DarkArtist
Dalayan Beginner
I revoke my previous post. Sticker shock had gotten the best of me. Much thanks go out to Wiz, the devs, and all the people who helped make tradeskills possible for all of us here. 
If I may, I'd like to offer some basics to those who are interested in taking up fletching:
Arrow Parts and Their Stats:
Note* Damage Bonus is irrelevant, ignore it.
Arrow Shafts
The shaft of an arrow determines damage.
Wooden Shaft: dmg 1
Bone Shaft: dmg 2
Ceramic Shaft: dmg 3
Steel Shaft: ??
Points
Points add to damage.
Field Points: No Change
Hooked Points: +1 dmg
Fletchings/Vanes
The fletching/vane affects the range and sometimes the damage of the arrow. Every arrow has a base range of 50.
Round Cut Fletch: No Change
Parabolic Cut Fletch: +50 range
Shield Cut Fletch: +1 damage, -50 range
Wooden Vane: +1 damage, -25 range
Bone Vane: +1 damage, +25 range
Ceramic Vane: +2 damage
Nocks
Nocks also add range. The smaller the nock, the better the range.
Large Nock: No Change
Medium Nock: +25 range
Small Nock: +50 range
-----------------------------------------------------
The Basics
What you need:
A Fletching Kit
The Right Ingredients/Parts
Money
Time and Patience
First thing you need to do is find your trainer and put ONE point into Fletching. Making arrows will raise it from there.
Now, the true reason to take up fletching is to make nice bows. But, you don't make bows to raise your fletching skill; you make arrows, lots and lots of them. I'm not going to go into bowyering in this guide just yet. But, I would suggest you wait until your skill is 16-20 before you start trying to make bows.
So, you need to buy some parts so you can start making arrows.
A basic arrow made by fletching would consist of (1) field point, (1) wood shaft, (1) large nock, and (1) round fletch. It costs 1sp 2cp for (1) of each part. Now, a bundle of 20 of each part would cost 2gp 4sp per bundle, which for all four parts would total 9gp 6sp. For every successful attempt you get 10 arrows. This will make you roughly 180 arrows (give or take a few fails).
Open your Fletching Kit by right clicking it. Move ONE, and only ONE, of each of the four parts into your open Fletching Kit. Click Combine. If you succeeded you will now have 10 arrows on your cursor. Drop these into a backpack. Arrows stack up to 20. If you failed, then you lose the parts you put in the Kit. It happens, try again.
This basic arrow becomes trivial at 16. You can still make them, but your skill wont raise of course. So to continue raising your skill you move up one part in terms of price/difficulty, which would be:
(1) field point, (1) wood shaft, (1) medium nock, and (1) round fletch. The only thing that changed was the large nock to a medium nock. (1) Medium nock costs 3sp 7cp. A bundle of 20 costs 7gp 4sp, ultimately costing a total of 14gp 6sp for roughly 180 arrows. (give or take).
These arrows have the same damage, but a longer range. They become trivial at level 36.
If you want, go ahead and use these arrows in combat, or give them away, or sell them to a npc merchant. For a basic arrow a merchant will give you 2sp 8cp per arrow which is not a bad deal at all. The better your arrows become the more money a merchant will give you for them.
Continue raising your skill by moving up to more expensive/difficult parts ONE at a time. Use the table above to determine which arrow works best for you. Don't forget that you can sometimes work backwards.
That's all I'll say for now. I don't want to spoil everything for you. I find Fletching fun. I hope you have fun too.
Keep in mind that Fletching is NOT about making a shit load of money, it’s about crafting your own bows and arrows and also being able to offer a service at a reasonable price to others so as they may improve the quality of their equipment. Though, the Fletcher should never be forced to lose money, or charge an unreasonable price, just to do so. It is your trade after all. Be proud of that.
If you have any questions about Fletching you can PM Tirion (that's me ) ingame. If you have a request and/or would like to place an order for arrows or a bow, don't hesitate to PST. (I'll be a master Fletcher/Bowyer soon). I do custom work, and would be happy to offer my skills.
Thank you for reading. And Good Luck.
~Darkartist
If I may, I'd like to offer some basics to those who are interested in taking up fletching:
Arrow Parts and Their Stats:
Note* Damage Bonus is irrelevant, ignore it.
Arrow Shafts
The shaft of an arrow determines damage.
Wooden Shaft: dmg 1
Bone Shaft: dmg 2
Ceramic Shaft: dmg 3
Steel Shaft: ??
Points
Points add to damage.
Field Points: No Change
Hooked Points: +1 dmg
Fletchings/Vanes
The fletching/vane affects the range and sometimes the damage of the arrow. Every arrow has a base range of 50.
Round Cut Fletch: No Change
Parabolic Cut Fletch: +50 range
Shield Cut Fletch: +1 damage, -50 range
Wooden Vane: +1 damage, -25 range
Bone Vane: +1 damage, +25 range
Ceramic Vane: +2 damage
Nocks
Nocks also add range. The smaller the nock, the better the range.
Large Nock: No Change
Medium Nock: +25 range
Small Nock: +50 range
-----------------------------------------------------
The Basics
What you need:
A Fletching Kit
The Right Ingredients/Parts
Money
Time and Patience
First thing you need to do is find your trainer and put ONE point into Fletching. Making arrows will raise it from there.
Now, the true reason to take up fletching is to make nice bows. But, you don't make bows to raise your fletching skill; you make arrows, lots and lots of them. I'm not going to go into bowyering in this guide just yet. But, I would suggest you wait until your skill is 16-20 before you start trying to make bows.
So, you need to buy some parts so you can start making arrows.
A basic arrow made by fletching would consist of (1) field point, (1) wood shaft, (1) large nock, and (1) round fletch. It costs 1sp 2cp for (1) of each part. Now, a bundle of 20 of each part would cost 2gp 4sp per bundle, which for all four parts would total 9gp 6sp. For every successful attempt you get 10 arrows. This will make you roughly 180 arrows (give or take a few fails).
Open your Fletching Kit by right clicking it. Move ONE, and only ONE, of each of the four parts into your open Fletching Kit. Click Combine. If you succeeded you will now have 10 arrows on your cursor. Drop these into a backpack. Arrows stack up to 20. If you failed, then you lose the parts you put in the Kit. It happens, try again.
This basic arrow becomes trivial at 16. You can still make them, but your skill wont raise of course. So to continue raising your skill you move up one part in terms of price/difficulty, which would be:
(1) field point, (1) wood shaft, (1) medium nock, and (1) round fletch. The only thing that changed was the large nock to a medium nock. (1) Medium nock costs 3sp 7cp. A bundle of 20 costs 7gp 4sp, ultimately costing a total of 14gp 6sp for roughly 180 arrows. (give or take).
These arrows have the same damage, but a longer range. They become trivial at level 36.
If you want, go ahead and use these arrows in combat, or give them away, or sell them to a npc merchant. For a basic arrow a merchant will give you 2sp 8cp per arrow which is not a bad deal at all. The better your arrows become the more money a merchant will give you for them.
Continue raising your skill by moving up to more expensive/difficult parts ONE at a time. Use the table above to determine which arrow works best for you. Don't forget that you can sometimes work backwards.
That's all I'll say for now. I don't want to spoil everything for you. I find Fletching fun. I hope you have fun too.
Keep in mind that Fletching is NOT about making a shit load of money, it’s about crafting your own bows and arrows and also being able to offer a service at a reasonable price to others so as they may improve the quality of their equipment. Though, the Fletcher should never be forced to lose money, or charge an unreasonable price, just to do so. It is your trade after all. Be proud of that.
If you have any questions about Fletching you can PM Tirion (that's me
) ingame. If you have a request and/or would like to place an order for arrows or a bow, don't hesitate to PST. (I'll be a master Fletcher/Bowyer soon). I do custom work, and would be happy to offer my skills. Thank you for reading. And Good Luck.
~Darkartist
