Dungeon Settlers Inscriptions Guide: Odds, Rerolls & the Lock

Every level-up in Dungeon Settlers is two decisions in one screen: which stat to grow, and whether the Inscription on offer is worth locking. This page is the system’s economics in one place — the odds, the lock, the recruit surcharges, and the balance controversy that has the loudest voice in the game’s reviews right now.

What are inscriptions?

Rarity-tiered modifiers — Common, Uncommon, Rare, Legendary — that attach to settlers. Two documented ways to get them:

1. Rolled at level-up: the level-up screen (press-kit visible) offers Ability stat increases and Inscriptions; stat-growth choices like Consecration appear on screen (leveling guide)
2. Born-with on recruits: candidates can arrive pre-inscribed, at a gold surcharge (recruiting guide)

The flagship example is Gloom (Rare): +20% to all six major stats, permanent Mood −3 — a bargain for a well-fed veteran, a slow-motion breakdown for anyone else (mood & food).

What are the odds of rolling each rarity?

Community documentation puts the level-up weights at roughly 807 / 170 / 20 / 3 per 1,000 rolls:

Independent cross-check: the game’s most-upvoted review (160 helpful votes, data-mined against v0.4.19-era tables) reports blue (Rare) picks are 8.5× rarer than green (Uncommon) — which is exactly the 170-to-20 ratio above. Two sources, same shape.

The same review’s harder claims — that ~90% of level-up rolls show zero Rares, and that roughly two-thirds of players finish leveling a character without ever seeing one — are its own math and single-source; treat them as a sense of scale, not certified drop tables.

How does the level-up lock work?

The lock is the official answer to reroll pain, and it has a timeline:

• At launch: lockable only on Easy and Normal — you could lock Ability increases or Inscriptions before rerolling (official v0.4.19-era patch notes)
• September 6: CanOpener’s “Your Feedback in Action” post promised expanding it to all difficulties “ASAP”
• v0.4.23 (September 12): delivered — “Lock Consecration Results” is now its own setting, available on every Management Difficulty level, toggleable mid-campaign (difficulty guide)

Separately, v0.4.19 added reroll locking to Expedition Founding — portraits, ability stats, Major and Sub Traits — before difficulty ever comes into play.

Practical read: with the lock on all Management tiers since v0.4.23, the question is no longer whether you can control a roll, but how many rerolls a specific result is worth — which is exactly where the controversy lives.

Are born-with inscriptions worth the surcharge?

The community-documented surcharge table, on top of the level-based price (roughly 120 gold at level 1 up to ~4,200 at level 12):

The economics: born-with inscriptions roll at the same rarity weights as level-ups, so a pre-rolled Rare or Legendary is a fixed, knowable cost — usually cheaper than rerolling toward one later. The standard advice holds either way: pay the surcharge only when the inscription is good for that settler’s actual role, not for the color of its name.

Is the inscription system balanced?

This is Early Access’ loudest open controversy, and it’s worth knowing both sides.

The critique. The most-upvoted review on the store page (160 helpful votes, ~41 hours played, data-mined) calls for the system to be rebuilt, arguing:

• Damage inscriptions are worth far less on tanks than on archers — roughly 5× less DPS value, up to 22× for crit-damage inscriptions (single-source)
• Dead picks exist: Block inscriptions do nothing for two-handed-weapon users, who have 0% base block; nearly half of the ~95 inscriptions have conditional triggers that don’t fit most builds (single-source)
• Chasing one specific tank Rare averages ~440 rerolls (single-source)
• Its proposed fix: split upgrade stones into colored pools — attack, defense, utility — mirroring the game’s existing jewelry system

The official answer. CanOpener responded to that review directly: they will discuss the feedback with the developers, aiming to improve numerical balance and the excessive randomness. No changes have shipped as of v0.4.23 — but the concern is acknowledged, officially, at the top of the review section.

What to do today: don’t sink hundreds of rerolls into chasing a specific Rare — the expected cost is enormous and the payoff can be marginal (the review’s example: a chased tank blue granting +2 actual block past a near-capped stat). Lock what’s good, buy born-with Rares that fit the role, and let balance patches do the rest.

Where to go next

• Crafting & Gear — where inscriptions sit in the equipment chain
• Recruiting Guide — the surcharge decision in its full context
• Leveling Guide — XP, the level-5 wall, and the reroll economy
• Difficulty Guide — every lock setting, per difficulty tier