Salvage

When the salvage feature is enabled on a system, players can dismantle components to recover partial materials. Salvage is on by default for every system, and you turn it off with the Salvage toggle in the Features card on the System tab of the Crafting Admin panel. You configure salvage at two levels:

the system, which determines how salvage checks work
each component, which determines what that component yields when broken down

Players salvage from the Inventory tab of the Fabricate window. See Salvaging From the Inventory Tab.

Salvage Resolution Mode

The salvage resolution mode controls how result groups are awarded when a component is salvaged. It is set at the system level.

Mode	Description
Simple	Always awards exactly one result group. No check required. This is the default.
Routed	Awards a result group based on the outcome of a salvage check. Each outcome (such as critical, pass, or fail) is mapped to a result group on the component.
Progressive	Awards results sequentially as the check value exceeds each result’s difficulty threshold.

The salvage resolution mode is set on the system’s Salvage resolution mode card in the Crafting Admin panel. The card offers Simple, Progressive, and Routed by check, with Simple selected by default. A salvaged component has a single ingredient, so it cannot route by ingredient set, which is why ingredient-set routing (and Alchemy) is not offered here. Changing the mode is not destructive to recipes or runs, but any component whose salvage setup is incompatible with the new mode has its salvage disabled until you reconfigure it.

Simple mode awards a single result group. When you switch a system into Simple mode, any component that has more than one result group is trimmed back to its first. Fabricate warns you by name when this happens, listing every component it trimmed, so you always know which setups changed.

You can also set the salvage resolution mode through the API. See the CraftingSystemManager API.

Salvage Crafting Check

When the salvage resolution mode is Routed or Progressive, you must configure a salvage check. This is separate from the recipe crafting check. A system can have both.

Everything a player is shown when they salvage comes from the salvage check, never from the recipe crafting check.

Component Salvage

Every component decides for itself whether it can be salvaged and what it yields. You set this up in the Salvage panel of the component editor. Open the Items tab of the Crafting Admin panel, open a component, and scroll to Salvage.

The panel shows a read-only label naming the system’s salvage resolution mode, such as Routed by check. That mode is a system setting and decides the shape of the panel below it. You change it on the Settings page of the Crafting menu, not here. See Salvage Resolution Mode.

Turning Salvage On For a Component

A component is not salvageable until you turn it on with the Salvage this component toggle. Setting one up is two steps, in this order:

Add at least one result group under Result groups, describing what the component yields when it is broken down.
Turn on Salvage this component.

The toggle stays unavailable until the component has a result group, because there is nothing to enable yet. The panel tells you which of the two states you are in, so you are never left guessing why the toggle will not move.

Removing a component’s last result group turns salvage back off for that component. This is deliberate. A component that can be salvaged but yields nothing is not a setup Fabricate will save.

When the system’s salvage resolution mode is Simple, a component uses a single result group. In Simple mode the panel shows the hint Simple mode uses a single result group, so it is clear why only one is allowed; once you have added the one group, the Add group control is hidden. Routed and Progressive modes keep the full list, where each result group maps to an outcome or a stage.

Existing components show this toggle turned off, and that is correct. Before this toggle existed, per-component salvage was already stored and already enforced, but nothing in the interface could turn it on. Components you set up with result groups therefore render with Salvage this component off. This is the true stored state being shown for the first time rather than a setting that has been lost, and nothing has been reset or migrated. Turn the toggle on for each component you want salvageable.

The Salvage DC

When the salvage check applies, a component can override the DC that check uses.

The DC control offers:

System default, which uses the system’s own salvage check DC and stores no override on the component
one option per salvage check outcome tier you have authored, each naming the tier and its DC
Custom, which reveals a number field for any DC you like

The preset options are your system’s real authored tiers, not a fixed list of suggested numbers, so they always reflect the DCs your world actually uses. If you have not authored any tiers yet, the control offers System default and Custom only. Either way, the Manage presets link takes you to the Checks screen where the tiers are authored.

A DC you set that does not match any tier is kept exactly as you typed it. It shows under Custom with its own value, and it is never rounded to the nearest tier.

When the system’s salvage DC is set by a macro rather than a fixed number, the System default option says so instead of showing a DC, because there is no single number to show.

Salvaging From the Inventory Tab

Players salvage from the Inventory tab of the Fabricate window. Selecting an owned component opens the inspector beside the grid. When the component is salvageable, the inspector shows an Info tab and a Salvage tab. An item that cannot be salvaged shows no tab bar at all.

Salvage happens inline in the inspector, so nothing opens in a separate window. Cards in the grid carry a recycle badge in their top-left corner when the component is salvageable, so players can see what can be broken down without opening each item.

Items in More Than One System

A component can belong to more than one crafting system at once. When it does, the Inventory tab shows it as a single card rather than one card per system. Its quantity is counted once, so the grid reflects what the character actually holds. The card’s recycle and tool markers cover every system the item takes part in, so a marker shows when the item can be salvaged or used as a tool in any of them.

Selecting such an item adds a System drop-down to the top of the inspector, above the Info and Salvage tabs. The system in use is the selected option, and each option names the system followed by whether the item can be salvaged in that system and whether it acts as a tool there. A drop-down is used so the control stays compact however many systems the item belongs to. Picking a system re-scopes the whole inspector to that system’s view of the item. The name, image, essences, tags, where it is used, and the Salvage tab all follow the selected system. This matters when two systems describe the same physical item differently, such as one giving it an essence and another a tag.

Salvage always acts on the system you have selected, never a default one. When the item belongs to more than one system, the Salvage tab names the system it is about to act in. Breaking the item down acts only in the selected system, and the grid shows the true remaining quantity once the tab reloads.

An item that belongs to only one system is unchanged. It shows no System drop-down and behaves exactly as before.

What the Salvage Tab Shows

The tab opens with a short banner naming the rule the component follows, then lists what the player stands to recover. What it lists depends on the system’s salvage resolution mode, and on whether you have given that mode a salvage check roll formula.

Setup	What the player sees
Simple, with no salvage check roll formula	You will recover, then the materials, each tagged Guaranteed. No roll is made.
Simple, with a salvage check roll formula	On a success, the materials, the DC to beat, and a note that a failed roll can cost the component.
Routed by check	Every outcome you authored, with the materials each one recovers.
Progressive	The result stages in order, each showing that component’s own progressive DC as DC N and the check value that reaches it as Reach ≥N.
Routed or Progressive with no salvage check roll formula	Salvage isn’t ready, and a line asking the player to speak to you. The action is disabled and nothing can be consumed.
Simple, with a component left holding more than one result group	Salvage isn’t ready, with a line saying the component has more than one result group and asking you to fix it in the component editor. This can only happen to a component set up before Simple mode enforced a single group and not re-saved since. It shows to you as the GM only, players never see the component. Re-saving the system trims the extra groups and clears the cue.

A component’s DC override shifts the DC shown for a simple check, and it shifts the thresholds shown for relative outcome tiers. Fixed tiers own absolute segments of the roll range and have no DC, so they are shown exactly as you authored them and no DC appears. Progressive salvage is different again. The progressive salvage check itself has no DC, because its roll is a budget spent down the stage list rather than a pass-or-fail against a target. Each component still carries its own progressive DC, and that DC is shown on its stage beside the reach value. See Relative and fixed tiers.

Required Tools

Some components need a tool in hand before they can be broken down. When a component requires one, the Salvage tab lists it under a Required tools heading before any roll is made. Each required tool shows its name and image alongside a marker reading Available or Unavailable, so the player knows what they need before the attempt.

Availability is judged against the character doing the salvaging, not the party as a whole. A tool that only another party member is carrying still reads Unavailable, because this character cannot reach it during the salvage. A tool the salvaging character holds but which is broken also reads Unavailable, because a broken tool cannot be used.

While any required tool reads Unavailable, the Salvage button stays disabled. The footer then carries a note explaining that a required tool is missing, in place of the footer’s usual one-shot reminder. Bringing the tool onto the salvaging character clears the block and makes the button usable.

This is separate from salvaging a broken tool, covered in Broken Tools. There, the broken tool is itself the thing being recycled. Here, a working tool is a prerequisite for recycling something else.

Salvaging (Or Destroying) Several Items at Once

Players can select several owned items in the Inventory grid and act on all of them together, instead of opening the inspector one card at a time. Shift-click a card, or press Shift+Enter or Shift+Space with a card focused, to add it to the selection. Shift-clicking a selected card removes it again. Pressing Escape clears the whole selection.

Once at least one item is selected, the inspector shows the bulk panel instead of a single item’s detail. The panel sorts the selection into two lists:

Will be broken down lists every selected item that can be salvaged, together with a Best case preview of what the whole batch could recover if every roll went well.
Skipped lists everything in the selection that cannot be salvaged, each with the reason why: it is an essence, it is a book or scroll, salvage is turned off for it, your GM has not finished configuring its salvage setup, a required tool is not available, or you hold none of it. Skipped items are never removed from your inventory. You can remove any single item from either list before committing, or use Clear to empty the whole selection.

A batch accepts up to 25 items. Selecting past that limit is refused with a message telling you to remove one before adding another.

Pressing Salvage rolls the whole batch. One roll prompt sets a bonus, roll mode, and advantage choice for the entire batch, and that same choice is applied to every roll in it. Every item still rolls its own check against its own crafting system, so a batch spanning several systems still respects each system’s own rules. A broken tool stays in the batch and can still be salvaged. The roll prompt is skipped entirely when nothing in the batch has a check to roll.

When the batch finishes, the panel shows a report: a banner summarising how the batch went, a line-by-line list of what happened to each item, everything that was added to your pack, and everything that was not recovered. The run also posts one chat card for the whole batch, naming every item whose own crafting system has the Chat output feature on, instead of one card per item. Nothing is posted when no item in the batch belongs to a system with Chat output on. Dismissing the roll prompt cancels the whole batch: nothing is consumed, no tool breaks, and no chat card is posted. The report still opens, telling you the prompt was dismissed and nothing was broken down. Each item salvaged this way adds an entry to your character’s salvage history in the Journal, and history keeps only your most recent runs, so a large batch can push older salvage entries out of it.

The panel also offers Destroy, which permanently removes the selected items’ whole stacks from your pack. Destroy asks for confirmation first, naming how many components and how many items in total it is about to remove. Unlike Salvage, Destroy has no roll, is available even for items that are skipped from the salvage list, recovers nothing, and posts no chat card. This cannot be undone.

Making the Attempt

The footer holds a single button that rolls and commits in one press. It reads Salvage when the mode needs no roll, and Salvage roll when it has a usable check. Pressing it opens the standard roll prompt, where the player picks Advantage, Normal or Disadvantage when the formula allows it, adds a situational bonus, and chooses a roll mode. The roll is posted to chat, so Dice So Nice animates it. There is no reroll and no separate confirmation step.

Dismissing the prompt cancels the attempt. Nothing is consumed, no tool breaks, and no message is shown. The tab returns to how it looked before the roll.

Once the roll resolves, a read-only summary appears, the body marks what was recovered and what the roll fell short of, and a ribbon confirms the materials were added. When the salvage involved a roll, the summary reports its total alongside what was recovered; a guaranteed, no-check salvage shows none, because nothing was rolled. Salvage again clears the summary and returns the tab to its pre-roll state. The ribbon stays with the component that was salvaged, even when the last copy was consumed and its card has left the grid. When that last copy is gone, the header reads None remaining and Salvage again is withheld, because there is nothing left to break down.

When the system’s chat-output feature is on, salvage also posts a result card to chat, in the same format crafting uses. It is the same card as a crafting result, reading as its salvage counterpart: it names the source that was broken down, the materials recovered, and any tools that broke, and it posts on both a success and a rolled failure. When the salvage needed a roll, the card also shows the rolled check total on its own row, and it omits that row for a guaranteed no-check salvage. A cancelled prompt, a salvage that is not yet configured, and a run that has only started against a time requirement post nothing, because none of them has changed anything to report. This is the same Chat output feature that governs crafting cards, set on the Features card of the System tab in the Crafting Admin panel.

When the component carries a time requirement, the press starts a run rather than finishing the salvage. The tab then shows the run’s waiting message instead of a ribbon, and the materials arrive as world time advances.

Broken Tools

A broken tool still shows its Salvage tab and can still be salvaged. Being broken stops a tool being used for crafting, but it does not stop it being recycled, which is usually the most useful thing left to do with it.

The Info tab carries a banner saying the tool is broken and cannot be used for crafting, and the card shows a Broken marker in place of its quantity. Both are read-only, and Fabricate offers no repair action.

A tool reads as broken in the Inventory tab when its on-break action has flagged it as broken, or when it has spent all of its limited uses. The spent-uses reading is skipped while the system’s Tool breakage source is Check-driven, because under that source the check decides breakage and a tool’s use count decides nothing. See Tools.

Player Result Re-ordering

A component set up for progressive salvage carries an Allow player result re-ordering setting on its salvage setup, and it is on by default. It decides whether a player’s own preferred stage order is used when that component is salvaged, or whether your authored order always is.

When it is on, the player can drag a stage on the Salvage tab, or move it with the move up and move down controls on each stage. Each move is announced for screen readers, and the reach values update to match the new order. A chosen order is a standing preference rather than a one-off choice, remembered per player and per component, in this world only.

The player can also Reset the list back to your authored order. Reset clears that player’s preference rather than pinning your current order, so if you later re-author the stages, that player follows the new order.

When it is off, the stage list is shown in your authored order, marked Order set by the GM, and players cannot rearrange it.

A salvage run fixes the order it will use at the moment it starts, so a run that finishes later, over world time, still awards the order it began with. Once a salvage has resolved, the list locks and a note explains that the roll has already run down it.

See Progressive Mode for how the same setting behaves on recipes.