Black Smithing
Though there are many professions one could practice within the world, there is one career which has been at the core of most capable civilizations: that of the blacksmith. Wielding trusted hammer and pliers, smithies provide their customers, friends or armies with the armaments to protect their homes and repel those who would cause them harm. In parts of the world where weapons and armor are as vital to survival as food and drink, knowing how to work the anvil is a surefire way to prolong one's life.
A Technical trisection (Tier 1)
In order to perform any meaningful smithing-work, a would-be blacksmith needs a firm grasp of the three specific practices that make up smithing: mining, forging, and reforging. Mining is the act of collecting ore, which is then used to either forge new weapons or armor, or reforge existing gear to improve it. In order to perform any of these skills, proficiency with the smiths tools is required.
Mining
Throughout the world, a large number of minerals and metals can be found, each with their own unique properties. Before anything of worth can be created, these rocks will have to be dug up. A pickaxe is required for this task, as well as a minimum of 12 strength.
Digging for ore
How to Increase In Mining Skill
| Roll: | Rewards |
|---|---|
| 1-5 | 1 chunk(s) of ore |
| 6-10 | 2 chunk(s) of ore |
| 11-15 | 3 chunk(s) of ore |
| 16-20 | 4 chunk(s) of ore |
| 20+ | 5 chunk(s) of ore |
Smelting
Though most mined ores can be directly used in weapons and armour once molten, there are five types of materials that are smelted down from different types of ore first. In total, 19 different types of materials exist that a smith can use, each of them granting specific features to any gear made from it.
All of the materials are laid out in the Refined Materials Table down below. They all require a forge to be smelted, and with the exception of the five hand-made materials - Bronze, Composite Glass, and the three types of Steel - a single bar of each material is always made from a single chunk of ore of the same type, and the weights of ore are similar to those of refined materials.
Both 'White Sand' and 'Charcoal' have been intentionally left unspecified: it is up to the DM whether to make these kinds of items purchasable and cheap or hard to find/create within their universe.
Tier 4
You have proven worthy to train under a master. Continue to expand your knowledge and create many tools in order to prove yourself worthy to become a master.
Forging
Once ores of a specific type have been obtained a smith can proceed to forge their own equipment. Since mixing materials would create impurities in the object being forged, gear can only be created by working a specific number of the same type of ore. Additionally, smiths can not create all pieces of gear; leather armor, for example, would require different knowledge instead. The Forgeable Object Table below illustrates what objects a smith can make, and how many chunks of ore are required to make each object. Note that in order to craft anything at all, a smith requires smiths tools and access to an anvil. on the next page illustrates what objects a smith can make, and how many chunks of ore are required to make each object. Note that in order to craft anything at all, a smith requires smiths tools and access to an anvil.
Peculiar Outcomes
Whenever an object is forged, it behaves differently based on the material that was used to create it. A Copper Chain Shirt, for example, is fairly brittle, and as such suffers a penalty of -2 AC; meaning it provides an AC of 11 + Dex Modifier (max 2), rather than the 13 + Dex Modifier (max 2) that a regular Steel Chain Shirt would have. An Obsidium Chain Shirt, on the other hand, provides a bonus of +1 AC instead, meaning it would have an AC of 14 + Dex Modifier (max 2 as well as giving the wearer Fire resistance.
Almost all materials can be used to create either weapons, armour or shields - the only two exceptions to this rule are Dragon Scale and Spring Steel. The former of these can only be used to create Scale Mail armour, and not for weapons or shields. Spring Steel is used primarily for mechanical contraptions that require small gears and similar furnishings. The multitude of effects granted to a weapon, armour or shield crafted with a certain material is presented in the Forged Gear Table on the next page.
Forging table as well as the Peculiar Outcomes table can be found: here
Tier 5
You have become a master, increasing in skill and being able to tinker with your own weapons now.
Reforging
Aside from being able to create their own gear, smiths also have the capability to reforge existing equipment, improving an object's capability. Whether a simple shield spike or a complex swordbreaker pattern on a dagger, anything that makes a weapon or shield better counts as a reforge.
Reforges are also weapon-specific, meaning that not every improvement will work on every weapon. In order to figure out what would upgrade a weapon of a specific type, a character has to spend a long rest either using, or watching another character use a weapon, while paying close attention to how it functions. Additionally, they have to be aware of the existence of the specific type of metal required for the reforge: a character unaware that Calorium can be found in the world will not be able to come up with an improvement that requires it.
The Reforging table below holds all possible upgrades, along with an indication of the materials required for them and their effects. A weapon can only benefit from one upgrade at a time, while shields may have multiple.
Molding and shaping
In addition to the above improvements, more talented smiths are generally also capable of enhancing weapons in other various smaller ways. This includes silvering them, at the cost of a silver ore per weapon. Other options are - at the DM's discretion - the ability to completely reforge one magical weapon into one of another type without losing its magical properties, or using a whetstone to temporarily improve the damage or chance to hit of slashing and piercing weapons.
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