HQ25 - Artifacts

[Count Mohawk]

Original Artifact thread

HQ25 To-Do List thread

According to the storyline as it exists thus far, each of the Heroes are to receive an Artifact specifically for them, which will be either required or strongly preferred to defeat the Big Bad. However, 25 Quests is a very long campaign and there is certainly room enough for a couple more Artifacts to be thrown in. Here are some alphas we can use as a starting point to finalize these:

Battle Gauntlets
These burly metal gauntlets improve the wearer's physical abilities in combat. They are very large and can only be worn by the Barbarian. While using these gauntlets, you may reroll your entire Attack roll once per turn. If you do, you must accept the second roll, even if it worse. You must use this ability before the monster rolls for defense.
This effect may look strong, but if the Barbarian only takes rerolls if he gets 0 or 1 skulls, it's actually less powerful than outright increasing his attack dice by one (I did the math to test with both 3 and 4 attack dice normally).

[Artifact for the Dwarf]
I haven't figured this one out yet. I want it to improve his Defense, but not by a whole Combat Die. I suspect this topic about alternatives to +1 or -1 CD will be useful in that regard. Maybe it could take the form of a Shield that, instead of increasing his Defense by 1, decreases the enemy's Attack dice by one.

Aero Greaves
These magical greaves lighten their wearer's pace. Only the Elf can wear them properly. While wearing these greaves, you may roll an additional red die when rolling for movement and discard the lowest result.

Spellcraft Amulet
This round amulet is etched with many runes in a language only the Wizard can read. While wearing the amulet, whenever you cast a spell, you may roll two red dice. If the total is less than your current Mind Points, you may immediately cast a second copy of that spell.
The Wizard's starting Mind Points are 6, which means this ability will activate 10/36 or 27% of the time. If he also has the Talisman of Lore, it will instead activate 15/36 or 42% of the time. If either of these are too high, we can change it to "roll one red die; if a 6 is rolled..." instead, which is of course a flat 17% chance.

Hammer of Justice / "Vengeance"
This burnished red hammer (/ axe) is capable of mighty blows, but only against powerful opponents. When attacking with [~NAME], roll a number of Combat Dice equal to the Defend value of the monster you are attacking. You may not use a shield while wielding this two-handed weapon. May not be used by the Wizard.
There has been some discussion about this weapon already. I believe the primary concern is that it is a strictly better Battle Axe if the Hero can swap to a Longsword against monsters with 3 Defense or less. If barring the Hero from switching is not to taste, it could be changed to something like "rolls 5 Attack Dice against monsters with 3 or more Body Points remaining, but only 3 Attack Dice against monsters with 1 or 2 Body Points left". In any case, if the weapon is meant to be two-handed and raw power is its gimmick, it does need to be able to hit for 5 sometimes, or else the standard Battle Axe will be better all the time.

There's enough room for up to 6-8 Artifacts total; these are just the ones I brainstormed and copied out of the original thread. Also, we can include 1-2 Elixirs of Life in the pack as well (I put one in Quest 16: "The Silent Crypts" already).

Suggestions are welcome. Once we have the Artifacts touched up and semi-finalized, I will copy the results into the To-Do thread and continue from there.

[Tott]

heres pretty much every artefact i ever made!
i was quite fond of a 'crit' mechanic for a while 'If they're fighting X, and roll Y or more skulls, X cant defend'
or a flat 1 skull/shield bonus if conditions are met.
i also like the idea of items that do things not specifically designed to enhance combat (swap places with another character, draw a treasure card when X happens, manipulate the treasure deck etc).
I also want to say that some of my artefacts are very powerful, but they're designed for characters that are very seasoned and fighting enemies with body points in double figures.

[Goblin-King]

13 pages of artifacts?

tl;dr

[Tott]

yup. just a doc i throw ideas into. started it years ago...

[Count Mohawk]

13 pages of artifacts?

tl;dr

To be fair, I'm the one alpha'ing all the new mechanics at the moment, so GK can get away with saying that. I'll get back with some thoughts later; today was long and tiring.

Edit: Ah, inspiration strikes! First, for the Dwarf:

Adamant Epaulets
These sturdy epaulets protect their wearer from harm. They are too small for anyone other than the Dwarf to wear them. While wearing these epaulets, you may roll an additional Combat Die when Defending, but only while your Body Points are less than half of their starting value, rounded down.

Then a more general weapon artifact:

Arcan's Spear
The haft of this magical spear glows with a ethereal blue light. When using it, roll three Combat Dice to attack. While holding Arcan's Spear, your current and maximum Mind Points are increased by one. The length of this spear enables you to attack diagonally. May not be used by the Wizard.

And so the Wizard doesn't feel left out:

Dagger of Dowsing
This dagger has a small golden jewel set in its pommel. It may be used to attack with one Combat Die. Whenever you deal one or more Body Points of damage to a monster with this weapon, you may take a Treasure card. If that card is a Wandering Monster or Hazard, it has no effect and is shuffled back into the Treasure deck.

If we need more or different ideas, let me know and I'll go look for more inspiration.

[Teldurn]

[Artifact for the Dwarf]
I haven't figured this one out yet. I want it to improve his Defense, but not by a whole Combat Die. I suspect this topic about alternatives to +1 or -1 CD will be useful in that regard. Maybe it could take the form of a Shield that, instead of increasing his Defense by 1, decreases the enemy's Attack dice by one.

How about a shield (really, what type of armor it is, is irrelephant) that allows a reroll of Defend Dice if the first roll had no White Shields.

[Count Mohawk]

[Artifact for the Dwarf]
I haven't figured this one out yet. I want it to improve his Defense, but not by a whole Combat Die. I suspect this topic about alternatives to +1 or -1 CD will be useful in that regard. Maybe it could take the form of a Shield that, instead of increasing his Defense by 1, decreases the enemy's Attack dice by one.

How about a shield (really, what type of armor it is, is irrelephant) that allows a reroll of Defend Dice if the first roll had no White Shields.

That sounds good to me. Or, actually, I could copy the ability from the Barbarian's artifact and make it apply to defending instead of attacking. Sometimes the best ideas are the reused ones.

[Teldurn]

[Artifact for the Dwarf]
I haven't figured this one out yet. I want it to improve his Defense, but not by a whole Combat Die. I suspect this topic about alternatives to +1 or -1 CD will be useful in that regard. Maybe it could take the form of a Shield that, instead of increasing his Defense by 1, decreases the enemy's Attack dice by one.

How about a shield (really, what type of armor it is, is irrelephant) that allows a reroll of Defend Dice if the first roll had no White Shields.

That sounds good to me. Or, actually, I could copy the ability from the Barbarian's artifact and make it apply to defending instead of attacking. Sometimes the best ideas are the reused ones.

Pretty much, yes. On both counts.

[Daedalus]

I had a thought on some sinister artifacts with a cost to add flavor. The idea is the Chaos Dwarves haven't seen much love lately and they need some flair. Within certain Quests, they can be outfitted with blasphemous devices. These are either artifacts used by a Hero (and Chaos Dwarves?) at his own risk or equipment intended only for Chaos Dwarves. Some ideas:

• Hell Rod- The flared iron barrel of this long-range weapon gives you the attack strength of 4 combat dice. It can be fired at any one non-adjacent target you can see. However, it must be loaded carefully; you may not move in the same turn you fire. When fired, it spouts out the fiery bone fragments and ash of a tortured soul causing you to lose 1 Mind Point. It has enough ammunition for 10 shots before it becomes useless. May not be used by the Wizard.
• Infernal Armor- This diabolic metal armor gives you 2 extra combat dice in defense. However, because of its weight you roll 3 red dice for movement while only using the lower 2. Furthermore, while wearing this unclean armor your Mind Point total is reduced by 1. May be combined with the Helmet and/or Shield. May not be worn by the Wizard.

• Vulcan Pot- When this baked-clay skull is hurled at a victim's feet it shatters, pouring forth a scorching black fume. Any Hero in the room or corridor where it was cast is blinded by the embers and foul ash for one turn, unable to move or attack. This effect can be ignored if a Hero rolls a 5 or 6 on one red die. The Dwarf may roll 2 dice. [-edit]

[Anderas]

[This and the following three posts were moved from the Re: HQ25 monster stats and abilities #3 the Minotaur topic on 6/5/16]

We were also trying the Kobolds in Sotiris Play By Post Game. From player's perspective, I can tell you that those guys are not fun.

They appear in groups as it should be, but then you go and kill them without ever reducing the number of attacks raining in. It feels like the attacks just have no effect at all.
Seeing the results I know that it's not that bad, but that's the feeling i have. It's like fighting water.

Maybe you could make Orc's Bane working against them, too. Or invent Kobolds Bane.