Artifacts!

[pwykersotz]

http://media.wizards.com/2014/images/dnd/articles/Vecna_p1.jpg

http://media.wizards.com/2014/images/dnd/articles/Vecna_p2.jpg

Fun stuff.

[MaxWilson]

I like the extra flavor for Vecna. Now everybody in D&D can know that the "Spider Throne" is something significant, and if you see a glyph carved in a tomb of a spider and a sceptre you can start freaking out.

I mean, it's not like you couldn't have done that before with your own lore, and in fact you will still do it on your own, but it's fun to have universal memes. Just watch how players freak out when they learn that someone named "Strahd" is part of your homebrew campaign.

P.S. As an aside, isn't it funny that the iconic relics of Vecna, who was a lich--for whom bodies are disposable and interchangeable--are the eye and the hand from a body which probably wasn't even his original one?

[mr_odd]

It looks like we're going to have tables of minor beneficial properties, major beneficial properties, and detrimental properties that any artifact can grant on top of the specified abilities.

[rlc]

>you're far to pure
>to pure
/me cringes

[Ziegander]

It looks like we're going to have tables of minor beneficial properties, major beneficial properties, and detrimental properties that any artifact can grant on top of the specified abilities.

I don't know how I feel about this... I want to say I hate it, but I think a part of me loves it... :smallannoyed:

[Greylind]

I don't know how I feel about this... I want to say I hate it, but I think a part of me loves it... :smallannoyed:

It's pretty much how it worked in 1st edition AD&D. I'm pretty happy to see this.

[squashmaster]

I don't know how I feel about this... I want to say I hate it, but I think a part of me loves it... :smallannoyed:

They're like the legendary level monsters. Ridiculously OP, but you only gonna see one once per campaign most likely. Unless you're running the most epic campaign conceivably possible.

[pwykersotz]

I already have a player who has asked for both the Hand and the Eye. I think he wants them for his concept of a Warlock/Oathbreaker Paladin of Asmodeus that he's been tossing around ever since he heard it would be in the DMG. It amused me. I'm of course tempted to bring the Head of Vecna (http://www.blindpanic.com/humor/vecna.htm) into it at some point if I ever run that. Just to see... :smalltongue:

[Abithrios]

We are granted new RAW, so now is the time to start abusing it.

I notice that the hand and eye of Vecna change your alignment, but do not force you to stay the new alignment. They also do not make you immune to curses. Thus, someone who gets the hand and eye put in can then get bitten by a werebear and possibly change alignment to NG.

Such a person would gain enormous power and the undying enmity of multiple major factions. The side of good wants the tools of evil destroyed. The side of evil wants their tools to not be used against them. The sword of Kas hates Vecna and his remains.

I do not think this would work at very many tables, but I find the idea funny.

[BigONotation]

>you're far to pure
>to pure
/me cringes

I almost wonder if they're doing it on purpose. The other DMG excerpt had obvious poor spelling as well.

[Totema]

For some reason I'm highly amused by the phrasing "turn its bones to jelly". I'm imagining a maniacally evil Bill Cosby lich.

[rlc]

It would be funny if using the hand and eye to cast wish and losing the 33% chance would mean the artifacts can't cast it anymore.

[Ralanr]

This is probably the first time I've ever seen artifacts...I need to see more!

[mr_odd]

It's pretty much how it worked in 1st edition AD&D. I'm pretty happy to see this.

I think I'm happy to see this too. It will also make it easier to homebrew balanced artifacts.

[JoeJ]

I think I'm happy to see this too. It will also make it easier to homebrew balanced artifacts.

"Balanced artifacts" is not a phrase I'd ever have expected to see.

[Greylind]

"Balanced artifacts" is not a phrase I'd ever have expected to see.

The example artifacts don't seem that bad for higher level play, particularly since the eye and hand are likely to be used against a party. I also like the vulnerability of the Orbs.

[MaxWilson]

I like that the eye + hand combo is good enough to make you actually covet the artifacts--which hasn't always been the case in prior editions of (A)D&D. Regeneration and 2d8 cold damage is pretty interesting.

If you designed a 4th level spell that would give you +1d8 damage on all weapon attacks for a year and a day but required the head of one of your own progeny as a material component (spell focus not an acceptable substitute)... I wonder how many players would add kids to their background and then cast it. The temptation of "free" power is real, just look at the Paladin/Warlock threads. :)

[mr_odd]

"Balanced artifacts" is not a phrase I'd ever have expected to see.


The example artifacts don't seem that bad for higher level play, particularly since the eye and hand are likely to be used against a party. I also like the vulnerability of the Orbs.

I mean, artifacts are artifacts. They're supposed to be crazy powerful, but there's crazy powerful that beneficially adds to the game, and there's crazy powerful that detracts from the game. I'd say that these are the former.

[Greylind]

I mean, artifacts are artifacts. They're supposed to be crazy powerful, but there's crazy powerful that beneficially adds to the game, and there's crazy powerful that detracts from the game. I'd say that these are the former.

Definitely. I like artifacts in fiction that are absolute in their specific power, but that comes out to be extremely unbalancing and worse yet hard to model in a game.

Try to imagine Saberhagen's Twelve Swords in D&D 5E. About half of them would work great, and the other half are practically instant-win conditions for either the enemy or the players.

[Strill]

For the eye, I hate that you just instantly get your soul devoured randomly out of nowhere. It should be gradual, so that you get a chance to roleplay the change.

For the orb of dragonkind, what happens if you're immune to charm? Does that just negate all danger?

[pwykersotz]

For the eye, I hate that you just instantly get your soul devoured randomly out of nowhere. It should be gradual, so that you get a chance to roleplay the change.

For the orb of dragonkind, what happens if you're immune to charm? Does that just negate all danger?

I agree. I think it should be that 5% of your soul gets devoured each time it's used, making you progressively more depraved. But that's a hotfix I apply to a lot of 'random chance' elements in D&D.

[Safety Sword]

For the orb of dragonkind, what happens if you're immune to charm? Does that just negate all danger?

Your pathetic mortal immunity wouldn't apply to artifact level magic.

Wizards made it.

Takes me back to reading the Dragonlance Chronicles... good times...

[MadGrady]

Takes me back to reading the Dragonlance Chronicles... good times...

Reading these right now for the first time. I love it!

[Kornaki]

For the eye, I hate that you just instantly get your soul devoured randomly out of nowhere. It should be gradual, so that you get a chance to roleplay the change.

For the orb of dragonkind, what happens if you're immune to charm? Does that just negate all danger?

Let's be real, is anybody who has the eye ever going to take a 5% chance of soul devouring to cast clairvoyance? You'd have to be in pretty desperate straits for that. The hand's 'make you do an act of evil' property is far more interesting and usable in-play.

[MaxWilson]

Let's be real, is anybody who has the eye ever going to take a 5% chance of soul devouring to cast clairvoyance? You'd have to be in pretty desperate straits for that. The hand's 'make you do an act of evil' property is far more interesting and usable in-play.

Depends on whether or not they know about it.

[Ralanr]

Let's be real, is anybody who has the eye ever going to take a 5% chance of soul devouring to cast clairvoyance? You'd have to be in pretty desperate straits for that. The hand's 'make you do an act of evil' property is far more interesting and usable in-play.

I know a friend of mine was trying to calculate how many times a day he could use it without losing control of his character. So even the 5% chance won't stop some people.

[Inevitability]

Just noticed that the only way to destroy the Eye and the Hand of Vecna seems to be by first attaching them to a host. You know, I can totally see the a major NPC (or even a PC) sacrificing himself by grafting the artifacts to his body, then taking on the party in an epic last boss fight (after all, he's NE now). Of course, he's destroyed in the end, and there's a kind-of-happy ending.

[Kornaki]

I know a friend of mine was trying to calculate how many times a day he could use it without losing control of his character. So even the 5% chance won't stop some people.

There's no such limit, you could lose your character the first time you ever cast a spell.

[Ralanr]

There's no such limit, you could lose your character the first time you ever cast a spell.

I know, he was trying to calculate his luck. Or something, I can't remember.

[Daishain]

I know, he was trying to calculate his luck. Or something, I can't remember.

Odds of never triggering the effect? 0.95 ^ n, where n equals the number of times you cast a spell

1 95%
2 90%
3 86%
5 77%
10 60%
15 46%
20 36%
25 28%

Its not too bad to start off, but it gets down to even odds pretty quickly.

Personally, even 5% chance of a fate much worse than death is too high just to cast a spell (unless offered no other choice), but that may just be the engineer in me talking.

[Ralanr]

Odds of never triggering the effect? 0.95 ^ n, where n equals the number of times you cast a spell

1 95%
2 90%
3 86%
5 77%
10 60%
15 46%
20 36%
25 28%

Its not too bad to start off, but it gets down to even odds pretty quickly.

Personally, even 5% chance of a fate much worse than death is too high just to cast a spell (unless offered no other choice), but that may just be the engineer in me talking.

Pretty much!

[Safety Sword]

Reading these right now for the first time. I love it!

The best bit is realising that the story was basically a written account of many many role playing sessions. How awesome was that game?!

[Rallicus]

It's interesting to see how they've changed the Greyhawk Artifacts over the years. I just perused my 3.5 handbook and the Orbs were mentioned as having originated in the "great Dragon Wars," so I'm guessing after Dragonlance was published they decided to go with this angle? I also like that there's supposedly only three left.

It's nice that, despite the fact that Greyhawk is an oft-discarded setting (but not by me; if I'm running generic high fantasy, I'll take it over FR and DL any day of the week), it still lives on through D&D at its core. So many artifacts, deities and so forth originated from Greyhawk, and it's great that "Pelor" is probably one of the most recognizable deities, despite the fact that FR has been the foremost setting since 2e.

Here's to hoping that they put in some new artifacts, though. Wouldn't mind this little monster right here (http://www.canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=Druniazth), for instance.