Knapping Skill
| Knapping | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class | Skills |
| Type | Skill |
| Skill Group | Crafting |
| Max Level | 10 |
| Total XP | 32,775 |
| Skill Books | Knapping Skill Books |
| Best Occupation | Park Ranger (+1) |
The Knapping Skill governs making small stone objects. It shapes flint and stone into blades, awls, chisels, saws, drills and the heads of axes and mauls. It belongs to the Crafting group.
Knapping is the starting point of a primitive run. A sharp flint flake works as a knife, and stone tool heads lead to axes and mauls. When metal tools are scarce, knapped tools keep a survivor working. A higher level unlocks bigger and better stone tools. The Park Ranger starts with a level in it, and the Bushcrafter trait adds one.
How to Level Knapping
Knapping experience comes from crafting items in the knapping category. Each recipe gives experience, and higher-level recipes give more.
Knapping sharp flint flakes from flint nodules is the first step. The stone awl is the other level 0 recipe. Stone blades and stone chisels follow at level 1.
Flint nodules and flakes are the main materials. Foraging turns them up at any level. Breaking a flint deposit with a club hammer, sledgehammer or stone maul gives a few nodules and flakes at once. Large smooth flat stones are common and easy to pick up.
The tape Knapping: The Ancient Art gives a good boost. Watching only pays off in the first three levels, unless experience spills over from a level-up.
The Crafty and Fast Learner traits each raise the experience rate to 130 percent. The Slow Learner trait lowers it to 70 percent.
Level 6 brings the last knapping recipe. Once the needed recipes are open, endless flakes waste time better spent on foraging or building.
Rural ground is the best place to gather. Foraging with a focus on stones turns up flint far more often than town streets do. Flint boulders appear in the countryside and give a burst of material when broken. A short trip with a club hammer can stock a whole session of knapping.
A spare striking tool keeps the work going. A Wooden Mallet or knapping tool can break, and a second one stops the chain from stalling. Carving can make new knapping tools from wood when the old ones wear out.
The XP each Knapping level asks for, with the running total from level 0.
| Level | XP Needed | Total XP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 75 | 75 |
| 2 | 150 | 225 |
| 3 | 300 | 525 |
| 4 | 750 | 1,275 |
| 5 | 1,500 | 2,775 |
| 6 | 3,000 | 5,775 |
| 7 | 4,500 | 10,275 |
| 8 | 6,000 | 16,275 |
| 9 | 7,500 | 23,775 |
| 10 | 9,000 | 32,775 |
Knapping Level Effects
Each level opens a new stone tool. Level 1 brings the stone blade, the stone chisel and the long stone blade remake. Level 2 adds the stone blade scythe. Level 3 brings the flint saw.
Level 4 opens the large stone axe head. Level 5 adds the stone drill and the stone maul head. Level 6 brings the long stone blade, the final knapping recipe.
Many recipes can also be learned by researching a matching item. Researching a sharp flint flake teaches the stone blade and stone awl. Researching a mason's chisel teaches the stone chisel. A saw teaches the flint saw, and a drill teaches the stone drill. Each of these needs the right knapping level first.
Books speed up experience but do not teach recipes on their own. Recipes come from the skill level, from research, from magazines and from schematics. A character stuck with greyed out recipes often needs the right magazine or a sample to research.
A sharp flint flake opens one of the first useful weapons. Bound to a branch with rags or twine, it becomes the Crude Stone Axe under Maintenance. That axe chops trees and fights zombies, but it breaks far sooner than a steel axe. The large stone axe head at level 4 makes a much sturdier replacement.
Knapping Skill Books
The Knapping Skill Books come in five volumes. Each volume speeds up experience for two levels. Knapping I: "Flint Knapping 101" covers the first two levels. Knapping V: "Technological Morphometrics of Clovis Artifacts" covers the last two. Reading each volume just before its levels gives the most benefit.
The five volumes, the levels each one speeds up, the XP bonus while those levels are trained, and how long each takes to read. Reading times are game time at the default two minutes a page. Sitting down and wearing Reading Glasses each cut the time by a tenth, the Fast Reader trait cuts it by about a third, and Slow Reader adds a third.
| Volume | Image | Levels | XP Bonus | Pages | Read Time | Spawn ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knapping I: "Flint Knapping 101" | 
|
1 to 2 | x3 | 220 | 7 h 20 min | /additem Base.BookFlintKnapping1
|
| Knapping II: "Guide to Kentucky Geology" |
|
3 to 4 | x5 | 260 | 8 h 40 min | /additem Base.BookFlintKnapping2
|
| Knapping III: "Lithic Technology Manual 1993" |
|
5 to 6 | x8 | 300 | 10 h | /additem Base.BookFlintKnapping3
|
| Knapping IV: "Schmidt Rock Hardness Testing Techniques" |
|
7 to 8 | x12 | 340 | 11 h 20 min | /additem Base.BookFlintKnapping4
|
| Knapping V: "Technological Morphometrics of Clovis Artifacts" |
|
9 to 10 | x16 | 380 | 12 h 40 min | /additem Base.BookFlintKnapping5
|
Set of Knapping Books bundles all five volumes in one item and unpacks into them.
| Item | Image | Spawn ID |
|---|---|---|
| Set of Knapping Books | 
|
/additem Base.BookFlintKnappingSet
|
Knapping Starting Levels
The Park Ranger begins with one level of Knapping. The Bushcrafter trait adds one level at character creation.
Level 1 opens stone blades and chisels straight away. A character with both reaches the stone blade scythe sooner.
These occupations and traits start a character with levels in Knapping.
| Name | Image | Type | Levels | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bushcrafter | 
|
Trait | +1 | -8 |
| Park Ranger | 
|
Occupation | +1 | -4 |
Knapping Recipes
At the lowest level, knapping makes sharp flint flakes and stone awls. Flakes serve as simple cutting tools and as a base for other recipes.
The low levels add stone blades, stone chisels and the stone blade scythe. A flint saw follows for cutting wood without a metal saw.
The middle levels bring the heavy tool heads. The large stone axe head and the stone maul head become full tools once fitted to a handle. The stone drill and the long stone blade finish the set.
Most knapping needs a striking tool. A stone, stone hammer, knapping tool, wooden mallet or short bat all work. Every recipe needs a crafting surface.
The stone drill is the odd one out. It also needs a stone chisel or a mason's chisel, and any hammer works as the striker. Keep the first stone chisel safe, since it opens the stone drill and other stonework.
Knapping feeds several other skills. Stone blades become knives and spear heads. Axe and maul heads become heavy tools for chopping and breaking stone. A knapper with a carver's handles can rebuild a full tool kit from rocks and branches.
Every recipe that asks for Knapping or trains it, one tab per level asked.
| Name | Image | Recipe | Crafting Materials | Tools | Skill | Station | Learned | Spawn ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharp Flint Flake | 
|
Knap Sharp Flint Flake | 1x Flint Nodule | Stone | Knapping: 0 | Any Surface | No | /additem Base.SharpedStone
|
| Awl - Stone | 
|
Knap Stone Awl | 1x Sharp Flint Flake | Stone | Knapping: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.Awl_Stone
|
| Name | Image | Recipe | Crafting Materials | Tools | Skill | Station | Learned | Spawn ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stone Blade | 
|
Knap Stone Blade | 1x Sharp Flint Flake | Stone | Knapping: 1 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.StoneBlade
|
| Stone Chisel | 
|
Knap Stone Chisel | 2x Sharp Flint Flake | Stone | Knapping: 1 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.StoneChisel
|
| Stone Blade |
|
Remake Long Stone Blade | 1x Long Stone Blade | Stone | Knapping: 1 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.StoneBlade
|
| Name | Image | Recipe | Crafting Materials | Tools | Skill | Station | Learned | Spawn ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stone-Blade Scythe | 
|
Knap Stone Blade Scythe | Stone | Knapping: 2 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.PrimitiveScythe
|
| Name | Image | Recipe | Crafting Materials | Tools | Skill | Station | Learned | Spawn ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flint Saw | 
|
Knapp Flint Saw |
|
Stone | Knapping: 3 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.Saw_Flint
|
| Name | Image | Recipe | Crafting Materials | Tools | Skill | Station | Learned | Spawn ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large Stone Axe Head | 
|
Knap Large Stone Axe Head | 1x Large Smooth Flat Stone | Stone | Knapping: 4 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.StoneAxeHead
|
| Name | Image | Recipe | Crafting Materials | Tools | Skill | Station | Learned | Spawn ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stone Drill | 
|
Knap Stone Drill | 1x Sharp Flint Flake | Knapping: 5 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.StoneDrill
| |
| Stone Maul Head | 
|
Knap Stone Maul Head | 1x Large Smooth Flat Stone | Stone | Knapping: 5 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.StoneMaulHead
|
| Name | Image | Recipe | Crafting Materials | Tools | Skill | Station | Learned | Spawn ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long Stone Blade | 
|
Knap Long Stone Blade | 1x Flint Nodule | Stone | Knapping: 6 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.StoneBladeLong
|
Notes
- Break flint deposits with a hammer or maul for a quick supply of flint.
- A flint saw stands in for a metal saw on a primitive run.
- Research items to learn the matching stone recipes.
- The last recipe arrives at level 6.
- Magazines and schematics teach knapping recipes too.
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