Forging: Difference between revisions

The official GemStone IV encyclopedia.
Jump to navigation Jump to search
m (nosectionedit)
m (oops)
Line 1: Line 1:
<div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-1">{{TOCright|limit=3}}</div> <!--This page is a mix of official documentation, added GM info, and player-generated info. Please make sure you can show proof to justify any edit. If not, please make a Research page (see Style Guide)-->__NOSECTIONEDIT__
<div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-1">{{TOCright|limit=3}}</div> <!--This page is a mix of official documentation, added GM info, and player-generated info. Please make sure you can show proof to justify any edit. If not, please make a Research page (see Style Guide)-->
<span class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-2">
<span class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-2">
[<span class="mw-customtoggle-1 mw-customtoggle-2 mw-customtoggle-3" style="color:#0000ff">Click to view original '''Forging Guide''' (introductory material)</span>]</span><span class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" id="mw-customcollapsible-3">[<span class="mw-customtoggle-1 mw-customtoggle-2 mw-customtoggle-3" style="color:#0000ff">Click to view full article</span>]</span>
[<span class="mw-customtoggle-1 mw-customtoggle-2 mw-customtoggle-3" style="color:#0000ff">Click to view original '''Forging Guide''' (introductory material)</span>]</span><span class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" id="mw-customcollapsible-3">[<span class="mw-customtoggle-1 mw-customtoggle-2 mw-customtoggle-3" style="color:#0000ff">Click to view full article</span>]</span>
Line 5: Line 5:
<div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-1">
<div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-1">
There are four possible outcomes in turning the grinder:
There are four possible outcomes in turning the grinder:
__NOSECTIONEDIT__

{| {{prettytable}}
{| {{prettytable}}
|-bgcolor=lightgrey
|-bgcolor=lightgrey

Revision as of 11:17, 12 October 2017

[Click to view original Forging Guide (introductory material)][Click to view full article]

There are four possible outcomes in turning the grinder: __NOSECTIONEDIT__

Result Notes Messaging
Major failure The entire material is destroyed.
You are left with a toothpick.
Minor failure Try again. The weight of the material is reduced slightly, which means you may need more material.
Things seem to be going okay, but this is more difficult than you expected.  After grinding for what seems like an eternity you realize that the scribed pattern has been chewed away, but the remaining <material> doesn't look like anything yet.
Success A functional, crafted handle has been created
You finish your work and stand up, turning the <hilt> in your hands.  You nod, satisfied with the piece you've created.
Major success The hilt can be used to attempt to create a perfect weapon
You finish your work and stand up, turning the <hilt> in your hands. You smile as you realize that this piece is the very best that you can create.
Upon completion of the grinding portion of the forging process, one must polish the finished piece by LEANing on the polisher.

There are five possible outcomes in getting the tongs:

Result Notes Messaging
Continue working It takes longer to create larger pieces.

Major failure You are left with nothing.

Minor failure Try again

Success A regular head or blade is created

Major success The head or blade can be used to attempt to create a perfect weapon

As with crafting, one must polish the finished piece by LEANing on the polisher.

There are four outcomes to turning the vise:

Result Notes Messaging
Major failure The pieces are combined, but at a severely reduced quality.

Minor failure Try again

Success The pieces are combined. The weapon will not be perfect, 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.
You finish your work and step back, turning the {weapon} in your hands. You smile as you realize that this piece is probably the best that you can create.

After this step, the head or 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 via LEAN POLISHER WITH CLEAN.

While it is possible to dye the pieces at this step, it can cause serious bugs. It is best to leave them as-is.

The Slab Cutter

The slab cutter in the crafting room is used to divide the material into several pieces. Since a successful forging attempt uses the entirety of a piece of material, this cuts down on waste. To do so, PULL slab-cutter, after PUSHing to adjust the cut size, or POKEing to reset it to cut the material in half. To find out how much material to use, MEASURE the glyph.

The Forging Hammer

A forging hammer must be used during the forging process (GET TONGS). Pieces made with a perfect forging hammer have an 8% chance to combine to make a perfect weapon.

Forging hammers must be attuned to the character in order make a perfect piece. When using a forging hammer crafted by another forger, the following message will indicate when the hammer is attuned to the forger.

You feel as if you've become accustomed to the balance and heft of this forging-hammer.

Modifiers to Forging

Statistic Modifiers

As described above, the following statistics affect the three stages of forging:

Crafting STR, DEX, DIS
Forging STR, CON, DIS
Vise DEX, DIS

Racial Modifiers

A character's race and profession modify their roll when making an item. Characters that come from a race with a tradition of forging or crafting might have a bonus to those skills, possibly innate, or possibly from growing up in a culture where they would have grown up learning about forging.

Race Crafting Forging
Burghal Gnome ? ?
Dark Elf bonus small bonus
Dwarf bonus small bonus
Elf bonus small bonus
Erithian ? ?
Forest Gnome ? ?
Giantman +0 +0
Half-Elf +0 +0
Half-Krolvin ? ?
Human +0 +0
Halfling +0 +0
Sylvankind handicap small handicap

Profession Modifiers

Since training as an adventurer does not generally involve practice at the forge, most professions suffer a penalty to working on the grinder and receive no bonus to forging. Those with exceptionally nimble hands avoid the grinder penalty, while those with thickly-calloused hands and a tradition of hard labor suffer less of a grinder penalty and a slight bonus to forging.

Profession Crafting (Grinder) Forging Handicap Assembling (Vise)
Bard significant handicap ? ?
Cleric significant handicap ? ?
Empath significant handicap ? ?
Monk +0 ? ?
Paladin small handicap -5 +0
Ranger +0 ? ?
Rogue +0 ? ?
Sorcerer significant handicap +50 ?
Warrior ? -5 +0
Wizard significant handicap +50 ?
Profession matters much less when assembling parts
A negative handicap is a bonus

Maximum Professional Handicaps

  • Crafting: -40
  • Forging: -50
  • Assembling: -6

Success Determination Calculation

The chance to successfully forge an item is determined by:

1-500 [appropriate forging skill (OHE, BR, etc.)]
- [wound/HP-loss penalty]
+ [Forging stat bonuses averaged] (Effective Con bonus, Effective Dis bonus, Effective Str bonus)
{Comparatively, Grinder stat bonuses are (Effective Dex bonus, Effective Dis bonus, Effective Str bonus)}
- [material's magical-plus penalty (higher plus = higher penalty)]
- [material's size penalty (each "pound" of material being worked is a -1 penalty)]
(working larger masses of material at the forge is inherently more difficult)
+ [forging hammer's quality modifier]
- [profession handicap]
+ [Racial bonus]
--------------------------
{Chance of success}
1-500 RNG
If RNG < {Chance of success} then SUCCESS.

Weapon Quality Determination

Once a forging attempt has been determined to be a success, an additional 1-100 RNG determines if it was actually an Extraordinary Success (ES) (a "best work" item, necessary in order to achieve a perfect weapon).

The forge's script/code suggests that a 5% chance of an ES was intended, with the hammer's ownership/quality providing a bonus, but the code evaluates to the two If statements below:

If the forging-hammer does not belong to the weaponsmith, the % chance of an ES is 0.
If the forging-hammer DOES belong to the weaponsmith, the % chance of an ES = the hammer's quality modifier.

Once a grinding attempt has been determined to be a success, an additional 1-100 RNG determines if it was actually an ES. The grinder's chance of an ES is a flat 5% chance. No modifiers of any sort.

At the vise, the chance of an ES and a quality increase is determined by a 1-100 RNG vs. (the applicable Forging skill/50), and so the max possible is a 10% chance. A weaponsmith with an OHE forging skill of 400 would have an 8% chance of an ES when assembling an OHE weapon.

Gift of Eonak

Gift of Eonak will provide a second roll for the Grinder, Forging, and Vise steps of the forging process, and the better of the two at each step will be kept.

It does not provide a second roll when a success at grinding is followed by a roll to see whether an Extraordinary Success was achieved or not. Similarly, it does not provide a second roll when a success at forging is followed by a roll to see whether an Extraordinary Success was achieved or not. And, it does not provide a second roll when a success at the vise is followed by a roll to see whether an Extraordinary Success was achieved or not.

Summary

To completely create a weapon, the following success/failure rolls are involved:

1. Grinding the hilt or handle:

Item-creation success roll (Gift of Eonak provides a second success roll, the best of the two is kept.)
if successful, an Extraordinary Success roll is made.
max ES chance is 5%

2. Forging the head or blade:

Item-creation success roll (Gift of Eonak provides a second success roll, the best of the two is kept.)
if successful, an Extraordinary Success roll is made.
max ES chance is 5%, but Perfect forging hammer can raise the chance to 8%.

3. Vise assembly of hilt and blade:

Item-creation success roll (Gift of Eonak provides a second success roll, the best of the two is kept.)
if successful, an Extraordinary Success roll is made.
max ES chance is 10%

Advancing Skills

Learning to forge involves actually doing it. For each of the six skills, there are 500 ranks. The number of ranks one has can be seen using the ARTISAN verb.

Forge Step

In the head or blade creation step, for each attempt there is a chance approximately equal to the following:

Probability = [500 - RANKS + "LOG Bonus"]/500

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 an artisan 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.

"LOG Bonus" in this context is not the stat bonus, but a possible small adder (assumed +1 limit) for those with the correct amount of logic bonus, assumed to be +20.

Grinder and Vise Steps

There is no Logic bonus involved in improving one's Crafting skill when using either the Grinder or the Vise. Both are straight-up RNGs with no modifiers.

Forging Specific Weapons

Logic bonus is involved when improving one's OHE-Forging, OHB-Forging, 2H-Forging, etc. skills. That bonus is +1 for a current (possibly enhanced) Logic of 85 or greater, and a +2 for a current Logic stat that is "really high."

Materials Available

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

Woods

Wood Town
Haon Ta'Illistim
Hickory Solhaven
Ko'nag Troubled Waters prize
Maoral Wehnimer's Landing
Maple Icemule Trace
Modwir Kharam Dzu
Monir Ta'Vaalor
Oak Zul Logoth
Walnut River's Rest

Non-magical metals

Metal Type Towns Sold Percent chance
in EG 2015
Slab Generator
Minutes per
Forging Cycle
Bronze all n/a 3
Iron none, forge in
Kobold Mines
37.5%1, 3 3
Steel all 37.5%1, 3 3
Invar Zul Logoth 7.8%1 4

Common magical metals

These metals are sold in every forging shop, and are rather common in slab generators.

Metal Type Percent chance
in EG 2015
Slab Generator
Minutes per
Forging Cycle
Mithril 10.3%1 4
Ora 2.6%1 5
Imflass 12.1%1 6
Vultite 2.1%1 9

Uncommon metals

These were sold off the shelf at certain events, and show up somewhat regularly in the slab generator.

Metal Type Percent chance
in EG 2015
Slab Generator
Minutes per
Forging Cycle
Drakar 3.7%1 4
Gornar 2.8%1 4
Mithglin off the shelf only 7
Rhimar 3.5%1 4
Zorchar 3.7%1 4

Rare metals

These have only been available through auctions or raffles.

Metal Type Percent chance
in EG 2015
Slab Generator
Minutes per
Forging Cycle
Eahnor 0.063%2 ?
Eonake 0.209%2 rumored 10
Faenor 4.0%1 4
Golvern 0.063%2 7
Kelyn 1.610%2 7
Razern 2.5%1 5
Rolaren 0.230%2 9
Vaalorn 1.9%1 8
Veil iron auction/raffle only rumored 18
White ora 1.212%2 5
Notes:
Percentages come from two different sources, using the bigger sample when possible. Thus, percentages will not add to 100%.
1Uncommon metals taken from Frorin's sample of about 680 slabs.
2Rare metals taken from Liia's release of slab generator data, totaling 4784 slabs between Prime and Platinum.
3Frorin did not break out iron and steel results; they combined to around 37.5%

Tempering Oils

In order to complete a head or blade, you must have the proper oil in the trough. You empty the trough by pulling the cork and then POURing the oil into the trough. Below is a table which, while not comprehensive, hopefully offers pertinent examples and tricks, sufficient for most needs.

Oil Enchantment Pertains to (examples) Price
water less than 0x bronze, iron free
tempering oil 0x steel, invar ~ 10 silver
enchanted tempering oil 1x to 2x (up to +10) mithril, faenor, (white) ora ~ 2,000 silvers
twice-enchanted oil 3x to 4x (+11 to +19) razern, imflass, mithglin, vaalorn ~ 10,000 silvers
ensorcelled oil 4x and above vultite, eonake, rolaren, golvern ~ 20,000 silvers
Notes:
Invar is naturally +2 but is neither enchanted nor nor magical.
Razern in principle seems to fall into the previous category, but requires twice-enchanted oil, likely owing to its natural critical weighting.

Weapon Glyphs Available

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

Edged Weapons
Weapon Type Towns Sold Forging Cycles
Dagger all 2
Short sword all 3
Main gauche all 4
Backsword Wehnimer's Landing 4
Cutlass River's Rest 4
Handaxe Ta'Illistim 4
Falchion Kharam Dzu 5
Longsword Ta'Illistim 5
Broadsword Icemule Trace 5
Estoc Ta'Illistim 5
Rapier none, merchant only ?
Blunt Weapons
Weapon Type Towns Sold Forging Cycles
Cudgel all 2
Mace all 3
Crowbill all 4
War hammer Kharam Dzu ?
Morning star River's Rest 4
Ridgemace Zul Logoth 3
Spikestar Zul Logoth 3
Ball and chain Ta'Vaalor 5
Two-handed Weapons
Weapon Type Towns Sold Forging Cycles
Quarterstaff all 2
Mattock all 3
Flail all 4
Greatsword Wehnimer's Landing 7
War-pick Kharam Dzu ?
Flamberge Icemule Trace 7
Greataxe Zul Logoth 3
Maul none, merchant only 1
Polearm Weapons
Weapon Type Towns Sold Forging Cycles
Spear all 2
Pilum all 3
Halberd all 4
Hammer of Kai Wehnimer's Landing 5
Trident Solhaven 5
Jeddart-axe River's Rest ?
Awl-pike Ta'Vaalor 5
Lance none, merchant only 1
Brawling Weapons
Weapon Type Towns Sold Forging Cycles
Knuckle-duster all 2
Hook-knife all 1
Knuckle-blade all 2
Troll-claw all 3
Yierka-spur Solhaven 2
Fist-scythe Ta'Vaalor 4
Tiger-claw none, merchant only ?
Sai none, merchant only 3
Hybrid weapons
Weapon Type Towns Sold Forging Cycles Skills Required
Katar Solhaven 3 Brawling
Edged Weapons
Warsword Icemule Trace 6 Edged Weapons
Two-Handed Weapons

Usefulness of Forging

Forged weapon AvDs are increased over those of normal weapons at a flat rate; therefore, it is similar to increasing the enchant slightly. Below is a listing of the quality ranks, and their bonuses. Forged weapons may be blessed, enchanted, ensorcelled, and otherwise improved through various profession, merchant, and Premium Point services.

Quality DF/Breakage
Bonus
AvD Bonus
Perfect 6% +3
Superior 4% +2
Hefty 4% +2
Nifty 4% +2
Exquisite 4% +2
Well-crafted 4% +2
Elegant 2% +1
Well-made 2% +1
Fine none? none?
Nice none none
Plain none none
Simple none? -1
Crude none? -2
Lop-sided none? -2?
Flimsy none? -3

Resources