Crafting and Itemization¶
Design Goals¶
Crafting should be a core progression lane, not a side profession with obsolete tiers. It should feed combat, survival, town growth, logistics, and trade.
Core Crafting Loop¶
- discover or source raw materials
- refine them into usable components
- combine components in a workshop recipe
- apply finishing or augmentation steps
- use, sell, repair, salvage, or refit the result
Profession Groups¶
Metalworking¶
Weapons, tools, fittings, armor reinforcement, nails, chain, and structural hardware.
Woodworking¶
Hafts, bows, shields, handles, crates, wagons, furniture, and town project parts.
Leatherworking and Clothworking¶
Armor linings, straps, packs, tents, wraps, ropes, clothing, padded gear, banners.
Cooking and Preserving¶
Meals, expedition rations, morale foods, brews, preserved goods.
Alchemy and Medicine¶
Potions, salves, powders, toxins, solvents, stabilizers, ritual reagents.
Masonry and Civil Works¶
Town projects, kiln goods, wells, walls, road material, public works inputs.
Workshop Model¶
Crafting should happen through workshops with different capabilities.
Examples:
- forge
- tannery
- loomhouse
- kitchen
- alchemy bench
- sawmill
- mason yard
More developed towns and guild facilities improve throughput, recipe access, efficiency, and quality ceilings. They should not eliminate the need for basic materials.
Recipe Types¶
Refining Recipes¶
Convert raw materials into standard components.
Examples:
- ore to bloom or ingot
- timber to plank or shaft blank
- hide to leather
- herbs to dried herb bundles or extract
Assembly Recipes¶
Turn components into final items.
Examples:
- spear
- brigandine coat
- ration pack
- medicine satchel
- cart axle
Finishing Recipes¶
Apply coatings, bindings, dyes, enchants, lacquers, preservatives, or pack treatments.
Retrofit Recipes¶
Upgrade or specialize an existing item without fully replacing it.
Repair Recipes¶
Restore condition using the same structural materials that helped create the item in the first place.
Item Quality Model¶
Avoid a simple white-green-blue-purple ladder as the main crafting model. Use a system based on:
- craftsmanship quality
- material quality
- property synergy
- workshop quality
- specialization slot use
This makes a well-crafted common-material item still valuable when optimized for a task.
Material Relevance in Itemization¶
An endgame item should still contain multiple common or mid-grade components.
Examples:
- late spear still needs wood, leather wrap, metal fittings, oil, and packing materials
- elite winter armor still needs wool, felt, hide, thread, and wax even if it includes rare drake scale plates
- advanced potions still need glass, wax seals, cloth filters, salt, and solvent base
Crafted Item Categories¶
Combat Gear¶
- weapons
- shields
- armor
- ammunition
- traps
Expedition Gear¶
- tents
- rope
- packs
- torches
- climbing tools
- repair kits
- field kitchens
Survival Goods¶
- rations
- waterskins
- purification tablets
- cold-weather layers
- heat cloaks
Town and Trade Goods¶
- wagon parts
- crates and barrels
- mill components
- construction bundles
- militia supply kits
Why Old Materials Stay Useful¶
They remain useful because the whole game consumes them across several loops:
- every item recipe uses support materials
- repairs consume them constantly
- retrofits consume them repeatedly
- town projects need them in bulk
- consumables burn through them every day
- caravans and warehouses consume packaging and hardware
Recipe Knowledge¶
Recipes should unlock through:
- relevant craft skill practice
- teacher instruction or apprenticeship
- regional teachers
- town building upgrades
- monster research
- rare books or contract rewards
This gives exploration and renown value beyond raw loot.
Crafting Quality Model¶
Crafted item quality is resolved from four deterministic inputs and one probabilistic step. It is not a single random roll.
Four Quality Inputs¶
1. Material Quality Floor The lowest-quality material in a recipe sets the quality floor. If any input is Common, the finished item cannot exceed Fine without a workshop or skill boost.
| Lowest Input Quality | Base Quality Ceiling |
|---|---|
| Common | Crafted |
| Crafted | Fine |
| Fine | Superior |
| Superior | Exceptional |
| Exceptional | Masterwork |
2. Workshop Rank The workshop where the craft is completed sets an absolute ceiling. A low-rank workshop cannot produce Masterwork items regardless of skill or materials.
| Workshop Rank | Quality Ceiling |
|---|---|
| Field (improvised) | Common–Crafted |
| Basic Workshop | Crafted–Fine |
| Established Workshop | Fine–Superior |
| Advanced Workshop | Superior–Exceptional |
| Master Workshop | Exceptional–Masterwork |
Town progression raises workshop rank. Guilds can build or upgrade workshops, giving them a crafting advantage over unguilded players.
3. Crafter Skill Band
| Skill Band | Effective Quality Achieved |
|---|---|
| Untrained | Floor only |
| Familiar | Floor + 0 tiers |
| Practiced | Floor + 1 tier |
| Skilled | Floor + 1–2 tiers |
| Veteran | Floor + 2 tiers (near ceiling) |
| Expert | Ceiling −1 tier reliably |
| Master | Full ceiling; Masterwork attempt unlocked |
4. Profession Set Tier
- 2-piece: reduces material waste; no direct quality change
- 4-piece: raises effective quality ceiling by 1 tier (stacks with skill)
- 6-piece: enables a Masterwork upgrade check on Superior or higher completed items (8–10% success chance; see equipment-and-gear.md)
Worked Example¶
A Skilled smith in an Established Workshop using Fine iron and Fine ashwood, wearing a 4-piece Smithing set: - Material floor: Fine → base ceiling: Superior - Workshop ceiling: Superior - Skill: Skilled = Floor +1–2 tiers → approaches Superior - Set 4-piece: ceiling +1 → Exceptional now reachable - Likely result: Superior; meaningful chance of Exceptional - Masterwork: not reachable without Master skill and Master Workshop
Recipe Structure and Material Permanence¶
Every recipe is divided by input role. The role defines what function a material serves, not which specific material is required. This lets common materials stay relevant forever because they own the structural roles that no rare material ever replaces.
Weapon Recipe — Late-Game Spear¶
| Role | Required | Example Inputs | Always-Relevant Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core | Yes | iron bloom, steel billet, bone rod | Structural metal / bone |
| Frame (haft) | Yes | ashwood pole, pine shaft, ironwood shaft | Timber (permanent) |
| Binding | Yes | leather strip, sinew cord, woven wrap | Leather / cloth (permanent) |
| Temper | Yes | salt brine, whale oil, spirit flux | Salt, oil, resin (permanent) |
| Finish | Optional | wax, lacquer, dye | Wax / oil (permanent) |
| Augmentation | Optional | frost shard, drake tip, storm crystal | Rare functional material |
Even the finest late-game spear still consumes ashwood, leather, and salt. Only the augmentation slot carries the rare material. The rare material changes what the spear does — it does not replace the structural inputs.
Armor Recipe — Late-Game Plate Chest¶
| Role | Required | Example Inputs | Always-Relevant Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shell | Yes | steel plates, iron plates, drake scale | Metal (permanent) |
| Lining | Yes | wool felt, padded cloth, fur | Cloth / fur (permanent) |
| Straps and Closures | Yes | leather strap, buckle, rivets | Leather and iron (permanent) |
| Reinforcement | Optional | bone ribs, rare alloy rings | Bone / rare metal |
| Finish | Optional | wax coat, oil rub, lacquer seal | Wax / oil (permanent) |
| Rare Augmentation | Optional | void residue, mithril thread | Rare functional material |
Consumable Recipe — Advanced Healing Salve¶
| Role | Required | Example Inputs | Always-Relevant Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active Ingredient | Yes | potency-grade herb, bloom root, elder moss | Herbs (all tiers in demand) |
| Base Medium | Yes | rendered fat, purified oil, spirit base | Oil / fat (permanent) |
| Stabilizer | Yes | salt, mineral powder, binding resin | Salt / resin (permanent) |
| Container | Yes | clay vial, glass vial, wax-sealed pot | Clay, glass, wax (permanent) |
| Seal | Optional | wax seal, cloth wrap | Wax / cloth (permanent) |
A potency-grade herb upgrades the salve's effectiveness. A Common herb produces a Basic Salve. Both recipes use oil, salt, and a container regardless of herb tier.
Material Demand Permanence Table¶
Any material appearing across multiple loops is permanently in demand regardless of character progression.
| Material | Weapons | Armor | Tools | Consumables | Town Projects | Repair | Caravans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timber / planks | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Leather / straps | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cloth / thread | — | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Iron / common metal | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Salt | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Wax / oils / resins | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Fuel (coal, peat) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Bone / stone | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Clay / glass | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
Crafting Time Model¶
Crafting should be asynchronous for anything beyond trivial field work.
Instant or Near-Instant Crafts¶
- simple camp conversions
- emergency ration prep
- basic bandages
Timed Workshop Jobs¶
- weapon assembly
- tanning batches
- brewing and preservation
- town project contribution bundles
Long Craft Orders¶
- caravans
- siege kits
- masterwork gear
- major public works materials
Profession set and workshop time: workshop job duration scales with skill band and workshop rank, not with profession set bonuses. Set bonuses (waste reduction, quality lift, Masterwork check) fire at resolution time, not during the timer. This keeps skill the primary time reward.
Technical Model¶
Core Records¶
Store:
character_skill_proficiencyworkshopworkshop_capabilityrecipe_knowledgecrafting_jobitem_instanceitem_durability_statesalvage_result
Crafting Job Flow¶
- validate recipe knowledge and workshop access
- validate and reserve ingredient stacks
- resolve material floor quality from lowest-quality input
- determine workshop quality ceiling
- store seed, duration, crafter skill band snapshot, and active profession set tier
- apply completion rules at wake time:
- roll quality within floor–ceiling range weighted by skill band
- apply 4-piece set ceiling lift if active
- check 6-piece Masterwork upgrade if active and result is Superior or above
- apply waste reduction from 2-piece set (reduces off-cut material consumed)
- mint item instance or component output
- write event log for audit and economy tracking
Item Instance Design¶
Important crafted items should store:
- recipe used
- ingredient summary (material roles and quality tiers of inputs)
- property summary
- crafter identity
- quality outcome
- active profession set tier at craft time
- workshop rank at craft time
- repair material family hints (derived from ingredient summary)
Repair and Salvage¶
Repair consumes the same material families that created the item, using the repair family hints stored on the item instance. A steel sword with a leather grip is repaired with metal and leather — not a generic repair token.
Salvage returns a fraction of those same families at reduced quantity, with quality degraded by current durability:
| Item Quality | Item Durability at Salvage | Salvage Output Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Masterwork | 75–100% | Exceptional components |
| Masterwork | 25–74% | Superior components |
| Masterwork | 0–24% | Fine components |
| Superior | 75–100% | Fine to Superior components |
| Fine | Any | Crafted to Fine components |
| Crafted / Common | Any | Common components |
This gives deprecated or over-leveled gear a productive end state and keeps all material tiers circulating through the economy permanently.
Related Systems¶
- gathering and resource ecology
- material relevance and recipe structure
- markets, town demand, and public works
- expedition supply and survival