By Nathanial- Teir’Dal Necromancer of Tarew Marr

Onto the mastery of yet another Trade skill, I will try to compile information I’ve learned, along with my roommates usage of this skill. I myself simply forwent worrying about making any initial profit, and used one of the harder items until I became a master, with ONE success prior to reaching a skill level of 65. Yes, this was 64 Failures at this point. My roommate used the gradual step, I used about 5pp more than he in this experiment during my initial investments. His Starting pottery funds: 12pp, Mine: 17pp. Prior to beginning this, I will point out something about this skill. During your adventures with pottery, you will go through three stages. "Gradual Loss", "Breaking Even", and then "Profitability". These are almost universal with all trade skills unless you do as I, and use the hardest means possible to build your skill. There are two Methods you can build any trade skill. The "Safe Method" or the "Fast Method". I personally use the Fast Method, but I realize my methods are not for all, and sometimes cost more, sometimes less depending on success’s. The hard manner of learning, is what I prefer. I have little to no initial return, but at the same time, I have faster skill development, and gain faster returns as my skill builds. Yes, initially I gain no money back, and thus must work purely from pocket with no money from the skill until I’ve reached near Mastery. But, after mastering two other trade skills, I’ve always got a means to earn the money I need to continue my work. With the Safe method, you take the easy, gradual steps and initially loose some money, then start to break even, and then finally will be working on pure profit.

Once more, for comparison, I will put my Stats needed for Trade skills. Anyone with High Charisma and or Factions will gain more profit from any of the Trade skills I have worked with.

Int 149

Wis 83

Dex 96

Charisma 65

To begin with, start with earning your initial points as follows. It is suggested to invest at least 5 skill points into this Trade skill, but is not necessary. To begin your career as a Master Potter, please remember the age old Motto, "It’s a Dirty Job, but someone’s got to do it!"

Before beginning, return to the bank, and place all non-essential items in the bank. It’s best to purchase 6-8 backpacks specifically for this venture if you don’t already have this many. Now, go to a Vendor with the standard Inn Keeper stocks, and purchase 4 stacks of 20 waters. Find the closest Pottery supplier in your own city, or which ever city is Friendly to you. In Neriak, in the Foreign Quarter there is an Ogre near the bar to the left side when you enter. In this corner, is a Halfling shoe salesman, a Human Female container salesman, and the Ogre, Guard and Human Bartender standing next to each other. The ogre here sells all items needed for Pottery with the exception of sketches. We’ll cover more on this later. Now, open the last container in your inventory and purchase small blocks of Clay until that last slot if filled.

*Note: Always have two slots filled in your inventory with food and water. Don’t starve yourself making Jars*

Formula’s needed for Following procedure:

Clay Conversion Corrections:

If you mix a large block of clay with water, you get a block of clay.

If you mix a block of clay with water, you get a small block of clay.

If you mix 3 small blocks of clay with water, you get a block of clay

If you mix 3 blocks of clay with water, you get a large block of clay.

If you purchase the Pottery Book, ALWAYS remember, that it neglects to mention that all formulas require Water when using the potters wheel, and does NOT require them during firing in the kiln.

For simplified Instructions:

Potters Wheel:

1 Appropriate Sketch

1 Water

Appropriate Amount and type of Clay

Kiln:

1 Unfinished Item

1 Appropriate Quality Firing Sheet

Now that you have the clay and water needed, go to the Potter’s Wheel. In Neriak, this is right next to the Halfling shoe sales man. Left click on the potter’s wheel to open the device. Place:

3 Small Blocks of Clay

1 Water

Hit Combine

Upon success, this will create 1 Block of Clay. Repeat this until you have no more small blocks of clay in your inventory. At this point, you should have several Blocks of Clay in your inventory provided you had any successes. Now, place:

3 Blocks of Clay

1 Water

Hit combine.

This should create 1 Large block of Clay upon success. Continue this until you only have Large Blocks of Clay. Return to the Vendor and sell of your successes. Continue this process until this becomes trivial. Estimated trivial marker is 20. I used estimates here as this was my roommate’s findings, and as I started with an item that didn’t become trivial until 115.

Once this has become Trivial, you will need to proceed to something harder to advance your skills. The Next suggested item will be small Jars. These items will become trivial at skill 27. Here is where you must return to a Vendor of another sort. You must seek out an item called a Sketch. Sketches look like small "scrolls" . Here is also where it becomes harder for another reason. Citizens of Neriak, we have a long trip ahead of us. There are no sketches to be found within Neriak at all. The closest place, if you are not welcome in Freeport, is in the South Desert of Ro. In this desolate land there are two vendors, both of whom are Teir’Dal. They two lovely ladies appear weak, but I saw them take out several individuals whom where looking for sketches as well. The trip is long, going through 4.5 Zones, so purchase at least 8 stacks of 20 of these jars to save time. Also, if you are a Caster of Magic, it is best to bind yourself in Neriak and simply gate back. It’s not enough that we must traverse these desolate lands, dodging crocodiles, Dry Bone skeletons, Desert Madman, Crypt Mummies, Shriveled Mummies, Dervish Cutthroats, and even Lock Jaw and Rahotep before getting to these two ladies, we also must watch our backs while purchasing them. Giants are known to walk through the camp, as well as various members of the undead. And even Terrorantula has been seen here on the rare occasion. This, topped with various strong Orc Warriors (even seen a Mostly white/yellows with a few Reds at level 19) means we have to be ever vigilant. Thus, stock up. If you can, purchase one backpack full of Small Jars, then another full of Medium jars. At this point, you may want to stock a third Backpack with, not Large Jars, but with Pie Tins. Return to Neriak and place the two excess backpacks (Containing Medium Jar and Pie Tin Sketches) into the bank.

If you’ve only two slots empty (suggested) at this point, place 1 stack of 20 sketches, and 1 stack of 20 waters in the two empty inventory slots. Have empty backpacks in the rest. Open the last backpack and purchase Blocks of Clay until your last slot is full.

*Note: Always leave two slots filled with food and water*

Upon returning to the Potters wheel, you will place:

1 Block of clay

1 Small jar sketch

1 Water

Hit Combine

Success here will result in the creation of an unfinished Small Jar. Place this in an empty backpack slot and continue until you are out of Blacks of Clay. Now, you will need to place the two stacks in your inventory into your backpack once more. Return to the vendor and purchase as many Quality Firing Sheets as you had successes. This time go the Kiln, located near the pottery wheel. Place:

1 Unfinished Small Clay Jar

1 Quality Firing Sheet

Hit combine.

Success here will create a Small Clay jar. Place this into the empty Inventory slot and repeat once more. This is where it becomes time consuming. Jar’s are containers, so, you cannot place them into the backpacks once completed. Thus, you will need to create two, sell them, create two more, sell them, and repeat until all successful unfinished Clay jars are Small clay jars. Once you have sold off the last of your Small Clay Jars, repeat process until this is Trivial for you at Skill 27. If you still have remaining sketches, continue this until they are all used. You will have less failures, and will regain some of the initial investment. You will however, still lose some money at this point. Don’t be discouraged.

*Note: Firing in the Kiln becomes trivial at 17 Skill. But, there is still a chance of failure during firing. Don’t jump for joy until AFTER the item is fully completed regardless of how trivial it may be*

Now that Small Clay Jars are trivial, return to the bank, and collect the backpack with Medium Jar Sketches. Return to the potter’s wheel and begin the process. This is exactly the same as with the small Jars, including that these are Containers. Place:

1 Medium Jar Sketch

1 Block of Clay

1 Water

Hit Combine

This will result in an Unfinished Medium Clay Jar upon success. These become Trivial at about Skill 35. And will be done exactly the same for firing as the Small Jar. In the Kiln, Place:

1 Unfinished Medium Clay Jar

1 Quality Firing Sheet

Hit combine

As with the small Jars, you will need to keep at least one slot open to place the container in. I would personally suggest two slots as this cuts some time off the running back and forth, but not all. Also, you will still lose some money at this point in the venture, but will begin to break even more often. Continue until all sketches are used and you have earned back some of the money you have lost.

*Note: Firing in the Kiln becomes trivial at 17 Skill. But, there is still a chance of failure during firing. Don’t jump for joy until AFTER the item is fully completed regardless of how trivial it may be*

Here, we turn to an item that is going to use a slightly different Strategy. You do not need to follow this, and should wait until your skill is at least in the 80’s range. Prior to skill 80, when your successes will be varied greatly, continue to use your backpacks as before. Two empty inventory slots, filled with the Pie Tin Sketches and Water and the rest of your inventory filled with Blocks of Clay. If you did not purchase the Pie Tin Sketches, you will need to return to your local (OR un-local for Neriak) Vendor and acquire these. Again, I would suggest filling a backpack completely full even if the Vendor is nearby. Return to the Potter’s Wheel and place:

2 Blocks of Clay

1 Pie Tin Sketch

1 Water

Hit Combine

Success at this point varied greatly with little to no success until 50-60’s range. And even at this point, you will only get successes on a rare occasion. Still, don’t be discouraged. This will raise your skill fairly fast, and at about 70-80 you should have successes nearly 50-75% of the time. Pie Tins do not become trivial until skill 115. Once you are out of Clay, return to the Vendor and purchase High Quality Firing Sheets. This MUST be a High Quality Firing Sheet, and costs about 5sp. Buy as many of these as you had successes. Now, go to the Kiln once more and place:

1 Unfinished Pie Tin

1 High Quality Firing Sheet

Upon success you will receive a Pie Tin that can be placed in your backpacks, but, cannot be stacked. Continue until all High Quality Firing Sheets and Unfinished items are converted to Pie Tins and return to the Vendor. Here is where you will be happy. Pie tins rough cost to make is 2gp 5sp depending on Charisma. They sell for 5-6gp depending on Charisma. Now, granted this may not seem like a lot, let me put it this way. You make two of these (pending success) at about 5gp. You sell one of these at 5gp 4sp 2cp (my price from the Ogre – Though one level down near the bank I can sell them for 6gp 2sp) I’m certain you can begin to see my point here. This skill will become Trivial at 115 as I stated, but, after you reach mastery, I was having success rates of 80-100%. On occasion I would have a run where I would fail 4-5 times out of 12 tries each, and still was making more money at this point than I was loosing. It was interesting to note though. After reaching Mastery, I had earned some 20pp in 30 minutes. I was also not in a hurry, nor was I truly putting much effort into this. I know an associate who had also tried this, and he earns about 100pp per hour pending Lag, effort, and sheer straight power pottering (sounded kewl! Lol). In an additional 1.5 hours, I earned some 46pp between chats, Role Playing, experimenting with various different vendors prices, a Second run out to South Ro, and showing a few newbies down to the Necromancer’s Guild three levels down. Imagine now, what could be done if all items are within easy reach, and you are truly just pounding out the clay left and right. I would wager to believe my associate on his earnings as I’ve seen first hand his currency flow.

Here is where the Strategy for Skill level 80+ begins. Once you have reached this level and sold your creations, find a local merchant whom sells Large boxes. The woman at the base of the Ramp in Neriak near the Kiln sells these. They will cost you a few gold. Place all empty backpacks in the bank and only use the Large boxes. Keep one backpack, which will house your food, water and sketches. Now, fill the rest of your inventory with the Blocks of Clay and repeat the process until all clay is used. Fire the unfinished items and sort them into your boxes until all boxes are full. You may need to make several two or three runs before all the boxes are filled with Pie Tins. Now, go to sell the Pie Tins, only, don’t bother to open the boxes. Click to sell the boxes that are filled with Pie Tins and hit Sell. Yes, you will lose the Box, but you will sell all the items faster and in one swift motion. You will lose a few gold from the boxes, but with the profits you are bringing in, I personally don’t see it as a true loss myself. You will need to buy more boxes. In the long run, the Lose is out done by the profit and speed in which I can sell everything off and you don’t have to click on every single Pie Tin, only on the ones located in the Backpack. As noted before you do not have to follow through with this, and this is only a suggestion to help speed up the process some.

*Note: Do NOT Sell the backpack with your food in it!*

Now, to take your skills once step further, and to reach a skill level of 148 isn’t needed, but, I will list it here in case any wish to. Truly, you will lose money again here with one exception.

Return to the vendor who was gracious enough to supply you with the Sketches you need, and purchase one backpack full of Medium Bowl Sketches and one backpack full of Large Bowl sketches. Now, return to your favorite Pottery Wheel, or in the case of the Neriak Citizens, the ONLY pottery wheel available. Open is as always, and place:

1 Block of Clay

1 Medium Bowl Sketch

1 Water

Hit Combine:

Once all Blocks of Clay are used, turn to the Vendor and purchase TWO High Quality Firing Sheets per one Success. Go to the Kiln and Place:

Unfinished Medium Clay Bowl

2 High Quality Firing Sheets

Hit Combine

The resulting item will be a container, so once more, you will need to leave at least one, with a suggested two slots free. Remarkably, these are not as profitable as the Pie Tins or the Large Bowls.

This should create an Unfinished Mixing bowl. This item is currently broken, but is also supposed to be used in Baking. The creation of the Mixing Bowl will bring your skill to 128. From here, you will need to move on to creating a Large Bowl. Place:

1 Large Block of Clay

1 Large Bowl Sketch

1 Water

Hit combine

*Note: the Pottery book, states that you must use a Glass Shard for this and the other bowls, I’ve made these but never once used a Glass shard. Also, the Small Jar formula is Broken at this time.*

To finish the product, turn to the Kiln and place:

1 Unfinished Large Clay Bowl

1 High Quality Firing Sheet

Hit Combine

The profits here are by far very worth the effort, but the process is far more tedious and more running back and forth. These items sold for 8gp a piece for me with an estimated cost of 2.5-3.5gp. The only real annoying factor here, being that these are containers and cannot be placed in backpacks. Thus forcing more trips. This is the trade off for the high profitability of this Trade skill. Large Bowls will end your Skill at 148 and the only true reason for achieving this is simple. The higher your skill in something above it’s "trivial Marker", the less likely you are to fail on trivial items (Less Failures on the profitable Pie Tins). Also, your INT, WIS, and Level play into this some from what I’ve seen.

A Brief Run down on the Recipes from the book I’ve found.

*Note: All recipes listed here lack the WATER component, but water is ALWAYS needed on the Potters Wheel.*

Cake Round = a block of clay + a cake round sketch + a glass shard

Ceramic Lining = a small block of clay + a ceramic lining sketch

Clay Jar = a block of clay + any sized jar sketch

Cookie Cutters = a small block of clay + a cookie cutter template (they come in different shapes)

Large Bowl = a large block of clay + a large bowl sketch + a glass shard (Never used Glass Shard)

Medium Bowl = a block of clay + a medium bowl sketch + a glass shard (Never used Glass Shard)

Mixing Bowl = 2 large blocks of clay + a mixing bowl sketch

Muffin Tin = a block of clay + a muffin tin sketch + a metal bit

Pie Tin = 2 blocks of clay + a pie tin sketch

Pot = a large block of clay + a pot sketch + a metal bit

Skewers = a block of clay + a skewers sketch

Small Bowl = a small block of clay + a small bowl sketch + a glass shard (Formula Broken/Never used Glass Shard)

Smoker = a large block of clay + a smoker sketch

*Miscellaneous Notes:

Now that all that is said and done, Welcome to the Mastery of Potters.

Nathanial

Teir’Dal Necromancer