FAQ: Fletching

[Lothay]

FAQ Fletching
If you have questions after reading this thread, please start a separate thread, and keep this thread for actual FAQ entries only.

Q How do I make (Whatever)?
A Go to EQ Traders and look it up! (Also try Aoenla's Fletching Guide. It has everything you'd want, though it takes a bit to load up.)

Q How do I make (Some rumored, RL, or other recipe not listed)?
A If it's not there, and it's not on the message board (Check back a couple pages to be sure), NOBODY KNOWS! Most likely it isn't implemented yet, and may never be implemented. At the very least, nobody has discovered the recipe. Feel free to post attempts and DNC messages, but please check to be sure you're not repeating somebody

Q What's the best bow I can make?
A Define best bow? Using it as your main battle weapon? Go for the silk string, cams, carving tools, the works. Using it to pull? Get the best Staff, but skip the fancy bits.

Q How do I skill up?
A Make arrows until a part trivials. Triviality depends on the most complex part, so if you're not concerned about making the best arrows in skilling up, buy the one part you're practicing on and go cheap on the rest. Arrows will take you to 202, so if you don't want to Grand-Master the skill, be careful. Compound Darkwood bows will go to 235. From there it's on to Shadewood bows and/or Condensed Element arrows.

We're still working on nailing down the trivials for the specific Shadewood bow and Condensed Element arrow combinations, but we do know that a combination of the bows and arrows will take you all the way to 250.

Q Why should I Fletch?
A If you want high-quality bows and arrows, fletching is for you. Also there are a few quests that use fletching. A storied and complex art it may be, but the reasons are fairly simple.

Q I foraged up some feathers. What can I make with them?
A Feathers are used in Alchemy, not fletching.

Q If I have an illusion wood elf item, can I make the wood elven cultural fletching?
A Illusions do not fool cultural tradeskill containers. Unless you are a wood elf by birth, you cannot perform wood elven cultural fletching.

Q Whats a GM?
A When refering to a Trade Skiller, A GM is a Grand Master in a skill. This is a player term for anyone who has taken their prefered trade skill above 200 points. Only one trade skill may be taken above 200, so choose that skill wisely! You can get more tradeskills past the 200 mark once you have the ability to earn Alternate Advancement Points. See the FAQ about it. (DenMom edit some folks prefer to use the grandmaster term only for those who have attained 250 in a given tradeskill. Either way, be very careful of that 200-skill mark, as once you reach 201, there is no way to downgrade your skill so that you may raise a different one above 200.)

Q Can players make Velium Bows?
A Not at this time. All Velium Bows in game are Monster Dropped, or the result of quests.

Q What are the trivial levels for various bows?
A Trivials are listed on the recipes page, Fletching Quick List. You can also read the Fletching Chart below.

Q Which range figure on the arrow, the bow, or both determines how far an arrow goes? Is it the longest of either or combination of the two?
A The combination of the two.

Q Assuming a sufficiently high smithing skill, is it cheaper to smith your own fletching ingredients or buy parts from a vender?
A It depends on many factors, such as your smithing skill, your faction, and your charisma. Steel Vanes and Silver Arrow Heads are usually more expensive to smith than to purchase.

{updated 20 Oct., 2003 - included new notes, fixed links, cleaned up thread. Also combined the Cheap Fletching Chart and the Fletching Chart threads into the FAQ.}

[splunge]

Heres a chart I made up to show the *cheapest* combinations to get your fletching skill up to 202 with storebought items.

Use this chart if you want to skill up to 200+ and just sell the arrows back to the vendor, and arent interested in keeping any for real use.

Tip.... Fletch.. Nock... Shaft.. Triv
--------------------------------------
Field.. Round... Large.. Wood... 16
Field.. Round... Medium. Wood... 36
Field.. Parab... Large.. Wood... 46
Field.. Round... Small.. Wood... 56
Field.. Round... Large.. Bone... 68
Field.. Shield.. Large.. Wood... 82
Hooked. Round... Large.. Wood... 102
Field.. Wood*... Large.. Wood... 122
Field.. Round... Large.. Ceramic 135
Field.. Bone*... Large.. Wood... 162
Silver. Round... Large.. Wood... 182
Field.. Ceramic* Large.. Wood... 202

* = Vanes

[eniamn]

ARROWS				
Tip		Fletch		Nock	Shaft	Triv
--------------------------------------------------------
field		round		large	wood	 16
                                medium		 36
		parabolic			 46
				small		 56
					bone	 68
		shield				 82
hooked						102
		wood vane			122
					ceramic	135
		bone vane			162
silver						182
		ceramic vane		steel	202
condensed 
substance	shield		small	acrylia	>250
* can be shadow, fire, or ice
Acrylia arrows may only use shield fletches and small nocks. 
The trivials for those peices for Old-World arrows are listed 
separately. 

Tip		DMG		Range		Triv
--------------------------------------------------------		
field		 0		 0		 16		
hooked		+1		 0		102		
silver		+2 magic	 0		182
		
Fletch		DMG		Range		Triv
--------------------------------------------------------
round		 0		  0		 16	
parabolic	 0		+50		 46	
shield		+1		-75		 82	
wood vane	+1		-25		122	
bone vane	+1		+50		162	
ceramic vane	+2		+25		202
	
Nock		DMG		Range		Triv
--------------------------------------------------------	
large		 0		  0		16		
medium		 0		+25		36	
small		 0		+50		56
		
Shaft		DMG		Range		Triv
--------------------------------------------------------			
wood		 0		0		 16	
bone		+1		0		 68
ceramic		+2		0		135
steel		+3		0		202

Note: condensed substance tip, shieldcut flethces, small nocks, 
acrylia shafts yeilds triv >250  (dmg 10 +4 by tip range 125)

BOWS
Bow Staff	String	Tool		Cams	Triv
--------------------------------------------------------
Hickory	Hemp					  16
		Linen				  32
		Silk				  46
Elm						  68
			Whitling Blade		 102
Ashwood						 129
			Planing Tool		 148
Oak						 168
					1 cam	 192
Darkwood					 215
					2 cam	 235
Shadewood					>250
Sedgewood					  ??

String		DMG	Delay	Range	Triv
--------------------------------------------------------
Hemp		 0	 0	 0	  16
Linen		-1	-4	 0	  32
Silk		-2	-8	 0	  46

Bow Staff	DMG	Delay	Range	Triv	tools useable
-------------------------------------------------------------
Hickory		10	50	50	16	nothing
Elm		13	51	75	68	Whittling knife 
Ashwood		16	58	100	129	Planing tool
Oak		21	65	125	168	1 cam & Planing tool
Sedgewood	23	66	150	^	2 cams & Planing tool 
Darkwood	25	68	150	215	2 cams & Planing tool
Shadewood	27	66	150	^	2 cams & Planing tool

Tool		DMG	Delay	Range	Triv
--------------------------------------------
Whitling Blade	-1	-4	0	102
Planing Tool	-2	-9	0	148

Cams		DMG	Delay	Range	Triv
--------------------------------------------
1 Cam		-1	-5	+25	192
2 Cams		-2	-10	+50	235

Took the chart originally posted by poster, and cleaned up formatting. Should be easier to read now.

^ Trivials found with the new UI. 2 bow staves act differently and below is there trivial information.

Sedgewood Recurves all trivial at 188.
Sedgewood 1 cams all trivial at 202.
Sedgewood 2 cams all trivial at 215.

Shadewood Recurves all trivial at 255.
Shadewood 1 cams all trivial at 268.
Shadewood 2 cams all trivial at 282.

[Neebat]

Heres a chart I made up to show the *cheapest* combinations to get your fletching skill up to 202 with storebought items.

Tip.... Fletch.. Nock... Shaft.. Triv
--------------------------------------
Silver. Round... Large.. Wood... 182
Field.. Ceramic* Large.. Wood... 202

* = Vanes

3p9g9s for Silver Tipped Arrow Heads
2p7g8s for Ceramic Arrow Vanes
2p8g3s for Bundled Steel Arrow Shafts

Any of those can be used for skillups from 162 to 182. I don't understand how silver tips can be the cheapest thing for skilling up. I was doing steel shafts till I ran out of cash before I saw this guide, now I'm wondering if I did it wrong. Is there a reason to pay 20pp more per stack of combines?

[Drubear]

It sorta depends what you mean by "cheapest."

If you mean cheapest cost of the individual combine, you are correct, the ceramic is "cheapest."

However, many people feel it's more effective to do a combine whose trivial is close to your skill, to maximize the chance of a skillup. In this sense, "cheapest" would mean the cheapest recipe closest (and "close" takes us to another subjective discussion) to your skill level.

I suspect the latter is the reason why the listed item is "cheapest" for 162.

But I could be wrong .

[andyhre]

Actually, I think they changed the pricing of items since this guide was first made and no one has had the energy to go back and recalculate