A proto-tool is one of the rewards that can be purchased with points gained from playing the Stealing Creation minigame. When the tool is operated, the player has the option to transform it into one of the following tools: hatchet, butterfly net, hammer, harpoon, knife, needle, or a pickaxe. Once transformed, the bonus experience contained within the tool can be added to the relevant skill by clicking on the tool again.
All versions of the morphic tool can also be used for normal actions (such as using a knife for fletching, or a hatchet for woodcutting), but once the bonus experience is gained it is not necessary to carry the discharged tools around to benefit from it and the tool can safely be dropped.
Note that proto-tools only increase your overall exp per hour if you would ordinarily get less exp than they offer in the time it takes to earn one. For example, if in each twenty minute game you earn 20 points, you stand to earn 3 tools per hour. If you chose to use these as fletching knives for cutting yew shieldbows, then you would have, in effect, have earned 73,350 (3 x 24,450) bonus exp in that one hour, or even more with skilling only games (which takes around 12 minutes). It is possible in some skills, such as construction, to earn exp at a faster rate that these tools would benefit you, by more expensive means. In this case the tool acts as a benefit by saving materials. It would then be up to the player if the money saved by using these tools is a greater benefit than the time saved by skilling at faster, more expensive means.
This item is almost exactly like the volatile tool, except that the player gets to choose the transformation type. As a result, slightly less bonus experience is gained because of this choice. The colour is slightly different.
It is important to note than many secondary uses of the transformed tools normal forms (hammer, knife, etc.), are not available to the sacred clay variants.
After being changed into any of the tools it can be reverted back to a Proto-tool and then changed into any other tool (this process does not result in the loss of any charges, unlike its volatile counterpart).
Trivia
- Prior to an update, Proto tools were not stackable in players banks in any form.
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| Miscellaneous |
 Proto-tool Volatile clay tool Inactive shield | ||||||
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