Leatherworking

The Leatherworking skill is a Knowledge Specialization skill characters can earn XP in. A character’s Leatherworking skill represents their ability to shape and refine the hides of various animals into leather and crafting said leather into leather items. Characters who have a high Leatherworking skill typically are leather workers or butchers who can make leather from all sorts of animals and use said leather in making various items such as clothes or upholstery.

 
Leatherworking encompasses several activities such as: skinning animals to obtain their hides, turning raw animal hides into leather, branding leather, and using said leather to craft leather items. Leatherworking does not include crafting the base items the leather is being attached to (such as knife hilts, furniture, etc) as that would be better applied to the skills specifically crafting those items. It also does not include taxidermy or preserving more than just the hide of an animal as that would be the Zoology skill. 

Skill Levels

Apprentice 1-25

An Apprentice Leatherworker is just learning the ropes of the art. They are learning how to skin animals properly, usually smaller ones to start and tend to prefer thinner skins to work with. Holes in their leather are common at this stage as each finished skin is rough. While they do dabble in the leatherworking art of creation, Apprentices still look up to their Masters for understanding how to mold and shape finished leather into a product. Any creation they achieve will be simple at best. 

Journeyman 26-50

A Journeyman Leatherworker is mostly skilled at achieving a good skin when skinning small to medium animals. While they can achieve large skins with some effort, holes, and tears are still expected. Journeymen start to focus more on creation at this stage and can learn to mold and shape finished leather into simple, quality, items and more complicated items with lesser quality. Journeymen at this level have enough knowledge to begin to understand their preferences in hides and products. 

Expert 51-75

Expert Leatherworkers are comfortable with skinning all sizes of animals and creating near-perfect leather from their hides. They are usually fully ingrained into their product of choice, armor, weapon accessories, clothing, etc., and usually no longer need to be an apprentice to a master. Product quality is always going to be high, except in very complicated leatherworking pieces, very rare or exotic hides, or other pieces that are far out of their comfort zone. 

Master 76-100

Master Leatherworkers fully understand every leatherworking aspect and can mold leather with ease. They have no problem skinning any sort of animal, common or exotic, and tears or holes are extremely rare in their work. Their leather is almost always extremely high quality and so are their products. At this level, Masters are usually comfortable in a few different styles of Leatherworking and can achieve a good product in any subject.