New Item Idea

[Thorfinn]

While I agree it fits in better with evil only, I am looking from the point of view of game balance. Right off-hand, all I can think of that evil can't use that is of any significance is Azuredge, though there are plenty of compensating items available nearly as early, like Neb's Nasty Cutter. Most of the great weapons and items are non-aligned, like FoA, CF (both), Foebane+FFlar, Sanchu, SotM, etc. For every good-aligned item I can think of, like Robe of Archmagi, there are variants of all flavors.

Seriously, how would you balance it out? What item would you add? Or would you do something like limit Imp Kitthix to good characters only?

[Xero279]

Thorfinn... what about a certain Paladin only sword...

[Annatar]

Not to mention my custom katana [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Thorfinn]

I thought about mentioning Carsomyr, but decided against it, since it is actually limited by class, not by alignment. While true that the class is limited to a particular alignment, that would be like saying that Scarlet Ninja-To is a Lawful-only item.

To prevent confusion here, let's compare items an evil mage can use vs. items a good mage could use. I am hard pressed to come up with something one can use that the other cannot, or at least that does not have a version for his alignment. With the exception of things the mage wouldn't use anyway, like Neb's Nasty Cutter, I can't think of any items which would give one one an advantage over the other. So if you are planning to give an item which casts one of the most useful summons to an evil mage, you should consider coming up with something to balance it for the good mage.

If you really want to limit Skel Warriors to evil, it seems to me you might want to limit Planetars to good...

[slimjimosu]

Thanks for the replies guys. I didnt' even think of the mage spell control undead, that should work just as well. I was brainstorming some ways to flesh out the item. At first I thought to make it look like an ioun stone colored black or dark purple, but then thought maybe the sun gem colored black/purple instead. Either way i think it would look cool (if you can even change the color on an item?)

I'll do some more brainstorming to see if I can come up with a game balancing good summons too. I'll have to think about what kind of creature to call. Maybe a neutral one too so that all my bases are covered. If anyone has any suggestions let me know. Lata

[Xero279]

Originally posted by slimjimosu: Thanks for the replies guys. I didnt' even think of the mage spell control undead, that should work just as well. I was brainstorming some ways to flesh out the item. At first I thought to make it look like an ioun stone colored black or dark purple, but then thought maybe the sun gem colored black/purple instead. Either way i think it would look cool (if you can even change the color on an item?) I'll do some more brainstorming to see if I can come up with a game balancing good summons too. I'll have to think about what kind of creature to call. Maybe a neutral one too so that all my bases are covered. If anyone has any suggestions let me know. Lata

Sounds good. Maybe if you designed a mod with it too, make it so Cespensar or Cromwell can forge it into something.. maybe a shield? i think that would be really cool, but it kinda takes away from the items speciality. its for necromancers. i say make it only available to necromancers.

[slimjimosu]

Been doing some brainstorming the last few minutes about a good and a neutral only summons. Here is an idea with the intent of balancing the Necromancer Stone's skeleton warrior (one of the better summons in the game).
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Butter Knife of Balduran

Legends often speak of Balduran's Butter Knife. The hero would allow no other utensil to touch his condiments. It is believed that his mother gave the ornate butter knife to him as an eighteenth birthday gift. While outwardly the knife appears to be nothing but a cooking utensil, by utilizing proper command words, it becomes an artifact of great worth. Speaking one such word will cause the knife to extend into the form of a self floating sword of destruction. This sword has numerous resistances and is completely immune to physical damage. Another such command word causes a phantom blade to leap out of the fingers of the summoner. This blade strikes as a +3 enchanted weapon but does an extra +10 damage to undead.

1/day Summon Mordenkainen's Sword (as per 7th level mage spell)

1/day Cast Phantom Blade (as per 5th level mage spell)

Useable by:
Good Characters
Spellcasters (mages, clerics, bards)
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Well let me know what you think. I have no idea if Balduran was good or not but I thought it fit in with the idea of a good aligned summon item. I think it might be just a bit overpowered as Mordy Sword is a great summons plus adding the phantom blade. I never use phantom blade myself so don't know if it's any good but it seemed to fit with the idea of a sword summons. I guess you could substitute the cleric's flame blade instead of the phantom blade. Or if still to powerful, just do the mordy sword.
The Necro Stone used a level 5 and a level 7 mage spell and this summons uses the same levels 5 and 7. Oh well, enough rambling. Let me know what you think and I'll try to come up with a neutral oriented one.

[slimjimosu]

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It might be kinda cool to put the butterknife on the table in Dradeel's room in the asylum. Don't know much about Balduran but I thought I read that Dradeel was one of his travelling companions. Would be cool for him to have the knife. They never took it away because they thought it was just a plain knife or something. Just another idea.

[Raistlin Majere]

Damn! Cant seem to pass some problems with the stone. one the more annoying problems is that the control undead doesnt work the way i want! it allows saving throws and indeed cares a damn lot about resistances! there are also a few other minor problems i cant seem to fix. Ill keep trying though [img]smile.gif[/img] .

[slimjimosu]

Cool, thanks for working on it Raistlin. I'm kinda pumped to see how it works!