Forging at the anvil
A smith trained in Metalcraft forges weapons, armour, and tools at an anvil from metal stock. How well a piece comes out is under Crafting.
You need:
- Skill: Metalcraft. Dwarves and duergar start with it, a craftsperson may take the Smith trade, and a commoner may have it as their trade (others: Which skills you start with). Eadric the smith in Cēaptūn teaches it for 2000 gold.
- Stock: ingots of metal, bought, found, or salvaged.
- Place: beside an anvil: in Eadric’s smithy in Cēaptūn, or in a forge in a dungeon.
Forging a weapon
Stand beside an anvil, open Metalcraft…, and choose a weapon. You then choose, one list at a time:
- The metal: the stacks of ingots you carry that the weapon may be made of, each with how many it takes. A stack with too few is greyed out “too few”.
- The haft, for a spear or a javelin: billets of wood. A smith needs wood for these too, so the recipe is greyed out “no wood to hand” without it.
- A gem for the ornament (a pommel, an inlay), if the recipe has one: a cut gem you carry, or
None (press
-). An uncut gem cannot be set.
Esc goes back a step and keeps what you chose there. After the last choice you are asked to confirm, with the weapon named as it will be made: “Forge a ruby-pommelled mithril short sword? It uses 2 mithril ingots and the ruby, at the anvil, and takes about 1 hour.”
The weapon takes the metal you chose, so its name, weight, worth, and blows are that metal’s: a mithril blade is lighter. A set gem adds its worth. The weapon you make is identified: you know your own work.
Forging takes the recipe’s time. Anything that would stop a rest stops it; then nothing is spent but the time. Every finished piece of work may train the craft’s skill, Metalcraft or Woodcraft, whatever came of it.
Forging armour and tools
At the anvil a smith also forges armour: mail and plate, metal shields and helmets, gauntlets, and iron-shod boots. The smith forges tools too: a lantern of iron or brass, a pick-axe, and a mattock. You choose the metal and, for a buckler, a tower shield, or a helm, a gem, just as for a weapon. The leather of a boot, a lantern’s glass, and a pick’s haft cost nothing.
Metal is priced by weight, so mail is costly. A chain mail shirt weighs 11 kg and takes 22 ingots and two hours. A suit of plate weighs 22 kg and takes 44 ingots and four hours, and it is listed only from Metalcraft 60. A salvaged suit gives back half: a chain shirt gives 11 ingots.
A stone pick or mattock needs no forge. It is a digger’s first tool, knapped by hand from blocks of stone or flint with Woodcraft and a knife, like the hand-made weapons.
Some things are never made. Candles are bought, since nobody works wax. Rope is cloth, which no craft works yet. Keys only open the locks they were made for. Household goods can only be salvaged.
The Metalcraft recipes
| Recipe | Makes | Chosen | Takes | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrowheads | 20 | the item: metal | an iron ingot | anvil |
| Buckler | 1 | the item: metal; a gem may be set | 3 iron ingots | anvil |
| Dagger | 1 | the weapon: metal; a gem may be set | a steel ingot | anvil |
| Hand axe | 1 | the weapon: metal | 3 iron ingots | anvil |
| Javelin | 1 | head: metal; haft: wood | an iron ingot; 4 wood billets | anvil |
| Knife | 1 | the weapon: metal | a steel ingot | anvil |
| Lantern | 1 | the item: metal | an iron ingot | anvil |
| Leather cap | 1 | the item: metal | 3 steel ingots | anvil |
| Mace | 1 | the weapon: metal | 5 iron ingots | anvil |
| Smelt | 1 | the item: lumps of iron ore | uses up a lump of iron ore | anvil |
| Spear | 1 | head: metal; haft: wood; a gem may be set | an iron ingot; 7 wood billets | anvil |
| Stiletto | 1 | the weapon: metal | a steel ingot | anvil |
| Gauntlets | 1 | the item: metal | 2 iron ingots | anvil |
| Iron helm | 1 | the item: metal; a gem may be set | 3 iron ingots | anvil |
| Iron-shod boots | 1 | the item: metal | 4 iron ingots | anvil |
| Morning star | 1 | the weapon: metal | 6 iron ingots | anvil |
| Pick-axe | 1 | the item: metal | 6 iron ingots | anvil |
| Short sword | 1 | the weapon: metal; a gem may be set | 2 steel ingots | anvil |
| Small shield | 1 | the item: metal | 13 steel ingots | anvil |
| War hammer | 1 | the weapon: metal | 5 iron ingots | anvil |
| Battle axe | 1 | the weapon: metal | 5 iron ingots | anvil |
| Large shield | 1 | the item: metal | 30 steel ingots | anvil |
| Long sword | 1 | blade: metal; a gem may be set | 3 steel ingots | anvil |
| Mattock | 1 | the item: metal | 9 iron ingots | anvil |
| Maul | 1 | the weapon: metal | 12 iron ingots | anvil |
| Scimitar | 1 | the weapon: metal; a gem may be set | 3 steel ingots | anvil |
| Trident | 1 | the weapon: metal | 4 iron ingots | anvil |
| Chain mail | 1 | the item: metal | 22 iron ingots | anvil |
| Glaive | 1 | the weapon: metal; a gem may be set | 10 iron ingots | anvil |
| Great axe | 1 | the weapon: metal | 10 iron ingots | anvil |
| Great helm | 1 | the item: metal; a gem may be set | 6 steel ingots | anvil |
| Rapier | 1 | the weapon: metal; a gem may be set | 2 steel ingots | anvil |
| Scale mail | 1 | the item: metal | 28 iron ingots | anvil |
| Tower shield | 1 | the item: metal; a gem may be set | 24 iron ingots | anvil |
| Banded mail | 1 | the item: metal | 34 steel ingots | anvil |
| Great sword | 1 | the weapon: metal; a gem may be set | 7 steel ingots | anvil |
| Halberd | 1 | the weapon: metal; a gem may be set | 11 iron ingots | anvil |
| Plate armour | 1 | the item: metal | 44 steel ingots | anvil |
The skill each is listed from, how long it takes, and how hard it is:
| Recipe | Listed from | Time | Difficulty | Made at Metalcraft 50 / 100 / 200 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrowheads | 0 | 10 minutes (600 s) | 10 (-1 work) | 96% / 99% / 99% |
| Buckler | 0 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 11 (-1 work) | 93% / 99% / 99% |
| Dagger | 0 | 30 minutes (1800 s) | 11 | 90% / 99% / 99% |
| Hand axe | 0 | 30 minutes (1800 s) | 11 (-1 work) | 93% / 99% / 99% |
| Javelin | 0 | 20 minutes (1200 s) | 10 (-1 work) | 96% / 99% / 99% |
| Knife | 0 | 20 minutes (1200 s) | 10 | 93% / 99% / 99% |
| Lantern | 0 | 30 minutes (1800 s) | 10 (-1 work) | 96% / 99% / 99% |
| Leather cap | 0 | 30 minutes (1800 s) | 11 | 90% / 99% / 99% |
| Mace | 0 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 11 (-1 work) | 93% / 99% / 99% |
| Smelt | 0 | 10 minutes (600 s) | 8 | 98% / 99% / 99% |
| Spear | 0 | 30 minutes (1800 s) | 11 (-1 work) | 93% / 99% / 99% |
| Stiletto | 0 | 30 minutes (1800 s) | 11 | 90% / 99% / 99% |
| Gauntlets | 10 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 12 (-1 work) | 90% / 99% / 99% |
| Iron helm | 10 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 12 (-1 work) | 90% / 99% / 99% |
| Iron-shod boots | 10 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 12 (-1 work) | 90% / 99% / 99% |
| Morning star | 10 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 12 (-1 work) | 90% / 99% / 99% |
| Pick-axe | 10 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 12 (-1 work) | 90% / 99% / 99% |
| Short sword | 10 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 12 | 85% / 98% / 99% |
| Small shield | 10 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 12 | 85% / 98% / 99% |
| War hammer | 10 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 12 (-1 work) | 90% / 99% / 99% |
| Battle axe | 20 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 13 (-1 work) | 85% / 98% / 99% |
| Large shield | 20 | 1 hour and 30 minutes (5400 s) | 13 | 81% / 96% / 99% |
| Long sword | 20 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 13 | 81% / 96% / 99% |
| Mattock | 20 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 13 (-1 work) | 85% / 98% / 99% |
| Maul | 20 | 1 hour and 30 minutes (5400 s) | 13 (-1 work) | 85% / 98% / 99% |
| Scimitar | 20 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 13 | 81% / 96% / 99% |
| Trident | 20 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 13 (-1 work) | 85% / 98% / 99% |
| Chain mail | 30 | 2 hours (7200 s) | 14 (-1 work) | 81% / 96% / 99% |
| Glaive | 30 | 1 hour and 30 minutes (5400 s) | 14 (-1 work) | 81% / 96% / 99% |
| Great axe | 30 | 1 hour and 30 minutes (5400 s) | 14 (-1 work) | 81% / 96% / 99% |
| Great helm | 30 | 1 hour and 30 minutes (5400 s) | 14 | 75% / 93% / 99% |
| Rapier | 30 | 1 hour (3600 s) | 14 | 75% / 93% / 99% |
| Scale mail | 30 | 2 hours (7200 s) | 14 (-1 work) | 81% / 96% / 99% |
| Tower shield | 30 | 2 hours (7200 s) | 14 (-1 work) | 81% / 96% / 99% |
| Banded mail | 40 | 3 hours (10800 s) | 15 | 69% / 90% / 99% |
| Great sword | 40 | 1 hour and 30 minutes (5400 s) | 15 | 69% / 90% / 99% |
| Halberd | 40 | 1 hour and 30 minutes (5400 s) | 15 (-1 work) | 75% / 93% / 99% |
| Plate armour | 60 | 4 hours (14400 s) | 17 | 54% / 81% / 96% |
Stock is counted in pieces of the base material (an ingot is 500 g of steel). Another material takes as many pieces of its own: a mithril ingot is lighter, and so is the blade made of it. The difficulty adds the base material’s work where it has one; another material adds its own instead (see the table of work above). A batch’s stock is what the most it can make weighs, for a maker untrained in the skill; a smaller batch takes less, and one piece always covers at least one. The last column is the chance the work comes out at all (for a batch, all of it), with an average stat.
See also: Crafting, Making things by hand, and Materials.