Long looked down upon by other trades, the tinker is the essential backbone of the crafting world, supplying high quality tools to all. From scribe’s pens to miner’s shovels, from sextants to potion kegs. He is also a supreme artist crafting musical windchimes, clocks or lighting for your home from a simple lantern to an elaborate candelabra.

Sought out by hunters and fighters for his ability to craft bola; weapons such as nunchaku, cleavers, skinning knives and jewelry; both basic and magical. No gargoyle’s suit is complete without a finely crafted necklace and earrings from a grandmaster tinker (suitably imbued of course). The tinker’s repertoire is extensive. More recently some tinkers have learned to weave baskets, and by reading the book ‘Mechanical Life Manual’, obtained from Sutek they have learned to make Mechanical pets.

Learning the Art

Unless you started your character with 50 tinkering skill, or reside in a Siege Perilous ruleset, begin your journey in New Haven. First speak to the tinker shop vendor (use context menu) for a small fee he will train you. Next accept the quest of Amelia Youngstone the tinker instructer. She will tell you to craft scissors, however my advice is to make clock parts instead.

When you have successfully made 5 clock parts, accept the quest of Nibbet the Tinker. He will trade your clock parts for a craftsman’s satchel. This will contain small tinkered items (eg: a key, axles, gears), or beeswax and tinker tools with which you can continue training. Continue in this manner, collecting the tinker tools, until you complete Amelia’s quest; ie 50 skill. Collect your reward from Amelia and put it safely in the bank.

Restock your ingots and move to Heartwood. There take the quest of the Trinket Weavers, Sleen or Waelian ‘Necessity’s Mother’, handing in your surplus tools. Keep back at least one set of tools to continue training. (It is possible to take this quest earlier, however accelerated gains are only possible in New Haven.)

Decision Time

You can stay in Heartwood, making tinker tools and repeating this quest to 60 skill, but success chance is high and gains will be very slow. You will of course also receive the rewards for the quest, which may include the rare recipes for Essence of Battle, Resillient Bracer, and Pendant of the Magi or the inscription recipe, Scrapper’s Compendium.

Alternatively you can craft mortar and pestle or butcher knives. If you plan to also train armslore on the character, this last will serve to gain both skills at once.

At 60 skill, Heartwood is the place to be, take the quest “Beer Goggles” from Tillanil the Wine Tender of Tholef the Grape Tender. This requires 25 barrel taps and can be continued to approximately 80 skill, however by that point you are beyond the optimal 50 – 80% success range for gains. An alternative is switching to lockpicks at 75.

At 80 skill you can take the trinket weavers quest “The Far Eye” making spyglasses. These will take you all the way to Grandmaster, however if you feel gains are slowing down after 95 you could switch to making rings (normal or gargoyle).

Siege Perilous

Here race will have a bearing on early training. If elf or gargoyle craft either axles or knives (table type) depending on whether ingots or logs are easiest to come by, moving on to forks and spoons at 20 skill. This is the starting point for human characters with Jack of all Trades bonus. At 30 skill you can begin the Heartwood ‘Necessity’s Mother’ quest. Alternately Nibbet the Tinker can be found in Ocllo. From this point on follow the guide above.