Help Index :: Misc :: random metal This help file explains a little about whats going on when metals are missing from the catalog entry of the thing you just IDed, or why the item you thought was level 5 is wearable only at level 7. There is a flag for items called "random metal" which allows an item, on its generation, to be one a variety of predefined metals. The actual metal selected impacts the level, ac, weight and value of the item. Maybe other things too, even. This was all gravy in the world before catalog, but now the catalog entries reflect the base object without regard to the metal that is used in the particular instance of the item you are holding... What this means is that the item as you just IDENTIFIED it is correct, but the corresponding catalog entry is off a little (since its the base item). So, catalog is not (in this case) the whole story. Just know that as the metals get rarer, they get better AC and the level of the item is modified up some.