Monster Carves Guide

Carves are integral to the series. After an intense hunt with a fierce monster, there's nothing better than finally getting to carve off a few materials to craft that weapon or armor piece you've been wanting. The payoff matters. So, what would a fanon Monster be without carves of its own?

Carves are essential to making a monster. However, it isn't always easy, especially if you want to emulate the official style of the games. Here are some examples and tips to how to improve your carves.

Choosing Your Carves
First, consider what kind of monster you are creating (e.g. Neopteron, Flying Wyvern, Leviathan, etc.), as this will influence what you can carve off it. Unless your monster's an outlier, a wyvern generally won't drop fur, and a Neopteron scales. Then, consider your monster's physiology. Is it feathery, scaly, or furred? What element does it use?

Here's a list of typical materials (there are more; see here) that have their own icon. For more colors, visit this page.
 * Bone Icon White.png Bone
 * Carapace Icon White.png Carapace
 * Claw Icon White.png Claw
 * Dung Icon White.png Dung
 * Fang Icon White.png Fang
 * Feather Icon White.png Feather
 * Flipper Icon White.png Flipper
 * Hide Icon White.png Hide
 * Horn Icon White.png Horn
 * Ball Icon White.png Gem
 * Medicine Icon White.png Liquid
 * Mantle Icon White.png Mantle
 * Monster Parts Icon White.png Miscellaneous Part*
 * Sac Icon White.png Sac
 * Shell Icon White.png Shell**
 * Sturdy Shell Icon White.png Sturdy Shell
 * Webbing Icon White.png Webbing
 * Wing Icon White.png Wing

* Not every conceivable carve has its own icon; in fact, a good number of them don't. Instead, they use this icon. Don't feel discouraged if you think of a carve that doesn't have an icon! Just use this. ** Despite the name, these are exclusive to Carapaceon monsters. For other monsters, use the Carapace icon.

Additionally, some materials are unique to and shared among a certain type of monster—you can only get Elder Dragon Blood from Elder Dragons, Wyvern Gems from wyverns, or Bird Wyvern Fangs from Bird Wyverns. That being said, your monster doesn't need to have a shared carve.

Descriptions
Writing descriptions can be tricky, but a good rule to follow is to make sure that there isn't a dissonance between the material's description and the monster's difficulty. If you're fighting a lowly creature, you shouldn't say its claws are the stuff that rend the skies in song and tales.

Low Rank descriptions are usually mundane; they can describe the material literally, outline its uses in society, or inform the reader a little about the monster. Step it up in High Rank descriptions; get a little more creative, maybe mention the material's rarity, its quality over the low rank equivalent. In G-Rank, feel free to get poetic. You want the imaginary player to feel accomplished, that the material matches the peril at which it was gotten. Wyverns usually get more poetic or legendary treatment than Fanged Beasts.

Use a thesaurus to broaden your vocabulary if you feel a normal word is too bland.

Across the Ranks
Quests come in three difficulties: Low Rank, High Rank, and G-Rank, in order of rising difficulty. Common monsters appear throughout all three ranks, but stronger monsters may not appear until High Rank or even G-Rank. Therefore, it's important to consider the strength of your monster, as it will affect your carves.

The same monster across multiple ranks has different drops (e.g., Rathalos in High Rank has different carves from Low Rank). These aren't totally new materials though; their "nature" does not change. A scaly monster will still drop its scales in higher ranks, but their name and description will be different than before. Therefore, the icon of the carve, no matter what its name changes to, ''does not change. For instance, Shells are renamed Carapaces in High Rank, but the icon does not'' change to the Carapace icon; it remains the Shell icon.

Materials follow a naming scheme up the ranks. Here's some basic carve progression* from Low Rank to G-Rank, from left to right:


 * General Body Parts
 * Claw Icon White.png Claw > Claw+ > Hardclaw
 * Monster Parts Icon White.png Ear > Ear+ > Auricle
 * Fang Icon White.png Fang > Fang+ > Hardfang
 * Monster Parts Icon White.png Fin > Fin+ > [Great/Grand]fin
 * Hide Icon White.png Hide > Hide+ > Piel
 * Horn Icon White.png Horn > Horn+ > Hardhorn
 * Claw Icon White.png Pelt > Pelt+ > Fur
 * Scale Icon White.png Scale > Scale+ > Shard
 * Carapace Icon White.png Shell > Carapace > Cortex
 * Monster Parts Icon White.png Tail > Tail+ > Lash
 * Webbing Icon White.png Webbing > Wing > Fellwing
 * Monster Parts Icon White.png Wyvern/Beast Tear > Large Wyvern/Beast Tear > Wyvern/Beast Tear
 * Sacs
 * Flame Sac > Inferno Sac > Conflagrant Sac
 * Frost Sac > Freezer Sac > Cryo Sac
 * Electro Sac > Thunder Sac > Lightning Sac
 * Aqua Sac > Torrent Sac > Flood Sac
 * Paralysis Sac > Paralysis Sac > Omniplegia Sac
 * Poison Sac > Toxin Sac > Deadly Poison Sac
 * Sac Icon White.png Screamer Sac > Screamer Sac > Screamer Sac*
 * Sleep Sac > Sleep Sac > Coma Sac

* Most stronger monsters do not have Screamer Sacs, despite their stronger roars.

The carve progression shown here isn't absolute. In fact, there are many exceptions to it. For example, the Gore Magala possesses "Ripclaws" which become "Shredders" in G-Rank; while every Seregios-specific carve has a unique name, found nowhere else in the game. This progression system is more of a generality, a sort of metaphorical "mode" if you familiar with math terminology. If you want to assign a carve a unique name, feel free to do so! It might spice up your monster's identity.

If at all possible, use the tabber system to separate your Low Rank, High Rank, and G-Rank carves. Not only is it more convenient and saves more space, but keeping your carves in the same places while you're changing their names and descriptions helps to better identify them.

Putting It Together
Here's an example, taken from the Kumori page.

Low Rank = High Rank= G-Rank=