Of smithing and grime and sweat

by Janus Xanathis, Necrobane (Tunare server)

(DenMom's note: the skill progression used in this guide is noticeably out of date. However, this is kept as a historical record of the very early days of smithing in EQ)

There are books you can read, and other documents to view that can tell you HOW to use the skill of the hammer and the forge. I am not going to do that today. What I am going to do is tell you WHAT to make when your body is layered in sweat and grime, and the smoke of the bellows is against your face. If you follow this plan, you shall have the skill to create the armor that everyone wants, in only as long as your gold holds true. For once you start selling the armor... gold is not something you need to want for again.

First off, let me tell you this. To walk on the road to become a master of this skill requires much time, and a greater amount of gold. Unlike skills such as baking, or jewelcraft, in which you can start to recoup some of your gold loss at a lower skill, you cannot do that with the hammer and the forge.

How many people do you know of walking around town shouting for skewers, or metal bits?

Exactly.

But as I said above, once you get the skill to start creating the banded armor that sells so well, you will start to gain your gold back, and you shall get many an order for more.

With that said, what is the quickest road to gaining the skill to become an armor-smith, you ask? Well, I shall tell you.

The easiest jump, on the road to creating glorious armor, is to save up your trainings for four levels. Once you have all twenty trainings, dump them all into Smithing. Since you won't have the skill to kill the monsters that have the loot that you can sell for the amount of gold you'll need... until you are in the low teens... saving up the trainings shouldn't be a problem.

But, if for some reason, you need all of your trainings, there are other ways to get to the twentieth level of skill.

Two to be exact.

You sharpen the rusty weapons that are taken from the dead hands of monsters that hold them... or you make the metal bits that are needed for some of the later items.

I don't want to replace the part of the book, but, some basics to know when you are doing anything with the forge.

NEVER stack anything in it. If it calls for multiples of something that stacks, put them in different slots.

The last item you will always be placing in the forge, is a flask of water. Hunting down madmen in the desert of Ro is a good way to gain the huge amounts of water that you will need for this skill. Whether you are making metal bits, or a banded helm... each step of the way has a single flask of water as the last item to place in the forge.

Also, no matter if you succeed, or fail, when you are using the forge ... All items you place in it will be lost. If you succeeded, you will have the item you were creating. If you failed, you have nothing, but some more skill on the road to becoming a hammer master.

Once you have been ranked as having a skill of the twentieth level, you will see the message that making the metal bits, or sharpening the weapons is beneath you. It's quite uppity to tell you this, but what it means is that you will gain no more learning from doing these tasks. So, you now switch over to making a different item....

A metal sheet.

But can't you buy those, you ask? Why yes, you can, and they are about the same price, if not lower, to buy then they are to make. So when you are making the more difficult items that require the sheets to make, simply buy the sheets, that way you don't have to worry about the random failure in making them. BUT... they are the easiest thing to make to get you up the ladder of skill at this point. Making metal sheets will get you to rank fifty in smithy. Again, you will fail, more then you succeed at first... and you will make a LOT of sheets by the time you get to fifty. But a good note is that you can sell them back to the vendors that you are buying the parts that you need to make them from. You won't get back all of your money... maybe half... maybe three quarters... but it's still something back.

Once you get to the level in which the metal sheets are gaining you no skill... what should you make next?

Banded Armor?

Sadly... not yet. You can try... and you will fail... greatly. And you may be able to make a piece every twenty or thirty tries. But your learning will not go up that fast, and the money you will loose will be insane.

The next item that we go to create is the skewer. This is another item in which you can sell it back to the vendor and you will make some of your money back. At this point down the road of the hammer and forge, you are spending quite a bit of money per item to create. Skewers are not that bad, overall. Only a gold, or so, for each mold, and then the amount it takes to make the metal bits you need, and a single water. You don't get nearly that much back when you sell them, but every little bit helps.

How high can making skewers get you? I, myself, don't quite know. As of this writing, I have been listed as having a skill of eighty in smithy. It has yet to tell me that skewers are below my skill, but I expect to see the message any time now. I shall update this document when I find that information out.

If you are at eighty... NOW are you going to try to make the banded armor?

Aye. You can.

I, so far, have been able to make five banded helms, and two banded shirts. The shirts I did at with my skill of eighty. Two tries per shirt. I know I was lucky to only have a single failure per item. But it goes to show you that having the patience to walk the long road will pay off. With the going rate being about forty plat for a shirt, if not more... You can see that even with a few failures per item, you will be making your gold back, and more.

Don't just worry about getting to the skill to make banded, and stopping there. There are rumors around that smiths shall soon have the ability to start to make plate, or a type of plate armor. I have also heard that you are going to need a skill up around one hundred and thirty, if not more, if you want to pull this off.

All I can say is... start making your banded wares... and continue to make them.

Also... out of any of the skills... none are as physically rewarding as this one. Having spent hours over the hot coals, pounding away with your hammer... and creating an item that will help save someone from those extra slices and blows... is also a very good feeling to have.

Of course, so is feeling the weight of your purse after you just sold off a full suit to someone.

Created: 2003-05-09 02:12:01          
Last Modified By: EQTC Editor Krazick          
Last Modified on: 2003-05-09 02:12:01          


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