Artifact & Ego ideas

[Massimiliano Marangio]

A piece of the Staff of Gandalf the Grey
"The Staff of Gandalf the Grey broke in his fight against the Balrog of Moria.
This part of the staff still holds some magical powers."

A piece of the Staff of Saruman
"The Staff of Saruman was broken into pieces by Gandalf the White at Isengard.
This part of the staff still holds some magical powers."

Two (or more) pieces each with very low powers and requirements (if any). They could be recombined in a quest to form a powerful staff.

Staff of the Istari, only as artifacts

Base item values should be one degree better than dragonbone staffs, but these should be increased as needed for the artifacts:
require magic 60, damage around 48, apr 7, criticals 6, spellpower 8 (or more...)

The Staff of Gandalf the White
The Staff of Radagast
The Staff of Alatar
The Staff of Pallando

[teachu2die]

here's a whole bunch of ego ideas, probably some overpowered, redundant, too class-specific, or poorly named, but just thinking outloud here...

weapon suffix:
"of concussion"
X% chance of stunning (or confusing?). only for blunt weapons (possibly just greatmauls. im thinking 1-5% chance for stun.)

"of evisceration"
X% chance of causing bleeding. axes, swords, and daggers only.

"of tulkas" (not sure about name, maybe too artifact-like. basically re-worked westernesse)
+X to STR/DEX/CON
see invisible
+25% stun resistance
(slay orc/troll?) (+X to combat training modifier?)

"of the nazgul" (?)
+X to strength and magic, -X to willpower and con
see invisible
-1 light radius
cold and poison brand
(slay good? slay human?)
hitpoints do not regenerate for non-undead races
only 10% chance to successfully un-wield.

"of iluvatar" or "of holy light" (?)
+X to strength and willpower
see invisible
+1 light radius
+.25 to regen rate
(slay undead?)
undead characters are damaged every turn they are wielding.

"of the shadows"
+X to dex and cunning
+X to invisibility
-2 light radius

"of cruelty"
+X to cunning
+X to dirty fighting mod

shield ego prefix:
"mirrored"
+X to spell resistance. small chance to dodge spells?

"spiked"
+X to physical damage.
increased damage from shield attacks

"reinforced"
+X to physical resist. +X to defensive shield combat modifiers.
double encumbrance.

boots ego suffix:
"of the shadows"
+X to dex/cunning
+X modifier to stealth skills

"of instability" or "of phasing"
significantly increases range of teleport/phase door. (activate for phase door?)

"of waterwalking"
ignore the effects of water

"of nature"
grants treewalking. ignore damage from traps in wilderness levels.

(was going to suggest boots of sprinting, but that seems to be covered by bombadil's boots)

glove ego suffix:
"of wrath"
+X to strength
+X to two-handed weapon modifier

"of fortitude"
+X to con
+X to shield combat modifier

"of sneakiness"
+X to dex
+X to dual wield mod

artifact potions:
stat gain potions ala blood of life or sandworm heart. +3 to a single given stat. i'm clueless on what to name them.


personally, im not wild about the plethora of 'charged' egos. they tend to be either useless or unbalancing, clog up the inventory, and add an exceedingly arbitrary quality to egos. most of the abilities they offer are already covered by scrolls and potions, or should be readily available only to the classes that have those skills. i'd rather see a limited pool of useful rods and wands in their place. maybe they just need to be balanced better, tho.
and this will probably be an unpopular suggestion - but i would consider making some of the non-quest oriented boss artifact drops not guaranteed (maybe only drop 50% of the time). it leads to a very predictable game course when you know you're going to have say, hammerhand and frost treads w/in the first chunk. appropriate artifacts that failed to drop could still drop randomly (ie hammerhand could drop elsewhere, but not old man willow's barkwood). if the quality of egos and other artifacts were bumped up, this wouldn't be a serious loss...

[Repton]

"lightfooted" boots: increased chance to avoid traps.

mace/greatmaul "of impact": chance to knockback on (critical?) hit -- higher chance for greatmauls

"heavy" two-handed weapon: increased damage, decreased attack speed, maybe stun on critical

bow/sling "of the watchman": grants heightened senses

armour "of simplicity": can use without the requisite skill (perhaps massive armour of simplicity still requires heavy armour training)

[Repton]

The sparring [weapon] of Eonwe: Eonwe, herald of Manwe and greatest in arms in Arda, once trained with this. It still retains the memory of his touch. [bonus light damage, improved attack speed; insert whatever weapon type you like]

Durin's Axe: The axe of Durin VI, lost when he was slain by the Balrog. Found by Balin, then lost again when Balin's expedition suffered the same fate. Now you hold it in your hands! [either war axe or battle axe; maybe slay orc?]

[edge2054]

Timekeeper's Crystal (Amulet)

A small stone disc with a triangular, thin piece of stone attached along a radius. This ancient object was found in a clearing devoted to the Golden Fruit. (Courtesy Tax).

Willpower +4
Temporal Resistance +25%
Increases Temporal Damage +5%

Allows the wearer to cast Backtrack (at a range of 5) costing 30 power out of 60. (Short range, targeted teleport into any explored tile).

[Kemsha]

The Horn of Gondor

Repaired after the fall of Boromir
"If it be blown at need anywhere within the bounds of Gondor, as the realm was of old, its voice will not pass unheeded."

Summons two(?) fighters friendly to whoever blows it for a few rounds



Boromir's Shield

"This faithful shield protected his owner from all sides against sword and axe but alas, not against arrows."

Defense increases by 5(?) for each adjacent foe

[yufra]

Boromir's Shield

"This faithful shield protected his owner from all sides against sword and axe but alas, not against arrows."

Defense increases by 5(?) for each adjacent foe

And since ranged defense is kept separately it could be decreased.

[Taxorgian]

Since DG hasn't said he's through with new artifacts....

The Elven-Silk Robe of Torech Ungol (10 armor, 10 defense)
+2 CON, -2 DEX
10 Physical Resistance
10 Spell Resistance
-30% Poison Resistance
20 poison damage on hit

After the fall of Mordor, teams of orcs looking for plunder found the thread of Shelob's own thick webs. They sewed the incredibly strong webbing together into a robe that was given to the head of a Pride before it was lost in a war.

[madmonk]

Since DG hasn't said he's through with new artifacts....

The Elven-Silk Robe of Torech Ungol (10 armor, 10 defense)
+2 CON, -2 DEX
10 Physical Resistance
10 Spell Resistance
-30% Poison Resistance
20 poison damage on hit

After the fall of Mordor, teams of orcs looking for plunder found the thread of Shelob's own thick webs. They sewed the incredibly strong webbing together into a robe that was given to the head of a Pride before it was lost in a war.

You should call it Orc-Silk since the Orcs made it!

[Taxorgian]

You should call it Orc-Silk since the Orcs made it!

I don't know enough about how artifacts work; if they don't need to be directly based on another object, then Orc-Silk (or better yet Spider-Silk) would work well.

[darkgod]

It can be done no problem

And yes please continue dropping in artifacts.
I want many many more

[Repton]

Do you have any general ideas about the "theme" of artifacts?

I mean, there's a zillion artifacts in Tome 2 that you could port. I haven't been suggesting them because you obviously know about them all yourself. But there's also the fact that they don't necessarily make sense in the setting (e.g. did Maedhros even wield a main-gauche? And if so, how did it survive the wreck of Beleriand?)

So I've been trying to come up with other ideas, but of course it's harder because there's not so much lore to work with..

Also, do you control where random artifacts can occur? I might be able to think of artifacts based on the far-east setting, but it wouldn't make sense in-game to let them generate in the west (since there's not much traffic from east to west).

[darkgod]

The theme, yes either historical or "more generic" is fine. As long as it's an interesting item.

And yes can make objects happen only in specific zones

[madmonk]

The Hypercube of Teleportation

A small box that can be activated.

It will randomly Teleport a target some distance away. The teleportation will have no regard for walls so the target can end up in stone, etc...

There is a 10% chance the box will teleport level as well.

[Taxorgian]

Are there other item types coming? That will help us have an idea of what the parameters are.

Another couple of ideas:

The Mithril Brooch of Aragorn
+3 WIL, +2 CON, +8 Luck
Activates for Healing 60 out of 90/90

The powerful item of magic given by Arwen to Aragorn before he left Rivendell.


The Great Helm of Turin Turambar (5 defense, 9 armor)
Massive Armor Requirement, Requires 28 STR
+4 STR, +4 CON, -5 Luck
Activates for Warshout(2) 40 out of 80/80

Worn by Turin son of Hurin in innumerable battles in the Second Age, giving great fighting prowess but even so long removed still carries a trace of the dreadful curse Morgoth placed upon him.