Forge your own artifact

[RndmNumGenerator]

Alright, so say you could design/create an artifact. What would it be? Here one of my ideas, based off the Heritage of Shannara series of books:

Arcane Dagger "Stiehl"
Weight: 20s
When used in melee combat it grants a +10 bonus to hit and causes 2d4+13 points of damage.
When used as a missile it grants a +20 bonus to hit and causes 3d7 points of damage
It ignores PV
It grants immunity to fire attacks.
It has an increased chance of causing bleeding wounds.

As well as one of my own inventions:

Split-Halberd "Volkenspiel"
Weight: 120s
When worn it modifies the dexterity attribute by +6 and the mana attribute by +10.
When used in melee combat it grants a +11 bonus to hit and causes 2d5+10 points of damage.
When used as a missile it grants a -3 bonus to hit and causes 1d5 points of damage.
It delivers an additional 4d6 points of lightning damage on each hit.
It grants immunity to lightning.
It grants a lightning ball attack to it's wielder(Similar to Improved Fireball, but for lighting. Used as an ability, so no castings, but still consumes PP)

[Silfir]

The first one is basically an hyper xtreme murderage phase dagger, right? It would instantly enter top tier with those abilities - extremely high base damage plus PV bypassing can fully make up for the lack of slaying, especially if you get the kitty ring and the bracers of war plus Find Weakness. Bless it and you got the best emperor moloch killer around. Maybe a bit OP?

The second one would be very annoying to use with the constant lightning attacks... Improved Lightning Ball for everyone? At least it'd practically force players to think about how to use it - just bashing stuff with it is nice, but I think weapon elemental damage has to overcome PV too - "You don't manage to penetrate the defenses of..."? Against anything resistant to lightning it would be horribly weak, and the ball won't help either in that special case. Irony - you are immune to lightning, but you can't kill the ancient blue dragon with your weapon either. Who'll stare the other into submission first?

If it were up to me I'd try and make artifacts that allow for special playstyles.

I just had an idea for a couple of horribly overpowered artifacts...

eldritch emerald amulet "Plaguebearer"
When worn it modifies the toughness attribute by -25.
When used in melee combat it grants a +0 bonus to hit and causes 1d1 damage.
When used as a missile it grants a +14 bonus to hit and causes 2d4+8 damage.
It causes your attacks to inflict terrible diseases on your opponents.

steel shackles "Doomshackles" (bracer type)
Weight: 800 stones
When worn it modifies your DV by -10, your PV by -10 and your dexterity attribute by -25.
When used in melee combat it grants a -25 bonus to hit and causes 1d4+2 damage.
When used as a missile it grants a -25 bonus to hit and causes 1d4+2 damage.
It is a permantently cursed item.
It grants bad luck.
Wearing it makes you doomed.
When true berserking, it grants a +100 bonus to hit and +50 damage bonus.

silken girdle "Pussystring"
Weight: 1 stone
When worn it modifies your DV by +20 and your willpower attribute by -25.
When used in melee combat it grants a -100 bonus to hit and causes 1d1-50 damage.
When used as a missile it grants a -100 bonus to hit and causes 1d1-49 damage.
It can be used to teleport at will.
It allows you to control teleportation.
Wearing this makes you permanently bloated.



Together they are the trinity of overpowered cheeseness.

[Grey]

colourful skull staff "The Jester's Cane" (+7, 1d50) [+5, -5] {Dx+9}

Weight: 40s

It grants teleporting powers.
It grants resistance to a different element every round.
On criticals it transforms creatures as if they were hit by a potion of exchange.
It cannot harm or transform undead or constructs.

(yeah, silly, but that's the whole point of inventing your own artifacts)

[gut]

Inspired by the Death Gate Cycle books:
The Ancient Dagger "Haplo's Bane" (+3, 5d5) [+2, +2]
Weight: 5s
It grants slaying powers against all chaotics.
It contains the essance of chaos and corruption.
If dropped, it will automatically rejoin your inventory
in the disguise of a highly valued item.
It can only be nullified by immersion in water.

Inspired by Salvatore's Cleric quintet books:
The Runed Gauntlets "Gheraferu" [+1, +1].
Weight: 10s
It allows you to switch bodies (and minds) with any
monster of your choosing for 3d20 game turns.
Can only be destroyed by dragon's breath.

Inspired by, well, me:
The small shield "Gut's Companion" [+4, +4]. {To+4}
Weight: 40s
It grants immunity to fire.

[mike]

artifact whip

I don't even care what it does, as long as it's better than a regular whip and you can be crowned with it. =P

[JellySlayer]

Here's mine:

ghostly ring "Spirit Catcher" [+2,+3]

Weight 2s.

It grants resistance to death attacks.
It is a permanently cursed item.
It grants resistance to paralyzation.
It grants resistance to acid.

While wearing this ring, you equip any other weapons, armour, or items.
It looks you to pass through (diggable) walls.


divine rock "Holy Hand Grenade" (-10, 20d20)

Weight 5s.

It is a rabbit slayer.
It explodes on contact.

[Laukku]

I suggested this in an earlier thread:

----- the evil dagger "Your Doom" (-50,1d1-50) [-75,-50] {To-40} (-50 spd)-----

Weight: 9990s

The glowing rune-covered dagger is really the cursed evil dagger "Your Doom"
(-50, 1d1-50) [-75, -50] {To-40} (-50 spd) .

When worn it modifies DV by -75 and PV by -50.

When used in melee combat it grants a -50 bonus to hit and causes 1d1-50 points
of damage. When used as a missile it grants a -50 bonus to hit and causes
1d1-50 points of damage.

It is a permanently cursed item.
It modifies your toughness attribute by -40.
It modifies your speed by -50.
It grants bad luck.
Wearing it makes you doomed.
It grants teleporting powers.
It contains the essence of Chaos and Corruption.


And it is a two-handed weapon, by the way... no smithed shields can save you! (:

And imagine the face of the player when he realizes what that "obvious artifact" dagger really is... (:<

[Silfir]

I can already imagine... Your average ADOM powergamer finds a dagger weighing 9990 stones and immediately thinks "Woohoo! KICKASS!". Cue gathering of five hundred morgia and spending 30 days in the wilderness pumping Toughness to godly amounts.

[stakon]

Holy Hammer "God's Arm" (+7, 7d7) [+7,+7]

Weight: 53s

When it kills a creature in melee it grants only 50% experience.
When it kills a saccable creature in melee it is considered sacrificed alive to the Deity.

[QuickDraw]

I`ve always wanted to see something like that:

Ancient black sword "Armageddon`s blade" (+0,1d10+10) [+0,+0]

Weight: 15 000s

It is permanently cursed item.
It receives +5 to-hit and +5 to-damage with every cursed item you have equipped.
It receives +10 to-hit and +10 to-damage when you`re cursed.
It receives +50 to-hit and +50 to-damage when you`re doomed.
It reduces its weight by 1500s (down to 1s) with every cursed item equipped.
It grants slaying powers with every cursed item equipped.
It grants resistances and immunities with each cursed item equipped.
It gathers the essence of Chaos and Corruption that needs to be released every 1000 turns.
It can`t be unequipped.

This sword would gather corruption and corrupt monsters when hit (and not killed) until they turn into WMoPC. If PC wouldn`t corrupt enough monsters he would`ve take the corruption himself so the game would be a constant "power or less corruption" struggle.

Sword like that would also allow 2 more endings - World Destroyer (if you kill Andy and other other gods (?) with it) and World Saviour (if you sacrifice yourself and destroy the sword in the process?)

EDIT: And it would be a 2-hander.