A Crafty yet Exceptionally Exceptional Suggestion

Rock

Exceptional tools generally have more uses than normal ones.  To say it another way, they have more durability. I suggest taking the durability factor one step further.  If the exceptional tool is used to make an item with a durability rating, and the resulting item is of exceptional quality, then increase the durability of the newly crafted item (weapon, armor, shield, etc.).  A fair value to increase it might be 25% durability than it would have otherwise had, rounded down..  So if the durability would have been 43 (as was an exceptionally crafted dagger I just made), with the 25% bonus it would end up at 53 durability. To indicate that this was an exceptionally crafted exceptional item, it could be labeled Prized, also increasing the cost of insurance on that item.  Note that jewelry which is already automatically created at 255 durability would not be affected.

New loot classified as Prized would only have their durability go up 5% over what it would have been, again rounding down.  Also, pre-existing items rated Prized would not be altered.  One purpose of the suggestion is to make crafted items just a little more desirable.  IMO the existing loot scheme is already minimizing the value of crafted items.  Please give crafters this little boon.

Runic tools and BOD reward tools would be automatically considered exceptional, granting them this same 25% durability boost and Prized status to exceptionally crafted items.  However newby Blessed tools (the ones you get in New Haven by completing accelerated gain quests) would not be considered exceptional.

This suggestion does not obviate Powder of Fortifying.  That just-created dagger could still be fortified to 255 durability.  It simply started at 53 rather than 43.

Overall, I believe this suggestion to be relatively easy to implement.  It doesn't seem like it would unbalance anything, Exceptionally exceptional items last a little longer between repairs.  That's it.

Rock

It occurs to me that a craftsman's knowledge of weapons and armor should be a consideration as well.  So each 10 points of Arms Lore would add another 1% of durability boost.  For the aforementioned dagger of 43 durability currently, its durability after implementation would be:

 Arms Lore     Boost      Durability
 0.0 to  9.9    25%           53
10.0 to 19.9    26%           54
20.0 to 29.9    27%           54
30.0 to 39.9    28%           55
40.0 to 49.9    29%           55
50.0 to 59.9    30%           55
60.0 to 69.9    31%           56
70.0 to 79.9    32%           56
80.0 to 89.9    33%           57
90.0 to 99.9    34%           57
    100         35%           58

The beneficial effect of Arms Lore on weapon damage and armor resists would not be altered by this suggestion. If the craftsman is human, his 20 JOAT Arms Lore would add 2% to the final durability, even with 0 actual Lore. As the table illustrates, I'm not proposing a huge change, just a logical extension to the quality of work for a highly skilled craftsman using top quality tools.  In all exceptionally exceptional cases, the item would be classified as Prized, even when there is 0.0 Arms Lore.