Materials in Vagrant Story

WOOD LEATHER BRONZE IRON HAGANE SILVER DAMASCUS

Materials impart Strength and Intelligence to Armor and Weapons. These are intrinsic properties of Materials, which hold true for every drop of loot from an enemy, and every chest item. They can never be changed. Damage Points (DP) are fixed for drops of loot and chest items, but can be changed by crafting; each product's maximum DP is always an average, equal to the DP of the two pieces added together, divided by two.

Affinities and Class can be changed in combat or by crafting, and they are not always the same value in the beginning, when it is first dropped or found. However, the majority have a set value, with rarer variations. Items from Chests, in particular, often exceed the norm for their materials, and drops also can exceed the norm; for example, the Crossbow-wielding Crimson Blade Knavier in Kesch Bridge can drop a SILVER Brigandine with -1 to Elemental and Light Affinities, rather than -5. Unlike these anomalous exceptions, Wizard Robes are consistent in always having an Affinity bonus five points higher than other Leather.

Type is a fixed characteristic of particular Weapon pieces; weapon Designs also adhere to a limited range (Axes are all Blunt, Crossbows are all Piercing or Blunt, and Daggers are all Edged or Piercing, for example).

Type bonuses for armor are another thing altogether; they vary from one piece to another. There are generally speaking better bonuses for higher Tiers, but this cannot be counted on. Regardless of material: at eighth Tier, a Breastplate has more resists than a Sallet, with 1/3/3 (Blunt/Slashing/Piercing), and a Vambrace, with 0/5/10, but by 10th Tier, Scale armor is the low one with 0/5/10 to Basinet's 6/6/4 and Rondanche's 8/6/0. So Type bonuses are not a function of material at all, and not much about Tier either, but mostly of individual Equipments.

Just as enemies affect Ashley's armor and weapons during battle, enemy armor and weapons can be altered during combat, and drop with the changes intact. Changes to Affinity may differ, but weapons hitting Ashley can only gain Human, and Armor that he hits will only gain Human. Proof that Ashley is human, and evidence of the attention to detail on the part of the developers.

The player can affect Affinity and Class after a piece has been dropped or looted from a chest, of course. Weapons are affected by Break Arts, Enchantments, the intrinsic bonuses of enemy body parts together with the bonuses of armor enemies wear (and their shields, if the Left Arm is attacked). Armor is affected by Enchantments, Warlock Spells, Heal, enemy melee attacks, enemy special attacks, and enemy magic.

Damascus Prevails[]

A useful crafting tip presented a little out of sequence, before the material making it more comprehensible is discussed

It is possible to retain the DAMASCUS material of a piece (or retain any other desired material), while taking it full circle through all of the Equipment types using one or a series of Morphs.

Damascus Leg + Body/Helm = Damascus Arm. Damascus Arm + Head = Damascus Body. Damascus Body + Helm = Damascus Leg.

Keeping good Type bonuses on such a piece, let alone increasing them, is another matter entirely.

The weakness of making Damascus pieces before the final combination is that Arms, which in the form of Tilt Glove are one of the best and easiest to obtain sources of Type bonuses, cannot be added and still keep the Damascus material. This is because all of the combinations involving Arms either require or result in Helms; Helms will not retain the Damascus material in any combination with any non-Damascus Equipment. One combination with Arm pieces is with Helm as the second ingredient, in which case even if it is Damascus it will not remain Damascus. The other two result in Helms, which again would lose Damascus in the next combination.

Intrinsic Bonuses of Materials[]

See Affinity, Class and Type in Vagrant Story and Best Loot

All dropped items of a certain material, with only slight variation, have a certain set of Affinity and Class bonuses.

	St	In	Ag	Hu	Be	Un	Ph	Dr	Ev	Ph	Ai	Fi	Ea	Wa	Li	Da
WOOD	+5	+8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	-6	8	8	-6	-4	-4
LEATHER	+1	+6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	5	-1	-1	-5	-5
BRONZE	+3	+2	-2	-1	-1	2	-1	-1	-5	8	-5	-5	3	3	-2	-2
IRON	+5	+2	-2	1	1	-2	1	1	0	10	0	-4	-4	0	-1	-1
HAGANE	+6	+3	-1	5	5	1	0	5	5	14	3	3	-5	-5	-5	-5
SILVER	+4	+2	-1	0	0	20	15	0	5	5	-5	-5	-5	-5	-5	20
DAMASCUS	+9	+4	-1	10	10	-2	0	10	10	20	-5	-5	-5	-5	20	-20

Two items of the same Design and Tier but of different Materials will have different Strength and Intelligence bonuses. Thus it can be seen that Strength and Intelligence are intrinsic properties of Material types. The values of Class and Affinity bonuses are also inherent properties of a particular Material, for the most part. However, items from Chests often exceed the norm for their materials, and Wizard Robes have an Affinity bonus five points higher than other Leather.

Type bonuses can be compared, but since there is no such thing as armor without a material type, the point at which a baseline is established is purely an arbitrary decision. BRONZE and IRON Chain Coifs, for example, can be compared directly, but this only tells the difference between Bronze and Iron, not what the value of the Bronze is. So we have what we have, which is a table of comparative values starting with all Leather values being positive.

Establishing a base value for the bonuses is thus a purely arbitrary decision. For reasons of synchronizing armor materials (starting with Leather) and shield materials (starting with Wood) and weapon materials (starting with Bronze), starting with the lowest value, the Strength defense of Leather, makes all of the others bonuses rather than minuses. To make them all bonuses, including the lowest, a base value lower than Leather is used.

The only guide on the subject shows radically different values (even given the different baseline),^[1] so it is possible that Type, also, varies from piece to piece.

Defense Bonuses

Armor Material	Strength	Intelligence	Agility
Leather	+ 1	+ 7	+ 0
Wood	+ 2	+ 8	+ 0
Bronze	+ 3	+ 3	- 1
Iron	+ 5	+ 3	- 1
Hagane	+ 7	+ 4	- 2
Silver	+ 4	+ 3	- 2
Damascus	+ 9	+ 5	- 2

Attack Bonuses

Weapon Material	Strength	Intelligence	Agility
Leather
Wood
Bronze
Iron
Hagane
Silver
Damascus

Affinity and Class of Armor and Weapon Drops[]

Examples
Silver and Damascus Armor:
SILVER Armor: Affinity: Physical +5; Elemental -5; Light -5, Dark +20
DAMASCUS Armor: Affinity: Physical +20; Elemental -5; Light +20, Dark -20

SILVER Armor: Class: Undead +20; Phantom +15; Evil +5; Human, Beast, Dragon, 0
DAMASCUS Armor: Class: Human, Beast, Dragon, Evil, +10; Undead, -2; Phantom, 0

Now compare armor with weapons:

SILVER Weapon: Affinity: Physical +5; Elemental +5; Light +20, Dark -5
DAMASCUS Weapon: Affinity: Physical +20; Elemental +5; Light -10, Dark +10

SILVER Weapon: Class: Undead +20; Phantom +15; Evil +5; Human, Beast, Dragon, 0
DAMASCUS Weapon: Class: Human, Beast, Dragon, Evil, +10; Undead, -2; Phantom, 0

The difference is equivalent to Affinity affecting armor differently than it does weapons. Affinities opposite to those of the enemy are more effective with weapons; affinities the same as the enemy protect against it. So while Class remains the same, Affinities are high in armor where they are low in weapons, and vice versa (with the exception of Physical, which has no opposite).

Note that SILVER weapons and armor combine very effectively to increase Undead and Phantom Class. The highest bonus remains the same, but the other increases to above the highest, giving a leapfrogging effect. +20, +15 becomes +20, +24, at which point 24 is the highest and two 20s combine to make +32, +24. In order to maintain maximum increases, the items must have been combined the same number of times, e.g. two weapons both of +20, +24.

Armor and Shields: Class[]

Values arbitrarily chosen from items that drop frequently. Higher Tier items of a given Equipment group, and items from chests, may have higher starting values. E.g. IRON Brigandine that drops from the Crimson Blade Knavier in Rue Crimnade is several points higher in both Affinities and Class (8 - 1 - 5 - 1 - 1 - 0) than the most common Iron shown below.

	Human	Beast	Undead	Phantom	Dragon	Evil
Leather	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wood	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bronze	-1	-1	-2	-1	-1	-5
Iron	1	1	-2	1	1	0
Hagane	5	5	1	0	5	5
Silver	0	0	20	15	0	5
Damascus	10	10	-2	0	10	10

Armor and Shields: Affinity[]

Values arbitrarily chosen from items that drop frequently. Higher Tier items of a given Equipment group, and items from chests, may have higher starting values.

	Physical	Air	Fire	Earth	Water	Light	Dark
Leather	2	5	5	-1	-1	-5	-5
Wood	4	-6	8	8	-6	-4	-4
Bronze	8	-5	-5	3	3	-2	-2
Iron	10	0	-4	-4	0	-1	-1
Hagane	14	3	3	-5	-5	-5	-5
Silver	5	-5	-5	-5	-5	-5	20
Damascus	20	-5	-5	-5	-5	20	-20

Weapons: Class[]

Values arbitrarily chosen from items that drop frequently. Higher Tier items of a given Design group, and items from chests, may have higher starting values.

	Human	Beast	Undead	Phantom	Dragon	Evil
Bronze	- 1	- 1	- 2	- 1	- 1	- 5
Iron	1	1	-2	1	1	0
Hagane	5	5	1	0	5	5
Silver	0	0	20	15	0	5
Damascus	10	10	-2	0	10	10

Weapons: Affinity[]