Book of Artifacts

[CelestialStick]

I just noticed Rich's Book of Artifacts. I tried to find some information on the book, but other than the vague blurb from the publisher, I couldn't find anything. Has anyone read any of the book? If so, is it any good? What sort of artifacts does it contain? Thanks! :smallsmile:

[herrhauptmann]

It's a great book. Bought it last sunday.

It has high powered artifacts, low powered artifacts, even scaled strength ones. Some of them are cursed in the sense that you are forced to act a certain way in given situations.
2 examples. A bow of orcslaying. Any orc or halforc in sight, and you need continued will saves to not attack.
Also, a holy bastard sword. Gives you the abilities of a paladin of your level. So you can technicaly be a 1st level thief, and 1st level paladin at once. Later, 20 and 20. However, it has a continuous 'detect evil' going, and once you detect someone as evil, you have to either runaway so no evil are within 60ft, or you start killing and smiting. The only way to easily get rid of this sword, is to knowingly give it to a higher level good person, who knowingly accepts it.
Or a blackguard can voluntarily suicide with it. Destroying his soul and the sword in the process.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

It's a great book. Bought it last sunday.

It has high powered artifacts, low powered artifacts, even scaled strength ones. Some of them are cursed in the sense that you are forced to act a certain way in given situations.
2 examples. A bow of orcslaying. Any orc or halforc in sight, and you need continued will saves to not attack.
Also, a holy bastard sword. Gives you the abilities of a paladin of your level. So you can technicaly be a 1st level thief, and 1st level paladin at once. Later, 20 and 20. However, it has a continuous 'detect evil' going, and once you detect someone as evil, you have to either runaway so no evil are within 60ft, or you start killing and smiting. The only way to easily get rid of this sword, is to knowingly give it to a higher level good person, who knowingly accepts it.
Or a blackguard can voluntarily suicide with it. Destroying his soul and the sword in the process.

Wow...that last one sure is.....efficient.

[CelestialStick]

It's a great book. Bought it last sunday.

It has high powered artifacts, low powered artifacts, even scaled strength ones. Some of them are cursed in the sense that you are forced to act a certain way in given situations.
2 examples. A bow of orcslaying. Any orc or halforc in sight, and you need continued will saves to not attack.
Also, a holy bastard sword. Gives you the abilities of a paladin of your level. So you can technicaly be a 1st level thief, and 1st level paladin at once. Later, 20 and 20. However, it has a continuous 'detect evil' going, and once you detect someone as evil, you have to either runaway so no evil are within 60ft, or you start killing and smiting. The only way to easily get rid of this sword, is to knowingly give it to a higher level good person, who knowingly accepts it.
Or a blackguard can voluntarily suicide with it. Destroying his soul and the sword in the process.

Thanks, herrhauptmann! That's very useful.

Do you know if they invented all of the artifacts themselves, or took some from earlier incaranations of D&D? They don't have Heward's mystical organ by any chance, do they? :smallsmile:

[Alveanerle]

Ooo, an item granting half-Miko template? Bought!

[TheOOB]

How could a person with that sword walk through town? In a busy city it would be quite difficult to keep 60' away from evil.

[herrhauptmann]

How could a person with that sword walk through town? In a busy city it would be quite difficult to keep 60' away from evil.

Exactly. The given NPC for that artifact WANTS to die because of what the sword has made him do.

I think they're all new artifacts.

[Zherog]

Thanks, herrhauptmann! That's very useful.

Do you know if they invented all of the artifacts themselves, or took some from earlier incaranations of D&D? They don't have Heward's mystical organ by any chance, do they? :smallsmile:

They can't take ones from earlier incarnations of D&D. Those are WotC's IP, as is the name "Heward."

[CelestialStick]

They can't take ones from earlier incarnations of D&D. Those are WotC's IP, as is the name "Heward."

Bummer. :smallfrown: I wonder why Wizards never reused Heward's mystical organ. Could it be too many sexual innunedos? Heward was a neighbor of Gary Gygax who actually played the organ.

[Knight_Of_Twilight]

I second that its a great book. My next game is going to have a wandering swordsage with Ashrune. The sword is always going to be trying to get him to do suicidal things, and he's going to answer it back- looking like a mad man talking to nothing, of course.

[CelestialStick]

I second that its a great book. My next game is going to have a wandering swordsage with Ashrune. The sword is always going to be trying to get him to do suicidal things, and he's going to answer it back- looking like a mad man talking to nothing, of course.

What is Ashrune?

[herrhauptmann]

A suicidal artifact. :tongue:

[CelestialStick]

A suicidal artifact. :tongue:

Well if you were lying around conscious for centuries or millennia with absolutely nothing to do, you might get suicidal too. :smalltongue:

[Maerok]

I picked it up and looked for some of Rich's stuff; could only find the Lucky Coin.

[CelestialStick]

I picked it up and looked for some of Rich's stuff; could only find the Lucky Coin.

How did you know that one was his?

[Maerok]

They have a "By ____" under the title of the artifact for each section.

[CelestialStick]

They have a "By ____" under the title of the artifact for each section.

And there's only one in the whole book by Rich?

[Knight_Of_Twilight]

Two in the book are done by rich, the Emereld Scales of Veerek are the other one. Whole thing is top notch, really, all of those who contributed are quite good.

[RiOrius]

And there's only one in the whole book by Rich?

The book isn't "by Rich"--he's one of many contributors.

Anyway, it's a fun read, and the artifacts look like they'd be fun to play with. That said, it's probably best if it is a DM-only book, as one of the big themes among the items is that with great power come great... consequences (what'd you think I was going to say?). It'd be pretty hard to not metagame when you know what will happen if you mess with the artifacts (and not nearly as fun).

[CelestialStick]

The book isn't "by Rich"--he's one of many contributors.

Anyway, it's a fun read, and the artifacts look like they'd be fun to play with. That said, it's probably best if it is a DM-only book, as one of the big themes among the items is that with great power come great... consequences (what'd you think I was going to say?). It'd be pretty hard to not metagame when you know what will happen if you mess with the artifacts (and not nearly as fun).

Ah. I see. I wonder if the publisher just tossed in two items by Rich in order to be able to put his name on the book and trade in his popularity. How do his items compare to the other items in the book?

I'd be careful about introducing an artifact like a sword that makes someone have to attack evil automatically, as it could completely remake a player's character without the player's consent. If the character can just give it away without any trouble, however, and chooses to keep it around and pay the costs in order to get the benefits, that's a different matter. Then the player does have a choice.

I had a scenario in my campaign where the PCs entered some old ruins and found the skeletal of a samurai whom the badguys had sacrificed to their evil devil god (Druaga, from Babylonian religion), still bolted down on an altar. The badguys had broken the dead samurai's katana and apparently stabbed him in the ground with his tanto.

The party's samurai took the tanto and buried with honor the sacrificed samurai, placing the broken katana in the grave with him.

The tanto turned out to be cursed and the first couple of times the party got into combat the samurai PC found himself wielding the cursed tanto (1d4 base damage versus 1d10 for the PC samurai's own katana), which proved more frustrating for him and humorous for the rest of us than lethal. After his first forced use of the tanto he threw it away, only to find in the next combat that it returned to him. After that he managed to get it removed with a remove curse spell.

After he was able to use his own katana again, he found that when he faced priests of Druaga or devils that it tried to make him go berserk and slay them all. The spirit of the dead samurai he had buried with honor had taken up residence in the PC samurai's katana, making it more powerful but also inciting berserk rage any time they got within a certain range of priests of Druaga or devils. The PC though had a choice whether to try to save against the rage or just give in to it. He had a good Will save so he was able to save when he wanted. Finally though when they were invading a base of the priests he just choice to let it take him over. It was a lot of fun as the party rushed around to support him, trying to keep him alive with healing and other buff spells, while he sliced his way through priests, their humanoid minions, and finally some devils the priests had summoned (or called).

I'd set a number of priests or devils that the sword had to kill before the spirit of the dead samurai would leave the sword, and he reached it right in the middle of the base, so that the party had to face the last devil without the benefit of the berserking, devil bane katana, which was probably funnier for me than for them. Without the sword though I think that the party probably would have either died or had to retreat, and since they were on a bigger mission, perhaps give up on the base. So the sword definitely influenced events, but the player had some choice the matter and was able to complete the sword's quest so that it no longer influenced him.

I'd be a little afraid though if the artifact had no way of being satiated, unless the PC could freely give it away. :smallsmile:

[Zherog]

Ah. I see. I wonder if the publisher just tossed in two items by Rich in order to be able to put his name on the book and trade in his popularity.

I doubt it. Sword and Sorcery is a rather large publisher (being a division of White Wolf will do that :smallwink: ), and they have a fairly large market already.

And even if they did - so what? Rich (presumably) got paid for the gig and was proud enough of his work on the project to mention it on his site. If that results in a few extra purchases of the book for S&S, so what?

[CelestialStick]

I doubt it. Sword and Sorcery is a rather large publisher (being a division of White Wolf will do that :smallwink: ), and they have a fairly large market already.

And even if they did - so what? Rich (presumably) got paid for the gig and was proud enough of his work on the project to mention it on his site. If that results in a few extra purchases of the book for S&S, so what?

Yes, so what if they mislead the customers into thinking Rich is an author of the book? So what if people spend $30 thinking they got something that's largely a product of Rich's genius only to find that he contributed only a tiny fraction? At least they sold more books, and really, that's all the counts. The customers aren't important. :smallsigh:

[kyz]

Let the Wonders of the Ages Inspire You!

Few elements of fantasy roleplaying are as rife with possibility and potential as are artifacts, those ancient and unpredictable items of potent magics. Travel in quest of mystic wonders, stand as civilization's only defense against villains equipped with horrific powers, or challenge the gods themselves. Within these pages lie sufficient ideas to inspire dozens upon dozens of quests, adventures and even entire campaigns.

Magics Beyond Measure, Curses Beyond Comprehension

You hold in your hand a codex of almost limitless potential. Each and every artifact within contains not only a detailed description of its powers, but also a rich and inspiring mythology, adventure seeds, and the various consequences and downsides of use that make artifacts such a mixed blessing. Better yet, the Tome of Artifacts also contains new spells, new monsters, new feats, and a tool to aid you in creating your own artifacts, a random system capable of generating literally millions of unique artifacts!

Brought to you in partnership between Necromancer Games and Lion's Den Press, the Tome of Artifacts contains contributions by some of the industry's best known names, including fan favorites Keith Baker, Rich Burlew, and Patrick Lawinger. Includes a foreword by David "Zeb" Cook!

This product requires use of the Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook published by Wizards of the Coast. This product uses rules from the v.3.5 revision.

So, where in there does it say "Rich Burlew's Book of artifacts"? It says it includes something by him and, lo and behold, it does in fact include something by him. Truth in advertising?! How dare they!

But seriously, the only one at fault here as far as misleading is you misleading yourself. nowhere in there does it say "This book is the brainchild of Rich Burlew, creator of popular webcomic Order of the Stick!" Nowehre in Rich's plug newspost does he say that it was most3ly his work. You are choosing to make it that for God knows what reasons. Seriously, calm down on this whole "misleading" angle. There is nothing there that is any more misleading than any book summary.

[DreadArchon]

So what if people spend $30 thinking they got something that's largely a product of Rich's genius only to find that he contributed only a tiny fraction?
That's not their fault. It's not like his name is on the cover or anything, and the only mention of him in the description is:


Brought to you in partnership between Necromancer Games and Lion's Den Press, the Tome of Artifacts contains contributions by some of the industry's best known names, including fan favorites Keith Baker, Rich Burlew, and Patrick Lawinger. Includes a foreword by David "Zeb" Cook!
...Which certainly doesn't imply that it's "largely a product of Rich's genius." Nor does his own description of it in the plug (http://www.giantitp.com/index.html#S3mwhjxwLeoTMIGoTIi). You just made that up.

[CelestialStick]

I found out what I needed to know. I'm unsubscribing now so feel free to keep flaming me after I go.

[OzymandiasVolt]

They're not flaming you. You are in fact wrong.

[GoblinJTHM]

lol < 10 characters

[Zherog]

Yes, so what if they mislead the customers into thinking Rich is an author of the book?

http://www.majik.be/smilies/confused.gif

Rich is an author of the book... He's one of several who contributed to it.

[herrhauptmann]

I found out what I needed to know. I'm unsubscribing now so feel free to keep flaming me after I go.

If CelestialStick is leaving, does that mean I can get him to give me his log-in? I'd like to not be a pixie in the playground. :smallbiggrin: