non-cheesy personal magic items: a tale

[Amergin]

i've recently discovered the wonders of item editing and just felt like babbling in the only place where it would have a chance of being appreciated.

background: 1. i was always disappointed that throughout these games there were never any items that were truly your character's. custom items make this possible but only within reason, i.e. one or two at most rather than a whole suite of stuff (aka balduran's collection). 2. some of the helmets in the game are, ahem, goofy looking both on the paper doll and world screen. 3. characters wouldn't wear a helmet all the time considering the actual combat time is paltry compared to time spent traveling and conversing. 4. characters in helmets just seem impersonal; i'd rather see the face and hair.

so i made my character an ioun stone with a history. "Amergin" is, btw, the name of every character i've ever played.

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Amergin's Ioun Stone

This stone was inadvertantly wrapped in Amergin's blankets as the baby was hastily taken from his mother's cottage after her death. The child used it as a pacifier early on, its cool smoothness providing some measure of comfort for the child. Somehow the stone "graduated" from chew toy to "easily concealed non-lethal missle", harmless to most things except for a brave rat or discarded flask despite the boy's preternatural agility. As his studies at Candlekeep became more complex and his desk sometimes overflowing with books and scrolls, the stone served quite adequately as a paperweight, though Amergin would often rotate it unthinkingly between his fingers as he pondered some unfathomable subject Gorion had assigned him. Sometime during his twelth year, Amergin noticed it seeming to take a life of its own, often finding its way into a pocket when he was sure he had left it in a drawer or on a table. The morning after he had begun his first combat training with genuine, rather than the wood, weapons, he awoke to find the stone floating about a foot above his head as though suspended by an invisible cord. As he shifted warily beneath, it too moved to match his position. With a simultaneous burst of courage and a happy epiphany, he snatched it from the air and met no resistance as he brought it down to observe in his palm, noting in the early morning light that it seemed to cast no shadow while at the same time glowed a faint pale blue (which Imoen would later remark as matching his eyes). Gorion mysteriously warned against "showing off" his gift, but heeded the sage's words and kept it around his neck bound in cord (Amergin felt a little guilty at having to keep his "friend" chained up). After the downfall of Sarevok, Amergin rightly concluded that this minor secret was the least of his concerns and only his death would remove it from its orbit, an occurance that the stone does play a role in helping to prevent .

Abilities:

Protect from critical hits.
Regenerate one hit point per hour.
+5% magic resistance.
Immunity to charm.

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yeesh, read this far, did ya? feel free to comment; it won't hurt my (or the stone's) feelings .

[Volourn]

Good going, Amergin. This is one of the few custom magical items that I *don't* think is over-powered that I've read about anywhere. You did a good job, and a good background for it too. Yahooooooo!!!!!


GO DWARVES GO!

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"That didn't hurt!" - Volourn Honourblade after the red dragon breathed on him for 75% of his hp.

[Leagle]

I really like that, I can't figure out how to assign immune to charm/chaotic commands. I tried making a weapon that poisoned -I swear it has the same properties as Haer'Dalis' blade, (it was my template) but instead of doing 3 damage, it does around 50 on each failed save! It is still an improvement of what it used to be like -it poisoned the weilder!

[Bruce The Aussie]

to be immune from charm its protection from optcode you need to use

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Bruce The Aussie, Camp Barbarian Hunter OHF
jester of LH and Master Beastmaster of the clan of the Kats

[Melusine]

A nice, wellrounded item, Amergin, my compliments. And Volourn is right, contrary to a lot of other custom items, it is not overpowered.

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Melusine, High Queen of Fluffies, Archbabe of the Order of the Holy Flame and the Laughing Hyenas, &
Official Entertainer Elf of the BG2 Bar

Your voice is ambrosia

[Leagle]

Thanks Bruce!

[Bristowe]

Amergin, i completely agree with you, helms in bg1&2 look really stupid. I never wear a helm, even when i play a paladin, i'd just risk getting whacked with a critical hit. That ioun stone idea is really great You wouldn't mind if i took a leaf out of your book now would ya? Please? I think i'd like to make up one of my own...yes?

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Bristowe, Master Assassin
"Everyone dies sooner or later, why not sooner?"

[Tancred]

Awwwww! That's GREAT! A pet stone... I don't know why, but it has a kind of cheerful charm about it. Personalised items... what an idea!

Tancred

[Amergin]

i've made a few others for the different classes i might play. examples:

cavalier: a scarf (goes in belt slot) given to him by his Lady (normally tied to his lance but no horses in bg...); 3x/day remove fear, +2 vs death, +5 hp

thief: main gauche; assassin's weapon found on (in) the corpse of his brother; +2 ac, immunity to poison (more from his own training rather than from the item)

mage: staff; my chaotic neutral wizard who rarely finishes a project is perpetually tweaking this item, causing it to randomly (20% per hit) cast a low level spell (various 5per level 1-3), 2 of which are good, 2 of which are bad, and 1 which makes no sense at all. this is my favorite as there's nothing quite like casting chromatic orb on yourself or getting protection from petrification in the middle of a fight.