HQ25 - Artifacts
Posted: December 11th, 2014, 12:29 pmOriginal 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.
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.
