High tier items should tie in with the game's lore - at a certain point you reach the limit of what can be achieved by a talented craftsman, and at this point you usually use any of the following - rare metals/alloys with unparalleled properties (e.g. mithrill ore, iron taken from meteorites) , ancient craftsmen and crafting techniques that result in higher quality product (e.g. dwarven worksmanship, if dwarves are the stereotypical hardworking, smithing type in your game), magical enchantments by powerful beings (wizards, gods). For the really powerful items, feel free to combine all three. It's probably best to write down the entire history for such gear, because it's very likely to be the kind of stuff that is referred to in legends.
Remember there can also be negative modifiers - useful if you want to design some low level encounters, or when you want to have wear and tear on your equipment, or you hate people and will feature monsters that damage equipment.
Players will usually avoid using gear that is described as subpar quality, but it can be fun to make this a valid consideration.
Here's an example of what I have in mind:
Damaged tier - these items were used, misused or left to the elements and their performance is subpar. Some characters will use them out of necessity, other simply do not care (undead).
1. Broken / Dented / Cracked - items that suffered major abuse and should only be used in desperation, might be better to just toss them away. Require major repairs, replacing critical parts or reforging (if such repairs are even possible).
2. Chipped / Rusty / Worn / Bent - items show sign of wear, can be brought back to standard grade with little maintenance. "Rusty" is a good way to denote wear on metallic items, chipped works for bladed weapons, worn can work for non-metallic armors,
bent for shafted weapons.
Standard tier - the default quality of an items, determined by the skill of the manufacturer. Damaged items when repaired will be restored to their standard grade, one of the following:
(at your discretion: if a fine weapon was too beaten up, all the way down to dented tier, it may or may not be possible to restore it all the way to its original fine tier)
3. Shoddy / Unbalanced - prototypes, stuff made by trainees, or a decent smith rolled a critical failure. Can pass for a standard item at a distance, but you feel something is off when you wield it/put it on.
3. Standard - quality that is expected from a competent craftsman tasked e.g. to provide gear for the local garrison. Do not use any affixes here.
4. Fine / Balanced / Sharp - this stuff was custom made for a discerning buyer (who was charged appropriately for the task). The armor was fitted to match that person, the weapon was balanced just as they like it.
5. Masterwork - this tier represents the peak of craftsmanship not assisted by supernatural means - there is usually only a handful of craftsmen skilled enough to produce this level of quality, and they won't do it for just anybody. These items were made for the rich and powerful,
and every such item will most likely have its story.
Supernatural tier - here we have items that were "improved" through supernatural means.
6. Meteorite, Mithrill, Adamantium, Orichalcum, Green Steel - whatever you call it, the stuff is rare. If your lore features some kind of rare materials, use them here.
7. Blessed, Majestic, Divine, Enchanted, Arcane, Mythic - items improved by casting magic on it. You can have several grades here, depending on the power level of the being.
You can even differentiate between items improved by divine blessings and powerful wizards. So which one is better? Arcane or Majestic? Blessed or Enchanted? All up to you.
If your fantasy world uses rune magic, "Runed" is also a nice affix.
As an afterthought, supernatural enchantments needn't be all beneficial. Perhaps an enemy can curse the player's weapons? Or they become cursed if wielded by an incompatible character type.
If you want the curse removed, you need to ask a specialist.
So, how Isee it it all coming together - let's say we have a mace. It was made of Urmomium, a very rare metal which has to be torn away from the deepest bowels of an active volcano.
It was worked by the king's smith, he was skilled but still a puny manling. He tried his best to beat Urmomium into submission, but not all went according to plan and the balance point is slightly off.
So what we get here is an [Unbalanced] [Urmomium] Mace - the rare metal might give it enough punch that it's still a worthy weapon despite its flawed construction.
Let's say the mace was used to bash in skulls in an epic battle that lasted three days. Where an iron mace on a wooden stick would break and be unusable, the [Worn] [Unbalanced] [Urmomium] Mace
only needs a bit of spit and polish and it can get back to cracking skulls once again.
OR, if it feels easier and more elegant for you to code, replace the affix [Unbalanced] with [Worn], thus making a [Worn][Urmomium]Mace - if the performance penalty from being worn is greater than being unbalanced, it'll all play out.
The trick is, if the item is repaired, it'll revert to its default [Unbalanced][Urmomium] Mace.
Now, what happens it the proud owner takes a liking of the flawed weapon and decides to enchant it a bit. As above, you can either add an affix [Blessed][Unbalanced][Urmomium]Mace, or you can decide that a minor enchantment is sufficient to counteract the
flawed nature of its construction and the proud owner will now wield a [Urmomium] Mace.
Which way is better? Depends if you want to diddle around with complex crafting systems and itemization, and how rare will rare items be. In the example above, it adds a bit to the storytelling and character to the item if you retain the information about its shoddy worksmanship.
I thik it's a nice touch that makes all those magical materials feel really special, if even a low quality item made of those is desireable for player characters. "You faggots will cream your pants when you'll get your grubby paws on the real thing".
I think it's also a nice way of adding a touch of realism to dungeon crawling. Say you come across an ancient burial crypt. Most of the stuff there will be rusted junk, but perhaps you will find a dented buckler bearing a powerful runic enchantment?
You won't use it straight after picking it off the wall, but if you take the time to find the right craftsman, it can be restored to its former glory (or be a shadow of its former self if you try to be cheap when restoring it).
If you want to check out something that's been implemented, I recommend the first Diablo and Ancient Domains of Mistery.
In Diablo, it goes like this:
You have a base item, e.g. Short Sword with its base stats, damage, swing speed, durability, etc.
The base item can be enchanted with a randomly generated prefix or suffix. The affix can be beneficial, or add a malus.
Check this site for reference:
https://diablo.gamepedia.com/Affixes_(Diablo_I)
For example, with mods that come on weapons, you can randomly generate a bent great axe with a damage modifier in the range[-50% to -75%], or a massive great axe with a positive modifier of [90-110%].
That one is a prefix, so there is still a chance to generate a positive (or negative) affix, for example "of the ages" which means the item never has to be repaired.
This never happened in Diablo 1, but perhaps in your game, a Bent Great Axe of the Ages can be a desireable item?
With ADOM it's a bit more comples. The items are made of a specific base material - for metalic weapons this is: iron, mithril, eternium which influences the base stats. Typically, two eternium daggers will have similar stats, but it's possible to find an oddity that is slightly better or slightly worse than standard.
Next, the item can have modifiers, some are magical, some refer to its quality, like so:
https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Melee_weapon_prefixes
And finally, the weapon can receive penalties or bonuses to its stats when improved by a smith, or when damaged by e.g. monster with corrosive skin.
