The world is one of scarcity and invention, and people tend to use anything they can find to build the tools they need to survive. Scavenged rusty iron is scoured, rotten wood trimmed, and scraps of torn leather stitched together piecemeal. Yet if something can be built to last, that is obviously preferable, and individuals of great skill can gather impressively rare or high quality materials and use them to build special items with enhanced capabilities. These items are considered Masterwork. Some of these rare materials are themselves crafted from combinations of more common materials, while others are discovered in their natural state. For those materials that are crafted rather than discovered, they always come from Complex Schematics and require a Masterwork Downtime action to make.

Masterwork Materials can be incorporated into any component schematic the crafter holds, so long as they are of adequate crafting skill to use the schematic normally. If the crafter chooses to use a Masterwork Material for crafting in game rather than using the Masterwork Downtime action, it is treated as the Uncommon Gathering Material from the appropriate branch of Gathering. When using the Masterwork Downtime action with a Masterwork Material, there must be enough of the same Masterwork Material to replace all of the least common material of the same branch of Gathering for the effects of the Masterwork Material to shine through. For example, if a crafter wanted to make a Steel Longblade, they would need 2 Steel to replace the 2 Hard Iron that are usually in it, but if they were trying to make a Steel Plate they would only need 3 Steel and 1 Soft Iron, because the Steel only needs to replace the schematic’s most uncommon material. Once the Masterwork Component has been crafted it can be assembled with other components at game to create the final product, as normal.

There are five types of Masterwork Material: Metals which replace Soft or Hard Iron, Woods which replace Soft or Hard Wood, Cloths which replace Fibers or Linen, Furs which replace Scrap or Hard Leather, and Ornaments which are added to schematics and don’t replace any material. Metals can be used in crafting by Metalworkers, Woods by Woodworkers, Cloths and Furs by Tailors, and Ornaments are diverse in their applications.

The most common Masterwork Materials enhance the durability of the final product, and are either Metals or Woods. There are several “grades” of durability based on what kind of material is used, listed below.

Typically, unless all wood and metal components of an item are made of these more durable materials, a stronger Masterwork Wood Sundering weapon can sunder an item with a weaker Masterwork or standard Wood component, even if the item also has a Masterwork Metal component, and vice versa. For example, Weapon 1 is a Sundering weapon made of Steel and Burl and Weapon 2 is a Quick weapon made of Iron and Ironwood. When Weapon 1 tries to Sunder Weapon 2 it succeeds, because even though the Ironwood protects it from the Burl’s attempts to Sunder it, the Steel is able to sunder the Iron component and damage the weapon.

To ease communication when employing these mechanics, it’s recommended you qualify the Sunder call with the relevant masterwork material, such as Burl Sunder or Adamantium Sunder. The response, if the defender has a stronger material, can be a qualified Immune call, such as Bronze Immune or Greatwood Immune. Unless a Sunder call is qualified in this way, it is assumed the Sundering weapon is of standard Iron and/or Wood. Divine and Arcane Sunder calls may sunder any item regardless of its material. The notable exception to these rules is Soulsteel weapons, which sunder other items as if they were of standard wood and iron but are immune to all forms of Sundering, even from Divine and Arcane sources. Soulsteel Immune is the appropriate call in this case. There are many other types of Metal and Wood Masterwork Materials, but all are treated as standard Wood or Iron for the purposes of durability, though they give different mechanical advantages.

For Cloth and Fur Masterwork Materials durability isn’t the most common advantage, but special defensive calls for various conditions and situations, or the removal of limitations placed on other items when they’re employed together. Some examples are stated below.

Ornaments are somewhat unique in the field of Masterwork Materials because they are usually added to a specific component that may or may not be made of another Masterwork Material, and don’t replace any material in the Schematic. Below are some examples of ornamental gemstones that can be added to the Guard of a weapon during its construction.

Wyrd Schematics call for specific materials because of their symbolic relevance, elemental resonance, or sanctity. Sometimes Masterwork Materials will be inherently necessary to properly complete a Wyrd Schematic, while other times they will call for more common materials. In all these cases, the materials named in the Wyrd Schematic cannot be substituted with a different Masterwork Material, and unless otherwise specified in the schematics, the mechanics of any relevant Masterwork Materials do not apply to the Wyrd Item. Much of the time, this is due to the nature of the Wyrd Items. The way they’re constructed redirects the energies inherent in the materials towards different ends, be they arcane, divine, or malefic in nature. The exception to this rule is durability enhancing materials, which will always make the objects they form more difficult to Sunder than normal, though these materials may only substitute for standards Irons and Woods, not specific Masterwork Metals or Woods.