Should "find artifact" be a fighter class feature?

[krossbow]

A question i've been pondering in regard to pre 4.0 D&D.

This isn't a sarcastic or joking statement. It seems that generally, our views of fighter/hero characters almost always envision them with an artifact for a weapon. Just look for example at Roy; he has a extremely high level weapon for his level, designed solely for the campaign at hand. This goes back in fiction as far back as man has had stories as well; just look at King author!



So, this is a legitimate question: do you, as players and as DM's, think that a fighter should, as part of his class, find artifacts in campaigns?

[Tempest Fennac]

I tend to think that applies to most classes rather then just Fighters to be honest (eg: Clerics or Paladins may need to recover them for their church/cause and everyone likes items which boost their capabilities).

[Flickerdart]

In 3.5, he needs them to keep up. In 4.0, not really, unless he finds artifacts for the other guys too.

I'd love to see a campaign where the Fighter always finds the same artifact though, and he doesn't want it, or perhaps it's evil. So he throws it away. And then finds it again. And again. And again. Not in a railroady sense where the DM wants him to have it; the DM knows he doesn't want it. But there's a whole plot around it. Wouldn't that be neat?

[Starbuck_II]

A question i've been pondering in regard to pre 4.0 D&D.

This isn't a sarcastic or joking statement. It seems that generally, our views of fighter/hero characters almost always envision them with an artifact for a weapon. Just look for example at Roy; he has a extremely high level weapon for his level, designed solely for the campaign at hand. This goes back in fiction as far back as man has had stories as well; just look at King author!



So, this is a legitimate question: do you, as players and as DM's, think that a fighter should, as part of his class, find artifacts in campaigns?

Actually, King Arthur had 2-3 magic items:
His stabbard made him immune to bleeding/auto stablizing. This was very powerful back then because most wounds killed you due to blood loss.

He also had Excaliber and later the Singing Sword (when Exacaliber was broke).

But yeah, unless everyone has a natural Greater Magic Weapon ability: a melee warrior needs a very powerful sword to stay competitive.

[krossbow]

Power wise, wasn't really thinking of this as a end all fix all to the fighter pre 4.0; hell, he'd have to have a jet pack strapped to his back and nuke launcher arms at level 20.



But thematically, i was wondering if it fit the idea of a fighter. Often, fighter becomes almost interchanged with "hero" given how often fighter's end up being thought of as the defacto leader of D&D parties in the classical sense.

[The Glyphstone]

Two new fighter feats!

Find Potion:
Prerequisite: Fighter 1
The fighter can spend 1 minute carefully the corpse of a fallen enemy. This gives him a 5% chance per fighter level of finding a potion worth a maximum of 25GP per HD of the corpse. A corpse may only be examined once for this.

Find Item:
Prerequisite: Find Potion, Fighter 5
The fighter can spend 1 minute carefully searching the corpse of a fallen enemy. this gives him a 1% chance per fighter level of finding a magical item of a power level equal to the corpse's CR. A corpse may only be examined once for this or Find Potion, not both.

[Narmoth]

The problem of course arises if the corpse doesn't have the item, and the fighter rolls high enough to find it.
It's like a dungeon where there is a hidden door on any wall the players make a successful roll to find doors

[krossbow]

The problem of course arises if the corpse doesn't have the item, and the fighter rolls high enough to find it.
It's like a dungeon where there is a hidden door on any wall the players make a successful roll to find doors

"Why does a dire rat have a wand of fireball, and where was it keeping it?"

Ah, that age old question/joke. On a more serious note though, it'd be more weird when the wizard you just killed had something like a wand of apocalypse on him and was casting color spray



While it would be DM fiat, artifact weapons could concievably exist in dungeons/towers, or exist for a purpose.

[Dixieboy]

"Why does a dire rat have a wand of fireball, and where was it keeping it?"

No that is explainable by, "The dire rat ate it" you are most likely in the dungeon of a wizard anyway

The problem arises when a pixie is carrying around a large greatsword +something

[The Glyphstone]

Does the joke become too obvious if I allow it as a Barbarian alternate class feature in place of, say, Uncanny/Improved Uncanny Dodge?

[Eldan]

So, perhaps slightly more balanced: what about giving Fighters something similar to the Weapons of Legacy from the book of the same name, without the drawbacks and rituals?

[Eldariel]

Better yet, play OA Samurai. Or free gestalt with Psychic Weapon Master/Kensai (classes that both get the same). They have those abilities built in. You can also take the Ancestral Relic-feat from Book of Exalted Deeds or the Item Familiar-feat from Unearthed Arcana for a similar effect.

[Ernir]

Does the joke become too obvious if I allow it as a Barbarian alternate class feature in place of, say, Uncanny/Improved Uncanny Dodge?

Make it a feat that can be taken up to 20 times, with diminishing returns.

Usage of the feat has a somatic component of raising your hands over your head, and a verbal component of "RUUUMGH! UMPH! URGH!"

[kjones]

Two new fighter feats!

Find Potion:
Prerequisite: Fighter 1
The fighter can spend 1 minute carefully the corpse of a fallen enemy. This gives him a 5% chance per fighter level of finding a potion worth a maximum of 25GP per HD of the corpse. A corpse may only be examined once for this.

Find Item:
Prerequisite: Find Potion, Fighter 5
The fighter can spend 1 minute carefully searching the corpse of a fallen enemy. this gives him a 1% chance per fighter level of finding a magical item of a power level equal to the corpse's CR. A corpse may only be examined once for this or Find Potion, not both.

I see what you did there.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Actually, King Arthur had 2-3 magic items:
His stabbard made him immune to bleeding/auto stablizing. This was very powerful back then because most wounds killed you due to blood loss.

He also had Excaliber and later the Singing Sword (when Exacaliber was broke).

But yeah, unless everyone has a natural Greater Magic Weapon ability: a melee warrior needs a very powerful sword to stay competitive.

You've got your weapons mixed up. As far as I remember, there was no Singing Sword. Don't know where you're getting that one from.

The sword in the stone was Arthur's first sword, and that was the one that broke in his duel with King Pellinore.

Excalibur was gifted to him by the Lady of the Lake. I'm not certain if the legend explicitly says it, but the main thing that was great about Excalibur was that it was unbreakable, or something.

[Eeezee]

We had a game where it a certain legendary sword would often be found during an adventure, but it always had dire consequences attached to its appearance. Perhaps the first time someone picks it up it would simply teleport them into some other room in the dungeon and then turns into a swarm of spiders. Perhaps the next time it would explode, dealing 5d6 to everyone in range. Eventually simply seeing the sword in the next room resulted in disaster.

Eventually things got so bad that the players would RUN if they ever saw this sword, because you just knew trouble was coming.

[chiasaur11]

Power wise, wasn't really thinking of this as a end all fix all to the fighter pre 4.0; hell, he'd have to have a jet pack strapped to his back and nuke launcher arms at level 20.

Fighters as old school FPS heroes?
Sounds fun.

[Dixieboy]

Make it a feat that can be taken up to 20 times, with diminishing returns.

Usage of the feat has a somatic component of raising your hands over your head, and a verbal component of "RUUUMGH! UMPH! URGH!"

"The gamers" joke? I feel st00pid

[Mando Knight]

You've got your weapons mixed up. As far as I remember, there was no Singing Sword. Don't know where you're getting that one from.

Prince Valiant, perhaps?

The sword in the stone was Arthur's first sword, and that was the one that broke in his duel with King Pellinore. Excalibur was gifted to him by the Lady of the Lake.

Depends on the document. Malory, confusingly enough, calls both this sword and the Lady's sword Excalibur.

I'm not certain if the legend explicitly says it, but the main thing that was great about Excalibur was that it was unbreakable, or something.

Wikipedia doesn't discuss the blade's properties as much, but it does mention the scabbard's grant of wound-proofing...

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Prince Valiant, perhaps?

Prince Valiant is NOT an accurate retelling of Arthurian myth. It is a fictional story set in "Arthurian" times.

Depends on the document. Malory, confusingly enough, calls both this sword and the Lady's sword Excalibur.

I've never read Malory, but every version of the Arthur legend I've read depicts Excalibur as the Lady's sword.

Wikipedia doesn't discuss the blade's properties as much, but it does mention the scabbard's grant of wound-proofing...

No version of the legend I've read realy discusses the blade's properties as much. It's mostly a conclusion I drew in my youth, since the reason Arthur recieved Excalibur was because his old sword had been broken. Arthur COULD have just had the local weaponsmith make him a new one, but instead he recieved a "special" sword.

[Frosty]

"The gamers" joke? I feel st00pid

Don't be. It is a direct shout-out to Diablo II's Barbarian class. Barbarians can search a corpse for items, but they must choose what kind of item to search for. Once the corpse is searched, the corpse has been used up and can'tbe used for other things like Corpse Explosion or another "Find Potion" or whatnot. Also, in D2, you can have up to 20 ranks in a skill. The increase is NOT linear.