Anduril

[dplax]

Maiar aren't angels, they are somewhat like lesser gods.

EDIT: The Valar are the gods of the world and maiar are as the Valar, except of less power. Quote from Silmarillion:

"With the Valar came other spirits whose being also began before the World, of the same order as the Valar, but of less degree. These are the Maiar, the people of the Valar, and their servants and helpers."

[ 01-09-2005, 03:18 PM: Message edited by: dplax ]

[Magness]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: Anduril +6 FFFFFF"><---- This only refers to enchantment level Type: Bastard Sword Damage: 2d4+2, +4 vs Evil, +4 vs Planar Creatures THAC0: +2 Bonus, +4 vs Evil, +4 vs Planar Creatures Special: User under Bless and Protection from Evil when equipped, +1 CHA when equipped 5% Vorpal Hit

Elfbane, I see in your NearInfinity and Shadowkeeper thread that you want to make this weapon.


One question to consider... The 5% vorpal hit... is it for all hits or only hits on "evil" and/or "planar creatures" (kinda like what the Mace of Disruption does for undead)?

Other than that question, the above sword doesn't seem terribly difficult to create. I've been playing around with item editting recently and could probably manage it easily enough.

Something else to consider. Have you thought of a name (Keep the name "Anduril" or not?) and an item description yet?

[ElfBane]

Originally posted by Magness: quote: Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: Anduril +6 FFFFFF"><---- This only refers to enchantment level Type: Bastard Sword Damage: 2d4+2, +4 vs Evil, +4 vs Planar Creatures THAC0: +2 Bonus, +4 vs Evil, +4 vs Planar Creatures Special: User under Bless and Protection from Evil when equipped, +1 CHA when equipped 5% Vorpal Hit

Elfbane, I see in your NearInfinity and Shadowkeeper thread that you want to make this weapon.


One question to consider... The 5% vorpal hit... is it for all hits or only hits on "evil" and/or "planar creatures" (kinda like what the Mace of Disruption does for undead)?

Other than that question, the above sword doesn't seem terribly difficult to create. I've been playing around with item editting recently and could probably manage it easily enough.

Something else to consider. Have you thought of a name (Keep the name "Anduril" or not?) and an item description yet? [/QUOTE]Vorpal hit--all hits
Keep Anduril name
only usable by Ranger and Paladin
Item desciption: The lost blade of the house of Telcontur(Strider). With the fall of Gondor the blade was spirited to the Plane of Faerun by the last surviving wizard that didn't leave Middle Earth, Radaghast the Brown. Upon his arrival in Faerun he was befriended by the family Ilvastarr. Radaghast gave into their keeping the sword Anduril, to be an heirloom of their house, for as long as they fought Evil.

If you can make this, that would be nice. I just *cannot* figure out how to use NI. And SK won't create items, or seem to modify them.

[Magness]

Also, is the +4 vs Evil and Planar Creatures above and beyond the default +2 bonus?

I ask this because BG2 is inconsistent in this regard. Daystar +2 has this +4 vs evil, and the +4 is implemented as +4 total (i.e. +2 in addition to the base +2). OTOH, Foebane +3 has a +6 vs planar creatures and that +6 is implemented as an honest to goodness +6 above and beyond the sword's base Thac0 and damage bonuses.

I don't know what the default AD&D position on this is.

[Magness]

Another point...

What exactly *ARE* the "planar " creatures in BG2?


Hold on a minute!!! The above description says "planar" creatures. Should this really mean EXTRA-planar creatures? What's the difference between a "planar" and an "extra-planar" creature? Need much more detail on this.

Elfbane, it's easy enough to do this, technically speaking. But I have to know exactly which creatures get the "joy" of the special Thac0 and damage bonuses from Anduril.


BTW, I've already created part of the weapon already. I found a super (IMHO) BAM file for the weapon. Nice coloring. A nicely large image for a large bastard sword. It's actually the BAM file for the Cursed Berzerking Sword. Don't worry, it's only an image. And the Anduril (at least in the movie) is a rather large sword. And it's a nice silvery blade with a golden handguard and black handle.


Anyways, I'll need answers to the above questions before I can complete the sword.

[Magness]

Oh, another question.

On usability...

Yes, Rangers and Paladins.

That limits it to humans, elves, and half-elves. Is that OK? Or do you want to limit it to humans?

[SixOfSpades]

Originally posted by ElfBane: The lost blade of the house of Telcontur(Strider). With the fall of Gondor the blade was spirited to the Plane of Faerun by the last surviving wizard that didn't leave Middle Earth, Radaghast the Brown. Upon his arrival in Faerun he was befriended by the family Ilvastarr. Radaghast gave into their keeping the sword Anduril, to be an heirloom of their house, for as long as they fought Evil.

Spelling: Telcontar and Radagast.
Continuity: All five of the Istari, Radagast included, left Middle-Earth in one way or another. I doubt any of them would concern themselves with heirlooms of Men, except of course Saruman, especially after the fall of Sauron. And if the sword is in Faerun, that means that somewhere, Aragorn's heir is pissed about his stolen sword: It was prophesied that the line of Luthien would never fail.

I, personally, would limit the sword to Lawful Good Human Rangers & Paladins.

[ADD:] Stuff about Bombadil. He describes himself as being present before the first hill was shaped, before the first tree was made, etc. He is commonly referred to as "Eldest." He was probably, therefore, the first being to enter into Arda, which means he must be Valar, Maiar, or Eru himself. The Silmarillion states that the major Valar first entered Arda and spent a considerable time shaping it before the arrival of the Maiar--but if Bombadil is a Vala, he's one pansy, weak-ass Vala. I find it more believable that Bombadil is a Maia, and Tolkien made a small error in an obscure corner of the Silmarillion. Besides, this wouldn't be the first time that a Maia got married to an immortal being of less cosmic clout, and settled down in a forest, controlling pretty much everything within that forest but comparatively unknown outside of it.
The problem is, if Bombadil is a Maia, what is his sphere of influence? Life and growing things are already under the aegis of Yavanna, so perhaps his portfolio is Song. Of course, if it is Song, that brings us around to the Music of the Ainur again, suggesting that Bombadil is an aspect of Eru, slumming in the Old Forest.

[ 01-09-2005, 08:12 PM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]

[Magness]

SixOfSpades, I don't suppose that you could answer any of my other questions above?

[SixOfSpades]

I expect that Elfbane was referring to extraplanar creatures, and that the bonuses were tacked on after the base enchantment bonus. But don't take my word for it, I wouldn't even want to bring this weapon through a crossover. True, I have been toying with an NPC from Middle-Earth, but that's Anborn, one of the Rangers of Ithilien, who vanishes from the book sometime around the assault on Osgiliath, & winds up as an Archer in the Planar Sphere. Much more doable than trying to associate Bhaal with Elendil.

[Magness]

ElfBane, this has been fairly easy thus far technically speaking. However, I've come across a couple of minor issues in the special abilities.

1. I used the Foebane and Daystar swords as my examples, since they shared many of the same abilities you requested. However, upon closer examination of Foebane, I discovered that Bioware appears to have originally intended to have it have a +6 damage to Evil as well as the currently existing +6 damage modifiers. I know this because the various damage modifiers are in effects EFF files named with Foebane's ITEM code. And the actual Foebane ITM file does not use the associated EFF file that sets up a +6 damage to Evil modifier. I think that they may have left it out since there might have been some sort of conflict with the other "monster" based +6 damage mods. That is, since those monsters were already evil, it's possible that having an "Evil" damage mod as well might have either created a program conflict or simply created a situation where all of those already evil creatures were taking two +6 damage bonuses on each hit.

I suggest that you choose which you prefer, a damage bonus to all evil or a damage bonus to the extra-planar creatures. Pick one.


2. I've noticed that nearly all weapons that have damage bonuses against a certain type of monster, rarely have Thac0 bonuses against that monster. Some do. More do not.

In a sense, this references back to the previous post where I ask about

Also, is the +4 vs Evil and Planar Creatures above and beyond the default +2 bonus? I ask this because BG2 is inconsistent in this regard. Daystar +2 has this +4 vs evil, and the +4 is implemented as +4 total (i.e. +2 in addition to the base +2). OTOH, Foebane +3 has a +6 vs planar creatures and that +6 is implemented as an honest to goodness +6 above and beyond the sword's base Thac0 and damage bonuses. I don't know what the default AD&D position on this is.

The few SoA weapons that I've examined where it says "+2, +4 vs evil" (for example) would simply add 2 more, i.e. the +4 vs evil wouldn't be above and beyond the base +2. It would be +2 base *or* +4 vs evil.

Also, the few TOB weapons I've examined seem to go the other way. That is, the racial bonuses are in addition to the base bonus.

Furthermore, the TOB weapons tend not to have racial Thac0 bonuses, only racial damage bonuses. Let's face it, more TOB weapons already have very high base Thac0 bonuses. Adding in a racial Thac0 bonus as well might seem rather excessive and perhaps unbalancing.


I know that this might be confusing. It's taken me a while to absorb it and get comfortable discussing it. If you want to avoid the confusion and just trust me, I'll give you a good version of Anduril that I think you'll be happy with.

BTW, Elfbane, I took that small item description and turned it into a nice six paragraph story that's worthy of such a magnificent weapon.


Come to think of it, I'll post it as soon as I post this.