enchanting items

[alyo]

willl i be able to enchant items?

i.e. enchanting a sword witha potion would add healing abillites to the sword, or enchanting a armor with a sword would grant the wearer of the armor some \"sword\" attack resistance

[Wormtail_]

Interesting idea. I\'m not too sure whether you will be able to do so in the final product, but it may be allowed. Of course, the game is in early development, and many topics are under discussion, I believe. It would make magic even more useful in the game, and is likely to open up a new job which will be known as the \'enchanters guild or something similar.\'

I was thinking more of casting a spell on the item rather than using a potion to pour on it, as potions are meant to be drunk, not thrown on something. You can enchant a weapon to give it special abilites (like healing), sharper, lighter (or enchanting yourself to become temporarily stronger), and so on. I\'m not too sure about the \'sword resistant armor,\' but it might work. What I\'m not too sure about is whether it should only apply to swords or hack/slash/whatever you call it damage. Another thing I\"m not too sure about is the way you enchant the armor. Still, a good idea.

This idea may have already been discussed, but I am ignorant as to whether it is or is not.

[Axioma]

I haven\'t seen much of these boards, so if what I\'m about to say has been discussed already, plz forgive me...

Are there things like sockets, or other stuff in armor or helms, weapons, etc. ? This would allow you to put some kind of restriction on those enchanting things. The moment you enchant an item, one of these slots is filled, thus preventing of creating super items and so on, keeping it more realistic.

I like the idea very much. Like an alchemist produces some magical stone (like a gem as used in other games cfr. diablo II) or another item which you can place in the socket. This stone could have predetermined abilities, or what would be even more interesting, you could enchant the stone, and then put it into your item.

so if i sound a little confused, I\'ll try to put my idea a little more structured:

:: items have some sort of sockets in them
:: you can put a certain kind of stone in these sockets
:: you can find these stones in the gameworld (like somewhere in a quarry, or in a rocky part of the world), and enchant them yourself, buy a pre-enchanted stone from an alchemist or another magic-practicioner, or buy a neutral stone somewhere, and then again enchant it yourself.

:: OR, if you don\'t like the stone+socket system, you could just add a counter, which tells you how many times you can still enchant an item, or even allow every item to be enchanted only once...

what do you think ?
Axioma

[hook]

i don\'t like the stones+sockets idea, because its old and very unnatural (not life-like)

plus we (will) have alchemists, blacksmiths, wizards etc. ...let them have something to do ...i mean, that\'s why they\'re/we\'re here for :]

[DooMeeR]

I like the enchant idea, but not the way everone here talked about it =)

- i don\'t know what a healing sword could do. The only effect i can see is that the sword would heal whenever used, which mean everytime the player attacks. And it would heal the enemy. That wouldn\'t make much sense. Healing items should be armor parts, rings and so on, not weapons, imo.
- using a sword in a shield to make it sword resistant would seem weird...
- the sockets should be made and used by blacksmiths, not warriors nor wizard, as blacksmiths know how to make those socket, or how to put something in it (and make it don\'t jump out of the sword when you attack ^^)
- as hook said, that would lower the utility of blacksmiths

I think that enchanting an item would mean to cast a spell (a wizard job) or to use a potion on the item (like spreading alcohool to make a sword burn, or spreading benite water to add damages against undeads - if used on weapons of course, because if it is used on armors, that would, instead, add a res bonus against undeads), which is a job for alchemists.
And, the effect wouldn\'t last forever, because, well, when you put water on a sword, water doesn\'t stay on the sword forever. And alcohool doesn\'t burn forever either.
Lastly, you couldn\'t mix the effects. Because mixing benite water and alcohool would make something that wouldn\'t burn and that wouldn\'t be benite anymore ^^ But maybe we could still use an enchanting spell on the item... dunno.
Enchanting spells and potions would have different effects wether they are used on armor pieces, boots, hats, bows, swords, and so one. And some effects wouldn\'t help you: i mean, if you put tons of alcohool on your armor and then let it burn, you would be... a drunk toast :p (but maybe you could burn enemy that are too close from you, that could be useful if you\'ve got enough fire resist)

[Wormtail_]

Well, the sockets, like others have said before me, should be made by blacksmiths. Stones that are inserted within the sockets, however, should be enchanted with a spell before inserted, otherwise it would just be a special looking sword. Or they can already have special affects. Stones inserted within sockets should have the possibility of being taken out, so another item can have the enchantment. However, I have a question. How long should an enchantment last? Could there be a \'Dispel Magic\' ability like in Age of Wonders (not a RPG)? Should there be upkeep, though there is currently not a way to put it in? Hmm...

As the idea of enchantments has been discussed in this thread, I have a new idea that I have no ctlue whether it has been discussed or not. It is the opposite of enchanting. It is known as cursing. Basically what cursing does is a spell or aftereffect of an attack that lowers someone\'s abilities or statistics. Either that or it gives \'special abilities that are not good to the player with the ability.\' Something like weakness to the element of fire, water, death, holy, and on and on. Or weakness to the Blue Way, Dark Way, Brown Way, and so on. Take your pick. Basically, curses could be used in the game.

As for how to enchant items, I agree with DooMeeR. Mainly, anyway. You cast spells as a wizard or create potions as an alchemist to put on. Or you can use sockets with enchanted stones or other things small enough to fit in a socket.

[hook]

no, no ...i\'m against sockets ...i don\'t see a problem to just take the sword to a blacksmith and get my magical gem built into the wretched thing ...maybe this new sword would need some blessing/spell (magic..) or a special material/liquid (alchemy) in order to accept the gem and/or to start the gems force

we don\'t need sockets ...imagine going to a blacksmith and telling him \"lo there! i\'d need a socket or two in my sword, and be  kind and make the upper one a bit wider\" :? ...just go there and say \"lo there! could you kindly put this magical gem i have into my trusty sword?\" \"aye, yee know that yee need a special chant to say while i be a-forging it, don\'t yee? if yee don\'t the magic won\'t be a-working when yee needed it ...but i could go and a-fetch me lad over there - \'e\'s a wizard\'s apprentice and is a-helping me with kinda majik\" \"much obliged, thank you\"


maybe \"magical\" blacksmiths would be a good idea (=blacksmiths with some knowledge of magic) or even alchemists/wizards and blacksmiths working in the same magical weapons shop

[Thynett]

I don\'t like the socket idea either, for reasons that have already been discussed.


That is how I would see enchanting (some bits come from what i\'ve just read ^^) :

- Blacksmith build non-enchanted weapons and armors, but the skill level of the blacksmith will make the weapon lighter/faster/more resistant..

- Alchemists can the enchant/curse the weapon. For this they will have special recipies (the better inalchemy the morerecipies for more powerful enchantments/curses), they will need to POSSESS the item while they are enchanting/cursing it. Then they would give the weapon/armor back to the owner, but there wouldn\'t be necessirely written on the weapon \"light enchantment\", so that treaters could curse without being cught. The enchantment/curse would be permanent, there would be only 1 enchantment of this kind at the same time on a weapon, and it would need an other alchemist to be removed it (the better the new alchemist the easier for him to remove the enchantment/curse). Once disenchanted, the weapon can b enchanted/cursed again, but maybe it won\'t be as effective asthe 1st enchantment.

- Wisards can cast short-lasting enhance/curse spells on weapons at a short range. These enhances/curses would last between 1 and 10 minutes depending on the spell cast and the power of the wisard. These spells could be used on the battlefield, opposite to the alchemist enchantments/curses.

[Axioma]

well, I see most people don\'t like the idea of the sockets. When I read your arguments, I just have to agree, it isn\'t very natural, indeed.

Enchanting is a very cool mechanism, which should definitely be in the game imo, for it gives an absolute bonus to gameplay, can add some interesting features to battles and so on...

I like the kind of summary Thynett has given, it gives us a good idea of what you can do with the entire enchanting business. I agree with it completely, handling enchanting like that would make it an interesting thing to implement in the game...

Has anyone else got any ideas ?

Axioma

[Fanomatic2000]

Sockets? Diablo II? *screams*  8o

[zinder]

i like the idea of magical blacksmiths, or a teamwork of wizard and blacksmith.
Perhas in this way: the blacksmith starts construction with the option magic enchantment. then a wizard casts a spell on the blacksmith or blacksmith cast a spell. after this was succesfull the blacksmith has a magical enchanted item. if it wasnt successfull the blacksmith has a not enchanted item or no item at all. this should only be allowed for a small range of spells.
this enchantment is bound to the item and not replaceable.

Or you build first parts of the item, give them to a wizard to cast the same spell on every part and then a blacksmith must put the parts together to the item while the spells are still running.


slots really not a good idea. if you allow to add slots after creation, even with a limited maximum, you get a hunt for the gems. If you generate them fix at construction, you get a hunt for items with lots of slots and for the gems. (the second can result in much work for the blacksmithes if the dropped item has generally no or low number of slots. But also add alot not sellable items, cause there is no demand for lowsloted items.)

[Xalthar]

I think that a blacksmith should just be what he is... a weapons and armor crafter.. no magic involved!

The Wizards should be the enchanters, it makes all the more sense...

[hook]

Originally posted by Xalthar
I think that a blacksmith should just be what he is... a weapons and armor crafter.. no magic involved!

The Wizards should be the enchanters, it makes all the more sense...

...so how could you make magical weapons then?

i still think the wizard/alchemist + blacksmith combo is the best way

[DizzleCorinthos]

This is where things get really interesting.  I think Blacksmiths and mages should have to work together to do this.  Smith would create a very high quality item, a mage would create a ritual scroll.  When both are complete, they walk through a ritual together that enchants an item.  


makes it more \'real\'

[Drilixer]

Originally posted by Xalthar
I think that a blacksmith should just be what he is... a weapons and armor crafter.. no magic involved!

The Wizards should be the enchanters, it makes all the more sense...

Blacksmiths should be able to add effects to weapons just as well as wizards can - don\'t forget that  Dwarven smithies have created some of the most powerful magical weaponry/armor ever in the Dungeons and Dragons PnP setting.  Just remember that effects added to items arnt necessarily magic: why can\'t they just be pure power?  Isn\'t that giant crystal radiated with power?

I like seeing people work together so how about this:  Warriors are the only characters strong enough to withstand the Crystal\'s radiation for short periods of time if they are buffed appropriately by a mage.  That way a party could make a pilgrimage to the crystals to gain energy to imbue items... just a thought - although if you want magical energy for enchanting it seems to me that that giant crystal is your best bet for \'uber\' items.

Maybe smaller crystal \'shards\' could be dispursed throughout the 8 levels to serve as smaller sources of energy for enchanters to tap into while learning or making basic - mid level items.