ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

It kind of occured to me recently that there's only two real situations where a merchant artifact truly can be utterly useless, as opposed to a sidegrade...and that one, Arcane for Antimagic users, was specifically prevented.

The other one is Antimagic for the undead. From a gameplay perspective, it is less extreme-they can at least equip the weapon-but I've tried to find a situation where giving up your only universal defensive measure(shields) would ever be worth an equip for a Skeleton, as well as any universal mobility options...and it seems unlikely, since most AM brands aren't terribly good for them, often boosting categories they can never obtain.

The reason for the question mark is that I'm not sure if everyone else would agree. Still, I think it's worth asking about. It's certainly reasonably thematic for them not to get them(Zigur hates all undead and they can't have much to do with Equi.).

It kind of occured to me recently that there's only two real situations where a merchant artifact truly can be utterly useless, as opposed to a sidegrade...and that one, Arcane for Antimagic users, was specifically prevented.

Ha ha
ha
ha

nope! AM people still get Arcane equips from the artifact merchant.

Both need to be fixed, honestly - I'd be far more testy about this had I lost my AM Yeek Summoner, and it's currently (in my opinion) one of the biggest AM downsides, in not having a solid chance at AM-usable (or Undead-usable, in their case) equipment.

What if the player could select the power source?

It seems more reasonable to me that the merchant would say, "What power sources would you prefer" then "Oh, you're undead, I'll make sure to get you something you can use!"

it might be better in general if AM powered artis were limited to AM characters, and arcane to all non AM characters.

I think that making a simple "Arcane or Antimagic?" choice and forces the one you chose would be reasonable. Or even a "Do you dislike magical equipment? We get some people in that get angry about that, oh dear.", something like that, since you can't have Arcane and AM on the same equip.

Drop the base price a little but add a 'special order' option that lets you request an antimagic item, at an increased cost. Otherwise antimagic egos won't show up and arcane will. Perhaps the Zigur craftsman would waive the fee if you've taken out Urkis.

fixed