Smithing guide
This guide explains what the Smithing skill and every Smithing perk really do in game v1.5.7: refining and smelting recipes, stamina at the forge, unlocking new weapon parts, the chance of Fine, Masterwork and Legendary weapons, relations from crafting orders, selling your crafted weapons, and the attribute and damage perks. Sharpened Edge and Sharpened Tip are read by SandBox's strike magnitude model; NavalDLC extends the armor and strike magnitude models. StoryMode adds no Smithing effects. Sharpened Edge and Sharpened Tip carry the tooltip line "Reduced effect at sea"; the line is not counted as a difference between tooltip and game. Exact formulas, edge cases and links to the game code are in the deep dives: Crafting and trade (stamina, recipes, part research, quality, order relations, selling crafted weapons), Combat damage (Sharpened Edge and Sharpened Tip) and Characters and politics (relations, attributes and focus points). The weapon stats, design difficulty and material costs of smithing itself are in the Crafting guide and the Weapon stats and Smithing mechanics deep dives.
Who counts. Every Smithing perk except Artisan Smith is personal: it is read on the hero standing at the forge (the hero you select in the smithy), not on the party leader. A companion who smiths uses the companion's own perks and Smithing skill. Artisan Smith is read on the party leader of the party that sells. Sharpened Edge and Sharpened Tip are read on whoever wields the weapon in battle.
What the verdicts mean.
works: does what the tooltip says, or more; broader effects are noted.differs: narrower, different or extra conditions or values compared with the tooltip.unused: never read by the game.ui_only: only shown in the interface.
No Smithing perk or skill effect is unused or ui_only.
What unlocks what
Every 25 points of Smithing opens a new pair. You pick one perk of each pair; the other is locked for that hero. Tiers 8 and 11 have a single perk.
| Smithing | Perk A | Perk B |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Efficient Charcoal Maker: 3 charcoal from 2 hardwood | Efficient Iron Maker: 3 crude iron from 1 iron ore |
| 50 | Curious Smelter: double part research from smelting | Steel Maker: steel recipe |
| 75 | Curious Smith: more part research from smithing | Steel Maker 2: fine steel recipe |
| 100 | Experienced Smith: more Fine weapons; relation with notables from orders | Steel Maker 3: Thamaskene steel recipe; relation with lords from orders |
| 125 | Practical Refiner: half stamina for refining | Practical Smelter: half stamina for smelting |
| 150 | Controlled Smith: +1 Control | Vigorous Smith: +1 Vigor |
| 175 | Artisan Smith: smaller selling penalty on crafted weapons | Practical Smith: half stamina for smithing |
| 200 | Master Smith: more Masterwork weapons (no alternative) | — |
| 225 | Enduring Smith: +1 Endurance | Fencer Smith: +1 focus point to One Handed and Two Handed |
| 250 | Sharpened Edge: +2% swing damage with player-crafted weapons | Sharpened Tip: +2% thrust damage with player-crafted weapons |
| 275 | Legendary Smith: more Legendary weapons, growing above 275 (no alternative) | — |
Tier 1 (Smithing 25): Efficient Charcoal Maker or Efficient Iron Maker
Both perks change a refining recipe. Neither tooltip has a number of its own; the recipe is simply swapped.
Efficient Charcoal Maker
- Primary, 3 charcoal from 2 hardwood (personal;
works). Without the perk, refining 2 hardwood gives 1 charcoal. With it, the same recipe gives 3 charcoal instead; the old recipe is no longer offered.
Efficient Iron Maker
- Primary, 3 crude iron from 1 iron ore (personal;
works). Refining 1 iron ore normally gives 2 crude iron; with the perk it gives 3. The recipe still uses up 1 charcoal, with or without the perk.
Tier 2 (Smithing 50): Curious Smelter or Steel Maker
Curious Smelter
- Primary, +100% learning rate of new part designs when smelting (personal;
works). Smelting a weapon gives research points toward the parts of that weapon's type. The perk doubles the whole gain, including the flat 1 point.
Research from smelting = (1 + (2% of the item's value, rounded)) × (1 + Curious Smelter)
- Item's value: the value of the weapon you smelt.
- Curious Smelter: 1.0 with the perk (doubling the gain), 0 without.
- The result is cut down to a whole number.
Worked example. You smelt a weapon worth 300 with Curious Smelter:
A hero with Curious Smelter smelts a weapon worth 300, so round(0.02 x 300) = 6 value points. Inputs: smelt value points 6.
| Step | Source | Stage | Change | Running value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Part research gain from smelting | base | 7.0000 | |
| 1 | Curious Smelter | factor +100% | +7.0000 | 14.0000 |
| Result | Part research gain from smelting | 14.0000 |
With these inputs, part research gain from smelting is 14.0000.
You get 14.0000 research points for that weapon type instead of 7.0000.
Steel Maker
- Primary, steel recipe (personal;
works). Unlocks refining 2 iron into 1 steel plus 1 crude iron. The recipe also uses up 1 charcoal, which the tooltip does not mention; every refining recipe does.
Tier 3 (Smithing 75): Curious Smith or Steel Maker 2
Curious Smith
- Primary, "+100% learning rate of new part designs when smithing" (personal;
differs). Finishing a weapon gives a flat 1 research point plus a part based on the weapon's value. The perk doubles only the value part; the flat 1 point is not doubled, so the total is less than double.
Research from smithing = 1 + (10% of the item's value × (1 + Curious Smith + free build)), rounded down
- Item's value: the value of the weapon you just made.
- Curious Smith: 1.0 with the perk, 0 without.
- Free build: 0.1 when you smith in free build mode, 0 when you fill a crafting order.
Steel Maker 2
- Primary, fine steel recipe (personal;
works). Unlocks refining 2 steel into 1 fine steel plus 1 crude iron, using up 1 charcoal.
Tier 4 (Smithing 100): Experienced Smith or Steel Maker 3
Experienced Smith
- Primary, +10% chance of Fine weapons (personal;
works). The 10% is a flat 10 percentage points added to the Fine chance, not 10% of it. The game takes the same amount out of Poor, Inferior and Common in equal thirds (an entry that would drop below zero passes the rest on to the next one), leaves Masterwork and Legendary alone, and then rescales all six chances to add up to 100%. See Weapon quality. - Secondary, +2 relation with notables from crafting orders (personal;
works). After a successful crafting order from a town notable (not a lord's order, not a custom order), the hero who did the smithing gains 2 relation with the notable who placed it. It is the smith's relation, not necessarily yours. The gain then passes through the game's relation gain factor and is rounded to a whole number, like other positive relation changes.
Steel Maker 3
- Primary, Thamaskene steel recipe (personal;
works). Unlocks refining 2 fine steel into 1 Thamaskene steel plus 1 crude iron, using up 1 charcoal. - Secondary, +4 relation with lords and ladies from crafting orders (personal;
works). After a successful crafting order from a lord, the hero who did the smithing gains 4 relation with that lord. Custom orders give nothing. The same relation gain factor and rounding apply.
Tier 5 (Smithing 125): Practical Refiner or Practical Smelter
Every forge action costs crafting stamina. These two perks halve two of the three costs, and the result is cut down to a whole number.
Practical Refiner
- Primary, −50% stamina spent while refining (personal;
works). Every refining recipe costs 6 stamina; with the perk it costs 3.
Worked example. Any refining recipe with Practical Refiner:
A hero with Practical Refiner refines any recipe.
| Step | Source | Stage | Change | Running value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Refining stamina cost | base | 6.0000 | |
| 1 | Practical Refiner | factor -50% | -3.0000 | 3.0000 |
| Result | Refining stamina cost | 3.0000 |
With these inputs, refining stamina cost is 3.0000.
Practical Smelter
- Primary, −50% stamina spent while smelting (personal;
works). Smelting costs 10 stamina; with the perk it costs 5.
Tier 6 (Smithing 150): Controlled Smith or Vigorous Smith
Controlled Smith
- Primary, +1 Control (personal;
differs). The game never reads the perk's bonus value; it adds a fixed 1 Control point when the perk is unlocked. A perk reset removes the point.
Vigorous Smith
- Primary, +1 Vigor (personal;
differs). The game never reads the perk's bonus value; it adds a fixed 1 Vigor point when the perk is unlocked. A perk reset removes the point.
Tier 7 (Smithing 175): Artisan Smith or Practical Smith
Artisan Smith
- Primary, "−50% trade penalty when selling smithing weapons" (party leader;
differs). When your party sells a weapon crafted by the player, part of the trade penalty that pushes the sell price down comes from a "selling equipment" term. Artisan Smith halves only that term, not the whole trade penalty: the base penalty, the war, village and caravan terms and the other perks stay as they are. It needs the perk on the leader of the selling party, which must not be a caravan; the weapon does not have to be crafted by that leader.
Selling equipment term = (1.5 + 0.25 × (item tier − 1, at least 0)) × (1 + Artisan Smith)
- Item tier: the weapon's tier including its fraction, not rounded to a whole tier.
- Artisan Smith: −0.5 with the perk on a player-crafted weapon, 0 otherwise.
- The term is added to the rest of the trade penalty. The full price rules are on Prices and profit markers.
Worked example. Your party leader has Artisan Smith and sells a player-crafted tier-5 weapon in a town:
The party leader has Artisan Smith and sells a player-crafted tier-5 weapon in a town; the client party is not a caravan. Inputs: item tier 5.
| Step | Source | Stage | Change | Running value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Equipment selling trade-penalty term | base | 2.5000 | |
| 1 | Artisan Smith | factor -50% | -1.2500 | 1.2500 |
| Result | Equipment selling trade-penalty term | 1.2500 |
With these inputs, equipment selling trade-penalty term is 1.2500.
The selling equipment term drops from 2.5000 to 1.2500; the rest of the trade penalty is unchanged.
Practical Smith
- Primary, −50% stamina spent while smithing (personal;
works). Making a weapon costs 10 stamina plus 5 per weapon tier (whole tier). The perk halves that, in free build and order mode alike, and the result is cut down to a whole number.
Worked example. You smith a tier-4 weapon with Practical Smith:
A hero with Practical Smith smiths a tier-4 weapon. Inputs: item tier 4.
| Step | Source | Stage | Change | Running value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Smithing stamina cost | base | 30.0000 | |
| 1 | Practical Smith | factor -50% | -15.0000 | 15.0000 |
| Result | Smithing stamina cost | 15.0000 |
With these inputs, smithing stamina cost is 15.0000.
Tier 8 (Smithing 200): Master Smith
- Primary, "+7.5% greater chance of creating masterwork weapons" (personal;
differs). Adds a flat 7.5 percentage points to the Masterwork chance, taken in equal shares from Poor, Inferior, Common and, unless you also have Experienced Smith, Fine. Legendary is left alone. All six chances are then rescaled to 100%. What the tooltip does not say:- Without Experienced Smith, your Fine chance goes down to pay for the Masterwork bonus.
- A weapon that rolls Masterwork comes out Fine when the design's average piece tier is below 3.5.
- If the weapon type has no Masterwork modifier at all, a Masterwork roll gives the weapon no modifier.
Tier 9 (Smithing 225): Enduring Smith or Fencer Smith
Enduring Smith
- Primary, +1 Endurance (personal;
differs). The game never reads the perk's bonus value; it adds a fixed 1 Endurance point when the perk is unlocked. A perk reset removes the point.
Fencer Smith
- Primary, +1 focus point to One Handed and Two Handed (personal;
differs). The game never reads the perk's bonus value; it adds a fixed 1 focus point each to One Handed and Two Handed when the perk is unlocked, but only to a skill that is below 5 focus points. A perk reset removes one point from each skill, even from a skill that got none.
Tier 10 (Smithing 250): Sharpened Edge or Sharpened Tip
Sharpened Edge
- Primary, "+2% swing damage of crafted weapons" (personal, wielder;
differs; tooltip line "Reduced effect at sea"). Swing attacks with a player-crafted weapon get 2% more strike magnitude, before armor. The game checks the perk on the hero wielding the weapon, not on the smith who made it. So you get the bonus with any player-crafted weapon you wield, and a companion carrying a weapon you made gets it only if the companion has the perk.
Sharpened Tip
- Primary, "+2% thrust damage of crafted weapons" (personal, wielder;
differs; tooltip line "Reduced effect at sea"). The same for thrust attacks: +2% strike magnitude with a player-crafted weapon, read on the wielder.
Tier 11 (Smithing 275): Legendary Smith
- Primary, "+5% greater chance of creating Legendary weapons, +1% for every 5 points above 275" (personal;
differs). Adds flat percentage points to the Legendary chance, taken in equal shares from Poor, Inferior, Common, Fine (unless you have Experienced Smith) and Masterwork (unless you have Master Smith). All six chances are then rescaled to 100%.
Legendary Smith bonus = 0.05 + 0.002 × (Smithing − 275, at least 0)
- Smithing: the smith's Smithing skill. The extra grows by 0.002 for every single point above 275, not in steps of 5 points.
What the tooltip does not say:
- Without Experienced Smith, Fine loses part of the Legendary bonus; without Master Smith, Masterwork does.
- A weapon that rolls Legendary comes out Masterwork when the design's average piece tier is below 4.5, and Fine when it is below 3.5.
Weapon quality
When you finish a weapon (free build or order), the game rolls one of six qualities: Poor, Inferior, Common, Fine, Masterwork, Legendary. The chances depend on how far your Smithing is above or below the design's difficulty.
Skill margin = Smithing − design difficulty, kept between −300 and 300
- Smithing: the smith's Smithing skill, +1 per point (the "Max difficulty of weapon that can be smithed without penalty" skill effect).
- Design difficulty: the difficulty of the design; it depends only on the parts, not on your skill.
The chances change smoothly with the margin: the higher it is, the more weight moves from Poor and Inferior toward Common, Fine, Masterwork and Legendary. Then the three quality perks apply in order (Experienced Smith, Master Smith, Legendary Smith), each adding its flat bonus to its quality and taking it from the others as described above. Finally the design-tier cap runs on the rolled result:
| Average piece tier of the design | A Legendary roll becomes | A Masterwork roll becomes |
|---|---|---|
| below 3.5 | Fine | Fine |
| at least 3.5, below 4.5 | Masterwork | Masterwork |
| at least 4.5 | Legendary | Masterwork |
Fine is never capped. The full weight curves are in Crafted weapon quality.
Skill effects
These come from the Smithing skill itself, no perk needed.
- Max difficulty of weapon that can be smithed without penalty, +1 per point (personal;
differs). The tooltip suggests a hard line: at or below this difficulty, no penalty. The game has no such threshold. Your skill feeds the skill margin above, and the quality chances move smoothly with it, so Poor and Inferior results stay possible even when your Smithing is at or above the design's difficulty. - Stamina recovery (personal;
works). The smith recovers 5 + 2.5% of Smithing (rounded) crafting stamina per hour, only while staying in a settlement, up to a maximum of 100 + half of Smithing (rounded). The Athletics perk Stamina raises the hourly recovery by 50%, rounded.
Worked example. A hero with Smithing 100 smiths a design of difficulty 150:
A Crafting 100 hero smiths a design of difficulty 150. Inputs: design difficulty 150.
| Step | Source | Stage | Change | Running value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Crafted weapon quality skill margin | base | -150.0000 | |
| 1 | Max difficulty of weapon that can be smithed without penalty | add | +100.0000 | -50.0000 |
| Result | Crafted weapon quality skill margin | -50.0000 |
With these inputs, crafted weapon quality skill margin is -50.0000.
At a margin of −50.0000, Poor and Inferior carry more weight than at a margin of 0 or above; the weapon can still be made.
What the skill level itself does
The game also reads your Smithing level directly, without any perk. Effects that depend on any skill level are listed once in the skills guide.
| What it affects | What the level does | Level needed | Conditions | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum crafting stamina | Maximum crafting stamina rises by 0.5 per Smithing point (rounded). | — | Role: personal | works |
| Hero may craft a crafting order | A hero can craft a town's order only if their Smithing level plus 50 meets the order's difficulty. | Smithing + 50 at least the order's difficulty | Role: personal | works |
| Difficulty of a town crafting order ×2 | One order in each town is set at your Smithing level (plus the town's prosperity ÷ 500), so one order per town is near your skill. | — | Hero: main hero | works |
| Crafting stamina recovered per hour | Crafting stamina recovered per hour is 5 + 0.025 × Smithing (rounded). | — | Role: personal | works |
| Player may take an issue's quest | You cannot take an issue's quest with low Smithing (other conditions also apply). | Smithing 30 or more | Hero: main hero | works |
| Difficulty of the gang leader's dagger crafting order | The gang leader's dagger order follows your Smithing level when it is created, at least 10 and at most 100 (before a random offset). | — | Hero: main hero | works |
Who the perks work for
Who counts as you, a relative or a wanderer, and why some halves skip one of them, is explained in the Skills guide.
Every Smithing perk half and skill effect works for every hero: you, relatives and wanderers.
All Smithing effects
Every effect site of the Smithing perks, skill effects and skill level. Values are what each site applies; a value that grows with skill is shown at the perk's required skill (skill effects and skill levels: per skill point). ×N marks N identical sites.
| Perk | Half | Game number | Stage | Value | Conditions | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Efficient Charcoal Maker | primary | Charcoal per hardwood refining | override | set to 3 | Role: personal | works |
| Efficient Iron Maker | primary | Crude iron per iron ore refining | override | set to 3 | Role: personal | works |
| Curious Smelter | primary | Part research gain from smelting | factor | +100% | Role: personal | works |
| Steel Maker | primary | Steel refining recipe available (1 yes, 0 no) | override | on | Role: personal | works |
| Curious Smith | primary | Part research gain from smithing | factor | +100% | Role: personal | differs |
| Steel Maker 2 | primary | Fine steel refining recipe available (1 yes, 0 no) | override | on | Role: personal | works |
| Experienced Smith | primary | Crafted weapon Fine probability | add | +0.1 | Role: personal | works |
| Experienced Smith | secondary | Relation change with a notable | add | +2 | Role: personal | works |
| Steel Maker 3 | primary | Thamaskene steel refining recipe available (1 yes, 0 no) | override | on | Role: personal | works |
| Steel Maker 3 | secondary | Relation change with a lord | add | +4 | Role: personal | works |
| Practical Refiner | primary | Refining stamina cost | factor | -50% | Role: personal | works |
| Practical Smelter | primary | Smelting stamina cost | factor | -50% | Role: personal | works |
| Controlled Smith | primary | Control attribute | add | +1 | Role: personal | differs |
| Vigorous Smith | primary | Vigor attribute | add | +1 | Role: personal | differs |
| Artisan Smith | primary | Equipment selling trade-penalty term | factor | -50% | Item: player crafted weapon; party: not caravan, selling; role: party leader | differs |
| Practical Smith | primary | Smithing stamina cost | factor | -50% | Role: personal | works |
| Master Smith | primary | Crafted weapon Fine probability | add | -0.075 / (6 - (excluded + 1)) | Hero: no experienced smith; role: personal | differs |
| Master Smith | primary | Crafted weapon Masterwork probability | add | +0.075 | Role: personal | differs |
| Enduring Smith | primary | Endurance attribute | add | +1 | Role: personal | differs |
| Fencer Smith | primary | One Handed focus points | add | +1 | Hero: focus below max; role: personal | differs |
| Fencer Smith | primary | Two Handed focus points | add | +1 | Hero: focus below max; role: personal | differs |
| Sharpened Edge | primary | Melee swing strike magnitude | factor | +2% | Hero: wielder; item: player crafted weapon; role: personal | differs |
| Sharpened Tip | primary | Melee thrust strike magnitude | factor | +2% | Hero: wielder; item: player crafted weapon; role: personal | differs |
| Legendary Smith | primary | Crafted weapon Fine probability | add | -0.05 / (6 - (excluded + 1)) | Hero: no experienced smith; role: personal | differs |
| Legendary Smith | primary | Crafted weapon Legendary probability | add | +0.05 at skill 275, +0.002 per point | Role: personal | differs |
| Legendary Smith | primary | Crafted weapon Masterwork probability | add | -0.05 / (6 - (excluded + 1)) | Hero: no master smith; role: personal | differs |
| Max difficulty of weapon that can be smithed without penalty | — | Crafted weapon quality skill margin | add | +1 per point | Role: personal | differs |
| Skill level (any skill) | — | Agent effective skill in battle | base | skill value | — | works |
| Skill level (any skill) | — | Skill a hero inherits on coming of age | base | +1 per point | — | works |
| Skill level (any skill) | — | Heir selection points of a clan member | add | +5 | — | works |
| Skill level | — | Maximum crafting stamina | add | +0.5 per point | Role: personal | works |
| Skill level | — | Hero may craft a crafting order | override | on | Role: personal | works |
| Skill level ×2 | — | Difficulty of a town crafting order | base | skill + prosperity / 500 | Hero: main hero | works |
| Skill level | — | Crafting stamina recovered per hour | add | +0.025 per point | Role: personal | works |
| Skill level (any skill) | — | Maximum troops lost on an issue's alternative solution | multiply | ×max(0.2, min(0.8, trunc(issue required skill / skill) × 0.1)) | Hero: player clan | works |
| Skill level (any skill) | — | Days an issue's alternative solution takes | add | +2 × min(10, trunc(issue required skill / skill)) | Hero: player clan | works |
| Skill level (any skill) | — | Failure risk of an issue's alternative solution | add | -0.005 per point | Hero: player clan | works |
| Skill level (any skill) | — | Troops required for an issue's alternative solution | multiply | ×max(0.2, min(1.2, issue required skill / skill)) | Hero: player clan | works |
| Skill level (any skill) | — | Skill is high enough for a perk reset | override | on | Hero: player clan | works |
| Skill level (any skill) | — | Gold cost to reset the perks of a skill | add | +40 per point | Hero: player clan | works |
| Skill level | — | Player may take an issue's quest | override | off | Hero: main hero | works |
| Skill level | — | Difficulty of the gang leader's dagger crafting order | add | +max(10, min(skill, 100)) | Hero: main hero | works |
| Skill level (any skill) | — | Persuasion success multiplier | factor | min(0.2, floor(skill / 250) × 0.2) | Hero: main hero | works |
Practical tips
- The smith's perks count, not the leader's. If a companion does your smithing, the recipes, stamina, research, quality and order relation perks are read on that companion.
- Refining always uses charcoal. Every recipe except making charcoal uses up 1 charcoal, so if you refine a lot, Efficient Charcoal Maker gives 3 charcoal per 2 hardwood instead of 1.
- Quality perks interact. If you take Master Smith or Legendary Smith without Experienced Smith, part of their bonus comes out of your Fine chance.
- Legendary needs high-tier parts. If the design's average piece tier is below 4.5, a Legendary roll is downgraded to Masterwork, and below 3.5 to Fine.
- Sharpened Edge and Sharpened Tip follow the wielder. If companions or family members fight with weapons you made, each needs the perk to get the +2%.
- Artisan Smith halves one term. If you sell many crafted weapons, the perk halves the selling equipment term (2.5000 to 1.2500 for a tier-5 weapon), not the whole trade penalty.
- Rest in a settlement to recover stamina. Crafting stamina only comes back while the smith stays in a settlement.
- Order relations go to the smith. If a companion completes a crafting order, the companion gains the relation from Experienced Smith or Steel Maker 3.
- A perk reset removes the attribute points. Controlled Smith, Vigorous Smith, Enduring Smith and Fencer Smith give their point on unlock and lose it on reset.