[RP][Resource] Forging a Blacksmith

Argent Dawn
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The Blacksmith is as vital a tradesman of peace as they are a supplier of war. I myself have played a Smith and Armourer for a number of years, and its some of the most wholesome and supportive RP you can make. Sometimes you’ll be helping a grieving widow remake something of their partner’s to have. Sometimes you’ll work with heroes to forge weapons of destiny.

But where do you begin as a Blacksmith? What knowledge base do you need to RP one?

Artistic Wordsmithing

As with any creative profession or role in WoW, remember that how YOU RP your smith is as detailed and extravagant as you want to! Are you a humble smith from Elwynn, forging weapons in your family’s forge? Perhaps you’re a mighty Blackrock Artisan who is used to forging alongside the elemental Furies of Draenor. You might be a Shal’dorei who makes their sabers by transmuting raw ore!

There’s no WRONG way to be a Smith, just remember that it takes skill and time (much like a blade)! You perhaps apprenticed under a master, or learned the craft through study. Perhaps you’re a budding journeyman yourself, looking to learn the finer aspects. Like any Mage or Warrior, your skill and craftsman ship is something that improves over time and can make for excellent character arcs!

Know Your Materials

Azeroth hosts a very wide array of metals. As a Smith (or perhaps an Armourer) you’ll need to know them well! While each metal has its own individual stories in lore, thankfully there are some like Goldenblood from Moon Guard (US) that have distilled that information. This particular forum guide includes materials introduced to Azeroth all the way up to the end of Warlords of Draenor and includes information on what most common smiths would use.

This is also another fantastic Reddit Post detailing a lot of common and advanced metals (some from Legion) further than the previous thread.

Feranos also made an excellent guide and coalesced some of the quest lore surrounding several metals up until Pandaria at least https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/8715352974

Know Your Methods

So how do you go about RPing a Blacksmith? It is certainly as easy as taking orders and doing them away from sight. However, its also just as important to know some of HOW the process works in forging armour and bladesmithing. Thankfully for us there are a TON of resources aside from paying for some College Tradesman Courses.

The most popular and condensed series is a show on YouTube called Man At Arms. This particular series has existed since the early 2010’s and focuses on forging weapons found in a lot of popular media including Video Games. Unlike the show’s earlier seasons, the newer ones entitled Reforged go incredibly in-depth through the forging process of every weapon imaginable. Their arsenal includes axes, western swords, eastern swords, Ulfberhts (watch that one!), spears, knightly and eastern armour, shield work and MORE.

While using both traditional and modern techniques and tools, they also use equipment such as Steam and Belt operated Power Hammers from the early industrial revolution. They also go into fine finish work including metal etching, polishing, ornamentation, weapon history and more. Each of the modern episodes is roughly 20 minutes long including their voice over, and is easily digestible during a long event or a quiet session on WoW.

Michaelcthulu is another fantastic YouTube Blacksmith who builds fantasy weaponry of all kinds (including MASSIVE monstrosities of steel). His techniques fall in line with more modern fabrication works, but he uses techniques in cleaning, preparing, and finishing materials that others do not in his process. Most of his videos are quite long (some up to several hours), but are also a great resource to learn more about smithing weaponry.

Forging Magical Weaponry

There are some weapons of legend that have unique properties to them. As Legion showed us, many of them might be incredible weapons of magical power. A weapon to a player is a very personal thing, and may develop its own attributes over time.

As a Blacksmith, you may be able to infuse a weapon with its own properties. You might be a Mage on top of your profession, able to enchant a tool with nothing more than a rod and the right reagents. Like the Ashbringer, your weapon may gain its properties simply from the materials included in the forging.

This can be one of the most free-form and fun parts of Blacksmithing, especially as your artisan’s work gets more renown. What you enchant is up to you (and your clientele, of course!) but I’d also recommend looking deeper into how Enchanting and spellcraft works in Warcraft to get a better understanding of how it is done.

In Conclusion

There’s no ‘best way’ to RP a Blacksmith, whether you prefer weaponry or artstic works. Blacksmiths are vital aspects of a community that aren’t just secondary characters to fill voids and the needs of ‘heroes’, they’re a skillful class all on their own. Perhaps Smithing is a hobby for your character, perhaps its a life long passion.

Either way, what are you waiting for?! GET SMITHING!

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A relevant thread!

I think that, as with much else, ‘learn by doing’ is a good go-to. I recently started using the mage-smith character concept, but I am confident it will get more involved and interesting for all parties involved as time goes on.

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This is definetely a helping thread as I roleplay my character as a blacksmith and I find it helping!

Thank you for making this thread :slight_smile:

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Rping blacksmith myself I agree that it requres at least some basic research. Looks helpfull :slight_smile:

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My old main, an Orc Blademaster, learned his trade in Hall’vallor before the rise of the horde. He studied the techniques of other races during the various wars, inspecting the forges of stormed settlements and the weapons or documents of slain enemies.

When the Horde returned to Draenor (outland), he settled into a nich of making weapons, and literally hammered out his own method of smelting and working adamantite. The process involved collecting pebbles and lumps of the ire from the lake and pools bellow the throne of elements (the battling elements having purified the ore to a spectacular degree), he then ground it into dust… and over a week would introduce it into a smelting pit where the extreme temperature began to form the ingot.

Once cooled sufficiently (4 days later), he’d drag the massive ingot out of the ground, and begin breaking it up with a sledgehammer, taking the best shards. With an ample collection of adamantite shards he’d move on to heating, hammering and folding them together into the shape of the desired weapon. When completely happy, he’d paint the weapon in dark clay from the lake bed and let it cool over several days to ensure resilience and strength. Bladed weapons would be sharpened with draenthyst crystsls, decorated with gronn bone handles wrapped in nether ray hide. All of them would be marked with his personal mark, an orcish face with devil horns (His name was “Krogon Devilstep”, often called the red devil).

Even today, 4 years after his death, clan red blade proudly sports numerous examplea of his work. Viewing them as powerful, potent and cherished weapons (they’re good for making things dead).

This process was worked out over 5 years, and created some of the abdolute best RP I’ve ever had. The process, the tools, customization and the personal touches. The recipe was even thought lost IC, but has had a triumphant resurrection of late and remains a key Clan secret (oops).

My Blscksmith is now a Pandaren, and i can only hope i ever get this dedicated and precise again. Love reading threads like this, and hearing about how other smiths go about their business.

:hammer:

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Thanks a lot for this post.

Even though my character is pretty much a scuffed, retired blacksmith, I still appreciate it loads.

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Honestly, all the professions should get some love.

Blacksmithing rocks, but so do all the other professions. Even those who aren’t listed in-game, but are present in the lore.

Keep up the good work.

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Some good info in here. Will have to try and remember some of it once I get back to gaming.

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Another good thread I’ve found in the near 12 years I’ve RP’d as a Blacksmith is the following: all credit goes to the people who put in the effort of course.

It’s very extensive and in-depth. I re-read it from time to time to keep myself up to date on the properties of the rarer metals.

That said, being a blacksmith, I’m running my longest “solo-campaign” in perfecting the way of forging the Northrend-ores, more specifically Titanium and Titansteel. The encounter with an Earth elemental that left Dareon almost blind in his right eye only spurs him on even more in perfecting his forging ways.

Nice to see there are other enthusiasts out there!

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Updated with some additional Metal Lore!

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