Personalised items

[Badstench]

This post is going to be long and involved, so get comfortable.

I'm one of those players who regularly donate to the game in pursuit of bigger and better items. One of the things I especially like about Tallys's items is reading the descriptions and seeing the results displayed when those items are used in combat. The battle descriptions are interesting with each item.

I also like the 'personality' afforded to the named items.

What I'm going to suggest is a way Tallys can mix his 'special' items with imbuable icons.

This has taken a lot of thought and, in the end, offers no advantage to players unless they can afford Tallys''s items in the first place..

What I envision are weapons and armour that can be named and be unique to the wielder.

But first... lets examine the worth of imbuable icons...

~~~~~~~~~~

As the game mechanics work right now, icons have little value to mid and high level characters. Game rewards offer better alternatives.

But, we continue to accumulate icons... I have umpteen of each, and I know that Havoc is sitting on an amazing hoard.

Oldschool has a fondness for Palk (the god who gifted humans with the ability to personalise imbuable items) and has often mentioned his desire for seeing this aspect of the game developed.

I agree.

So I came up with this idea.... why not mix icons with special items available from Tallys's, and be able to 'name' those items?

Quite frankly, I'd love it if Judge Fury could have a bashing weapon called "The Gavel"... and have it be every bit as strong as, for example, the Axe of the Silver Blaze.

Sounds good? The downside is... weapons or armour procured from Tallys will still cost the same in AT's, but to have them 'named' will require expenditure of icons AND gold. In effect, they will be more expensive, but without the need for extra AT expenditure.

The end result is that I can have a weapon as good as the Axe of the Silver Blaze, but it will be a bashing weapon, or a slashing weapon.

The special power inherent of that weapon will be determined by the type of icon you imbue it with... and the more icons of the same type you use, the more powerful that weapon will be.

However, for every additional icon you add to the weapon, there will be a gold cost, the cost rising sequentially.

Do you get the idea?

[Badstench]

So... say you have an icon of deadly flame and want to imbue it to your longsword.

1x icon + 8 AT's + gold might get you a 'named' sword equivalent to the Fire Eye Longsword.

2x icons + 16 AT's + more gold will reward you with a 'named' blade equivalent to the Tempest Blade

5x icons + 24AT's + more gold will reward you with a 'named' blade equivalent to the Blade of Destruction

and on it goes.

To achieve the best sword, you would need heaps of icons + the requisite AT's + a lot of gold.

Now... the question begs, why spend all that extra for a weapon you can get that has the same power?

For me, I heark back to the desire for a 'named' weapon... one that fits with how I roleplay Judge Fury.

that's all.

[jimyred]

Sounds cool, so you're saying that just Tally's items could be upgraded? Are you thinking that they would upgrade according to a set pattern, kind of like leveling up the ice shield, or would that be something the user could set himself, more like the bowl of blood? And you would get to name your own weapon? That could make for some very unique equipment options. And give a whole new dimension to customization (start your own armor set, etc)

[Zedalion]

LOVE this idea. For me, having a truly unique item (at least an item with a unique name) would add a tremendous amount of enjoyment to the game. With my luck, winning a raffle is out of the question, so something like this would be the only way I could make it happen.

Repped for great justice.

[wetheril]

Though this is an interesting idea, the only problem I'd see with this would be if you have multiple items (of Tallys) that share the same AT cost but have different specs. Also, would you be able to imbue weapons with stats similar to those of limited time/raffle items (especially when those items are no longer available to be attained)?

[Badstench]

From Wetheril
Though this is an interesting idea, the only problem I'd see with this would be if you have multiple items (of Tallys) that share the same AT cost but have different specs. Also, would you be able to imbue weapons with stats similar to those of limited time/raffle items (especially when those items are no longer available to be attained)?
And a note from jimyred to the same subject...

I confused the issue by naming actual items obtainable from Tallys's.
These were used as examples only.

I'm suggesting completely new items, similar to imbuable items, that can be upgraded. The upgrading is only limited by the number of icons you have that can be attached to the item.

Theoretically, if you manage to have hundreds of icons of one sort, you could upgrade the weapon to something quite awesome, but this would also be limited by the associated gold cost... which is where the gold cap becomes a hindrance.

A weapon's special abilities include:
+MR bonus to wielder
+SP bonus to wielder
+ bonus to various ability stats
special damage to opponent

1 point of each bonus would require the use of specific icons.

[wetheril]

I understood that you meant to use icons on imbuable weapons/armour, and not on Tallys's items themselves. I guess, my point being that Tallys's items have AT costs that are not exactly predictable on a scale, that it's a little bit arbitrary. Even if you were to put them on new items that resemble Tallys's with "stripped" powers, it seems a bit unweildy.

I would actually propose either a constant-scaled AT cost for MR/SP increases in the imbuable weapon/armour, or a fixed ladder-tiered system.

For example:

48 AT = +10 MR weapon
56 AT = +15 MR weapon
80 AT = +18 MR weapon
105 AT = +20 MR weapon
120 AT = +25 MR weapon

...etc.

[Badstench]

Yep... that's what i was driving at... in my meandering fashion.

But like I said, I'm not a 'numbers' man. The basic idea is there... someone cleverer than me can work out the nuts'n'bolts.

[thingirl]

What if you can put in more icons after the fact, for a cost.

[Young Ned]

LOVE this idea. For me, having a truly unique item (at least an item with a unique name) would add a tremendous amount of enjoyment to the game. With my luck, winning a raffle is out of the question, so something like this would be the only way I could make it happen.
As far as getting an item with a unique name, that's available already: all imbuable weapons can be named anything you like. (There's even been at least one practical joke carried out by taking advantage of that.)

The kicker, of course, is that at present, imbuable weapons "inhale briskly"... ;)

So yeah, great idea, Badstench! I like it a lot. I'd say send the suggestion to the GM with a link to this thread, so he can see all the discussion.

[Badstench]

thingirl asked:
What if you can put in more icons after the fact, for a cost.

That was my intention... the items are 'upgradeable', and like imbuable items, icons will be 'refunded' when such an item is returned to Tallys, along with the relevant amount of AT's.

you can then add additional icons and AT's to upgrade the item to a more powerful level.

Perhaps the gold cost wouldn't be refunded? This could reflect the time and expertise of Tallys in providing the service.

[Elrond]

I remember working out a detailed suggestion along these lines under "customized items" for players. I sent it to the GM a year ago; but he didn't reply to that particular email!

Since then, he's been introducing the "temporary" items at Tallys to feed the player needs for individuality. It might be that "programming" these personalized items is too much a hassle at this stage.

In any case, any feed back from the GM on such a suggestion would be great to know.

[Godofpride]

Maybe eventually also coming up with some personalization for unarmed combat might be possible...