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Artisan

Introduction
Thanks for all the feedback from the last developer blog about the artisan skill. We wanted to put out another developer blog to go into a bit more detail about what you could make using the artisan skill. As we mentioned in the last develop blog, we will go into more detail about the balancing at a later stage, but we will ensure that we don’t devalue the effort players have put in to getting their skills where they are and to maintain the ethos that those who put the hard work in will get the benefit of higher skill levels.

One of the key things from the last round of feedback was the impact artisan has on combat. So, we have removed all the combat benefits from artisan and made it truly a skiller’s skill. The only impact artisan has on combat is the ability to create magic robes. These robes fill the gaps which where there are no magic robes and do not devalue any other existing content.

The important thing to remember is that nothing here is cast in stone, should this pass a poll we will still need a huge amount of feedback from you during the development process. The whole point in what we are trying to do is to make the skill what you want it to be.

Artisan in short
We know it is a long dev blog, so for those who just want a quick recap, here it is.

Artisan is very similar to slayer, but for skilling rather than fighting. You will visit an artisan master who will give you an assignment to gather a resource. Once you have gathered the resource he will ask you to craft it into an item. This will award you with XP in the artisan skill, the gathering skill you used to get the resource and the skill you used to craft the item. The items you can make are unique to artisan and will give you help and new ways to level your existing skills.


As your artisan level increases you will have access to make more and more useful items such as elemental runes, two handed crossbows, food with poison healing properties, wieldable harpoons and totems to buff your existing skills amongst many other things. You will also gain access to brand new resources and areas as your artisan level increases.

Read on if you want to know more.

Gathering resources
To level your artisan skill you still need to visit an artisan master and get assignments from them. Your artisan master will first give you an assignment to gather some resources. What the artisan master will ask you to collect will depend on your levels and the level of artisan master you are talking too. Here is our initial thoughts on what he could ask you to collect.


As you can see from the table above there are some new resources you can gather, quartz, ash logs, elm logs, redwood logs and great kyatt fur. Here is a breakdown of how we see them fitting into each skill.


Each artisan master will grant you access to a new resource area which contains the new resources plus a selection of other resources which you will find useful. You will be able to access this area whether you have an artisan task or not. These will include new forests, mining sites and hunting areas.

Once you have gathered the items your artisan master has asked for you should head back to talk to him and he will give you some artisan XP based on the XP you earnt gathering the resources.

Using your resources
Once you have collected your resources and have received your artisan XP you will have the option of asking the artisan for another gathering assignment or a crafting assignment. If you choose another gathering assignment, your slayer master will give you one and you can keep the resources you have already gathered.

If you ask for a crafting assignment your artisan master will ask you to use the resources you have gathered to make an item. The items you will be asked to make will be brand new items specific to the artisan skill. You will use only the item from your gathering task and another skill to make this item, you will receive XP in both artisan and the other skill you have used.

For example, you gathering task may be to collect 160 pure essence. If you ask for a crafting assignment you might be asked to create elemental runes (runes which act as all of the elements), you will receive runecrafting XP when crafting the runes and artisan XP when that task has been completed. When you next speak to your artisan master, he will give you another gathering task.

In order to craft anything in a crafting assignment, you will need to use an artisan’s workshop. Each artisan will give you access to their workshop if you have the right artisan level. Alternatively if you have the right construction level, you can build your own in your POH. The majority of the items you can make for artisan will only be able to be made while you have an assignment to make it, however they will be tradable.

Artisan points
Each time you complete a gathering assignment and the corresponding crafting assignment you will receive some artisan points. These points can be used to block specific tasks or tasks related to specific skills. A number of you have asked to be able to access the skill blocking function quickly. To accommodate this, you will be able to block one skill for free until you reach level 10 artisan. Once you have some points you can choose what to spend your points on. Here’s a list of what you could spend your points.

• Block tasks for a specific skill for the next 10 levels. (A maximum of three skills can be blocked in total)
  
• Block tasks for a specific skill until you unblock them. (A maximum of three skills can be blocked in total)
  
• Unblock a specific skill.
  
• Block a specific task. (up to a maximum of 5 tasks blocked)
  
• Unblock a specific task
  
• Be able to increase the amount of items you need to collect or craft in an assignment.
  
• Ability to unlock specific non artisan crafting tasks such as unstrung long bows.

What you can make using artisan
Below you will find a list of the different items you can make using your artisan skill. The titles reflect what skills the items are helpful for. All the items you can make are designed to give you either an alternative way to level a skill, useful items for levelling a skill or other benefits. The rewards are also designed not to devalue any existing item or way of skilling and stays true to the ethos of rewarding those who put the effort in.

Fish Fillets (fishing, cooking and herblore)
Once you have collected your fish, your artisan master may ask you to produce fish fillets. As you fillet the fish you will receive artisan XP.

If you have the required artisan level fish fillets can be cooked at any time to create filleted food which restores the same health as its non-filleted version. For example, both a cooked shark and a cooked shark fillet will heal 20 hitpoints. However, before cooking the fish fillets you can add herbs to them which will give them an additional affect. For example, if you add a marrentill herb to a raw shark fillet and cook it, you would have a food item that heals 20 hitpoints and has a chance of healing you of poison. The important thing to note is that the each food item will only have a chance of applying its effect and the effects they do apply won’t be as good as the potion you can make with that herb. The act of adding herbs to a fillet of fish will give herblore XP.

Here is the effect each herb will generate.

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Carvings (mining and crafting)
Using your crafting skill you can make carvings out of pieces of ore. When worn around your neck, these carvings give you a chance to receive an extra ore from the next 28 rocks that you mine of the type of carving you are wearing. Each time you craft a carving, you will get some crafting XP.

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Artisan Tools (mining, smithing, woodcutting and fishing)
Artisan tools can only be made when you have the corresponding artisan assignment. The only exception to this is the artisan’s pickaxe and hatchet which can be made at any time after you reach level 85 artisan. These items are tradable and each time you make one you will receive both artisan and smithing XP.

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Totems (woodcutting, crafting and firemaking)
You may receive an assignment from your artisan master to turn some logs you have collected into a totem. The type of log you use will affect how many logs you will need to create a totem. Once you have created the totem, you can burn it to temporarily receive the effect of the totem. Here is a list of the totems you will be able to make and the impact of them.

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Two handed crossbows (fletching)
Another of the assignments you might receive from your artisan master is to turn the logs you have collected into 2 handed crossbow stocks. Once you have made these stocks, you can trade them to other players, or use them to create two handed crossbows. Two handed crossbows are slower to load than a normal crossbow and have a strength requirement to use, they do have a higher max hit than their one handed counterparts.

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Slow burners (woodcutting, firemaking and herblore)
If your gathering assignment was to mine some coal, your next assignment may be to make some slow burning powder. You’ll be grinding up the coal into a fine powder which can then be used to turn logs into slow burners. The finer you grind the powder the higher level log you can use it on, however you will need more of it. When you set fire to a slow burner log it will burn for longer than its normal counterpart. As it is more difficult to set fire to a slow burning log, you get slightly more XP than you would for a burning a normal one.

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Combining Runes (mining and runecrafting)
After you have collected pure essence, you can be asked to combine the essence into unique runes. This can be done by taking the pure essence to the artisan’s workshop and crafting the runes. You will get runecrafting XP for making the runes.

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Construction shortcuts (woodcutting, mining and construction)
You can build your own houses and it if you can do that, it seems only sensible that you can build structures to help you climb over fences, under walls or cross rivers. When you have collected granite or some wood as a gathering assignment, you may be asked to make some items which are components needed to create the shortcuts. The shortcuts will degrade over time, however the higher your construction level the longer they will last.

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Skilling bracelets (mining and crafting)
Artisan also brings you skilling bracelets. You will be able to craft lesser, major and superior bracelets for specific gathering skill which will help you when you are on an artisan task. These bracelets degrade over time and when you make them you will receive crafting XP.

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Player owned housing (construction)
When you complete a craftable assignment from your artisan master you will use a workshop belonging to him. However, if you have the required levels you will also be able to build your own artisan workshop in your house. You can then use this to make items when you have a task. If you collect quartz as your gathering task, you may be asked to make figurines which when placed in your house will give you a chance to build an item without using the resources.

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Clothing (farming and crafting)
If you are given a hunting gathering assignment you may well be asked to turn the items you collect into materials needed to make clothing. These items may include things such as different coloured rolls of fur, down or skins. In addition to the clothing we will be introducing the ability to grow cotton in your allotments giving you farming XP. You will be able to spin the cotton into cotton thread to gain some crafting XP. You will then be able to use a loom to turn your cotton thread into sheets of cotton. You will also be able to use the loom to turn balls of wool into sheets of wool and flax fibres (which you will be able to spin at a spinning wheel) into linen.

To make clothing you don’t need to have an assignment and can be made as long as you have the required artisan level.

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Mods Alfred, Ash, John C, Mat K, Reach, Ronan & Weath
The Old School Team