Devotional Bead Carving

This page is based on the table information provided by G. Vorpar and used with permission.

Since he's also given instruction on how to make these beads, I don't think it's necessary for me to repeat it. However, I will say that if you want to try and figure out how to carve the bead yourself, buy a primer from the clerical NPC that sells them and study the primer. The clues about the whole process is all in the primer, you just have to figure out the syntax.

ASPECTS, SKILL AND PRIMERS
Neutral aspect beads are the easiest to carve, followed by light aspect beads. Dark aspect beads are the hardest to carve. (The skill needed to study the primers is also determined by the type of aspect you're trying to carve a bead for.) Mechanical lore, and scholarship are the two noted factors in bead carving. It has been said that there are other factors, but currently, there is no known conclusive revelation. (Agility and reflex do not appear to play a role.)

I am only giving rough estimates on how much mech lore (without the aid of a primer) is needed to successfully carve a bead from the easiest wood material. You may need more or less skill to carve. :)

If you are able to fully study primers, your scholarship skill adds bonus ranks to your mech lore which will help you carve better. (E.g. when bead carving was first introduced, I could successfully carve neutral aspect beads with about 40-something mech lore and 80-something scholarship.)

Approximate carving skill
(Without the aid of primers)
Neutral: 60 mech lore
Light: 100 mech lore
Dark: 140 mech lore

DECONSTRUCTION
Appraising a bead will let you determine the quality of your carved bead. With 100 appraisal, this is the information I get when appraising one of the beads I had carved:

You are completely positive that an ebony cobra bead is of fine quality for its material type, and good quality overall.

Material Quality
The material quality of the finished product reflects the craftmanship of the carver. Unlike the overall quality, this aspect of the bead reveals how skilled the carver was.

From the worst successful carving to the best:
  • poor
  • average
  • good
  • fine
  • exemplary
Overall Quality
The overall quality of the finished product reflects the craftmanship of the carver as well as the quality of the material itself. Certain materials cap out at certain levels. For example, a pine bead will never have more than poor overall quality, no matter how good a carver you are.

From lowest to highest:
  • poor
  • decent
  • average
  • good


Material Carving Difficulty
From the easiest to hardest material to carve:
  • Wood
  • Pine
  • Maple
  • Spruce
  • Birch
  • Fir
  • Mahogany
  • Willow
  • Ash
  • Crystal
  • Alder
  • Elm
  • Walnut
  • Oak
  • Teak
  • Rosewood
  • Onyx
  • Ebony
Things You May Not Know About Devotional Bead Carving
  • Make your own devotion - You can only get devotion from beads you carved yourself. If someone else carved the bead for you, it will be useless.
  • Use your own blocks - You can only carve beads from blocks bought from the Cleric NPCs or blocks carved yourself. Blocks carved by any other people will not be useable by you at all.
  • Carving beads is not static - Bear in mind that bead carving has slight carving fluctuations. You will not necessarily carve exactly the same way for every time you try to carve a bead.
  • Primers do not last long - Primers are not designed to last a lot of uses. You will find that as you read your primers, you will tear or crease the pages. The creasing and tearing of pages just affects it's durability. It definitely does not affect your bead carving. Eventually, the primer you use will crumble away. If it crumbles before you are done studying the primer, just buy a new one and turn to the appropriate page to continue.
  • Read your primer fully or not at all - You will only get a bonus to your carving if you complete your primer studies. If you fail to complete reading the primer, you will NOT get a bonus. There is no partial bonus for reading the primer partway. It is all or nothing at all.
  • Primers are not all the same - Neutral aspect primers have 5 pages. Light aspect primers have 7 pages. Dark aspect primers have 10 pages. Nuff said.


Credits: I must thank G. Vorpar for the help he has provided to make this page happen. Not only did he allow me to use some of his material, but he also aided in the construction of this page. Thanks also to Geoffin and Shunasazi for helping me with additional bead carving details.