Nornforged — Fate at the Forge

Developed by RYN · Version 0.4.0 · Early access

The raven forge combines the raven-and-hammer identity with Valheim's own wooden panels, native buttons, warm gold headings and familiar fonts. The optional brief logo reveal still precedes the welcome guide. Press Escape, Space or click to skip the arrival sequence; Welcome.IntroAnimation = false disables it. Reduced effects also skip the animation.

Give every newly crafted weapon, tool and piece of equipment a saved fate. Nornforged adds 201 perks, 19 crafting outcomes, independent perk strengths, rarity visuals and a detailed damage ledger. The new Fate forge lets you drag one item into its slot and pay ordinary base crafting materials to replace its rarity and perks immediately. No extra currency, orbs, station or recipe is required.

Compare at a glance. Understand every perk. Item hover keeps the full native stat lines stacked on the left, beside one complete vertical perk list. Item hover and the forge show up to 12 perks, one compact row each, without scrolling. Each visible list sizes its shared Name · Value · Description columns to its content, with narrow gaps and a small right-aligned Drop chance on each row. Values align right with equally spaced digits, so their two-decimal percentages line up. Move over a perk to darken its row and open its explanation, PQS, saved drop chance and Gear Score contribution. The item sheet stays open when moving from its inventory icon into the rows. Hold Shift to see green and red differences against matching equipped gear; release it to hide them. F6 opens detailed comparisons, practical examples and saved values, and lets you remember an item to compare two finds in your bag. German and English explanations cover all 201 perks. Native fonts and responsive layouts support Full HD, ultrawide and 4K displays; the dedicated F6 inspector remains scrollable.

Existing saved rolls and ordinary crafting balance remain unchanged. Newly generated Fateprints retain their original roll probabilities; older items clearly state when those odds were not saved. See the forge guide, changelog, comparison guide, update and recovery guide and complete perk catalog.

Installation

Minimum dependencies: Valheim 1.0.15, BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350 and Jötunn 2.30.0. Jötunn 2.30.1 is also supported.

The latest 0.4.0 native verification used Valheim 1.0.16 and Jötunn 2.30.2. Cosmetic shield-style recipes now resolve to their original server recipe even when the server does not use the same crafting-menu mod. Thanks to MrReeD for reporting the Wood Shield / Flametal Shield skin-recipe rejection. Genuine missing or disabled recipes still report the rule that prevents crafting.

1. Close the game and server before installing or updating.
2. Install the dependencies through your mod manager. For a manual installation, place both Nornforged DLLs in BepInEx/plugins/Nornforged/ inside the game or selected mod-manager profile.
3. Start the game through the mod manager or BepInEx-enabled launcher. Missing configuration files are created automatically.
4. Craft new equipment at an ordinary station. Equipment that existed before installation remains Unrated.

For multiplayer, install the exact same Nornforged version on the server and every client, with its dependencies. The host/server controls gameplay settings; clients receive those settings automatically. Visual and interface preferences remain local.

When upgrading from 0.2.9 or earlier, preserve the entire old BepInEx/config/Nornforged/authority/ directory before your first updated host startup, including a direct upgrade to 0.4.0. It is copied into BepInEx/NornforgedData/authority/ without removing the original. Local backups are kept separately in BepInEx/NornforgedBackups/authority/. Once migration succeeds, replacing ordinary config no longer replaces that identity. Keep customized gameplay settings instead of overwriting them with the ZIP's defaults.

Crafting and permanent Fateprints

Each eligible new equipment output receives its own Fateprint. Positive ranks grant perks; negative ranks grant penalties. Even a Worthless item remains usable. Tools draw from work-related pools, while weapons, shields and worn equipment receive effects suited to their actions and stats.

Default equipment has no perks or changed native stats. It receives no rarity border, background or special reveal sound. Default is a completed, permanent result, just like every other outcome.

Upgrading, repairing, storing or trading equipment preserves its original Fateprint and rolled values. Percentage bonuses use the upgraded item's native baseline. Only an explicit paid reforge replaces that fate. There is no pity counter. Independently rolled equipment occupies individual inventory slots.

Fate forge and salvage

Open your inventory and select the Reforge tab beside Valheim's Craft and Upgrade tabs. Drag one unequipped item into Drag your item inside, then choose Roll or Salvage. The actual item leaves your inventory and is saved in the socket with its rarity visuals intact. Drag it back or clear the slot to return it. Closing returns an idle item if there is room; otherwise it remains saved in the socket. Roll consumes the full base crafting materials and immediately replaces every perk and the rarity on that same item. Its quality, upgrades, original crafter and durability percentage remain intact. A roll can be worse, and the previous fate cannot be kept.

Reforge spends eligible inventory materials first, then accessible nearby native chests through optional AzuCraftyBoxes support. OWNED includes both sources and respects CraftyBoxes' range, access and item restrictions, Leave One Item, and supported character/chest toggles. Equipped, favorite, locked and Fateprint-bearing ingredients stay protected. Drawers and bags are not included; carry those materials in your inventory.

The original steel raven-and-hammer logo is the Roll button, beside the framed Gear Score. Frost turns to ember inside the logo's silhouette, followed by a travelling metal glint and directional sparks. The steel artwork stays visible through preparation, processing and reveal. A bounded anvil strike starts the reveal. Each attempt gathers, hesitates and accelerates for a slightly different duration; a green Success beat discloses the next perk, icon transition and Gear Score change together, then pauses briefly before the next attempt. The final count and rarity stay hidden. Below 12 perks, a final Failed · no further perk beat ends the sequence; +12 receives Success · maximum +12. This is the presentation of the saved result, not another roll or payment. Twelve different original metal impacts gain weight at every single perk, blended with the installed game's metal-hammer variations. +4 adds a heavier impact and bounded shake; +8 begins ultra sound, short edge glints and arcing sparks confined to the margins, keeping the perk text clear. Show all skips the remaining presentation; reduced effects show the result immediately. Local sound settings and Valheim's audio mixer control the sound.

Gear Score appears on item hover and together with its value in a native-style frame above the forge Salvage mode. A jointly calculated equipped score remains visible beside the inventory. Inventory and HUD hotbar icons show their compact gold GS only while the mouse hovers over that item; idle icons retain their rarity visuals without a persistent score label. Ordinary equipment without a Fateprint also has a score. Every score and score difference uses exactly two decimals. Each item starts with a progression and upgrade rating from the 390-entry native equipment catalogue. For example, a Bronze Axe and Bronze Mace both start at 100.00 GS, or 130.00 GS at quality 4, before native special traits and perks. Actual perk values, practical conditions, cooldowns, shared limits and synergy then alter that base. Axes do not receive a second woodcutting baseline. Unknown equipment uses a disclosed native-stat estimate. The Reforge socket score advances with the revealed perks without exposing the final result early. High PQS or rarity alone gives no points, and Gear Score is not capped at 100. Compare equipment serving the same role: a tool and a combat weapon have different priorities. F6 separates Base equipment and Perks and explains the components; this benchmark does not predict every enemy or playstyle. The complete model and catalogue are included in docs/Nornforged/GEAR-SCORE.md and docs/Nornforged/gear-score-catalog-0.4.0.tsv.

Salvage shows the selected item's returned materials before a separate permanent-removal confirmation. Equipped items and existing favorites are protected. By default, salvage returns 20.00% of each base ingredient, rounded down, to your inventory; nearby chests do not provide payout space. Upgrades and rarity give no extra refund. The server may configure 0.00–50.00%. Closing or recovering the tab never creates another paid roll or material payout. See the forge guide for station rules and interrupted requests.

Default crafting chances

These are chances per eligible crafted item, not additional monster-loot drops. Server administrators can change future-roll settings.

Rank	Outcome	Chance
−6	Worthless	0.30%
−5	Ruined	0.70%
−4	Broken	1.50%
−3	Damaged	2.50%
−2	Worn	3.00%
−1	Inferior	4.00%
0	Default	35.00%
+1	Common	25.00%
+2	Uncommon	15.00%
+3	Rare	6.60%
+4	Very Rare	3.00%
+5	Exceptional	1.50%
+6	Epic	0.75%
+7	Heroic	0.40%
+8	Legendary	0.20%
+9	Mythic	0.18%
+10	Exalted	0.15%
+11	Divine	0.12%
+12	Transcendent	0.10%

The table totals 100.00%. Positive rank equals total perk count; negative rank magnitude equals penalty count. Transcendent has nine Standard and three Ultra perks. Its chance is 1 in 1,000 per craft, without a guaranteed result after any number of attempts.

Strength and Perk Quality Score

Every numerical parameter rolls independently of rarity and the other parameters. 80.00% of strength rolls fall in the bottom 10.00% of their range; the top 5.00% has a 0.02% chance. A lower-rarity item can roll an excellent value, and a high-rarity item can roll modest values.

Selected uncapped percentage bonuses have wider maximum ranges at +9, +10, +11 and +12: 1.5×, 2×, 2.5× and 3× their ordinary maximum. Chances, cooldowns and bounded effects retain their limits. Current execution caps still apply to saved values.

Tooltips show each perk's PQS—Perk Quality Score, the average of its saved parameter scores. Higher scores mean stronger benefits, including shorter cooldowns; for penalties, they mean greater severity. PQS is neither a percentile nor an estimate of the item's overall power.

Every compact perk row now exposes Drop: 1.13% directly; its separate hover explanation keeps PQS and the saved roll chance together: PQS: 59.27% · Drop chance: 1.13%. Here, drop chance means this PQS or higher after receiving that perk. It does not include the chance of selecting the perk or item rarity, and it is not a combat trigger. Rarity chance appears once in the item header; F6 explains the distinction. Percentages display exactly two decimals, including 0.50% and 50.00%. Positive odds below the display threshold show <0.01%; an exact zero shows 0.00%. Only the display is rounded: saved values, roll probabilities and effect calculations keep their precision. Old Fateprints show Roll odds not saved; changing server settings never reconstructs their historical odds.

Controls and presentation

• Inventory → Reforge: drag one item into the native third tab's socket. Roll immediately replaces its fate for the displayed cost; Salvage previews returned materials and requires confirmation. No F-key shortcut is added.
• Hover equipment: one native-style sheet preserves the full vertical native stat lines on the left, beside a single 12-row perk list. Name, right-aligned Value and Description share compact positions measured for that list. Hovering opens full mechanics, PQS, odds and score details beside the row. Shift identifies added, removed and changed perks in the same list. Move into the sheet to keep it open; leaving it closes the sheet and explanation together.
• F6 while hovering inventory equipment: compare matching equipped gear, understand perks through practical examples, and inspect saved values and limits. Before/after numbers and numeric value fields align right. Remember a reference to compare two bag items. Close with F6, Escape or the close button.
• F9: open the damage ledger and local display settings. HUD and perk-number controls show their On / Off state; the selected time window and HUD size remain visible. The default window is five minutes and includes idle time. The enabled Damage Meter hides while an interactive game or mod window is open, then returns without losing tracked damage. Drag the reading scrollbar or use the wheel / Page Up / Page Down in the ledger and welcome guide.
• Drag window titles: move the guide, F6 details and damage ledger. Positions are saved locally.
• Damage numbers: normal numbers show three decimals. Colored perk contributions are already included in the hit total; they are not extra damage. Damage-over-time enters the ledger when its ticks land.
• Freyr's Garden: hold Left Shift while planting for a valid 3×3 group. All nine positions and seed costs must be available.

Non-Default icons have the same rarity-colored borders in the inventory and HUD hotbar. A small +8, for example, shows the actual perk count at the lower right, slightly raised above the durability bar and without a badge background; disable it with Interface → ShowPerkCount. Penalties use a minus sign. +6 through +8 add static icon backgrounds; +9 and above animate them. +12 adds an aurora, corner runes and orbiting sparks.

Compact perk rows and material hints darken with a brief, smooth hover fade; reduced effects apply the highlight immediately. Perk names blend from white at 0.00% PQS to their full element or role colour at 50.00% PQS: frost blue, fire red, and matching hues for other effects. Above 50.00%, slow, subtle same-colour mist grows behind the name, without moving the text or obscuring its effect. The forge, item hover, explanation popup and F6 use the same saved-PQS styling. Interface → AnimatedPerkNames and Visuals → ReducedEffects disable the mist; static colours remain visible. Comparison gains/losses retain their green/red markers. These colours describe roll quality, not Gear Score or usefulness.

World effects depend entirely on perk quality and strength, across weapons, tools and worn equipment. A positive perk with 25.00% PQS or higher awakens its effect, even on a Common or Uncommon item. Rarity and perk count do not increase glow. Fire, frost, lightning, poison and spirit follow the relevant perks; strong non-elemental perks use a restrained silver, gold or nature aura. Mixed elements retain their own strength.

Effects reuse Valheim's animated flame, frost and spark assets at runtime, fitted to the actual equipment surfaces and moving armor regions. Native meshes and textures remain intact. Held, sheathed and ground items use the same saved strength. Full armor coordinates its presentation while retaining each piece's own elements; particle counts are bounded. Frost mist stays visible indoors, and walls still hide effects behind them. Reduced effects lower particle counts and motion; turning Particles off hides Nornforged's added world effects.

Configuration, backups and recovery

Edit gameplay settings in BepInEx/config/Nornforged/gameplay.json while the host/server is stopped, then restart. Invalid settings are rejected. Changes affect future rolls; completed Fateprints and already-prepared crafting transactions keep their original data. Exact untouched defaults from 0.1.0, 0.2.0 and 0.2.1 upgrade automatically with a backup; customized files are preserved.

Local presentation settings are in BepInEx/config/rinor.nornforged.cfg, including intensity, reduced effects, inventory/hotbar animation, perk-count badges, PQS name animation, sounds and damage displays.

Back up character saves, world saves, BepInEx/NornforgedData/ and BepInEx/NornforgedBackups/ together. Persistent authority data includes the signing key, identity record, transaction receipts and prepared-craft configuration snapshots. Startup and successful authority writes maintain a separate local backup. A missing or damaged primary key can be restored only when the available backup and identity evidence agree; conflicting identities stop authority startup instead of silently generating a replacement. Keep an additional off-server copy, because both local folders can be lost with the disk or profile. Never distribute private keys to clients.

Move the complete authority data with a migrated server. Items issued by a different authority retain their data but have inactive effects until returned to the issuing authority. World, character and authority files are still saved separately; local backups do not make them one atomic save.

A remote craft may briefly display Fateprint pending while its receipt arrives. For an item that remains pending, keep it on its original character and authority, then choose Recover pending items in the guide. Recovery reuses the original transaction and never rerolls a completed result. A completed inactive Fateprint is not pending: its diagnostic explains whether the authority is unavailable, the issuing identity differs or verification failed. Missing original keys and transaction records cannot be recreated from a finished item. If your old key was already removed before this update, follow the recovery guide; installing 0.3.0 alone cannot restore it.

With Valheim's console enabled, nornforged welcome reopens the guide, nornforged forge queues the forge for your next inventory view after the console closes, nornforged recover requests pending-item recovery, nornforged status shows authority diagnostics and nornforged inspect explains hovered equipment or the held weapon's Fateprint state. No console command pays for a roll automatically. Configuration and receipt errors are also recorded in BepInEx/LogOutput.log.

Compatibility and removal

Nornforged is in early access. Mods that replace crafting, inventory, equipment or combat behavior may require specific compatibility support. Some mod-added equipment may not be eligible, and custom models or interfaces can affect presentation. Keep backups before changing an established modded world.

To uninstall, close the game/server and remove BepInEx/plugins/Nornforged/. Equipment uses its ordinary native behavior while the mod is absent. Retain BepInEx/NornforgedData/, BepInEx/NornforgedBackups/ and any legacy authority backup for a future reinstall; other mods or save editors may discard custom item data. All clients and the server must update their mod sets together.

Nornforged and its original artwork are distributed under the included MIT license. Valheim and the required dependencies retain their respective licenses.