Choosing your Crafting Vocation

This guide is intended to provide you with basic information on each crafting vocation and the professions they offer, in order to help you make an informed choice of vocation in LOTRO.

Criticism is welcome, but please try to keep it constructive.

This guide covers:

• Crafting Vocations
  
• Crafting Professions

This guide does not cover

• How to craft
  
• Detailed information about items available through crafting
  
• Detailed information about which items make the most money
  
• Your decision for you :P

Crafting Vocations

LOTRO offers seven crafting vocations. Each crafting vocation provides you with three professions.

To select your crafting vocation (character must be Level 5 or higher), you can visit one of the following Masters/Mistresses of Apprentices:

• Blossom Proudfoot - Michel Delving's Craft-Fair, The Shire - [34.6S, 75.5W]
  
• Jill Brushwood - Combe Crafting Hall, Combe, Bree-land - [28.8S, 48.6W]
  
• Old Roger Sorrel - Three-farrow Crafting Hall, Bree-town, Bree-land - [30.5S, 51.0W]
  
• Grimey Proudfoot - Saeradan's Cabin, Bree-land - [25.6S, 52.9W]
  
• Alfwin - Gondamon, Ered Luin - [20.2S, 97.1W]
  
• Golphedinir - Celondim's Crafting Terrace, Celondim, Ered Luin - [28.2S, 92.7W]
  
• Loftur - Thorin's Gate, Crafting Hall, Ered Luin - [15.1S, 103.5W]
  
• Morór - Thorin's Hall, The Maker's Hall, Ered Luin - [13.8S, 103.2W]
  
• Thentlaer - The Craft-Hall of Esteldín, North Downs - [9.7S, 40.5W]
  
• Balwin Puddifoot - Oatbarton, Evendim - [22.9S, 66.6W]
  
• Alvin Mannering - Tinnudir Keep, Evendim - [12.0S, 67.8W]
  
• Häsikkä - Great Lodge of Sûri-kylä, Forochel - [19.5S, 72.0W]
  
• Maenasdúr - The Vinyards of Lórien, Lothlórien - [18.5S, 63.8W]

There is also usually a Master/Mistress of Apprentices in all major cities. Keep this in mind for future updates.

The crafting vocations and their respective professions are:

• Armourer - Prospector, Metalsmith, Tailor
  
• Armsman - Prospector, Weaponsmith, Woodworker
  
• Explorer - Forester, Prospector, Tailor
  
• Historian - Farmer, Scholar, Weaponsmith
  
• Tinker - Prospector, Cook, Jeweller
  
• Woodsman - Farmer, Forester, Woodworker
  
• Yeoman - Farmer, Cook, Tailor

Crafting Professions

LOTRO provides ten crafting professions. Before choosing your vocation, you should take some time to find out what each profession does and which vocation is best for you.

Crafting professions

Cook - Available from Tinker and Yeoman vocations

• Uses ingredients to craft items - Some items come only from Farmers, others can be bought from a vendor
  
• Allows you to craft Food and Drink which can:
  
  • Regenerate Morale and Power
    
  • Temporarily increase to player stats
    
  • Remove effects of Wounds and Diseases
    
  • Get you drunk
    
• Has potential to make money providing Food and Drink to players

Farmer - Available from Historian, Woodsman and Yeoman vocations

• Uses seeds, water and fertilizer to craft items - bought from vendor
  
• Allows you to craft Grains, Vegetables, Pipeweed and Housing Decorations at a Workbench
  
• Has potential to make money providing grains and vegetables to Cooks
  
• Makes levelling the Cook profession (Both available as Yeoman) much easier and cheaper to level
  
• Has no player level requirements - You can reach the highest rank of Farmer as a low level player

Forester - Available from Explorer and Woodsman vocations

• Can use Track Wood skill to gather wood using Forester's Axe
  
• Can boil hides into leather
  
• Has potential to make money by supplying Woodworkers with wooden planks
  
• Has potential to make money by supplying Tailors with Leather
  
• Makes levelling the Tailor profession (Both available as Explorer) much easier and cheaper to level

Jeweller - Available from Tinker vocation

• Uses ingots and gems to craft jeweller - Ingots and Gems from Prospectors, Gems from enemies
  
• Allows you to craft Rings, Necklaces, Bracelets and Earrings for players to wear
  
• Allows you to craft Tokens to give Hope to players - Hope affects your maximum morale as well as your incoming/outgoing damage and healing
  
• Allows you to craft Talismans for Lore-master pets and Rune-stones for Runekeepers
  
• Allows you to craft some Legendary Items - Champion Runes and Rune-keeper Weapons
  
• Has great potential to make money by supplying Jewellery, Tokens, Talismans, Rune-stones and Legendary Items to players

Metalsmith - Available from Armourer vocation

• Uses ingots to craft items - Ingots from Prospectors
  
• Allows you to craft Heavy Armour, Shields and Crafting Tools
  
• Allows you to craft some Legendary Items - Captain Emblems and Guardian Belts
  
• Has potential to make money by selling Legendary Items, Heavy Armour and Shields to players - Crafting tools are largely bought in the LOTRO store nowadays

Prospector - Available from Armourer, Armsman, Explorer and Tinker vocations

• Gathers ore from deposits
  
• Can gather gems as extra items in deposits
  
• Allows you to craft Ingots from ore
  
• Makes levelling Jeweller (both available from Tinker vocation), Metalsmith (both available from Armourer vocation) and Weaponsmith (both available from Armsman) professions much easier and cheaper to level
  
• Has great potential to make money by supplying Jewellers, Metalsmiths and Weaponsmiths with ingots for crafting

Scholar - Available from Historian vocation

• Gathers lore fragments to craft items - lore fragments come from Artifacts
  
• Gathers crops to craft items - used to craft Dyes and Wall Paints
  
• Can use Track Artifacts skill to find Artifacts
  
• Can use Track Crops skill to find Crops
  
• Allows you to craft:
  
  • Potions - Instantly regenerates Morale/Power and removes Debuffs (Poison, Disease, Fear and Wound)
    
  • Scrolls - Temporary increase to player stats or crafting critical success chance
    
  • Dyes - Allows players to change the colour of specific gear items
    
  • Wall Paint - Allows players to change the colour of walls in their Housing
    
  • Hunter Potions - Temporarily increases Magnitude, Increases current Focus
    
  • Hunter/Warden Oils - Adds Fire/Light damage to some of the Hunter/Warden's ranged attacks + a Damage-over-Time (DoT) effect on the enemy
    
  • Parables (Lore-master), Tactics(Guardian) and Sheet Music(Minstrel) - Prevents interruption for the player's next induction
    
  • Pocket Items - Like any other gear, increases player stats
    
  • Hunter Bow Chants - Provides beneficial stats changes to the Hunter
    
  • Hunter Books (Class Item) - Provides beneficial stats changes and effects to the Hunter
    
  • Legendary Items - Lore-master Books and Minstrel Books
    
• Has great potential to make massive amounts of money by supplying players Dyes and great potential with Scrolls, Class Items, Potions and Legendary Items.

Tailor - Available from Armourer, Explorer and Yeoman vocations

• Uses Leather to craft items - Provided by Foresters
  
• Allows you to craft Light and Medium armour, Cloaks and Housing Decorations
  
• Allows you to craft some Legendary Items - Burglar Tools and Rune-keeper Rune-Bags
  
• Has great potential to make money by supplying all crafted items to players

Weaponsmith - Available from Armsman and Historian vocations

• Uses ingots to craft items
  
• Allows you to craft metal-based Melee weapons, Throwing weapons, Class-specific weapons for Burglars (stun dust, caltrops, etc) , Guardians (shield spikes), Wardens (shield spikes) and Hunters (traps)
  
• Allows you to craft some Legendary Items - Weapons for Burglar, Captain, Champion, Guardian, Hunter, Minstrel and Warden
  
• Has great potential to make money by supplying all crafted items to players

Woodworker - Available from Armsman and Woodsman vocations

• Uses wooden planks to craft items - wooden planks provided by Foresters
  
• Allows you to craft wood-based Melee Weapons, Ranged Weapons, Instruments
  
• Allows you to craft some Legendary Items - Weapons for Burglar, Captain, Champion, Guardian, Hunter, Lore-master, Minstrel and Warden
  
• Has great potential to make money by supplying all crafted items to players

[Ordegar]

Tailors used to make upgrades for Captain pets to change their appearance and increase armor, etc. Did this change?

[Ordegar]

Cooks also make lute strings for Minstrels that gives them a buff to reduce threat in groups.

[PKFW]

Very nice guide for new players good work!

[Running-Target]

If you are not going to have more than 2 characters on a server, or have AAD. I suggest new players take Explorer profession (forester, prospector, tailor) to be mainly a gatherer. Crafting does take alot of money and time. Tailor is a good starting crafting skill for making Light and Medium armor, so classes other than Guardian, Champion, Captain would benefit from Tailor skill. After level 65 i noticed, standard tailoring recipes are not matching sets, just 2 or 3 items of armor, so not as usefull in later levels. You might have to earn kinship with a NPC faction that has tailor recipes for later levels and be guilded.

[✪ shitty plumber]

I have a group of 3 including me. We are all elvish hunters. I am a woodsman, making mele and ranged weaons (Wood Worker) for the group and hides (Foester) for my friend eongod who is a meatalsmith, making medium armor for the group (tailor) and prospecting metals (Prospector) for our friend canadianmerc who is a historian who uses the metals to make us melee weapons (Weaponsmith) and dyes and ingrediants for critical succes for our crafting recipies (Scholar). Eongod and I are around lvl 30 and canadian merc is around 20 at the time of this comment. We cover all bases accept a Tinkerer to make us things such as braclets, neclases, and earings (Jewler). As Hunters the most important vocations are in order Woodworker, Metalsmith (Tailor is usless without forester), Historian, Tinkerer.

[Wildmanfrost]

best profit is jeweler nothing else compares

[Disciple Andrew]

You're awesome, thank you!

[pingwin]

Great guide, very useful to new players. Thanks!

[Nocenti]

You're welcome TitaniumTitan08 :)

[AumtimHeimer]

thanks bro