My PC has no smithing perks and her skill is currently 53. The UESP page says you need a skill of 100 to reach Flawless quality (see comparison table here: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Smithing ).

She's got an enchanted item that adds 17% to her skill (that's 9.01 points) and she drinks a potion that adds 74% to her skill (that's 39.22 points).

Even if you round down, 53 + 9 + 39 = 101

However, she can only temper to Exquisite. These are straight forward, unenchanted, steel weapons. Wassup? Any ideas or suggestions?

What are you trying to improve Kami? I believe if you don't have an equal smithing perk to the item you are trying to improve then you are limited on improvements in that type.

• For instance, say you have a Smithing level of 45 (with Dwarven Smithing perk), and pieces of Elven and Dwarven equipment you want to improve. With appropriate supplies, you would improve the Dwarven to Exquisite, but the Elven only to Superior.
• Smithing skills higher than 100 can be attained using "http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Fortify_Smithing" equipment and potions, thus allowing any item to be made Epic or Legendary.
• Quality levels continue past Legendary, although the displayed quality will not reflect that. Each new level increases armor ratings by 3.6 and weapon ratings by 1.8, resulting in an increase of about +0.1 per effective skill point for armor, and +0.05 for other items.
• Unlike enchanting, the same improved weapon/armor can be improved again if skill increases (by improving the skill, using enchanted items and potions).

The rating bonus provided from a given quality Q (where 1, 2, 3, ... = Fine, Superior, Exquisite, ...) equals 3.6Q ? 0.8, rounded down (we think; additional testing is needed). Non-"Armor" items (weapons, shields, boots, and other secondary armor) receive half the bonus.

The quality crafted at a given skill level equals (effective skill + 38) × 3/103, rounded down, where effective skill in turn equals

(base skill ? 13.29)(1 + perk)(1 + Σenchantments)(1 + Σpotions) + 13.29,

where perk is 1 if you have the relevant Smithing perk and 0 otherwise, Σenchantments equals the sum of your Fortify Smithing enchantments divided by 100, and Σpotions equals the sum of your Fortify Smithing potions divided by 100 (e.g. 20% increase → 0.2 in the formula).

With a base skill of 100, the relevant perk, four 29% enchantments, and a 130% potion, one's effective skill equals 874.84, which yields a bonus of +92 to armor and +46 to other items (Legendary 26).

There's part of your problem, you are improving steel without the smithing perk I'd say.

That shouldn't be a problem - you can improve any material with smithing. You just can't do it as well as when you have the specific perk. That's why the table says you need a smithing skill of 100 without the perk to create a flawless item, but only 57 with the perk. I think either the 100 is wrong or my calculation is based on faulty reasoning. I tried to use the most conservative, simple method for the calculation that I could so I can't believe that's wrong.

The enchantments and potions don't correlate directly like that. If I understand it correctly, they are figured as being divided by 100 and adding +1. So 17% would only be 1.17 and 75% would be 1.75. So the total would look like...

53 + 1.17 + 1.75 = 55.92

Still according to http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Smithing#Item_Quality, that's only Superior as you need 65 for Exquisite without the associated perk.

Either way, one doesn't need the perks to achieve any level of quality, aside from the Arcane perk for enchanted items.

EDIT : NO... I'm not getting it either. It doesn't work as I have it here. It looks like you have it in the OP, after I review it.

... for the 10th time... lol

Well, the results are only at Exquisite so this bares out what you say. That's terribly disappointing. I thought I was there... Oh well, no perk - no great stuff. Thanks for your explanation.

I do believe the key phrase here is 'limited without the appropriate perk'. If I have ebony but my perk only goes to Orcish then my ability to improve ebony is limited as the perk DOUBLES the improvement on the item.

It's only limited by the enchantments and potions. You only need a skill in total of 168 to improve any item to Legendary. That equates to a skill level of 90 I'm sorry... 91 with the associated perk.

I'm still missing something there. The 1 is added to the % because that's how you figure %. I think it's multiplied together, as you have shown, and not added as I have it shown in that previous post. That is just part of the formula to get the "effective skill". There are other variables that are in play. I'm just too dumb with basic algebra to figure it out.

Ahhh! This explains it. I see, thanks. If you think about it, it makes sense that a smith without the perk really shouldn't be able to duplicate the quality of work from a smith who has the perk. This should be the case even if the smith without the perk is wearing tons of enchanted gear and downing potions left and right. Otherwise, why would anyone bother with the perk? I know, you need the perk to make stuff from scratch but there's tons available as loot or as purchasable merchandise.

So that's it for my PC, I'm not allowing any grinding or a smithing perk. Her skill of 53 was the result of building a Heartfire house and furnishing it, smithing one set of stuff for herself, one for her husband, and one for the house carl. There's no more legitimate reasons to smith. She might get to 58 after Discerning the Mundane but that won't make a difference.