Magic Items

[Hian the Frog]

Hi Kael, the Team, Everybody,

An idea for an item. It could be either defensive or offensive. His name :" XXX of Decay and Power"
The idea is that every time you earn 1 xp you loose definitly 1 HP. The more experienced you become, the weaker you are. The item eats your mind, flesh,....
So, his power should be strong enough to be attractive.
I don't write anything about what this power could be, it depend on what is the item (sword, helmet, ring,...)
OMI, an helmet could be a good item. Close to the brain, ready to burn the soul,....
I hope you understand my idea.

The Frog.

 

[loki1232]

Oh i like this idea, but you could heal up the loss to survive.

Wait, what is teh advantage of this awesome item?

What if it gave you access to mind spells, dimensional spells, and entropy spells?

 

[Hian the Frog]

Oh i like this idea, but you could heal up the loss to survive.

Wait, what is teh advantage of this awesome item?

What if it gave you access to mind spells, dimensional spells, and entropy spells?

Loki1232,

Pleased to read that you like.

The MAIN idea is: for each xp you earn you loose DEFINITIVELY/PERMANENTLY one HP.
I don't know if it is possible. Does the game allow a unit to have less that 100 HP definitively ?

About the advantage, as you write it must be awesome. At that time, i have no idea. It depends on what is the item....
e.g: "Helmet of Decay and Power" +25% strenght, gives your unit Dragon,elf,dwarf,orc,giant,demon Slaying. It's just an idea....

The Frog

 

[loki1232]

Well recently we've been working on ways to reduce a unit's base strength, and that would work perfectly here.

 

[Hian the Frog]

Loki1232,

I forget one thing.

As an old RPG gamemaster , i usually saw powerful items that makes players too strong, too reckless/foolhardy. I rather prefer using this kind of item: powerful, awesome but dangerous to use. Each time you use it, you become both stronger and weaker. You have to think about what would happen to your body/mind health before using it.
I hope your understand my poor english and what i mean.

The Frog.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

Here's some ideas along the same lines
Phoenix Feather Ring- gives you immortal promtion whenever you use it, but at the same time lowers str by 1.5.
Mask of Allure that gives a unit command but lowers str by 1 with each win, eventually killing the unit.
Boots of Salvation--allow warping to any allied city but remove one point of movement.

 

[loki1232]

I doubt that we'll replicate that mechanic more than once, but these are quite good ideas.

 

[Jono]

Fists of Corruption - +15% Offence, receives gold from each kill (if possible) and immune to Law spells (see below).
-> The flaw: Massive increase of the chance for that unit to join another civilization, units with the any of the Law nodes won't be able to use the gloves (they will still be able to carry the gloves).

 

[Jono]

Summoning Staff (or something) - Gives the units the summoning promotion (and maybe a random magic type mastery), increases strength of summoned unit, summoned units last longer.

 

[loki1232]

I actually really like the staff of summoning. What if it could be broken like a spellstaff to allow two summons that turn?

 

[Jono]

I actually really like the staff of summoning. What if it could be broken like a spellstaff to allow two summons that turn?

Since there would only be one summoning staff, it could just allow multiple summons per turn... Like an Orthus' Axe for summoners.

As for Fists of Corruption, maybe there could be an item to balance it out, like:
Insignia of Loyalty - Doesn't allow unit to change civ, +15% defense in civ territory.

 

[Jono]

I've got another idea (I suggested this for 0.8ish, don't really remember):
Untitled Item - Unit can open the Portal of (Untitled).
-> Requirements: Unit must have Dimensional I, Sorcery and Channeling III.
The portal will be a resource, only 1 will be spawned around the globe (like a resource wonder). Closed, the portal will give +2 culture/turn when citizens work on it. Each religion will receive a different bonus when the portal is open (other than the spawning allied demons, dragons, ghost warriors, treants, drowns or... well I can't think of one for Runes, even though I usually play them ^^).

 

[Chandrasekhar]

I'm not a FfH expert by any means, but I'll just suggest an idea that's been bouncing around in my head. There's a few different aspects of it that you may or may not see as particularly useful, so I'll separate them out.


Part 1-
At game start, a few linked magic items (probably four or five) spawn scattered around the world. These items would be named for the components of a set of combat gear, like Helm of Might, Mail of Might, Greaves of Might, Blade of Might, that sort of thing.

As I imagine it, this equipment would utilize the equip/unequip system mentioned above (I think it's a good system for all magic items, if you can implement it), and would provide quite powerful bonuses to a particular unit, perhaps based on whatever piece of equipment it is (so the Helm might grant +150% XP, or the Greaves might add a couple of movement points, that sort of thing).

Part 2-
This is where it gets interesting. This equipment would be "linked," in such a way as to provide big benefits to a unit that has more than one equipped. Now, I don't know if you would want there to be a big bonus for having two or three of the equipment pieces at once (so having the Helm and Greaves would provide a third bonus quite apart from +150 XP and a couple of extra movement points), but I think that having them all should give an additional bonus.

Perhaps this bonus could be akin to the ability that heroes have to respawn at the capital (with all the equipment), maybe it could add an additional ability (summoning dragons, teleportation, an armageddon ability, etc.), or it could even enhance the abilities that the equipment already gives (+300% XP, +4 movement points, etc.). In any case, one would have to travel all over the world to gather all of these equipments, so they should be rewarded accordingly.

Part 3-
This feature I'm a little bit less sure about, but you might be able to make use of it. It seems silly that such incredible might can change hands with such small fanfare as the outcome of a fight, so maybe more apocalyptic consequences could happen when the wielder of these legendary equipments is defeated.

If destruction of the surrounding landscape was to accompany the defeat of an equipment wielder, it would probably be scaled to the amount of equipments that the unit was wielding. The amount and type of destruction, of course, is up to you, but I just thought this aspect might be worth considering.

Part 4-
It might be a good idea to scale the amount of these equipments to either the size of the map or the number of players on the map. Of course, the criteria for having a "complete set" would be just having all of the pieces on the map, not having an absolute amount of pieces. I'd think that it would be safe to have there be either one piece of equipment for each player, or to have there be as many pieces of equipment as the default number of players for a map size.

You might also want to consider having the equipments located quite close to the capital cities of the players, should the number of players equal the number of equipment pieces. Of course, as this mod is based on exploration and adventures outside the borders of civilization, you might also consider placing them quite far away, or even in inhospitable terrain, with guard creatures perhaps.

Part 5-
Some might consider this last point a minor one, but I think it may have quite an impact on the game. How should this equipment be revealed? Furthermore, how should it be collected? On one hand, you could have the pieces be visible and collectable from the start, which would lead to the first Civ that finds the item generally owning it. However, it might be interesting to make it different.

You would have to decide if one technology would make all of the equipment visible (which might mean that they should all be of roughly equal power), or if different techs revealed different equipments (which would mean that some could be more advanced than others). You would also have to decide whether the equipments could be collected as soon as they were visible, or if they could only be collected after researching a second tech. Also, you might want to make it so that a worker would have to build a specific improvement on top of the equipment to obtain it (which would mean that the Civ might have to expand a bit to obtain it, and would also help ensure that no single Civ gets too many too early).


I know this is a lot of text to read, but please consider these ideas, and please also leave feedback. I look forward to getting replies!

 

[Enigma]

This is not so much of a magic item, but, well, could be interesting in play...

Instruments and Clothing of the Bard:

Description: Throughout some societies it is very common for travelers to come across several bards throughout their journey. Bards are quite typically seen as good commonfolk who provide a valuable respite to the days journey. Since the idea of a bard who has any sort of prowess in battle stikes many as borderline absurd, the only fear that Bards strike in the hearts of their customers is that of potentially being overcharged and possibly having a few minor items go missing.

While it is unclear whether this general understanding has been exploited for strategic purposes, one occasionally hears rumors of armies that wake up one morning after a good night of listening to bards playing their instruments only to find that the good musicians have disappeared, leaving only a few lyres to try to learn to play for they can do little to stop the burning of their encampment and the inevitable downfall of their military careers when inquiries are made from their commanders on the matter.

Mechanics:

Can only be used by a unit that could concievably pass for a group of Bards (Adepts, yes. Drown, no. for example)
The unit with the item may use the item at any time. Once used, the unit will be considered as "in bard disguise" until the unit attacks another or the unit is detected in another manner.
The benefits below only work in a "Bard-friendly civilization". (A Bard in Orc lands, for example, is more properly referred to as "Lunch".) If in a Bard-hostile civilization territory, the unit is automatically detected.

Has a 1% chance of being detected every turn in enemy territory.
Has a 25% chance of being detected every turn within the city radius of an enemy city. (More people, more questions)
+10% chances for each for every bard detected within that civilization's territory within the last 20 turns. (More "bards" uncovered, less trust for bards)

Benefits:
May move freely within territory of Bard-friendly civilizations.
Invisible to Bard-friendly civilizations until discovered.
May attack an enemy unit using several bonus first strikes (Losing the bard disguise and afterwards being detected, obviously)

 

[justice]

cloack of multiplicity.

generates 2 "copies" of the weilding character. the two copies appear as the same unit that have the full moves used up. if attacked they dissappear with no damage to attaker, but 1 attack move used up. at beginning of next round they dissapear.

useful when either attacking larg stack with only that unit (???) or when trying to escape from almost certain death.

Amulate of Fertility.

increases Food production by +1 per worked tile already producing food in units current city. (could be applied to commerse and shields as well in diff items.)(if negative is needed then lower to 1/2 per tile or even have it +1food and -1prod)

on a top class unit it might bring in the dual desire of having it in right city as opposed to attacking an enemy.

 

[AndrewDJ]

Sandals of Sucellus' Stride

Possessing this item grants the holder the following ability: When activated/worn, the Sandals give the wearer a move of 7 and the ability to ignore terrain costs. However, the wearer no longer benefits from roads, and each plot traveled damages the wearer by a small percentage of base health (due to the strain on the wearer's legs/groin from all those giant steps.

Alternatively, ditch the damage per plot traveled with sandals activated, and replace it with a chance of a "misstep" causing massive damage when the sandals are used.

 

[chocmushroom]

Fleece of Gold (Yes, it is the Golden Fleece)
This impressive magical item, is mainly a status symbol, which the hero who has it made a legendary adventure to acquiure it.
You would have to have access to gold, trade and a Great Bard. The Great Bard get's sacrificed in making the Golden Fleece.
When a character equips the fleece, he is viewed as a charismatic champion and great hero. Any living units that he defeats in battle have a..... let's say 5% chance of joining the army of the fleece-wearer. If this doesn't happen, then part of the unit still join with the hero. After defeating 4 or 5 enemies, a basic unit of any living type is created with one random promotion.

I think it has the chance to be a powerful item, is defiantly a fun one, but it does require the sacrifice of a great bard to create in the first place.

 

[Bad Player]

My 2c for how I feel. Not guaranteed to please anyone else.

Everflowing Bottle - A special unit produced by a wonder. If activated all units adjacent to the bottle square are destroyed, and the terrain become coast.

This might be a good one (and must be a one off use item!) because it can be used to negate the effect of uber powerful units such as Mishabbur of Dis and the Mithril Golem (by one off insta-kill).

BTW I liked the first response's storyline for the crown of Ishawhatsit. That item seems reasonable too.

This idea I like. I may include some sort of item that makes you unable to be attacked by creatures of a certain alignment or type. Hmm..

Good idea (but you probably shouldn't be able to attack them asymmetrically!)!

edit: dang, and I was getting so good at beating Chalid to posts lately. Oh and good point about the Luchuirp, that is a better place to work in mechanics like this.

Good point again, it might be good to have one civ that is about these micromanagement things (to cater for that segment of fans who particularly like this style) - but it still has the problem of confusing the casual gamer as you said.

Sword of equality.
Bearer selects tile to be effected. All units in the tile are averaged to the same strength.

Like it - one off use though?

I really like this idea. It could go around the entire world as a ring like a shockwave effect. Maybe it could get weaker and eventually die out. Or maybe just the opposite, and it could become an armegeddon wonder or equipment that will infinitely keep going around the world and maybe even getting stronger until the game ends, or until another counter wonder or equipment stops it.

Interesting possible modifications to the original idea. Sounds promising.

this unit, and all friendly cities/improvements/units within one square of it are covered by fog of war, even within enemy cultural borders.

Also sounds interesting!

Boots of Salvation--allow warping to any allied city but remove one point of movement.

Could be useful as a defensive tool if you have a really powerful defender you want to give the ability to instantly move to any other city in your (large) empire when it comes under attack.

Since there would only be one summoning staff, it could just allow multiple summons per turn... Like an Orthus' Axe for summoners.

Could be quite good but would it be too much of an overlap with the summoning staff?


I just posted initially to say I liked the first idea and then I just kept seeing other ones I liked and kept on saying so!

 

[Nikis-Knight]

Could be useful as a defensive tool if you have a really powerful defender you want to give the ability to instantly move to any other city in your (large) empire when it comes under attack.


Could be quite good but would it be too much of an overlap with the summoning staff?

hmmm...? I think he meant the summoning staff.

 

[Jono]

hmmm...? I think he meant the summoning staff.

I did... ^^