The New and improved Sentience

[Hunter]

I know i come up with some crazy powerful ideas. (like having a character who owns the 3 and the 1 reach mount doom, kill sauron, and THEN instead of destroying the one, you 'reforge' it to fuse ti with the three, combining there powers, and the perma-curse is gone, but the curse, *curse*, and the re-cursing abilities are still there, and it CEASES to drain EXP.)

Er...what? ::shakes computer screen:: Nope, didn't help. Still don't understand a word of the last part of that run-on sentence.

[Serin]

If I understand correctly, Crim is avoiding using any specific names in order to keep this non-spoily. The 3 for the elves, the one to rule them all.
Fuse them all together and you create an uber-powerful ring that would be able to recurse itself and have those nasty curses remain.

[Maylith]

Part of the interest and draw of this game is that you can't have it all.

[Atarlost]

As long as we're on teh subject of delusional ideas, I've got one:

DS_CURSE (de Sade curse)
it is sentient, and it has a twisted sense of humour.

This would be somewhat like the DG_CURSE.

I don't have probability proposals for these effects, nor how often this curse should activate.

Your [name of DS_CURSED item] spawns in your equipment.
As DG_CURSE spreading, but if it effects a weapon, that weapon also becomes sentient.

Your [item] decides violence is wrong.
If a weapon, the item recieves the NEVER_BLOW flag.

Your [item] consults with the spirits.
You recieve a fate, even if they are disabled. It's your fault for wearing the item, same as with the DG_CURSE.

Your [item] becomes more attached to you.
the item in question recieves the AUTO_CURSE flag. If currently cursed it also recieves the HEAVY_CURSE flag, and if heavily cursed and cursed the PERMA_CURSE flag. (yes, this means if you let your weapon get heavily cursed after picking up sentience from the DS_CURSE you can get stuck with a permacursed weapon that refuses to fight.)

Your [item] finds things dull.
as per a scroll of aggravate monster

Power flashes through your [item].
the item casts a random thaumaturgical spell. If the effect is targeted, it will target a random, not necessarily hostile, monster in your LoS, or your own location if none are available.

Your [item] whispers to you
You lose 50% of your current sanity. Any unknown fates pending are revealed, and you lose 50% further current sanity for each fate so revealed. (yes, this can instakill you if you have low sanity ad haven't been paying attention to fates, but that's your own lookout for wearing a DS_CURSEd atrifact in the first place)

Your [item] wants you to stop fleeing
temporary NO_TELE effect (several thousand game turns (several hundred player moves at normal speed)) and the effects of the "no recall" trap and "stair movement" trap.

Your [item] tries to kill you
create traps.

Your [item] tries to kill you
you are filled with the black breath.

Your [item] tries to kill you
you are paralyzed

Your [item] tries to kill you
you are confused

Your [item] tries to kill you
drains all satisfy hunger junkarts, destroys all satisfy hunger scrolls, and destroys all non-artifact food and potions that do not pseudo-id as cursed

[Da alchemist]

>>>While i like the idea of 'selfish' artifacts doing things on their own, (does that consume a turn for the player, or is it in addition to the players moves?) almost all of your artifacts are WAY too powerful

And they're very rare, very cursed, and have terrible drawbacks.

>>>and some of them (like FF's sword) would require some hard-coded changes to be made (i think... I dont think the current engine can handle skill points being drained...) and therefore couldnt be implemented in a module, but would require a whole new variant.

Correct. FF sword was more of a joke. It could even be just a weapon description, and it has a temporary flag like some alchemist items...

>>> And tone down what you create. ...too powerful having a character who owns the 3 and the 1 reach mount doom, kill sauron, and THEN instead of destroying the one, you 'reforge' it to fuse it with the three, combining there powers, and the perma-curse is gone, but the curse, *curse*, and the re-cursing abilities are still there, and it CEASES to drain EXP.)

Since I said it was random, you could get the drain EXP, the permacurse, the very very bad [spoiler] thing with the ring, and then it still has the cheerful song activation every 3 turns it got from the first artefect it ate, life drain from another artefact it ate a while ago, mana drain from ruining your incredibly useful artefact that used to activate for divination-type spells, and a mana booster for your axemaster to frustrate over. All you can really use is that +5 AC it got from eating some randart when you were trying to sell it... And it all occurs when you're wearing it, too, so you can't discard it... vith such variable drawbacks, it is balanced. Even if it occasionally fuses with Morgoth's weapon and remove those extremely annoying flags we all know and love. (-;

>>>I think you might find a positive reaction to the selfish artifacts but i can already tell you that a LOT of people would object to your artifacts. theres a reason that only 2 items can auto-id and there is severe penalty to both.[/quote]

I've only found one - so you're telling me there is *ANOTHER* artefact who activates for *ID* and doesn't say in the description when you *ID* it? Geeez.

[Groothewanderer]

Although I think it would be fun to level up a sentient bow or sling, I think this would be way too overpowering. Bows don't have that many powers on their own and I don't think can have elemental slays on them. That and a bow with a bunch of resists, extra attacks, speed, etc. would start to make equiping way to easy. I think the artifact bows that are already out there are good but are actually under-powered compared to some of the ego bows (especially might bows).

I can't get into to much detail since this isn't the spoiler forum but I almost nevet use an artifact bow (except for sometimes a randart bow and one bow that gives good speed) once I get a might bow with a high multiplier.

[Atarlost]

Sentient launchers may not work, but nobody seems to have suggested sentient boomerangs.

[Hunter]

Sentient launchers may not work, but nobody seems to have suggested sentient boomerangs.

Probably because boomerangs are already underpowered compared to other missile weapons and thus few people use them. This, in turn, reduces specific interest in them, so people don't think to suggest them as sentient weapons, thus improving them. It's kind of a Catch-22 there.

Didn't someone say boomerangs were being phased out? I seem to recall something to that effect.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

I thought morgys crown auto-ided? If not then i guess thers only one that auto-ids... And of course that one still has some penalties... (especially to the foolish that activate it...)

I dont use boomerangs much (yet) because i find them weak, but a sentient boomerang i could be very happy with. Again, i jsut dont like the whole idea of 'one-shot, then your out of ammo.' not to mention the risk of losing that nice artifact ammo.

[Atarlost]

There is an artifact set that gets auto_ID if you wear the whole set.

[Da alchemist]

I was thinking of *ID*, not ID. There are rods for ID that are mundane, easy to make before you get auto-ID.

I haven't seen auto-*ID* anywhere.