Artisans do work of varying quality.
Some of their work may be exceptional
in some way, but the normal AD&D™ melee rules offer no way of showing the
effect of this exceptional work. The following is a system to distinguish between the many levels of quality — good
and bad — in the manufacture of shields,
armor, and weapons.

The majority of weapons, armor and
shields bought from artisans will be of
good quality. They will sell for the prices
listed in the Players Handbook, plus or
minus 20%, in most cases. Some few
craftsmen, about 20% of them, will be
exceptionally good and have a high skill
level. Conversely, about 10% (this percentage is lower because work of poor
quality will not last, and neither will the
craftsman) will produce work of low
quality.

Shields
A good shield gives the wearer a benefit of 1 on his or her armor class. As
stated in the rules, for example, chain is
AC 5 while chain and shield is AC 4.
Exceptional shields benefit armor class
even more than normal good shields, but
not to the extent of another +1 benefit.
The best way to represent this extra improvement is to make the blow to hit the
shield at a selective minus. This is done
by saying that a particular number, when
rolled vs. this particular shield, will be
reduced by 1. For example, a shield
might be exceptional on a roll of 13, so
that whenever an opponent rolls a natural 13 the DM will read it as a 12 instead.

This does not take into account a magical bonus on the opponent’s weapon or
any bonus the wielder might have to hit
due to exceptional strength. If such bonuses do apply, they are added in the
normal manner. For instance, if the opponent has a strength of 17 he is +1 to hit
due to strength. If his weapon is +1, there
is a second bonus. If he rolls a natural 13
against the exceptional shield described
above, the DM reads it as 12 + 1 + 1 = 14,
instead of the usual 13 + 1 + 1 = 15. Note
that an adjusted 14 or 15 might not even
be enough to hit the particular armor
class, or the armor class might be hit on
only a 10 or 11. Thus, the shield will only
apply to 5% of the normal “to hit” probabilities. This particular shield will con
vert a natural 13 to a 12 — no more and
no less. If a natural 14 is rolled, it stays a
14; if a natural 12 is rolled, it stays a 12.

Shields of good quality would then
cost more and have a particular property. The standard “large shield” as per the
Players Handbook is valued at 15 gp.
Below is a table of exceptional shields,
each valued at more than 15 gp because
of its nature. If a dice roll is made to
generate a type of exceptional shield at
random, this will indicate the highestquality shield a particular armorer is able
to produce, and one of higher quality
cannot ever be made by that particular
craftsman.

Good quality shields

Dice	No(s). reduced	Cost  (gp)	Extra days to make
01-40	13	18	1
41-60	14	20	1
61-70	15	23	1
71-75	16	27	1
76-78	17	32	2
79-80	18	40	2
81-82	19	50	2
83-84	13-14	60	3
85-86	14-15	70	3
87-88	15-16	80	3
89-90	16-17	90	3
91-92	17-18	100	4
93	18-19	110	5
94	13-15	125	6
95	14-16	140	7
96	15-17	160	8
97	16-18	180	9
98	17-19	200	10
99	16-19	225	11
00	15-19	250	12

        Note: The “No(s). reduced” column indicates the “to hit” die roll(s)
    reduced by 1 when rolled vs. the
    particular shield; thus, a type “00”
    shield will diminish by 1 any natural “to hit” die roll in the range of 15
    through 19.

The additional rule can be added that
only exceptional shields of this sort can
be magical. If this is true, only one shield
maker in 500 (remember that only 20%
can make any type of exceptional shield)
can make a shield that eventually could
be magicked to +5 enchantment.

Poor-quality shields, or shields that
are damaged (if you play some rules that
take into account shield damage) would
have the opposite effect: for instance, on
a “to hit” roll of 14 the die would be read
as 15 instead. As above for high-quality
shields, other rolls would be unchanged,
so a natural 13 stays a 13 and a natural 15
stays a 15.

A table of poor shields would look like
this:

Good quality shields

Dice	No(s). increased	Cost  (gp)	Days less to make
01-40	14	15	0
41-60	15	15	0
61-70	16	15	0
71-80	17	15	0
81-85	18	15	0
86-90	15-16	15	0.5
91-93	16-17	15	0.5
94-95	17-18	15	0.5
96	15-17	15	1
97	16-18	15	1
98-99	15-18	15	1.5
00	14-18	15	1.5

        Note: The “No(s). increased” column indicates which “to hit” rolls
    are increased by one when rolled
    against the particular shield; thus,
    a type “00” poor quality shield
    causes any “to hit” roll against it in
    the range of 14 through 18 to be
    increased by 1. “Days less to make”
    is taken as a subtraction from the
    usual number of days an armorer
    needs to make a normal shield.
    Note also that the price does not
    go below 15 gp in any event; poor
    quality is not less expensive.

Armor
Exceptional armor can be produced in
the same way as exceptional shields. I
would limit this to metal types, and to
make life even easier let’s say that only
chain and plate can be exceptional. The
percentages are different from those for
shields: 15% of all armorers make high quality armor, and just as many make
bad armor. The other 70% produce normal armor, chain costing 75 gp and being made in 45 days and plate going for
400 gp with a 90-day construction time.
You can rule, using historical precedent,
that not all armorers make plate. The
chart on the top of the following page
takes into account that rule.

Armorer's Skills

Dice	No(s). reduced
01-10	poor chain, no plate
11-13	poor plate, no chain
14-15	poor plate and chain
16-50	average chain, no plate
51-55	average chain, poor plate
56-60	average chain and plate
61-70	good chain, no plate
71-80	good plate, no chain
81-85	good chain, poor plate
86-90	good plate, poor chain
91-97	good chain, average plate
98-00	good chain and plate

Mixing good quality chain and shield
can get a little complicated. If the shield
converts a roll of 15 to 14 and chain converts 18 to 17, then things are straightforward. When the numbers overlap it
becomes more difficult: What happens if
both chain and shield convert 16 to 15?
In a case of exact and complete overlapping, consider half of the rolls at the next
higher number as being converted, as
well as half of the rolls at the next lower
number. Thus, a set of chain and shield
that converts 16 to 15 would convert half
of the blows that score a natural 15 to 14
and half of the blows that score a natural
17 to 16. The procedure is as follows:
Roll the dice; 15 comes up. Roll d%; on
01-50 the 15 becomes 14, and on 51-00
the 15 remains 15.

The overlap is of no additional benefit
in cases where it is not an exact and
complete overlap, such as when chain
and shield both affect more than one “to
hit” humber but the rolls they affect are
not all the same. Consider a set of chain
that converts 17 to 16 and 16 to 15, used
with a shield that converts 16 to 15 and
15 to 14. If 17 is rolled in such a case it
becomes 16; 16 becomes 15; and 15 becomes 14. A natural 18 stays 18 and a
natural 14 remains 14.

If an armorer produces other than average chain or plate, use the appropriate
table (good chain, poor chain, good
plate, or poor plate) from those that
follow.

Good quality chain

Dice roll	No(s). reduced	Cost Extra days (gp)	Extra days to make
01-35	16	80	3
36-60	17	90	5
61-80	18	100	8
81-90	19	120	11
91-92	16-17	145	14
93-94	17-18	175	18
95-96	18-19	200	22
97	16-18	250	28
98	17-19	285	32
99	16-19	330	40
00	15-19	400	45

Armor of types 91 to 96 can be
enchanted to +2; types 97 and 98
can be enchan ted to +3; armor type
99 can be enchanted to +4; and
only armor type 00 can be enchanted to +5. Armor types 01 to 90 can
be enchanted to +1.

Poor quality chain

Dice  roll	No(s). reduced	Cost  (gp)	Days less to make
01-30	16	75	0
31-50	17	75	0
51-70	18	75	0
71-80	16-17	70	3
81-90	17-18	70	5
91-94	16-18	65	8
95-97	17-19	50	12
98-99	16-19	40	20
00*	16-19	30	20

* — Type 00 poor quality chain
causes 16 to convert to 18, and 17
to convert to 19. All other increases
are +1 only.
Poor quality chain can never be
magical, not even cursed.

Good quality plate

Dice Roll	No(s). reduced	Cost  (gp)	Extra days to make
01-40	16	420	3
41-65	17	440	4
66-75	18	460	5
76-80	19	480	6
81-88	16-17	510	10
89-91	17-18	540	13
91-92	18-19	570	16
93-94	16-18	620	20
95-96	17-19	670	25
97-98	16-19	685	30
99-00	15-19	700	40

    Types 01 to 80 can be +1; types
81-92 can be +2; types 93-96 can be
+3; types 97-98 can be +4; and
types 99-00 can be +5.
Poor quality plate

Dice roll	No(s). increased	Cost  (gp)	Days less to make
01-20	13	400	6
21-40	14	400	0
41-50	15	400	0
51-55	16	400	0
56-60	17	400	0
61-64	18	400	0
65-66	19	400	0
67-75	13-14	380	5
76-80	15-16	360	10
81-85	17-18	340	15
86-90	18-191	320	20
91-95	13-152	300	25
96-97	16-193	280	30
98-00	13-193	250	45

    ¹ — Rolls of 18 and 19 both convert to 20.
    ² — All nos. convert to the roll +2 instead of +1.
    ³ — All nos. convert to the roll +2, maximum of 20.

All armor and shields of exceptional
quality — good or otherwise — must be
custom-made. None can be bought “off
the rack.” One person’s armor or shield
will not operate for someone else unless
he is very near the same size, strength
and dexterity.
Plate armor, whether of exceptional
quality or not, is never brought off the
rack. It must be custom-made, or it will
not fit correctly. Improperly fitting plate
can be rolled on the “poor quality plate”
table to simulate the binding and tight fit
in some location of the suit that would
occur.

The care of armor and shields
Armor and shields must be kept in
good working condition. They need polishing and cleaning. This is especially
true of a suit of armor caught in the rain,
If a rain-soaked suit of armor is not
cleaned and dried soon thereafter (within 13-24 hours), it will begin to rust and
become tight in places. Quality armor
(good or bad) will deteriorate one category for each time period (13-24 hours) it
is allowed to go unmaintained. Deterioration can be reversed if attended to
promptly, but it is permanent if the armor
is allowed to slip two notches in quality.
Deterioration occurs in steps of from 13
to 24 hours apart.

For example, a set of type 93 good
quality chain (converts 18 to 17 and 17 to
16) is worn by a figure who must march
through a rainstorm. He does not clean
or dry the armor thereafter. Roll d12 and
add 12; the result is 7 + 12 = 19 hours. The
suit will deteriorate, at least temporarily,
to type 91 (converts 17 to 16 and 16 to 15)
if it is not cleaned and dried within that
19 hours. If it is still not maintained
through another randomly determined
time period (we’ll say 14 hours this time),
it will deteriorate to type 81 (converts 19
to 18). If it is now cleaned and dried, it
can never again act as type 93 armor, but
can be improved to type 91 at best.
Further deterioration from type 81 would
take it to type 61, type 36, then type 01.
Beyond that point, it would become ordinary chain for 2-5 days, and would
then begin to slide down the “poor quality chain” chart.

Thus, armor or shields (the system
works the same way for shields) found in
a treasure trove must be examined carefully for rust and defects; if left untouched
and unpolished, it might deteriorate if it
is not already in good working condition.
Magic armor will not deteriorate, but it
might be discolored by tarnish and light
surface rust.

Exceptional quality weapons
I do not pretend to be a weapons expert; however, I feel that some weapon
types cannot achieve the same degree of
high quality that others can; for instance,
a sword can be better crafted than the
best cudgel in the world.

The following categories delineate the
types of quality that can be achieved:

Group One: Can only be achieved by
swords and scimitars. They can be up to
+5 in enchantment and of the best quality.

Group Two: As high as maces can go.
They can be up to +4 in enchantment and
of the next best quality.

Group Three: The highest level of
quality for arrows, axes, crossbows,
daggers, hammers, spears, and tridents.
They can be up to +3 in enchantment and
of good quality.

Group Four: The highest category for
crossbow bolts, javelins, and slings.
They can be up to +2 in enchantment and
of good quality.

Group Five: The upper limit in quality
for battle axes, bows, flails, military
picks, and morning stars. They can be up
to +1 in enchantment and of fair quality.

Group Six: Maximum quality for darts,
scepters, halberds, lances, sling bullets,
and quarter staffs. Optionally, they can
be enchanted up to +1 (even +2) and can
be of fair to good quality. They cannot be
repaired well and may lose enchantment
easily.

Group Seven: Highest quality possible
for pole arms not specifically mentioned
above. They are very rarely magical and
of only poor quality.

Group Eight: The lowest quality category, used for sling stones, clubs, and
any makeshift weapon or substitute
weapon such as a candlestick, pitchfork,
hoe, ax handle, etc. They are never magic and are of dubious quality.
 

To determine the quality level of a particular artisan, refer to the appropriate
table(s) following. The procedure for
sword smiths is different from that for
other types of weapon makers (primarily
because there are so many different
kinds of swords), and is listed first.

Sword smiths
All sword smiths can make daggers.
Each one will also have the skill to construct one or more of the five main types
of swords: short (S), broad (B), long (L),
bastard (Ba), and two-handed (T). Roll
percentile dice for a particular artisan
and refer to the list below to find which
type(s) of sword that craftsman can
construct:
 

01-10	S only.
11-20	B only.
21-30	L only.
31-33	Ba only.
34	T only.
35-50	S and B.
51-55	S and L.
56-65	B and L.
66-80	S, B, and L.
81-90	B and T.
91-96	L and T.
97-98	B, L, and Ba.
99	L and Ba.
00	All types

A general quality level is assigned to
each sword smith by another roll of percentile dice, using the appropriate category from the following list:

Roll of 01-07: Quality Group Eight.
The smith’s weapons will be poor. On a
roll of 1 on d6, a weapon produced by
this smith will convert a certain “to hit”
number downward, just as with shields
and armor. For such a weapon, roll percentile dice again and consult this list:
:

01-60	14 becomes 13.
61-80	15 becomes 14.
81-90	16 becomes 15.
91-97	17 becomes 16.
98-99	18 becomes 17.
00	19 becomes 18

Roll of 08-20: Quality Group Seven.
The smith’s weapons will be of generally
poor quality. One out of eight weapons
will be very good or very bad; roll d8, and
if a “1” results, roll percentile dice and
refer to the following:
 

01-70	Roll again, using list given above for Group Eight weapons.
71-00	Roll on Group Six list given hereafter.

Roll of 21-75: All weapons produced
by this smith are of acceptable quality
(but not exceptional).

Roll of 76-85: One in four weapons
made by this smith can be rolled on the
list for Group Six.

Roll of 86-93: One in three weapons
can be rolled on list for Group Five.

Roll of 94-95: One in two weapons can
be rolled on list for Group Four.

Roll of 96-97: Every weapon made by
this smith is rolled on list for Group
Three.

Roll of 98-99: Every weapon is rolled
on list for Group Two.

Roll of 00: Every weapon is rolled on
list for Group One.

Weapon specifications by Quality Group
When a result refers to a Quality Group
of Six or higher (up to One), use the
appropriate list in this section to determine the “to hit” number(s) which are
adjusted for that weapon. This section
applies for other types of weapons as
well as swords.

Group Six:

01-30	13 becomes 14
31-55	14 becomes 15
56-74	15 becomes 16.
75-90	16 becomes 17.
91-97	17 becomes 18.
98-00	18 becomes 19

Group Five:

01-90	Roll on Group Six list
91-00	19 becomes 20

Group Four:

01-85	Roll on Group Six list
86-92	13/14 becomes 14/15
93-96	14/15 becomes 15/16
97	15/16 becomes 16/17
98	16/17 becomes 17/18
99	17/18 becomes 18/19
00	18/19 becomes 19/20.

Group Three:

01-70	Roll on Group Four list
71-90	13/14/15 becomes 14/15/16
91-96	14/15/16 becomes becomes 15/16/17
97-98	15/16/17 becomes 16/17/18
99	16/17/18 becomes 17/18/19
00	17/18/19 becomes 18/19/20

Group Two:

01-60	Roll on Group Three list
61-90	13-16 becomes 14-17
91-96	14-17 becomes 15-18
97-99	15-18 becomes 16-19
00	16-19 become 17-20

Group One:

01-60	Roll on Group Two list
64-90	13-17 becomes 14-18
91-97	14-18 becomes 15-19
98-00	15-19 becomes 16-20

How to use these charts: The players
enter town and find a sword smith. Roll
to determine what type(s) of swords he
makes; on a roll of 71, he makes short,
broad and long swords. Then roll to find
the Quality Group his work belongs to.
This is a one-time roll for each sword
smith, unless and until two years pass, in
which case he might (40% chance) have
moved up one Quality Group in the
meantime. On a roll of 94, this smith is
determined to be able to produce Group
Four swords as his best current product.
If Enchant an Item is available, such a
weapon might be magicked up to +2 enchantment. (Optional rules: only the best
weapon type in any Group can be multipurpose. Only one of the top three weapon types in any Group can be aligned
and considered an “exceptional sword.”)

You pay the man to make a long
sword. He does this, and then you roll to
see what quality of weapon he actually
produced. On the average, every other
sword this smith produces may qualify
for Quality Group Four. This is one such
sword. A roll on the Group Four list
comes up a 73. Another roll is taken, this
time on the Group Five list. This roll is an
81, which means yet another roll, this
time on the Group Six list. This result is a
34, which means the weapon the smith
produced will convert any natural 14 to a
15 for the purpose of “to hit” determination. The weapon could be magicked up
to +1. It cannot, for example, be magicked to become +1/+2 vs. magic-using
and enchanted creatures for two reasons: First, it is not a possible +2 weapon;
second, it is not within the top three
types of a +1 weapon (17 to 18, 18 to 19,
or 19 to 20) and thus cannot be “exceptional” or aligned.

Other weapon types
The Quality Group lists given above
are used for other weapon smiths besides swordmakers. First, determine the
type(s) of weapon(s) a particular smith
can make. Then find the Quality Group
list to refer to and roll as given.
There are five main types of weapon
smiths besides swordmakers: bowyers.
fletchers, crossbow smiths, those who
make hafted weapons, and those who
make castable pole arms and lances.

Bowyers will be able to make any type
of normal bow (not a crossbow), and
30% of all such smiths also make arrows
as well.

Fletchers will be able to make any
normal type of arrow, and 5% of them
also make bows (like a bowyer) as well.

Crossbow smiths can construct light
or heavy crossbows, and 80% of them
also make bolts for those weapons.

Hafted weapon smiths will have various talents. A few of them are able to
construct all types of hafted weapons:
axes (A), battle axes (B), maces (M),
hammers (H), Morning stars (MS), flails
(F), and pole arms (P) not designed for
throwing. Determine the talents of a particular smith by rolling percentile dice
and referring to this list:

01-10	A and B.
11-25	M and H.
26-40	MS and F.
41-50	P only.
51-65	M, H, and MS.
66-80	M, H, and P.
81-95	A, B, M, and H.
96-00	All types.

Castable pole arm smiths and lance
smiths also have varying talents, with
only 10% of all such artisans able to construct all four types: spears (S), javelins
(J), lances (L), or other pole arms (P):

01-40	S only.
41-65	S and J.
66-70	L only.
71-90	S, J, and L.
91-00	All types.

Quality Group determination
All weapon types except for swords
are included on one of the columns in
the following table. To determine the
Quality Group into which a particular
smith’s work falls, roll percentile dice
and cross-index the dice result with the
weapon type in question. A different roll
is made for each weapon type; thus, a
smith might produce relatively high-quality spears while at the same time making the worst javelins in the country.

Columns on the chart are keyed as
follows:
A = daggers
B = maces
C = arrows, axes, crossbows,
hammers, spears, tridents
D = crossbow bolts, javelins, slings
E = battle axes, bows, flails,
military picks, morning stars
F = darts, halberds, lances,
sling bullets, quarter staves

Quality Group chart

Dice roll	A	B	C	D	E	F
01-04	8	8	8	8	8	8
05-12	7	7	7	7	7	7
13-20	6	6	6	6	6	7
21-50	5	5	5	6	6	7
51-70	4	4	5	6	6	7
71-85	3	3	4	5	6	6
86-95	3	3	3	5	5	6
96-00	3	2	3	4	5	6

Estimating quality
Once the Quality Group is known on a
weapon-by-weapon-available basis, the
lists for each group will indicate how well
the weapon actually turns out. The quality of the final product can be told correctly by the smith 60% of the time. The
other 40% of the time he will think it is
one step above or below what it actually
is.
Thus, if a sword smith who is capable
of producing Group One weapons looks
at his final work, he can come very close
to its exact quality determination. As an
example, say it rolls up (beginning on
the Group One list) as follows: 54 (move
to Group Two list); 67 (move to Group
Three list); 98 (he produced a weapon
that converts 15 to 16, 16 to 17, and 17 to
18 — what is called a type 97 weapon on
the Group Three list). When the smith
examines the weapon, he will estimate it
as being a type 91 (20% of the time), type
97 (60% of the time) or type 99 (20% of
the time). Naturally, the smith is not obligated to disclose his appraisal.

Is the price right?
Weapon making is an art that always
tries for a certain level of excellence but
may not achieve it; by contrast, an armorer knows what he will end up with
and knows what to charge — exactly —
for the final product. Starting with the
prices given in the Players Handbook,
here is a list of multipliers for the weapons, depending on the appraisal of the
weaponsmith, that would constitute a
fair price for a certain weapon. As illustrations of how to use this list, consider the sword examples used earlier. The
first one (Group 6, type 31 long sword) is
fairly priced at (2.5 x 15 gp) = 37.5 gp.
The second one (Group 3, type 97 long
sword) is worth (20 x 15) = 300 gp.
 

Group and type	Price multiplier
8 poor	0.75
8 average	full price
7 poor	0.90
7 average	full price
7 good	1.5
6 type 01	2.0
6 type 31	2.5
6 type 56	3.0
6 type 75	3.5
6 type 91	4.0
6 type 98	4.5
5 type 91	5.0
4 type 86	6.0
4 type 93	7.0
4 type 97	8.0
4 type 98	9.0
4 type 99	10.0
4 type 00	12.0
3 type 71	14.0
3 type 91	17.0
3 type 97	20.0
3 type 99	24.0
3 type 00	28.0
2 type 61	34.0
2 type 91	40.0
2 type 97	47.0
2 type 00	55.0
1 type 61	70.0
1 type 91	85.0
1 type 98	100.0