Comments wanted on story and stats. [img]smile.gif[/img] I plan to replace Carsomyr with this sword.

Trajen: Wicked's Ruin
The legendary hero Trajo Rioak was called upon to battle Máldráïz, a powerful demon that had been making incursions with his army into a large city on the Sword Coast. Some say Máldráïz wished to take the city and use it as an extension of his principality in the Nine Hells and as a staging ground for more extensive battles for territory in the Prime. Trajo Rioak and his wife, Jéneri, led a force made up of priests of the temples of Helm and Lathander, along with a battalion of paladins from the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart, into a fierce battle that lasted a tenday. Trajo's forces and Máldráïz's legions of demons both took heavy casualties, but it was Trajo's forces that would prevail, all but decimating the demonic army of Máldráïz.

Máldráïz, along with a small group of his closest officers, retreated to the depths of his cavernous stronghold in the nearby mountains. Pursued by Trajo, Jéneri, and a small band of paladins, Máldráïz was ready to fight for his only foothold in the Prime Material plane. The battle went on for hours, and eventually all who stood were Trajo, his wife, and Máldráïz. Soon, Trajo had the demon nearly slain, as it lay motionless on the ground, awaiting the final blow that would send it back to its own plane. As Trajo was about to strike, Jéneri warned that to send Máldráïz back would only give him the oppurtunity to return and attempt his conquest anew. What she suggested be done instead was to bind Máldráïz's spirit to Trajo's sword, trapping the demon forever. Trajo agreed, and the two carried out the task of enslaving Máldráïz to the blade sucessfully. Every now and then, the jewel in the sword's hilt will glow bright red, displaying the unending anger of the defeated demon.

A truy powerful and rare blade this is, as many weapons with demonic spirits bound to them will still succumb to the wills of their inhabitants. This sword, however, is a holy avenger and Máldráïz is completely incapable of doing anything the sword's wielder would be harmed by. That said, the blade has taken on some of Máldráïz's traits.

STATISTICS

Equipped Abilities:
+30% Magic Resistance

Combat Abilities:
15% chance to drain 2 levels on hit (no save)

20% chance to inflict serious wounds and excessive bleeding (save vs. death at -5) penalty (2 hp damage/second for 30 seconds)

+5 damage to chaotic evil opponents in addition to other bonuses.

THAC0: +5 bonus
Damage: 1D12 +5
Damage type: slashing
Weight: 5
Speed Factor: 2
Proficiency Type: Two handed sword
Type: 2-handed
Requires: 14 Strength
Usable By:
Paladins

Nice story and nice effects but a bit overpowered if you ask me.
My opinion:
</font>

• Give the lvl drain a save (but with a big penalty to make sure strong enemies also fall to it)
  ELSE
  you have a cheesy backdoor for killing fast regenerating enemies
  A hasted fighter with 5ApR will drain about 6 levels in 4 rounds, 15lvls in one turn=minute. This is just too much IMHO.</font>
• Make the bleeding shorter with a chance to extend up to 30 seconds if save is failed again (i.e. bleeding for 6 seconds= 1 round after that save again to avoid additional 6 secs up to 30 seconds long)
  ELSE
  You got a nice chance on: inflicting 60dmg AND interrupting spells for 30 seconds. This is as good as instant death for a mage.</font>
• To balance it out a bit you coud also give it some negative effects from the demon (disregarding the last lines of your story) like a very small chance of going berserk (like 5% with a save at +10)</font>

It's a holy avenger? If so, drop the level draining immediately, level drain is NOT the way of the Paladin. Furthermore, Paladins would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever wield any sword imbued with the spirit of something evil.

Note: this is not to completely put down your wonderful story there, but it is inconsistent with any code of the Paladin. They just would never do that, or lose their status, sorry. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-28-2003, 05:14 AM: Message edited by: JrKASperov ]

I partly agree with you. I think it would be fun if:
The sword was usable by anyone but not intended to be used by anyone - i.e. intended to be guarded in a safe place. Which means that you have to bring it back to the Order of the Most Radiant Heart to receive Carsomyr or something similar there. Equipping the sword would then be connected with a permanent reputation loss of 10 thus making most Paladins fall while only the most noble ones are allowed to use it for they are believed to have a very good cause to do so. Evil Characters could easily equip the sword not caring about the reputation loss. Also the fact that this demonic sword is so dreaded could be accounted for by casting an automatic Horror (with a better save possibility) the first time the sword is drawn in battle (i.e. on the first hit)

Great suggestions, guys. [img]smile.gif[/img] Perhaps to justify it as a holy avenger, protection from evil could be an attribute?

Would using something like the demon's heart to make the sword be out of the question for a holy avenger? I believe one of Weimer's mods uses a demon heart to upgrade the Hallowed Redeemer.

I know level drain is not something a paladin would normally have on a weapon, but I figured that since basically it would be used against enemies of light it would be acceptable.

No sorry, it is simply against code of conduct to use anything from a demon. Save there are some very dire circumstances, a god would not allow it.

Okay. [img]smile.gif[/img] One thing I was thinking of is to replace level drain with chain lightning, and using the demon's heart rather than its spirit.

A Paladin just might use an item in which a Demon's soul resides, <u>as long</u> as the presence of the Demon has not affected the item with its evil taint. If EvilSmack+4 (with demon) was just the same as EvilSmack+4 (without demon), then a Paladin would relish the thought of whomping bad guys on the head with their own boss. But this point is rather irrelevant in this case, since all of the weapons in BG2 that contain trapped demonic entities(Harbinger, Club of Detonation, and this postulated Trajen) all exhibit traits of the evil within. This point of whether or not a Paladin would use such an item also hits a snag in Chapter 6, when we (potentially) discover Sir William Reirrac's choice of weapon.

As for the sword, Trajen, itself:</font>

• Level Drain is a VERY strong enchantment, and one that none of the enemies in SoA (and only a scant few in ToB) are able to handle. I would make it a mere 5% chance of draining 2 levels, Save vs. Wands at -2, and add a penalty: 1% chance of draining 1 level from the wielder, same Save.</font>
• The Serious Wounds and Bleeding damage is <font color=red>WAY</font> too much. Let's look at one hit: 1D12+5 base damage, plus 5 points for being Chaotic Evil (a surprisingly large number of enemies are), plus another arbitrary 5 points for STR and proficiency bonuses, then 27 for the Serious Wounds, and 2hp Poison Damage per second for 30 seconds. That's a total of <font color=white>*109 hitpoints of damage*</font> from a single hit. And that's not counting the victim's virtual paralysis for a whopping *5 rounds* due to the horrendous poison stutter.</font>
• Most Demons in the game don't have Level Drain or Bleeding properties anyway: They have Paralytic Gaze, Vampiric Touch, and the ability to cause Fear with each hit. They also don't cast Chain Lightning.</font>

My version:

STATISTICS

Equipped Abilities:
+30% Magic Resistance
+15% Fire Resistance

Combat Abilities:
Each hit has 20% Chance to cast Hold Person on the victim and wielder (Save vs. Death to escape paralysis)
15% chance that vivtim must Save vs. Wands or flee in terror
Can cast Vampiric Touch, 3x per day

+5 damage to chaotic evil opponents in addition to other bonuses.

THAC0: +5 bonus
Damage: 1D12 +5
Damage type: slashing
Weight: 15
Speed Factor: 4
Proficiency Type: Two handed sword
Type: 2-handed
Requires: 14 Strength
Not Usable By:
Mage
Thief
Druid
Cleric
Monk
Paladin
Beast Master

<font color=gold>
Where would you find a sword like this? How would you obtain it? To what use will you put it? What overlordly divine and righteous paladin do you need to be to be able to handle this blade, or be worthy enough to wield it?
</font>

Well I think I'm going to scratch the level drain, as this sword is a holy avenger . ;p

Well, I did not mean that the actual spell cause serious wounds would be cast, it was just the terminology used. [img]tongue.gif[/img] I just meant that 2 hp damage/second for 30 seconds would be caused by serious blade wounds and that they would bleed, kinda like Jhor the Bleeder's effect.

Well the Chain Lightning was just to be an affect of the holy avenger, having nothing to do with the demon's powers.

Here's a redux, and I'll come up with a modified story later:

STATISTICS

Equipped Abilities:
+30% Magic Resistance

Combat Abilities:
15% chance to cast Chain Lightning on hit

20% chance to inflict excessive wounds and bleeding (save vs. death at -5 penalty), causing 4 hp damage/second for 10 seconds

+5 damage to chaotic evil opponents in addition to other bonuses.

THAC0: +5 bonus
Damage: 1D12 +5
Damage type: slashing
Weight: 5
Speed Factor: 2
Proficiency Type: Two handed sword
Type: 2-handed
Requires: 14 Strength
Usable By:
Paladins

And perhaps 1% chance of vorpal hit could be implemented due to the demon's blood forcing a sharpness on to the blade.

[ 10-28-2003, 04:35 PM: Message edited by: Trau ]