Materials are often processed before they go into a recipe: ore is smelted, hides are tanned, wood is sawn into planks. Processing changes the form, not the grade – a Medium ore gives a Medium bar. There is no rule for turning 10 portions into 1 better one: a higher grade has to be found, harvested or bought.
Metal
Nord lists most metals as ready-to-use metal ingredients (Iron Ore, Steel, Nickel …) with their own grade. Typical grades:
| Metal | Grade |
|---|---|
| Ordinary iron and steel | Low |
| Folded steel | Medium |
| Meteoric iron, adamantine | High |
| Star metal, pearl iron | Supreme |
High and Supreme metals are rare finds (see Mountains and Underground).
Wood, leather and fibre
Ordinary material is Low, fine material is Medium, rare finds are higher – and processing keeps the grade.
- Hide: a hide is a unique part, and its capacity follows the creature’s CR (Grade of parts).
- Parked: how many pieces of leather does one hide give? Suggestion: by size (Medium 2 grips, Large 5, Huge 10).
Liquids
Liquids are ingredients too. In potions they are the base, and their grade is a gate:
| Potion | The liquid must be at least |
|---|---|
| Potion of Healing | Low |
| Greater Healing | Medium |
| Superior Healing | High |
| Supreme Healing | Supreme (holy or elemental water) |
Nord’s water grades: dirty, sewer and swamp water is Low · potable and spring water is Medium · distilled and elemental water is High · holy water is Supreme.
Paper and ink
For Scrolls:
| Grade | Paper (core) | Ink (Nord’s pigments) |
|---|---|---|
| Low | papyrus, rag paper | soot + gum, giant octopus ink |
| Medium | calfskin parchment | cutchtree |
| High | vellum from monster hide (CR 7–11) | murex snail |
| Supreme | dragon skin, fey silk | kraken ink |
| Mythic | bark of the world tree, star-weave | – |
Nord: black dragon blood can replace magical ink.
Unique parts
Unique parts (marked Unique on ingredients, hearts, breath sacs, trait parts) are used as they are – typically in a recipe’s special slot.