Artifact Standard Multipliers
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 8:01 am
Special Note: This Thread is being restored in an out-of-order fashion, with the mechanics-relevant post coming first, and the remainder of the thread being placed below.
Originally Posted by Lord Gadigan
As mentioned in chat, I'm reorganizing and recategorizing artifacts so that there's more structure to their multipliers, which previously were intended to be a general power scale, but didn't really handle that well.
The issue is, I'm currently one category short from the ideal number. I invite people to tell me what categorization I'm most-missing (whether it's something to go with the current artifacts, or something that some new group of artifacts would fit).
Note that higher categories take precedence over lower ones when something fits multiple.
The first category is Mana-Hungry Quirky Low-End (Power Level x1, XP x100). They're bad for artifacts, devour mana in large quantities with a poor conversion rate for actual power gain, and tend to be themed around a specific individual's quirks and preoccupations. That currently contains:
Doctor Grooze's Stunningly Complex Camera
Mr. Zazoo's Amazing Stationary
Mrs. Waldridge's Kangaroo-Detecting Fork
The Hypnotic Fanny Pack of Ronnie Quoz
The second category is Basic Combat (Power Level and XP x10). Those artifacts have a main purpose of combat. They can have other powers too; they're artifacts, after all, but they're basically a really good weapon or armor. That currently contains:
Blade of the High Heaven
Danmaku Princess's Bullet-Rod
Hunter's Whip
Imperator's Right Hand
Magical Card Princess's Sparkling Mystic Wonder Wand
Morphos Blade
Rod of the Unfleshed
Ruin's Furnace
Spear of the Dragonkiller
Surgeon General's Knife
The Dark Fire
The Glorious Blade
Tweed Disaster
War's Wind
The third category is General Utility (Power Level and XP x11). It is the general pile that artifacts that don't fall anywhere else on the chain end up. That currently contains:
Blood Gate Torii
Caduceus of the Prime Healer
Ebon Book
Ego's Mind
Gressingham's Configuration
Joker's Deck
Mattock of the Diamond Mind
Mirror of Dark Realities
Space-Stepping Boots of Maergerys
Staff of the Marsh
The Mobile Labyrinth of Fazhi Woo
The Ruby Slippers
The Silver Implements
The True Meaning of Love
The Twelve Balls of Calibrinatrii the Juggler
The fourth category is Local Governing (Power Level and XP x12). These artifacts take sway over a local area, assert a position of authority, and grant their wielder privileges of that position in addition to potential combat and general uses. That currently contains:
Anathema Crown
Blood Grail of the Red Sun Prince
Chalice of Seven Glories
Citadel of the Fisherman
Crown of Ord Bhelerieth
Crown of the First Trees
Crowns of the Wyrmsovereign
Master Control System
Overlord's Armor
Regent's Badge
The Clown Sheriff's Codpiece
The Writhing Idol
Twelve Realms' Defense Grid
Winter's Crown
The fifth category is Sentient Force (Power Level and XP x13). These artifacts are intelligent, capable of acting autonomously or guiding/assisting their wielders. That currently contains:
Ishmenvanylvok, Blade of Crimson Ruin
Magellan's Vessel (Custom)
The Abominable Murmer
The Institute
The Voice Manifest
The Worldleech Mind
The sixth category is Power Conduit (Power Level and XP x14). Their main purpose is to link the wielder with an expected-to-be-higher-Level power and allow that power to act around restrictions in some ways by helping the wielder/granting powers. That currently contains:
Cabinet of the Viper
Rod of Master Chalberokh
Rod of the Death God
Seal of the Imperial Heavens
Solar Cornucopia of Remiel Helios
Tablets of the Seven Ancients
Tome of the Silent Apostle
The seventh category is Plot-Significant Vague Set Artifact (Power Level and XP x15). Their powers are less well-defined than others, and they exist as sets whose purpose is more to propel major elements of the multiverse than it is to offer specific powers to a given wielder (though they do that too). That currently contains:
Acid Chosen Regalia
Air Chosen Regalia
Darkness Chosen Regalia
Earth Chosen Regalia
Electrical Chosen Regalia
Energy Chosen Regalia
Fire Chosen Regalia
Ice Chosen Regalia
Incremortis
Isquardis
Kulurentes
Light Chosen Regalia
Magic Chosen Regalia
Malantres
Naphlus
Physical Chosen Regalia
Psychic Chosen Regalia
Technology Chosen Regalia
Water Chosen Regalia
The eighth category is Mass Production (Power Level and XP x16). It is a group for artifacts that produce other permanent things on a regular basis, usually in large numbers. That currently contains:
Daemon Gate Rune
Egg of Creation
Endless Tome
Forgemaster's Hammer
Knives of the Paramount Chef
The Dacchenburg Engine
The ninth category is Superior Combat (Power Level and XP x17). They have a focus on combat, but operate in an overwhelming or hax manner that sets them above the Basic Combat grouping in terms of power. One of them alone would be enough to turn many combats around. That currently contains:
Apocalypse Collection
Bardiche of Conquerers
Blackwell's Diagram
Chronophone
Dome of the Lich Lord
Eightfold Imaginary Weapon
Impossible Maul
Invulnerable Raiment
Red Scissors
Skybreaker Hammer
The Angel Flayer's Knives
The Archmage's Knife
The Blade Card
The Crystal Card
The Eternal Pyre
The Fortress Card
The Manifold Paladin's Regalia
The Ramthorian Hammers
The Sunhand
The Tenfold Blade
The Voidhand
The World Ender Hammer
Worldpyre Staff
The tenth category is World Reshaping (Power Level and XP x18). It is a category for artifacts that, if used unopposed, would reshape the world/dimension that they are in in some significant and lasting manner. That currently contains:
Aeon Diadem
Apocalypse Bell
Black Chartist's Map
Crystal of Unconquered Winter
Decanter of the Primal Ocean
Doom Pendulum
Fulsome Masterplan
Geomantic Keystone
Root Error
Scales of Endless Hunger
The Flame Virus
The Great Timepiece
The Labyrinthine Tome
World-Governing Compass
The eleventh category is Omnicompetent (Power Level and XP x19). It is for grab-bag artifacts that are capable of doing nearly anything within broad categories. That currently contains:
Grand Configuration
Lamp of the Wishmaster
The Infinite Catalogues
The twelfth category is Primary Universal Force (Power Level and XP x20). It is for artifacts that assert themselves above other powers and act as a broadly superior power on a vast scale. If unopposed, one could alter some facet of the universe it is in. That currently contains:
Crown of Primordial Ice
Fulcrum of Day
Fulcrum of Night
Origin Pipes
The Compass and the Arrow
The Mask of Conicus
The thirteenth category is Blue Mage (Power Level and XP x21). It is for artifacts that readily gain new powers in some reliable manner, allowing their capabilities to easily expand over time. That currently contains:
Census of the Universe
Epitath of the Lost
The Infinite Key
The Rose
The fourteenth category is Hard Trump T3-Granter (Power Level and XP x22). It is for artifacts that grant or grant-and-elevate a category of power that has T3 or T3-equivalent status; if the wielder already has the related skillset, they become even better. They tend to auto-beat many things that are of lower Tiers. That currently contains:
Apollyon Rod
Cauldron of Serpents
Cosmos Crown
Nemesis Mask
Reaperglass Implements
The Devil's Paperwork
The One Ledger
Tome of Undeath Eternal
The fifteenth category is Anomalous Undefined (Power Level and XP x23).
The sixteeth category is Umatchable Above-Bracket Power (Power Level and XP x24). It is for artifacts that ignore their own Level in some way and offer some multiverse/setting-shaking power that bypasses general character power bands unless directly and actively opposed. That currently contains:
Book of Lorekeepers
First Eternal Grimoire of Talrusion
Fourth Eternal Grimioire of Talrusion
Second Eternal Grimoire of Talrusion
Third Eternal Grimoire of Talrusion
========================
Other notes:
Aegis, Excalibur, and Masamune are becoming Weapons of Legend. Naria is getting a Weapon of Legend sub-spec. They act more like what those are than they do standard artifacts, even mono-aspect combat ones.
The Cosmos Suit is a unique item built by the Overlord to channel multiple Cosmos Crown aspects at once. It could become an Aspect of the Crown at some point, but for now it's its own unique item.
The Mirror of Lyndiros is a Unique Item, but isn't an artifact.
I'm considering flipping the order of Basic Combat and General Utility just to have the catch-all grab-bag at the bottom instead of a weird one-rung-up where it's an exception to 'things fall into their highest category'.
This isn't going to be a retcon in-setting. Artifacts (and new Weapons of Legend) are getting changed now; people remember that they were different before.
========================
Originally Posted by Lord Gadigan
As mentioned in chat, I'm reorganizing and recategorizing artifacts so that there's more structure to their multipliers, which previously were intended to be a general power scale, but didn't really handle that well.
The issue is, I'm currently one category short from the ideal number. I invite people to tell me what categorization I'm most-missing (whether it's something to go with the current artifacts, or something that some new group of artifacts would fit).
Note that higher categories take precedence over lower ones when something fits multiple.
The first category is Mana-Hungry Quirky Low-End (Power Level x1, XP x100). They're bad for artifacts, devour mana in large quantities with a poor conversion rate for actual power gain, and tend to be themed around a specific individual's quirks and preoccupations. That currently contains:
Doctor Grooze's Stunningly Complex Camera
Mr. Zazoo's Amazing Stationary
Mrs. Waldridge's Kangaroo-Detecting Fork
The Hypnotic Fanny Pack of Ronnie Quoz
The second category is Basic Combat (Power Level and XP x10). Those artifacts have a main purpose of combat. They can have other powers too; they're artifacts, after all, but they're basically a really good weapon or armor. That currently contains:
Blade of the High Heaven
Danmaku Princess's Bullet-Rod
Hunter's Whip
Imperator's Right Hand
Magical Card Princess's Sparkling Mystic Wonder Wand
Morphos Blade
Rod of the Unfleshed
Ruin's Furnace
Spear of the Dragonkiller
Surgeon General's Knife
The Dark Fire
The Glorious Blade
Tweed Disaster
War's Wind
The third category is General Utility (Power Level and XP x11). It is the general pile that artifacts that don't fall anywhere else on the chain end up. That currently contains:
Blood Gate Torii
Caduceus of the Prime Healer
Ebon Book
Ego's Mind
Gressingham's Configuration
Joker's Deck
Mattock of the Diamond Mind
Mirror of Dark Realities
Space-Stepping Boots of Maergerys
Staff of the Marsh
The Mobile Labyrinth of Fazhi Woo
The Ruby Slippers
The Silver Implements
The True Meaning of Love
The Twelve Balls of Calibrinatrii the Juggler
The fourth category is Local Governing (Power Level and XP x12). These artifacts take sway over a local area, assert a position of authority, and grant their wielder privileges of that position in addition to potential combat and general uses. That currently contains:
Anathema Crown
Blood Grail of the Red Sun Prince
Chalice of Seven Glories
Citadel of the Fisherman
Crown of Ord Bhelerieth
Crown of the First Trees
Crowns of the Wyrmsovereign
Master Control System
Overlord's Armor
Regent's Badge
The Clown Sheriff's Codpiece
The Writhing Idol
Twelve Realms' Defense Grid
Winter's Crown
The fifth category is Sentient Force (Power Level and XP x13). These artifacts are intelligent, capable of acting autonomously or guiding/assisting their wielders. That currently contains:
Ishmenvanylvok, Blade of Crimson Ruin
Magellan's Vessel (Custom)
The Abominable Murmer
The Institute
The Voice Manifest
The Worldleech Mind
The sixth category is Power Conduit (Power Level and XP x14). Their main purpose is to link the wielder with an expected-to-be-higher-Level power and allow that power to act around restrictions in some ways by helping the wielder/granting powers. That currently contains:
Cabinet of the Viper
Rod of Master Chalberokh
Rod of the Death God
Seal of the Imperial Heavens
Solar Cornucopia of Remiel Helios
Tablets of the Seven Ancients
Tome of the Silent Apostle
The seventh category is Plot-Significant Vague Set Artifact (Power Level and XP x15). Their powers are less well-defined than others, and they exist as sets whose purpose is more to propel major elements of the multiverse than it is to offer specific powers to a given wielder (though they do that too). That currently contains:
Acid Chosen Regalia
Air Chosen Regalia
Darkness Chosen Regalia
Earth Chosen Regalia
Electrical Chosen Regalia
Energy Chosen Regalia
Fire Chosen Regalia
Ice Chosen Regalia
Incremortis
Isquardis
Kulurentes
Light Chosen Regalia
Magic Chosen Regalia
Malantres
Naphlus
Physical Chosen Regalia
Psychic Chosen Regalia
Technology Chosen Regalia
Water Chosen Regalia
The eighth category is Mass Production (Power Level and XP x16). It is a group for artifacts that produce other permanent things on a regular basis, usually in large numbers. That currently contains:
Daemon Gate Rune
Egg of Creation
Endless Tome
Forgemaster's Hammer
Knives of the Paramount Chef
The Dacchenburg Engine
The ninth category is Superior Combat (Power Level and XP x17). They have a focus on combat, but operate in an overwhelming or hax manner that sets them above the Basic Combat grouping in terms of power. One of them alone would be enough to turn many combats around. That currently contains:
Apocalypse Collection
Bardiche of Conquerers
Blackwell's Diagram
Chronophone
Dome of the Lich Lord
Eightfold Imaginary Weapon
Impossible Maul
Invulnerable Raiment
Red Scissors
Skybreaker Hammer
The Angel Flayer's Knives
The Archmage's Knife
The Blade Card
The Crystal Card
The Eternal Pyre
The Fortress Card
The Manifold Paladin's Regalia
The Ramthorian Hammers
The Sunhand
The Tenfold Blade
The Voidhand
The World Ender Hammer
Worldpyre Staff
The tenth category is World Reshaping (Power Level and XP x18). It is a category for artifacts that, if used unopposed, would reshape the world/dimension that they are in in some significant and lasting manner. That currently contains:
Aeon Diadem
Apocalypse Bell
Black Chartist's Map
Crystal of Unconquered Winter
Decanter of the Primal Ocean
Doom Pendulum
Fulsome Masterplan
Geomantic Keystone
Root Error
Scales of Endless Hunger
The Flame Virus
The Great Timepiece
The Labyrinthine Tome
World-Governing Compass
The eleventh category is Omnicompetent (Power Level and XP x19). It is for grab-bag artifacts that are capable of doing nearly anything within broad categories. That currently contains:
Grand Configuration
Lamp of the Wishmaster
The Infinite Catalogues
The twelfth category is Primary Universal Force (Power Level and XP x20). It is for artifacts that assert themselves above other powers and act as a broadly superior power on a vast scale. If unopposed, one could alter some facet of the universe it is in. That currently contains:
Crown of Primordial Ice
Fulcrum of Day
Fulcrum of Night
Origin Pipes
The Compass and the Arrow
The Mask of Conicus
The thirteenth category is Blue Mage (Power Level and XP x21). It is for artifacts that readily gain new powers in some reliable manner, allowing their capabilities to easily expand over time. That currently contains:
Census of the Universe
Epitath of the Lost
The Infinite Key
The Rose
The fourteenth category is Hard Trump T3-Granter (Power Level and XP x22). It is for artifacts that grant or grant-and-elevate a category of power that has T3 or T3-equivalent status; if the wielder already has the related skillset, they become even better. They tend to auto-beat many things that are of lower Tiers. That currently contains:
Apollyon Rod
Cauldron of Serpents
Cosmos Crown
Nemesis Mask
Reaperglass Implements
The Devil's Paperwork
The One Ledger
Tome of Undeath Eternal
The fifteenth category is Anomalous Undefined (Power Level and XP x23).
The sixteeth category is Umatchable Above-Bracket Power (Power Level and XP x24). It is for artifacts that ignore their own Level in some way and offer some multiverse/setting-shaking power that bypasses general character power bands unless directly and actively opposed. That currently contains:
Book of Lorekeepers
First Eternal Grimoire of Talrusion
Fourth Eternal Grimioire of Talrusion
Second Eternal Grimoire of Talrusion
Third Eternal Grimoire of Talrusion
========================
Other notes:
Aegis, Excalibur, and Masamune are becoming Weapons of Legend. Naria is getting a Weapon of Legend sub-spec. They act more like what those are than they do standard artifacts, even mono-aspect combat ones.
The Cosmos Suit is a unique item built by the Overlord to channel multiple Cosmos Crown aspects at once. It could become an Aspect of the Crown at some point, but for now it's its own unique item.
The Mirror of Lyndiros is a Unique Item, but isn't an artifact.
I'm considering flipping the order of Basic Combat and General Utility just to have the catch-all grab-bag at the bottom instead of a weird one-rung-up where it's an exception to 'things fall into their highest category'.
This isn't going to be a retcon in-setting. Artifacts (and new Weapons of Legend) are getting changed now; people remember that they were different before.
========================