[Gulnyr]

In one of the threads about breaking items a long time ago, there were representative posts similar to some of the ideas above. Some people wanted the chance for permanent breaking (which is great for the economy and crafters) and others were against permanent breaking (since it could lead to the loss of rare or even unique items that can't be replaced, like plot goodies).

I can agree with both ideas and I'm not sure why they can't coexist. So, most mundane items can be repaired, but can also break and need to be replaced (though not with the insane frequency of our current shovels and chisels and needles). Meanwhile, magical and special items are generally less and less likely to break permanently as their power and/or rarity increases. Unique (or very limited production) items would only be permanently breakable under very special conditions, depending on the nature of the item. So, to use a paraphrased version of Lonnarin's examples, a sword, magical or not, reduced to zero durability can be repaired (as long as it wasn't totally melted or something), though it may permanently be destroyed at some point (like by melting, heh), with magical swords getting less chance to do so. Meanwhile, a unique, powerful ring is an artifact item that's too powerful to just be destroyed by common means, meaning it could be damaged, maybe, but not destroyed permanently except under specific special conditions.

As unpleasant as losing cool stuff is, there should always be some way, however unlikely, that any item can be destroyed. That's the consequence of putting the item in harm's way. I'm not saying that the "best" stuff should just be plucked off characters at a whim, because that sucks, just that even the most amazing things can still be lost somehow, even if it's less than 1% chance per character lifetime.