Augment Crystals - A Terrible Idea?

[hong]

The things is... these items aren't for just high-level adventuring.

Having to take two move actions to change this over is a big opportunity cost. Instead of going "Charge, full attack" you are going "change + move, change + single attack". That's half the combat gone already.

Why are you changing them in the middle of a combat? If you know the dungeon you're going into is mostly undead, you stick on your undead-killer crystal and forget about it. Duh.

Note that part of the reasoning behind the recosting of magic items isn't just about the GP cost of items; it's also the actions needed to activate them and the slots they use. It sounds great having five of these gems available to add to your weapon, but it's effectively the same as having five hats: you can only use one at a time. So, a certain portion (and generally a significant portion) of your money is going to be tied up in these very situational items.

Crystals have the benefit that their cost increases linearly, rather than quadratically. As long as that's true, having a clutch of them is going to be cheaper than trying to get the equivalent enchantments on your weapon. They thus have the advantage even if adding and removing them takes significant time.

 

[William drake]

Hmm. Maybe I'm just an alarmist. I rather like the tradeoff with the existing system, it makes for interesting choices. Now, just get a bag full of Augment Crystals, and whip out the right one when combat comes. Furthermore, it makes magic weapons into even more of a "grocery list of abilities", rather than an interesting item around which stories might be made.

Gone are the days of Light Drinker, the +3 Longsword of Wounding and Subtlety, whose blade brought low the progeny of kings. Here are the days of Bob, with his +1 sword and bag of Augment Crystals, purchased from Magic Mart.

Magic MART...thats awesome; but its true. SO many games are overun with magic items to the point that they are nolonger magical....this is just one more step.

Well, at first, from the opening question, I thought this was somethig just for wizards or other magic users. Now I see thats not so.

To put a magic ability, into a mobile system: a jem that can be attached to any weapon, without much prob, does make it a bit Cheezzy. I think of it now as the "Final Fantasy Materia"

I agree, that these jems should be more expensive than a sword with the ability pounded into it since it can be attached to any other weapon that meets the + requirements. But, it shouldn't be able to just be slapped on. I think that there should be a secret word that allows the cyrstal to be taken off, and then you take it back to whome ever can make such attachments, and get it put onto a new weapon.

If you can just slap it on your self with a twist here and abit of spit, then yes, I say the cyrstals are cheep, and render magic weapons alittle more into the TOOLS ranger, rather than interesting and rare items in a magical world.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I do not like the concept of the gems or how they look likely to work.

First, they tend to make weapons mroe generic, already a problem in the game. Now, instead of buying an ability permenantly, you can switch in and out on the same weapon. So much ofr a slightly moe unique weapon.

It also allows a player to cover more bases than before, and the game already suffers mightily from that.

"Oh, an XXX monster? Well, I just reach into my haversack and pull out YYY."

It is a shame, but I will be skipping this one. And I so wanted to see a good Magic item book come out. So far WOTC has horribly negleceted magical items. I mean, see how few most complete and races books had.

 

[MerricB]

Why are you changing them in the middle of a combat? If you know the dungeon you're going into is mostly undead, you stick on your undead-killer crystal and forget about it. Duh.

Yes, but if you *don't* know the dungeon is mostly undead, or if the dungeon only has a couple of undead - and most dungeons have a mix of creatures just to provide different challenges - then your crystals are dead weight without the move action to change them.

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

First, they tend to make weapons mroe generic, already a problem in the game. Now, instead of buying an ability permenantly, you can switch in and out on the same weapon. So much ofr a slightly moe unique weapon.

Actually, what you saw were a bunch of weapon enhancements that were never used. I see keen greatswords all the time. Ghost touch greatswords? Don't think I've seen one. People chose the enhancements that were consistently useful, not the ones that worked once per ten combats.

(Incidentally, that was the problem with the Soulknife's weapon bonuses - almost all were weak and useless).

Cheers!

 

[hong]

Yes, but if you *don't* know the dungeon is mostly undead, or if the dungeon only has a couple of undead - and most dungeons have a mix of creatures just to provide different challenges - then your crystals are dead wait without the move action to change them.

Cheers!

It would be a very strange dungeon (or a very strange adventure) if you didn't have at least an inkling of what sort of monsters you're likely to fight. Now sure, if you fell through the hole into Dungeonland then all bets are off, but if the adventure makes some kind of concession to versim verriso vesiril plausibility, then you won't be going in blind. And as said, even if you were going in blind, it's still cheaper to have crystals than permanent enchantments.

 

[MerricB]

It would be a very strange dungeon (or a very strange adventure) if you didn't have at least an inkling of what sort of monsters you're likely to fight. Now sure, if you fell through the hole into Dungeonland then all bets are off, but if the adventure makes some kind of concession to versim verriso vesiril plausibility, then you won't be going in blind. And as said, even if you were going in blind, it's still cheaper to have crystals than permanent enchantments.

Verisimilitude.

Most dungeons I know, aren't 100% undead, and have a mix of monster types. Yes, you'll have an idea about the main foes you'll be facing, but all of them? Rarely.

It's definitely cheaper to have the crystals than permanent enchantments. That's the point. How many of the weapon enhancements are really worth having on high-level weapons?

Cheers!

 

[hong]

Most dungeons I know, aren't 100% undead, and have a mix of monster types. Yes, you'll have an idea about the main foes you'll be facing, but all of them? Rarely.

Who cares about "all"? I'll settle for "most".

It's definitely cheaper to have the crystals than permanent enchantments. That's the point. How many of the weapon enhancements are really worth having on high-level weapons?

Exactly. And hence crystals are still worthwhile even if they take significant time to add/remove.

 

[Hussar]

It would be a very strange dungeon (or a very strange adventure) if you didn't have at least an inkling of what sort of monsters you're likely to fight. Now sure, if you fell through the hole into Dungeonland then all bets are off, but if the adventure makes some kind of concession to versim verriso vesiril plausibility, then you won't be going in blind. And as said, even if you were going in blind, it's still cheaper to have crystals than permanent enchantments.

Not at all really. A dungeon could feature humanoids, giants, demons, magical beasts, and aberrations quite easily. The giants and their humanoid slaves are digging a mine to recover something for their demonic masters aided by destrarchan and delvers. Now, any given encounter could feature one or all of the above. That means you may very well be swapping in this or that gem in the middle of combat. Particularly if a dungeon is reactive and reinforcements start coming in.

Add in a couple of constructs and some other goodies floating around and you've got a fair number of different types all working together.

 

[hong]

Not at all really. A dungeon could feature humanoids, giants, demons, magical beasts, and aberrations quite easily. The giants and their humanoid slaves are digging a mine to recover something for their demonic masters aided by destrarchan and delvers. Now, any given encounter could feature one or all of the above. That means you may very well be swapping in this or that gem in the middle of combat. Particularly if a dungeon is reactive and reinforcements start coming in.

So have the gems for dealing with humanoids, giants and demons fixed before you go in. They're still far more flexible and cheaper than the DMG enchantments, even without the ability to add/remove in the middle of combat.