New pre- en postfix (favorite)

[marvalis]

I have been playing with the idea of some kind of weapon crafter in the game. Then I shamelessly stole this from another thread:

favorite staff of awesomeness

The idea I got from this is a new prefix: "favorite". the idea: customizable weapon stats!

You could then bring this staff to the weapon smith to give it the exact stat that you want (from a choice of several stats). You would get a number of 'points' to spend on stats. For example, +5 mag on the staff would cost you 10 points.

The number of points you get can be determined by the postfix:

- of impressiveness - 10 points
- of greatness - 20 points
- of grandness - 30 points
- of magnificence - 40 points
- of awesomeness - 60 points

So, for example, if you find a 'favorite sword of magnificence', then you go to the weapon smith and give it:

Str +5 (10 points
Con +5 (10 points)
Dex +8 (20 points)
Total: 30 points

Just to illustrate the idea. Other stats would also be possible (elemental resistance, stun immunity, saves, ...).

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

[Dekar]

You can min/max pretty hard with such a mechanic.
If they are stronger than artifacts everybody will use them because they give you exactly the stats you need, if they are weaker nobody will use them.

So they are overall either useless or lead to a perfect equipment setup for class x and that is bad.

[bricks]

Generally when I try to design crafting systems, I make "upgrades" more of a package deal than piecemeal attribute bonuses. In ToME that would be akin to egos. That way you can limit min-maxing to some degree, and you can even make the upgrades more of a "zero sum" by causing negative effects when taking a certain path.

A crafter class would be very cool, so long as it's not at all geared towards a specific playstyle. I should be able to play a crafter as a berserker or a bulwark or an archmage etc... Unfortunately it's difficult to design talents with that philosophy.

Another thought: systems like this are easier to balance (and arguably more fun) if you only offer a handful of upgrades at each juncture, opposed to every possible bonus you can think of. Bastion did this, and it was very fun and accessible.