40d:Item quality

Also see Item designations.

All items in the game have a base value, which is multiplied by what material the item is made of and by the item's quality. Decorations (such as bone, gems, and studding) further increase the value.

Item quality can have an effect on an item's properties, especially armor and weapons.

Quality grades

All crafted items (furniture, armor, bolts, etc.) – but not intermediate materials (bars, blocks, etc. except cloth, which does have quality levels) – are bracketed by characters that show the quality of their craftsdwarfship. Dyeing also has a quality level, as does Decorating/Encrusting (with gems, leathers, cloth, etc). Prepared foods have quality levels. Alcohol has a hidden quality rating that controls the amount of happiness a dwarf gets from drinking it. It is not yet known whether the damage or destruction of masterful alcohol can cause tantrums.

Designation	Description	Value Modifier	Damage / To-Hit / Armor Modifier
Item Name	—	×1	×1.0
-Item Name-	Well-crafted	×2	×1.2
+Item Name+	Finely-crafted	×3	×1.4
*Item Name*	Superior quality	×4	×1.6
≡Item Name≡	Exceptional	×5	×1.8
☼Item Name☼	Masterful	×12	×2.0
Unique name	Artifact	×120	×2.0?*

(* An analysis of game memory indicates a base multiplier of 2.0, however observational reports (and some other elements of the game code) imply that the multiplier might be (significantly?) higher. As it stands, it's not perfectly clear - more research is needed.)

Masterpiece

A masterpiece is more than the highest normal quality and value - it is an artistic expression that is of great importance to the dwarf who created it.

When a masterful quality item is created, the game will announce, "<dwarf> has created a masterpiece!" The loss, destruction or theft of such a masterpiece will cause the dwarf that created it a very unhappy thought. Trading a masterpiece item to merchants is always safe. Masterpiece meals can be eaten safely, although allowing the food to rot will provoke the same response as theft or destruction. Using masterpiece bolts will not cause a tantrum, even if the bolts break - however, losing a bolt, even one left on the battlefield, will. So if a kobold or wild animal steals a used masterpiece bolt which was lying around, or misses its target and falls into the chasm or is melted by "the impertinent magma", this also counts as defacement, and the maker's mood will decrease (but not as much as might be - see below).

The magnitude of the unhappy thought is equal to 1000 divided by the number of masterworks the dwarf has created^[Verify]. So an engraver with hundreds of masterwork images on the walls of the fortress or a bonecarver with several dozen masterpiece bone bolts will be merely irked by the destruction of one of their many masterworks, while a dwarf who has only made a single masterwork item would be deeply and significantly affected.

Since legendary dwarves are most likely to be the ones creating masterpieces, keeping these creations safe should be high priority; tantruming legendary dwarves can be very difficult to subdue.

Artifacts

Artifact items have a unique name instead of bracketing symbols and are worth 120x base value. Artifacts, like masterpiece items, will cause a significant mood drop in the creator when destroyed or stolen. According to inspections of the memory values, it seems that artifacts have the same quality value as masterpiece items. It is unclear if this is true for weapons/armor or not - opinions differ as to whether artifact weapons and armor have a 2.0 multiplier or something higher; nothing has been found in the game code to support such, but observation suggests otherwise.

Skill and quality levels

Tradesdwarves of different skill levels will produce items of differing quality. "Dabbling" dwarves never (without applicable preference) produce anything above a basic quality item, legendary dwarves usually produce Exceptional items, and the best legendary dwarves produce Masterful items approximately 27% of the time.

Preferences for particular materials and objects make a considerable difference. Although the exact adjustment is unknown, preliminary testing indicates that they can boost effective skill (not quality) by one to three levels (if the craftdwarf likes the item type, subtype and material).

Chance for	No quality	Well-crafted	Finely-crafted	Superior quality	Exceptional	Masterful	Average Value Multiplier	Jump in Average Value
Dabbling	100.0%						1.000
Novice	63.0%	31.4%	5.2%	0.38%	0.01%	0.000089%	1.430	0.430
No	36.4%	44.1%	16.7%	2.6%	0.16%	0.0028%	1.860	0.430
Competent	18.3%	43.8%	29.4%	7.7%	0.79%	0.022%	2.291	0.431
Skilled	6.7%	35.6%	39.4%	15.8%	2.4%	0.091%	2.725	0.434
Proficient		23.3%	44.4%	26.4%	5.6%	0.28%	3.167	0.441
Talented		15.5%	41.5%	33.3%	9.2%	0.58%	3.415	0.248
Adept		9.4%	36.3%	39.2%	14.0%	1.1%	3.674	0.259
Expert		5.0%	29.7%	43.5%	20.0%	1.8%	3.949	0.275
Professional		1.9%	22.2%	45.8%	27.2%	2.9%	4.245	0.296
Accomplished			14.4%	45.6%	35.6%	4.4%	4.567	0.322
Great			10.2%	42.4%	41.4%	5.9%	4.785	0.218
Master			6.7%	38.2%	47.4%	7.7%	5.021	0.236
High Master			3.9%	33.0%	53.3%	9.8%	5.276	0.255
Grand Master			1.6%	26.9%	59.2%	12.2%	5.552	0.276
Legendary				20.0%	65.0%	15.0%	5.850	0.298
Legendary+1				15.7%	67.2%	17.1%	6.037	0.187
Legendary+2				11.6%	69.1%	19.3%	6.233	0.195
Legendary+3				7.6%	70.8%	21.6%	6.436	0.203
Legendary+4				3.7%	72.2%	24.1%	6.647	0.211
Legendary+5					73.3%	26.7%	6.867	0.219

The above table is based on the formula discovered by 0x517A5D:

First, a skill level is computed, directly related to the dabbling...legendary indicators and likes of the particular crafter. No skill or dabbling is 0, legendary is 15. It is capped at 20.

Item quality is set to 0.

Then dice are rolled. Each roll is independent; all rolls are made even if a previous roll fails.

• If d5 < skill level, quality is bumped.
• If d10 < skill level, quality is bumped.
• If d15 < skill level, quality is bumped.
• If d20 < skill level, quality is bumped.
• If d25 < skill level and d3 == 1, quality is bumped.

This gives the 6 quality levels (0 to 5).

According to inspections of the memory values, it seems that artifacts have a quality of 5.

Effect of quality on weapon skill ^{v0.23.130.23a}

To quote Toady:

The quality of any weapon, including crossbows used as launchers, affects the skill of the shooter. I think this even leads to obscene things like master crossbows + master bolts causing recruits to shoot like legends. In general, if the quality Q is from 0 to 5, the skill is modified according to

Skill_new = Skill_original × (1.0 + 0.2 × Q) + Q

This is pretty extreme and will probably be reduced for all weapons.

while equipped with a single masterpiece weapon, dwarves have skill increase to Accomplished, not Legendary. Still, the bonus is way too high. See this chart for the exact levels:

Note: This chart is out of date/wrong due to the facts that the integer that represents a specific skill level is not known, how the formula rounds is not known, and the fact that higher legendaries exist is known.

Result for	Well-crafted	Finely-crafted	Superior quality	Exceptional	Masterful
Dabbling	No label	Skilled	Talented	Expert	Accomplished
Novice	Competent	Proficient	Expert	Accomplished	Master
No label	Skilled	Adept	Professional	Master	Grand Master
Competent	Talented	Expert	Great	High Master	Legendary
Skilled	Adept	Accomplished	Master	Legendary	Legendary
Proficient	Expert	Great	Grand Master	Legendary	Legendary
Talented	Professional	Master	Legendary	Legendary	Legendary
Adept	Accomplished	Grand Master	Legendary	Legendary	Legendary
Expert	Master	Legendary	Legendary	Legendary	Legendary
Professional	High Master	Legendary	Legendary	Legendary	Legendary
Accomplished	Grand Master	Legendary	Legendary	Legendary	Legendary
Great and better	Legendary	Legendary	Legendary	Legendary	Legendary

If this is true, then it would be possible to:

1. Train a couple dozen skilled miners
2. Give them exceptional picks
3. Draft them and give them decent armor
4. Kill a goblin siege with a couple dozen legendary speardwarves (picks = 70% damage spears) as long as there are no enemy champions to destroy your armour/shield/wrestling inept speardwarves