill, there is a chance approximately equal to the following:

(500 - RANKS)/500 = %chance

Given this, about 483 ranks is the half-way mark as far as average number of attempts it takes to mastery. Note that it has been said that Logic plays a part in determining if a character learns from an attempt at forging or not. The average number of attempts required to master a guild skill is 3400 attempts. If it takes 3 minutes per forging attempt, this translates to about 170 hours of doing nothing but forging in order to master the skill. Any use of the skills is counted as an attempt at forging, and it is possible to master by forging the simplest weapons from bronze and wood.

Materials Available

There are various types of wood available in different locations. For the most part, the metals are universally available.

Woods

• Haon - Ta'Illistim
• Maoral - Wehnimer's Landing
• Maple - Icemule Trace
• Modwir - Kharam Dzu
• Monir - Ta'Vaalor
• Oak - Zul Logoth
• Walnut - River's Rest

Non-magical metals

• Bronze
• Iron - Kobold Mines
• Steel
• Invar - Zul Logoth

Common Magical metals

• Mithril
• Ora
• Imflass
• Vultite

Uncommon metals

These were sold off the shelf at certain events.

• Drakar
• Gornar
• Rhimar
• Zorchar

Rare metals

These have only been available through auctions or raffles.

• Eahnor
• Eonake
• Faenor
• Razern
• Rolaren
• Vaalorn
• Veil iron (Only one slab is known to have been released)

Weapon Glyphs Available

The following is a list of weapon glyphs available at the various forging workshop locations.

Edged Weapons

• Dagger
• Short sword
• Main gauche
• Backsword - Wehnimer's Landing
• Falchion - Kharam Dzu
• Cutlass - River's Rest
• Broadsword - Icemule Trace
• Longsword - Ta'Illistim
• Estoc - Ta'Illistim
• Handaxe - Ta'Illistim

Blunt Weapons

• Cudgel
• Mace
• Crowbill
• War hammer - Kharam Dzu
• Morning star - River's Rest
• Ridgemace - Zul Logoth
• Spikestar - Zul Logoth
• Ball and chain - Ta'Vaalor

Twohanded Weapons

• Quarterstaff
• Mattock
• Flail
• Greatsword - Wehnimer's Landing
• War-pick - Kharam Dzu
• Flamberge - Icemule Trace
• Greataxe - Zul Logoth

Polearm Weapons

• Spear
• Pilum
• Halberd
• Hammer of Kai - Wehnimer's Landing
• Trident - Solhaven
• Jeddart-axe - River's Rest
• Awl-pike - Ta'Vaalor

Brawling

• Knuckle-duster
• Hook-knife
• Knuckle-blade
• Troll-claw
• Yierka-spur - Solhaven
• Fist-scythe - Ta'Vaalor

Hybrid

• Katar - Solhaven
• Warsword - Icemule Trace

Usefulness of Forging

The real benefit to a perfectly forged weapon is the ability to enchant or bless the weapon, which is not available to any weapon with weighting. Given the premium benefits as well as the limited merchants with the service, flares can also be added to a perfectly forged weapon, making the weapon the best choice for an upgrade in the land of Elanthia.

Also, as AvD's are increased at a flat rate as well, it is therefore similar to increasing the enchant, slightly. Below is a listing of the quality ranks, and their bonuses.

• Perfect 6% bonus to DF/Breakage, +3 AvD
• Superior 4% bonus to DF/Breakage, +2 AvD
• Hefty 4% bonus to DF/Breakage, +2 AvD
• Nifty 4% bonus to DF/Breakage, +2 AvD
• Well-crafted 4% bonus to DF/Breakage, +2 AvD
• Exquisite 4% bonus to DF/Breakage, +2 AvD
• Well-made 2% bonus to DF/Breakage, +1 AvD
• Elegant 2% bonus to DF/Breakage, +1 AvD
• Fine 2% bonus to DF/Breakage, +1 AvD
• Nice 0 bonus and everything below
• Plain
• Simple
• Crude
• Lop-sided
• Flimsy

See the discussion page for more information on this.

Resources

• http://www.play.net/gs4/info/artisan_skills/forgingoverview.asp
• Forging saved posts