GS5 Artifact Contest

[Boaster]

GS5 Artifact Contest

Think you have what it takes to make a solid artifact? Have a cool idea for an artifact but just don't know how to make it yourself? Then present here an idea for an artifact!

Of course with every contest there are some rules and parameters that must be set. I will set such parameters, but they will not be exhaustive.


Your artifact idea should follow these parameters:
1. Cannot provide more than +4 to a stat, +8 if for health; cannot exceed Legendary artifacts.
2. Defensive artifacts (ring, armor, amulet) cannot have a (Ranged) Attack bonus.
3. Offensive artifacts (weapons) cannot have an Armor bonus.
4. The spell cannot cast spells like Justice, Tremor, Locust, Inferno, etc.
5. Must be different from existing artifacts (don't basically copy from an artifact, change the faith and change the stats around).
6. Explain why your artifact is different and what is good about it.
7. The more unique (and possibly strange) the better!



The best two, or three, ideas will be taken and a final vote will be made by the people. The one artifact with the most votes will be added to the GS5R3 mod.

Have at thee!



Here are the icons we have to work with:

[solarr8]

Lancealots guard: (To replace the gimp shield of quality)

plus 4 to wisdom


casts first aid

[quentinak]

Ranger's Cloak

Any thief, except Chaos thieves, may wear this cloak. It grants +4 in stealth and +2 in armor, and some Order resistance. Order Rangers get more stealth and resistance bonuses.

A mid-level artifact esp. for the Order Ranger, which needs a boost. He seems to get the pass when it comes to artifacts geared towards him.

Beow's boots

Any Earth Champion or Fire thief may wears these boots. The wearer is granted +3 in stealth, +2 movement, +1 dexterity. Earth thief receives +5 in stealth and +2 in dexterity instead.

I thought the Earth thief needs a little boost as well. It's a nice mid-level artifact which is sorely needed.

Trollhide belt

Any Order, Chaos, Life, or Death champion may wear this belt. It grants +2 strength, +1 armor, and regenerates health to the wearer. Warriors receive +4 health whereas thieves and mages receive +2. Chaos champions receive a faster rate of regeneration and +6 health.

Dunno, just thought it would be cool. I don't remember seeing too many artifacts for the Chaos warrior, esp not for "armor" (the ones they can wear take away fame).

I have more ideas but I don't want to add too many more artifacts that you'll need to draw new portraits for.

[Boaster]

Could you try a differnet name than "Beow's Boots?" Don't want to refer to a specific person on an artifact. Balkoth's Scythe is what it is because it's his weapon and he exists in the game. Beow on the otherhand is folklore and he's a Legend's quest. In fact, I might not even be able to do boots, despite boots being there as a possible artifact icon choice as it does not have a corresponding Portrait.

The other names are good.

I disagree with the idea that Order Thieves get the pass. Silver Knife!

Also if the Cloak already gives +4 Stealth, it cannot give rangers anymore.

Again with the boots, Earth Thieves cannot have more than +4. The rule above stands.

The Belt is all around good. But like the boots, might not be able to provide a portrait. I might be able to do a work around in this manner. Also, by "faster rate of regeneration," do you mean Health Recovery?


The bottom 4 rows all have corresponding portraits, but the 5th row from the bottom does not.


Chaos Warrior and Armor: If it's a Heavy Armor artifact, they will lose fame as Armor is shunned. Artifacts like the Coral Shield or Ebony Plate, which are shields, will not remove fame. Chaos Warriors can wear the Giant's armors, but again, lose fame. Chaos Warrior cannot however, wear the Elven Chain Mail. He's too big and beefy!

Isn't it just the darndest thing that Chaos Warriors can wear just about any armor, but they're penalized if they do? When it comes to certain battles, I think the loss of fame is almost worth it

[Boaster]

On account of having to re-release the PIC5R3 based on a different issue, the boots and belt portraits were added. I've worked plenty today.

[quentinak]

- Order Thief:
The Silver Dagger is great, but there is just this one little silver knife for him, and it takes away his shooting ability. One little more mid-grade artifact for him doesn't hurt one bit.

- Earth Burglar:
I guess we can call the boots "Halfling boot" "Swift boots" or "Boots of Stealth." I can't get more creative than that. Yeah I got carried away with the +5 thing and forgot the rule, make it +3 or +4.

- Chaos Warrior:
Yeah having penalties like loss of fame does make things more interesting. Having trade-offs can add to gameplay.
With the Belt, it's not an armor, so not loss of fame. That's why I didn't do Trollhide ARMOR hehe. And yes I meant Health Recover... Shame on me for not using LOMSE jargon!

Oh may I add a higher-end artifact... called Orb of Light (sorry can't think of a snazzier name). It gives extra sight radius (because it radiates light), very good armor protection (it radiates a magical field of protection and blinds enemies), and extra ranged damage too (provides energy to arrows). Give extra Air resistance for Air Thieves too. BUT the trade off for a thief wearing it is that they can no longer stealth themselves (because the thing radiates so much light at can be spotted even if they hid under a rock).

It adds something to thieves (particularly air thief) I think - no longer having to micromanage that one.

Is it too difficult to make the Faerie Thief not be able to fly? That can be another "trade-off artifact" idea, such as Faerie armor or something.

[Boaster]

Orb of Wind is basically the offensive version of your Orb of Light.

Orb of Wind is +5 Attack, Mana and Sight Radius. Also adds shocking attack and bonus Attack vs Earth Creatures/penalty Attack vs Air Creatures. Also enables Shocking Attacks for the wearer.

For an Air Thief, it boosts his weak attack, already far seeing eye, and enables Shocking Attacks (melee and ranged!).

The artifact is most beneficial to Mages though, due to the mana.

Doesn't cast a spell.

---

Ring of Concentration boosts Rangers nicely.

[Boaster]

Any other contestants? Or will I soon have to generate a poll for best artifact?

[Elbus]

SWORD OF THE FIRST PALADIN

This ancient weapon was made in the great forge of the Fire people many years ago when peace still reigned in the lands of Urak. Made with the finest of ore and the purest of intent, this sword is an artifact to behold.

Only Order and Water warriors may wield this ancient blade. It grants +4 to wisdom and +2 in attack, and some Death(Preferably Undead) resistance. Order warriors may cast Bless 3 times daily.

I feel the people of order need a weapon of honor in their midst and it would be nice if you do something like setting yourself a goal(I do that a lot in the game) to do something big. Like a quest of sorts. For example this weapon is ancient so it would be nice to "search the high's and lows of Urak to obtain this carefully constructed blade!" But that's just me, maybe you'd do something different.
___________________________________________________

CROWN OF URAK

Before the battle for Urak, all nations were fused as one. They called for a king and Oroleus, founder of the peoples of Order was chosen as King of Urak. Oroleus went to all the faiths and asked them of all their specialties for a creation. He got the purest of Gold from the Dwarven folk, a branch of Ysaerii, the tree of life, Cold ore from the mountains of Air, A focus stone crafted by the peoples of Chaos, blood of the Black Dragon from the Dark Elves and the Elixir of Eternity from the Priestess' of Water. Oroleus then took these items and had them blessed in the old temple of Order and went to the Lord of Fire, Hsarek the greatest Smith of all metals known to Urak and asked him to forge the Crown of Urak. It took 30 years of mixing and beating and firing until all the ingredients became one and the Holy Crown was forged.

Any Lord of any Faith may wear this holy crown. It grants +5 to wisdom and +3 in luck and grants a good sum of resistance to any faith. Bearer may cast Leadership 1 times daily. (Perhaps if you add it you would like to add more to it.)

I think a Holy Crown of Urak is needed as it seems to suit the game and there is a picture (two in fact) of a crown with a red [focus stone] crystal and i thought "Hey, thats a brilliant idea!"

___________________________________________

[EDIT] - I think there should be neutral artifacts as well. Example
"Ring of Mana" - + 5 Mana
"Ring of Health" - + 10 Health
That sort of thing.

[Boaster]

I'm not sure I can make an artifact only allow an Order Warrior to cast a spell, however if it was automatically cast in combat I could setup conditions.

Also make it based on current artifact mana, or artifact charges, will cast Bless automatically for the first 3 combats with the artifact equipped that turn.

So I can add conditions if it casts automatically at the start of combat, but I dont think I can make conditions on who can use the artifact spell command icon.

[Elbus]

Well you do what you think fits
I edited my post while you gave me your message.
Did you see The Crown of Urak?
and my other edited-in notes?

[Boaster]

Not sure how sound the Crown idea is. The sword, may have some merit.

The ideas for the Ring of Mana and Ring of Health are good ideas.

I think it may also be necessary that I scale a majority of the items down, except for the legendary and secondary artifacts. Because an artifact like Ring of Mana or Ring of Health alone will be dwarfed because of, say an item like Urakian Armor that provides +2 armor and +5 health.

[Elbus]

But remember with the neutral artifacts there should be quite a few. And I do hope the crown can work, if it can't, well, so be it said then. The sword however will be fantastic to add(I think.). If it must be automatically cast then thats even better!
=]

[Boaster]

It doesn't follow guidelines in the original post.

[Elbus]

The Sword or the Crown?

[Boaster]

The Crown.

[Elbus]

I see. Well I'm glad the sword still has a possibility. Say you take it, try not to use those coloured blades in the artifact picture list.
=]
I have two more(teehee)

TOME OF NECROMANCY

Any Mage except Life Mages may keep this large book which imparts +5 Wisdom, and the ability to cast Touch of Death.The bearer gains 3X% Magic Resistance and Necromancers also receive +2000 experience points.

The Tome Of Necromancy is a book that contains all knowledge of Urakian Necromancy. Balkoth tore out a few pages from this book, reasons unknown. It's got a very mysterious aura about it. If I were any other faith than Death, I wouldn't touch it.
Balkoth lost the book during one his many raids on the people of Life and suspects them to have bound it with a magical ribbon in a temple somewhere, but others reckon it dropped out of his pocket during flight(It's a figure of speech. Nobody can carry a book the size of a half giant's chest in their pockets, no, no, no!).
Some say that many Necromancers have turned to vampires from yielding the knowledge from this book.

Any Mage except Life Mages may keep this large book which imparts +5 Wisdom, and the ability to cast Touch of Death.The bearer gains 3X% Magic Resistance and Necromancers also receive +2000 experience points.

I think it would be super cool to have one of those 'Dark Artifacts' out there that everyone would look for. Maybe you want to make an opposite so it's balanced, I DON'T KNOW, you tell me what you think.

THE INFINITY RING

The wizard, Helior was busy mixing and mangling in his alchemical study until he realized he had a gold ring on his finger and lots of books on enchantment. If he were still alive today he would know that his ring is wanted by almost everyone!

Any champion may wear this mysterious ring which imparts +3 health, +3 Mana, +4% luck and in combat, this ring provides an additional +3 armor vs creatures of all faiths. There is also a chance of a ±2X Gold per turn.

Think its a cool idea.
I got loads of ideas, If you want me to give you names or something then just let me know!

[Anonymous]

Hi!

I think a pair of Seven League Boots would be awesome. Classic European folklore. The Seven League Boots should greatly increase the length between movement dots, or if this is not possible, greatly increase the movement points to emulate the effect of crossing large distances in a single stride. Folklore often says that although Seven League Boots allow the user to cross vast distances swiftly, the users is as tired as if they had run the whole way, so perhaps there could be a health penalty for using the boots. Perhaps a good way to accomplish this would be to create a spell, only castable with the artifact, which subtracts one health from the caster in exchange for some number of movement points. The spell costs zero mana (or if that is not possible for technical reasons, the artifact has a ridiculous amount of artifact mana), but cannot be cast if the caster is at 1 health (no suicide). In combat, Seven League Boots could offer instant retreat, and the cost of only one health.

Seven League Boots have an important place in European cultural history, and it's certainly not like any other artifact you have. It would be more interesting than the Cheat Go Far if it had a price tag, e.g. health, which would be consistent with folklore.

Also, I'm not sure if this is the right place to report this, but I just had a minor bug with an artifact. A mage created a Potion of Strength with Rocca's Chalice. The Potion of Strength info said it would permanently add 10 hit points to whomever drank it. I gave it to an Order Wizard Lord, but the extra 10 hit points vanished upon conclusion of the combat.

[Boaster]

The effects of stat potions are temporary. I doubt it was 10 hp, was probably 12 or 6.

The boots may be possible to do. I'll have to check.

[Elbus]

When do you plan on adding the artifacts?