Crafting Magic Items
On Renaissance-era Sagas there is no runic reforging and no imbuing: magic items are crafted. The moment you successfully craft something from a colored material, the item rolls its magic attributes, and everything about your setup (the material, your tool, your Luck, your mastery, a pinch of Magical Essence) pushes those rolls. This page explains the whole machine; in game the craft menu's Details toggle shows the same breakdown for the recipe you are about to make.
Try it live: the Crafting Simulator
The Crafting Simulator runs everything on this page with your own numbers: pick a recipe, material, tool, luck, mastery and essence, read the exact odds of every roll, then forge a batch and watch the results land.
The magic rolls ↑ top
Magic rolls fire only when the crafting material is a colored tier (Shadow and up; plain iron, leather or wood never rolls, and gold ingots are decorative). Each item makes one primary roll, capped by the material, and one or two secondary rolls, which are not:
| You craft | Primary roll (capped by material) | Secondary rolls (uncapped) |
|---|---|---|
| Metal weapon (Blacksmithy) | Damage (Ruin … Vanquishing) | Accuracy, Durability |
| Metal armor / shield (Blacksmithy) | Protection (Defense … Invulnerability) | Durability |
| Leather armor (Tailoring) | Protection | Durability |
| Wooden weapon / shield / armor (Carpentry) | Damage / Protection | Accuracy (weapons), Durability |
| Bow or crossbow (Fletching) | Damage | Accuracy, Durability |
| Instrument (Carpentry) | Tuning (grants +5 per level to the instrument's barding skill focus) | Durability |
| Grimoire (Inscription on colored leather) | Damage | Enchantment (+5 Eval Int per level), Durability (charges) |
Colored pickaxes, hatchets and skinning knives are the odd ones out: instead of combat magic they roll an accuracy prefix that boosts the matching gathering skill; see Mining and the other gathering pages.
The roll itself: one score, five bands ↑ top
Every roll works the same way: the game draws a score between your floor and 100, and the score lands in a band:
| Score | Primary result | Secondary result |
|---|---|---|
| up to 25 | (primary rolls start at the first band) | plain |
| up to 50 / 55 | Level 1: Ruin / Defense / Tuned (≤ 50) | Level 1: Accurate / Durable (≤ 55) |
| up to 65 / 70 | Level 2: Might / Guarding | Level 2: Surpassingly / Substantial |
| up to 80 / 85 | Level 3: Force / Hardening | Level 3: Eminently / Massive |
| up to 95 | Level 4: Power / Fortification | Level 4: Exceedingly / Fortified |
| above 95 | Level 5: Vanquishing / Invulnerability | Level 5: Supremely / Indestructible |
Two consequences worth internalizing:
- Secondary rolls are never capped by the material: the score can always reach 100, whatever your floor. Even a humble Shadow Ruin blade can come out Supremely Accurate and Indestructible, and the accuracy prefix is worth real skill: +5 Tactics per level while the weapon is wielded, +25 at Supremely. That is a budget weapon swinging like a Grandmaster's. The flip side: the secondary rolls also never see the material's big floor bonus, so those top results stay a stroke of luck on any material. A better resource buys a higher damage cap, not better accuracy odds.
- The primary roll is capped by the material (a Shadow blade is Ruin no matter what the dice say, a Bronze one stops at Force), and a colored craft is never below level 1: every Shadow weapon is at least a Ruin weapon.
What raises the floor ↑ top
The floor is a sum of named terms. Raising it cuts away the low scores; the top band only becomes likely once the floor crowds the 95 line.
| Term | How much | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Crafting material | The dominant term: +8 (Shadow) / +17 / +26 / +35 / +44 (Valorite) | primary only |
| Your tool's material | Rolled fresh each craft, up to +2 (Shadow) / +4 / +7 / +9 / +12 (Valorite); see each craft page's tool table | every roll |
| Luck | Rolled each craft, 0 up to Luck ÷ 10, hard-capped at +10 (100 Luck) | primary and secondary |
| Mastery perk 2 (Runic Forge, Enchanted Weave, Runic Grain, Enchanted Fletching, and Inscription's Parchment Preservation) | +2.25 per perk level, rounded down: +2 / +4 / +6 / +9 / +11 / +13 / +15 / +18 at level 8 | primary and secondary |
| Magical Essence | Flat +10 while "Use Essence" is on; consumed only on success. Shadow 20 · Copper 40 · Bronze 60 · Verite 90 · Valorite 120 per item | primary and secondary |
Note the asymmetry: the biggest term, the crafting material, pushes only the primary roll. Secondary rolls (accuracy, durability, enchantment) run on the tool, luck, mastery and essence, which is why even a perfect setup still ships plenty of merely Durable blades.
What this means in practice ↑ top
A few exact setups, straight from the roll engine (the simulator computes any other):
- GM smith, Valorite ingots, plain iron hammer, no luck, no mastery, no essence (floor 44): about 12% Ruin, 26% each Might / Force / Power, 9% Vanquishing.
- The full stack (Valorite ingots and hammer, 100 Luck, perk level 8, essence burning; floor 74–94): 0% below Force, ~66% Power, ~31% Vanquishing. The junk tiers are simply gone.
- Durability with no boosters: ~26% plain, ~30% Durable, ~5% Indestructible. That never changes with the crafting material; the tool, luck, mastery and essence move it (a Valorite tool alone: ~19% Substantial or better instead of ~15%).
Exceptional quality is a separate, independent roll. It never touches the magic rolls, and they never touch it: exceptional improves the base item (+10% weapon damage, +15% armor rating, +20% maximum durability), the magic rolls make it magical, and the best items are both. The exceptional formula (success chance minus a skill-dependent penalty, plus tool, mastery and town bonuses) is on the Crafting Overview.
On top of the rolls: slayers and fortunes ↑ top
- With the crafting mastery's template perk (Baneforged and kin, Inscription's Scribe's Fortitude), every exceptional weapon, armor, shield or grimoire crafted from colored material has a 0.4% chance per perk level (3.2% at level 8) to come out a random Slayer.
- The mastery ultimate (the Fortunes) fires on successful crafts and can refund materials, gild a piece into a golden armor part or enchant a charged magic weapon; see Skill Masteries.
Checklist for the perfect craft ↑ top
- Best material you can work: it sets the cap and the biggest floor term.
- A colored tool: up to +12 floor and up to +25% exceptional chance (every craft page tables its tool).
- 100 Luck on your crafting suit: the full +10 costs nothing per craft.
- Mastery perk 2 at 8: the single largest boostable term (+18), plus perk 1 for exceptional and the template perk for slayers.
- Essence on for the crafts that matter: +10 more, at a price.
- Craft in a town with a matching bonus for the exceptional roll.
Then check your odds on the Crafting Simulator, or forge a few thousand and see for yourself.
Related ↑ top
- Crafting Simulator: this whole page, live
- Crafting Overview: success, exceptional and the material ladder
- Skill Masteries: the crafting quartet's perks
- Magic Item Recycler: turning the misses back into essence
- Luck: building a 100-Luck crafting suit