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Item Quality
August 6, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Initial version (2026-08-07)
Quality is a modifier that sits on top of an item's base stats. Two identical iron swords can perform noticeably differently depending on how well they were made, which turns crafting skill into something with a measurable payoff rather than a cosmetic one.
Items sit at one of four levels: no quality, which is the default, then Low, Medium, and High. What it takes to reach each level depends on the item type and on how it was made.
Quality also affects storage. Items of different quality do not stack together, so a chest holding low, medium, and high versions of the same sword uses three inventory slots rather than one. On a long campaign that adds up.
All bronze and iron tools and weapons can carry a quality level.
Level | Damage | Durability Gain | Efficiency Gain |
|---|---|---|---|
Low | Plus 10 percent of base damage | Plus 33 percent over the previous level | Plus 25 percent over the previous level |
Medium | Plus 20 percent of base damage | Plus 50 percent over the previous level | Plus 20 percent over the previous level |
High | Plus 30 percent of base damage | Plus 100 percent over the previous level | Plus 50 percent over the previous level |
Damage scales evenly at ten percentage points per level. Durability and efficiency do not: both take their largest single jump at High, where durability doubles again on top of everything below it. A high quality pickaxe therefore lasts far longer than the damage numbers alone would suggest, which matters most for tools used in long sessions.
All types of armour can carry quality.
Level | Damage Mitigation | Durability |
|---|---|---|
Low | Plus 10 percent of base mitigation | Increased |
Medium | Plus 20 percent of base mitigation | Increased further |
High | Plus 30 percent of base mitigation | Increased further again |
Because mitigation in combat is applied multiplicatively across pieces, quality on armour compounds across a full set rather than adding up in a straight line. A complete set of high quality armour is meaningfully tougher than the per-piece figure suggests.
Food quality raises how much hunger a meal restores, by ten, twenty, or thirty percent for low, medium and high. It does not improve health regeneration over time, so a better meal keeps a player fed longer but does not heal them faster. That distinction matters when planning what to carry on a campaign: quality food saves inventory space rather than acting as a substitute for treatment.
Quality is produced during crafting, and not every production route can produce it. Items made at town structures without a personal workshop come out with no quality at all, which is the tradeoff for being able to craft without owning a homestead. Powered equipment also plays a part: a heating vat with a bellow attached reaches higher temperatures and allows higher quality boiled items than one worked by hand.
