[SixOfSpades]

Hey, whoa, wait a minute--I just noticed the Protection from Magic Weapons/Energy. That's some serious overkill, AuraMancer.

If you want a balanced weapon, make:
Nikoley's Revenge
current description is fine, once we tidy up the spelling/grammar
+1 enchanted
-3 bonus to THAC0
Free Action
Protection from Evil
+20% Fire Resistance
Put the sword either in Chapter 4 or beyond, or give it to a worthy boss enemy (Aran Linvail himself would be a good choice.)

If you want an overpowered weapon, make:
Nikoley's Rage
Alter current description to state how Nikoley stole the newly-completed blade from Haliow Argrezand, and then used it to kill him and his apprentices
+3 enchanted
Free Action
Protection from Evil
+30% Fire Resistance
Immune to Normal and +1 weapons
Armor of Faith
Casts Protection from Magical Weapons 1x/day
Casts Protection from Magical Energy 1x/day
Put the sword right in the very first chest you open in Irenicus's Dungeon.

The weaker of the two swords is by no means weak: Even the Free Action is enough to justify it, even all the way through the end of the game. People wear the Ring of Free Action for the entire game, don't they? The Fire Resistance will also come in extremey handy, and the Protection from Evil will almost always come into play. All in all, this is an extremely useful weapon, especially in the offhand, and there should be only a few situations where Nikoley's Revenge won't provide a serious benefit. (At the moment, the only situation I can think of where the sword's enchantments would be useless is when fighting Golems.)

I should also point out that the enchantments that I like (Free Action, Prot. from Evil, and Fire Resistance) are all quite justified by the sword's description, and could conceivably have been added to the sword purely as an act of generosity on the part of Haliow Argrezand. In contrast, the enchantments that I disagree with (Weapon immunity, Armor of Faith, Magical Weapons & Magical Energy) have no basis in the item's description at all, and turn the weapon into an artifact-class item that no Wizard would ever dream of just making on a lark, and casually passing it on to some luckless Halfling.

[ 04-24-2003, 03:42 PM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]