- v50 information can now be added to pages in the main namespace. v0.47 information can still be found in the DF2014 namespace. See here for more details on the new versioning policy.
- Use this page to report any issues related to the migration.
23a:Item quality
| This article is about an older version of DF. |
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.
Rooms also have a "quality grade" which determines their value in the eyes of those owning/using the room, which is the sum of the objects placed within their designated area plus the materials that surround it plus improvements (such as engraving) to those materials. See room for a more complete discussion of these values, and How do I increase the value of a room for a complete list of options.
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 (with gems, leathers, cloth, etc). Prepared foods have quality levels. Alcohol supposedly 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 drastically.
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 (as was discovered the hard way in Boatmurdered).
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 higher skill levels will tend to produce items of higher quality. Looking at the table below, we see that "Dabbling" dwarves never (without an applicable preference) produce anything above a basic "no quality" item, Proficient dwarves (the highest possible skill level at embark) always produce at least some quality and usually +Finely Crafted items+, while legendary dwarves usually (65% of the time) produce ≡Exceptional items≡, and the best legendary dwarves produce nothing less than ≡Exceptional≡ and produce ☼Masterful items☼ approximately 27% of the time.
Preferences for particular materials and/or objects make a considerable difference in the odds of producing better quality items - specifically, matching item preferences and matching material preferences each provide a +1 skill level boost, possibly beyond Legendary+5.
| Lvl | Skill of dwarf | No quality | -Well-crafted- | +Finely-crafted+ | *Superior quality* | ≡Exceptional≡ | ☼Masterful☼ | Average Value Multiplier |
Jump in Average Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Dabbling | 100.0% | 1.000 | ||||||
| 1 | Novice | 63.0% | 31.4% | 5.2% | 0.38% | 0.01% | 0.000089% | 1.430 | 0.430 |
| 2 | Adequate | 36.4% | 44.1% | 16.7% | 2.6% | 0.16% | 0.0028% | 1.860 | 0.430 |
| 3 | Competent | 18.3% | 43.8% | 29.4% | 7.7% | 0.79% | 0.022% | 2.291 | 0.431 |
| 4 | Skilled | 6.7% | 35.6% | 39.4% | 15.8% | 2.4% | 0.091% | 2.725 | 0.434 |
| 5 | Proficient* | 23.3% | 44.4% | 26.4% | 5.6% | 0.28% | 3.167 | 0.441 | |
| 6 | Talented | 15.5% | 41.5% | 33.3% | 9.2% | 0.58% | 3.415 | 0.248 | |
| 7 | Adept | 9.4% | 36.3% | 39.2% | 14.0% | 1.1% | 3.674 | 0.259 | |
| 8 | Expert | 5.0% | 29.7% | 43.5% | 20.0% | 1.8% | 3.949 | 0.275 | |
| 9 | Professional | 1.9% | 22.2% | 45.8% | 27.2% | 2.9% | 4.245 | 0.296 | |
| 10 | Accomplished | 14.4% | 45.6% | 35.6% | 4.4% | 4.567 | 0.322 | ||
| 11 | Great | 10.2% | 42.4% | 41.4% | 5.9% | 4.785 | 0.218 | ||
| 12 | Master | 6.7% | 38.2% | 47.4% | 7.7% | 5.021 | 0.236 | ||
| 13 | High Master | 3.9% | 33.0% | 53.3% | 9.8% | 5.276 | 0.255 | ||
| 14 | Grand Master | 1.6% | 26.9% | 59.2% | 12.2% | 5.552 | 0.276 | ||
| 15 | Legendary | 20.0% | 65.0% | 15.0% | 5.850 | 0.298 | |||
| 16 | Legendary+1 | 15.7% | 67.2% | 17.1% | 6.037 | 0.187 | |||
| 17 | Legendary+2 | 11.6% | 69.1% | 19.3% | 6.233 | 0.195 | |||
| 18 | Legendary+3 | 7.6% | 70.8% | 21.6% | 6.436 | 0.203 | |||
| 19 | Legendary+4 | 3.7% | 72.2% | 24.1% | 6.647 | 0.211 | |||
| 20 | Legendary+5 | 73.3% | 26.7% | 6.867 | 0.219 |
- (* Proficient is the highest level a dwarf can have at embark.)
- (The above table is based on the formula discovered by 0x517A5D)
The math behind the curtain
The in-game calculations to determine final quality of a product work like this: first, a skill level is computed, directly related to the dabbling through legendary+5 indicators and preferences of the particular crafter. "No skill" or dabbling is 0, proficient is 5, legendary is 15, etc. Skill levels are capped at 20 (so Legendary +5 don't appear to produce Masterpieces more often in their preferences).
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 of final product 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.
Effects of Quality
Most obviously, quality influences the monetary worth of an object, for purposes of trading and determining price (the latter once economy starts). Destruction of a masterwork will also cause relevant unhappiness. However, for some items, quality may also influence other things.
Note that this is not a complete list.
Food
Higher quality prepared meals give dwarfs who consume them more happiness.
Furniture
Because room quality is based on total value of the furniture in a room, high-quality furniture will result in high quality rooms, which provide more satisfaction for the occupants.
Weapons
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
Skillnew = Skilloriginal × (1.0 + 0.2 × Q) + Q
This is pretty extreme and will probably be reduced for all weapons.
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:
- Train a couple dozen skilled miners
- Give them exceptional picks
- Draft them and give them decent armor
- 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