I just came up with the best idea for an anti-paladin weapon. I put it in my town I'm creating using NWMap. its an animated double-bladed sword +3. Here's the description I made for it
Grieving Mother

an animated two-bladed sword +3 (double vs. Paladins) created by an evil sorceress to destroy the noble paladin Jared after her son was justly executed by him for crimes against the just and innocent. (may not
be used by those of good alignment.)

When a Paladin is within 30 ft of the sword if the wielders
str is below 15
or
con is below 13
the sword will escape the wielders grasp and attack the paladin.

-3 to chr
wielder set to chaotic evil alignment while wielding the sword.

Has anybody else come up with new items they want to implement in NWN when it comes out?



[This message has been edited by Shadow Assassin (edited August 09, 2001).]

But of course, since my fighter/mage will be taking the craft magic weapon feat if it's offered. But then, I certainly can't give away all my sectets. Then EVERYONE will be wanting to run around with duplicates of my weapons :D

overpower already? lets start with +1 weapons shall we :D

Thats why they put 'the Vault' into NWN. This will not allow you to save characters with too powerful items for their level. This 'mother' sounds suitable for level 20 chars. +6 vs paladins, sheesh even Carsomyr was only +5!

That brings up another question... What if somehow my very resourceful and cunning thief managed to steal the Holy Avenger from an absent minded lvl20 wizard who had just created it and left it on a counter? Will I still be able to... operate the sword or just sell it to somebody (what a bargain I could make! :))

btw Would the wizard be able to create items at all?

Any 20th lvl wizard I created wouldn't be dumb enough to leave a +5 sword just lying around, it would be surrounded by wards, traps and guards. It takes a heap of money and time to create such an item so you can bet your bots of stealth he's gonna take good care of it.
IF a low level character aquires a high level item then the Vault will not let them save it, it assumes the DM has not been doing his job properly. The best you could do is sell it and spread the cash around your friends, that way you would keep some 'reward'. Think about it, if word got around that a 2nd level thief had such an item, what would his life expectancy be?

The situation was purely hypothetical, as you surely understood :)

But still, if I acquired the thing legally, or (gods, I wished that could be true!) I have a friend wizard who'd make me something big and powerful, why should I be rid of this weapon/item. I undestand if I just wouldn't be able to use the thing 'til I reach some level, but take it away... Puh-lease :)

So, I figure that you would be able to create items in NWN. Sweet, make a Shoppers Potion Mart ;)

I certianly hope all the item creation feats will be included in NWN. Imagine, custom items tailored for your character. The possiblities certainly wet my appetite. It is definately a good way to personalize characters instead of always using "other" peoples weapons and armor as was the case in most other CRPG's (Plate of Balduran anyone? ;))

This might make spellcasters useful not only for hurling fireballs at goblin hordes(I'd hurl some but 'tis not a living, is it? :))
Mages might make money by creating and selling items. On the other side, it would not make spellcasters overpowered for the most potent items require a dragon's hoard of raw materials to create and not many of your average lvl7 wizards will have the skills to make these powerful items.
Guilds might specifically hire wizards to supply the members with magical trinkets, rather than buying those from the market.

/me impatiently waits for NWN to be released.

If mages were able to create items in the game, that is. Unfortunately they will not.
The only way to create items will be with the editor that will ship with the game.

Some of my expectations have just been disintegrated (save failed).
But still, hope dies with the death of the one who hopes. This is still going to be a great game.

ALFA have said they will consider this, however don't think it's a free lunch. It's gonna take: A wizard of high enough level (you gotta survive that long!), a lot of expensive materials (some of which may need a 'quest' to obtain), a lot of uninterupted time in a suitable lab. (you can't item create and go out adventuring at the same time), some luck (you might fail) and above all a co-operative DM to script the item.

I didn't say it was a low level weapon. It does have some pretty rough penalties, I'm still thinking of some more I can add. I did add a penalty to int. I meant to tell you the -3 to charisma is permanant.

[This message has been edited by Shadow Assassin (edited August 12, 2001).]

Sheesh. Erran just gave me some more hope!
Blessed ALFA, suren it must go completely according to the rules (if it will), but still, isn't that the best part - spend a lot of time and efforts but recieve something that only you have. No matter what, I'm playing a wizard, but item creations adds some special essence to the class. :)

EDIT: Hmmm... Seems like Tal's trying to settle despair in our hearts... :) (about the last post)

[This message has been edited by Skedaddle (edited August 13, 2001).]

Weeell.. even if ALFA does it (well, not ALFA as a whole, more like allow it), each DM would have to do it individually. It'd still boil down to the DM making the item for you in the editor and giving it to your char in the game. But I really doubt any DM will be prepared to go through so much trouble for any single player.

I added a -2 penalty to damage versus evil align. I did make some +1, +2, and normal damage weapons

The 'official'ALFA line on item creation:

"As far as creating the Items, Yes, they can be created and carried over to other servers. The scripting will be done by the game and carried over to your Character. As far as the Meta Magic Feats of Create Item, Potion, Wand , Etc..., the answer will (sic) to that is still out as only a partial list of skills and feats have been released.
But fear not, because the DM can be petitioned, and the Item can be created with the TOOL SET that comes with the game, so the DM can create it for you if you meet their requirements for the Item.
This is a touchy subject in the realm, mainly because a lot of players and DMs wish to have magic somewhat curtailed and rare in the realms. They believe that not every character should carry a +1 ( or Better ) weapon and have a ring of something or Armor +1.
So, If these feats are not used, look for Item Creation by DMs to vary from server to server."

You show me yours I'll show you mine. :p

From two days ago, another "official" ALFA response: "I don't think anything official has been decided yet but I believe we are going to allow it. You tell the DM what you want and after a set amount of time it is available from him. He will deduct appropriate xp and gold from you upon giving it to you. Not real sure but if I were running the show that is how I would do it. Maybe have the person not be able to do anything else during the time frame but still unsure of details."

More or less as I said...

>>>They believe that not every character should carry a +1 ( or Better ) weapon and have a ring of something or Armor +1.


Magic items are always going to be an issue with massisve multiplayer persistent worlds. I mean, the characters are temporary, the items are permanent(or at least less temporary), and eventually there are just too many +1 swords around for every first level character to not have one. There's a couple of ways around that, but there aren't many good ones. I'm interested to see how ALFA deals with magic weapon proliferation.

Cullain of Moray

[This message has been edited by Cullain (edited August 14, 2001).]

Random breaking of weapons should definitely be implemented in ALFA. Otherwise in a few weeks everyone will be running around with +5 swords, best items, robes of the archmagi and so on. (Diablo, anyone?)

If something to that effect won't be implemented, it'll be just Baldur's Gate (2) all over again, where there's enough loot and magical items to supply a substantial army.

The problem is, the majority of the buyers of the game (it's the same with all RPGs) will be munchkins who don't give a **** about roleplaying but want their first magic sword in less than an hour or they ditch the game. Which is something BioWare is very much aware of. So it'll boil down to every separate online server to decide whether they'll go for Diablo style, or a more convincing role-playing style. In any case, powergaming servers will outnumber role-playing ones at least 10:1, you can be sure of that. Gotta keep the munchkins happy...

[This message has been edited by Taluntain (edited August 15, 2001).]

Aren't magical weapons unbreakable? I seem to recall that from somewhere...

Anyway, I'd rather see a different method of limiting magical items than breakage. In the absence of twinking, I think the merchants are the best place to limit them. Either disallow merchants from reselling permanently magical items or limit the number they can resell.

Well yea, they shouldn't break, but it's an idea how to limit the circulation of magical items. Just an idea, mind.

But even if you limit the merchants, there'll still be people who'll play unofficial merchants (black market), and eventually, the place will be crawling with them.

[This message has been edited by Taluntain (edited August 15, 2001).]

Yeah, I wasn't thinking about players becoming black marketeers...

But I'd sure hate to have my hard-won +5 Longbow of Evil Smiting break at some random time! :)

One way magic items will disappear from the game is if you die alone or if your whole party is wiped out. This is what Lord Rojan has to say on item decay in ALFA:

"As I recall from a similar discussion on the interplay boards, items decay pretty rapidly and DM's would have to intervene with scripting to extend or change the item decay rate.

The main reason they gave was for frame rate stability.

I do not recall if it was planned by ALFA to change the default decay rate, so stashing your stuff probably would not be a good idea =)

I also don't recall what the decay rate was or that they even gave one just that items are precoded to decay pretty quickly.

This only applies to items on the ground items stored in a container that is a placed container ( not a backpack that is its self a "dropped item" ) then the items stays until someone or something finds it and is able to remove it, hehe locked chests practicaly scream "OPEN ME AND TAKE ALL THIS DAMN STUFF OUT OF ME" =)"

So our rogues will be busy? hehehe.

IMHO, the items shouldn't 'decay' but have a Durability system similar to Diablo, where after a certain amount of time without repairs, the item is destroyed. Unless, as explained in the D&D 3E Psionics Handbook, the item is coated in Ectoplasm or is an artifact; in which case the Durability system would limit the power of the item substantially, but not truly 'breaking' it either. It would kinda suck, having that +5 vorpal, dancing greatsword you just won off a Solar break against a pack of Kobolds...

But magic items should be limited, as well: no +6 vorpal, dancing, brilliant energy, keen longswords or some such thing. Artifacts acceptable, but only to a certain extent: extensive amounts of time and quests used to acquire such items (ie. the Shadowstaff, Staff of the Magi, Hand and Eye of Vecna, etc...)

Anyway, I like the opinions I'm seeing in this topic and I hope they add item creation to NWN.