Sentient Weapons as unique server artifacts

[Spekdah_NZ]

There is a thread currently over here for sentient weapons. While reading through it all it got me
thinking about how a sentient weapon, equipment or artifact might really act. It likely wouldn't just stick with one player! It would have it's own agenda.

So got me thinking about sentient weapons more as combination of some kind of npc and a server event.

* they are unique
* they can spawn anywhere in dungeons (maybe lvl 5/10/15+)
* a player can use them as long as they meet the weapons requirements
* they only stick with a player for 30 minutes / 1 hour max before going elsewhere
* they are overpowered for their ML, but come with drawbacks, and have a party dynamic

For an example you could be in ToEE and have something like;
* sword in a stone (ala King Arthor)
* some hovering dark staff sucking soul from underground
* singing harp
* great axe floating in a pool of blood
* shining warhammer bathed in light
* any kind of npc, creature, monster etc to have dialog with


You get the idea. These are like a random encounter for the party. Each encounter could have certain requirements;
* stat requirements like strength to pull sword
* alignment
* divine or arcane casting levels
* class or skill

If you complete the encounter then some sentient weapons may allow you a choice, i.e. the sword in stone could morph into a greatsword, falchion, bastard or long sword. Others like the arcane staffs may only be sceptres or quarterstaffs. These need to be usable.

To help promote grouping, each sentient weapon might have improved chances of spawning depending on group numbers. This could help with designing the power of the weapons. For example, the evil soul sucking staff might have a large AOE that slowly eats party HP but trades that for negative and ? spellpower. So party members have to decide if they hang out with the wizard/sorcerer/warlock with the nasty staff to help feed it, or hang back.

A Bloodthirsty greataxe could work the same way.

Others designs like a righteous hammer might need to be fed a constant supply of undead or outsiders, otherwise it looks for another cleric/pally/FVS to do it's bidding. The more undead you feed it the more power it gets. Or hit too many constructs and it might just disappear and go find another player.

Im sure many here could come up with a great set of stables to cover popular combat styles, and classes, as well as those above there could be the singing sword for bards, various elemental based staffs, nasty small blades for assassins and so forth.

Unique animation would be nice, even voice overs or possibly party chat. Could even have it's own bonus weekend where spawns go up.

You could optionally tie these weapons to boss fights that need to be unlocked on the server before they start spawning as encounters. Lots of options there, anything from EE, EE at level, X completions etc. Then the weapon is freed and starts roaming.

[HastyPudding]

I don't like the idea of temporary equipment. It didn't work in shroud, it doesn't work anywhere else.

I always thought of sentient weapons gaining experience the more it is used. You find a terrible longsword in a chest, but it's sentient. The more you use it and gain experience with it, the stronger it gets, as in the weapon has experience levels. The effects and enchantments could be semi-random: for example, you get a longsword and you have no idea what it will eventually become until you level it up. It will become clear what will eventually be on it after a few levels, and people will be able to tell what sentient weapon they want to use by leveling it a few times and seeing its 'base' enchantments. Like this:

Broken Longsword, minimum level 1, +1 enhancement bonus
Broken Longsword, minimum level 2, +1 enhancement bonus, +1d6 fire damage on hit
Broken Longsword, minimum level 3, +1 enhancement bonus, +1d6 fire damage on hit, +1d6 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Rusty Longsword, minimum level 4, +2 enhancement bonus, +1d8 fire damage on hit, +1d6 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Rusty Longsword, minimum level 5, +2 enhancement bonus, +1d8 fire damage on hit, +1d10 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Rusty Longsword, minimum level 6, +2 enhancement bonus, +1d10 fire damage on hit, +1d10 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Glowing Longsword, minimum level 7, +3 enhancement bonus, +1d10 fire damage on hit, +1d14 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Glowing Longsword, minimum level 8, +3 enhancement bonus, +1d12 fire damage on hit, +1d14 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Glowing Longsword, minimum level 9, +3 enhancement bonus, +1d12 fire damage on hit, +1d18 fire damage on vorpal strikes, keen I
Intense Longsword, minimum level 10, +4 enhancement bonus, +1d14 fire damage on hit, +1d18 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I
Intense Longsword, minimum level 11, +4 enhancement bonus, +1d14 fire damage on hit, +1d22 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I
Intense Longsword, minimum level 12, +4 enhancement bonus, +1d16 fire damage on hit, +1d22 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I, fire absorption 10%
Fiery Longsword, minimum level 13, +5 enhancement bonus, +1d16 fire damage on hit, +1d26 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I, fire absorption 10%
Fiery Longsword, minimum level 14, +5 enhancement bonus, +1d18 fire damage on hit, +1d26 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I, fire absorption 15%
Fiery Longsword, minimum level 15, +5 enhancement bonus, +1d18 fire damage on hit, +1d30 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I, fire absorption 15%
etc etc etc etc
Infernal Demonic Longsword, minimum level 30, +10 enhancement bonus, +2d17 fire damage on hit, +2d28 fire damage on rolls of 18-20, keen V, fire absorption 30%, fire resistance +40, bypass 25% fire resistance, 5% chance to deal 10d40 fire damage on nearby enemies, 25% chance to deal 10d200 fire damage on vorpal strikes

Thus, it starts out slow, but you end up with an end-game capable weapon, maybe something really strong against oozes, or something that deals acid damage, or a caster weapon that eventually deals lightning damage on spell cast, etc. I suppose you could level them when you want by going to some sort of NPC, perhaps even requiring some sort of special item found in chests or having to sacrifice equipment based on their enhancement bonus to bring it to the next level once the required experience is gained: that way, if you wanted to keep the sword at, say, level 12, you could do so.

[LuKaSu]

I don't like the idea of temporary equipment. It didn't work in shroud, it doesn't work anywhere else.

I always thought of sentient weapons gaining experience the more it is used. You find a terrible longsword in a chest, but it's sentient. The more you use it and gain experience with it, the stronger it gets, as in the weapon has experience levels. The effects and enchantments could be semi-random: for example, you get a longsword and you have no idea what it will eventually become until you level it up. It will become clear what will eventually be on it after a few levels, and people will be able to tell what sentient weapon they want to use by leveling it a few times and seeing its 'base' enchantments. Like this:

Broken Longsword, minimum level 1, +1 enhancement bonus
Broken Longsword, minimum level 2, +1 enhancement bonus, +1d6 fire damage on hit
Broken Longsword, minimum level 3, +1 enhancement bonus, +1d6 fire damage on hit, +1d6 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Rusty Longsword, minimum level 4, +2 enhancement bonus, +1d8 fire damage on hit, +1d6 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Rusty Longsword, minimum level 5, +2 enhancement bonus, +1d8 fire damage on hit, +1d10 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Rusty Longsword, minimum level 6, +2 enhancement bonus, +1d10 fire damage on hit, +1d10 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Glowing Longsword, minimum level 7, +3 enhancement bonus, +1d10 fire damage on hit, +1d14 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Glowing Longsword, minimum level 8, +3 enhancement bonus, +1d12 fire damage on hit, +1d14 fire damage on vorpal strikes
Glowing Longsword, minimum level 9, +3 enhancement bonus, +1d12 fire damage on hit, +1d18 fire damage on vorpal strikes, keen I
Intense Longsword, minimum level 10, +4 enhancement bonus, +1d14 fire damage on hit, +1d18 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I
Intense Longsword, minimum level 11, +4 enhancement bonus, +1d14 fire damage on hit, +1d22 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I
Intense Longsword, minimum level 12, +4 enhancement bonus, +1d16 fire damage on hit, +1d22 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I, fire absorption 10%
Fiery Longsword, minimum level 13, +5 enhancement bonus, +1d16 fire damage on hit, +1d26 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I, fire absorption 10%
Fiery Longsword, minimum level 14, +5 enhancement bonus, +1d18 fire damage on hit, +1d26 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I, fire absorption 15%
Fiery Longsword, minimum level 15, +5 enhancement bonus, +1d18 fire damage on hit, +1d30 fire damage on rolls of 19-20, keen I, fire absorption 15%
etc etc etc etc
Infernal Demonic Longsword, minimum level 30, +10 enhancement bonus, +2d17 fire damage on hit, +2d28 fire damage on rolls of 18-20, keen V, fire absorption 30%, fire resistance +40, bypass 25% fire resistance, 5% chance to deal 10d40 fire damage on nearby enemies, 25% chance to deal 10d200 fire damage on vorpal strikes

Thus, it starts out slow, but you end up with an end-game capable weapon, maybe something really strong against oozes, or something that deals acid damage, or a caster weapon that eventually deals lightning damage on spell cast, etc. I suppose you could level them when you want by going to some sort of NPC, perhaps even requiring some sort of special item found in chests or having to sacrifice equipment based on their enhancement bonus to bring it to the next level once the required experience is gained: that way, if you wanted to keep the sword at, say, level 12, you could do so.

this is a really fun way to do it. I like it