Arena Artifacts (was: Arena Spells/Artifacts)
Rollin Baker
>I have been playing ARENA for a little while now. And I have three
>questions/requests.
>
>B) I know about the spell point savings you get from increasing the
> effects per level rather than the base effect; how useful Shield and
> Invisibility and Regeneration spells can be; AND how to create a 100%
> Cure spell by making the increase 10% per level and waiting til I'm
> a 10th level mage.
> BUT I have heard little about offensive spells. For instance, is it
> useful to create Damage spells that work on a target at range? I've
> found that I'm usually encountering monsters in hand-to-hand, so there
> really isn't time for a ranged spell. How useful are the continual
> damage spells? Should I have a Magic/Fire/Ice/Shock, etc version of
> every damage spell?
I usually save my spell points for defense/utility (ie. Passwall),
rather than offense. Their are certainly uses to offensive spells: I've
just gone the "non-targetability and stab 'em in the back" approach,
generally.
Liches are especially vulnerable to poison. Remember this; there'll be a
pass/fail test later. :)
>
>C) I want to know if I should waste my time on the artifact quests?
> I've heard of the Hammer of Might, the Lord's Mail, the Ebony Blade,
> Phynxter's Ring, the Spell Breaker ( a shield ), the Ring of the Kajiiti
> and others. Are these worth it? The Hammer of Might is supposed to
> be able to turn a man into stone. Is this going to turn out to just be a
> hammer with 10000 Flesh-to-Stone charges? I would find this lame after
> going through the trouble of finding it. I would expect it to be a Hammer
> with a continual effect on it ( so you don't have to keep using the item
> to cast the spell and it lasts forever ). Also if people out there
> have found some of these artifacts, what do they do? The Ebony Blade
> sounds interesting.
I like the artifacts. Most are a combination of lesser effects that are
continual and greater effects that are basically, as you surmised, essentially
charges of spells. IMHO there are several items that are worth the quest, and
some that aren't.
WORTH IT WORTHLESS WHY
King Organums Coffer X 50 GP a week. Gimme a break.
Ebony Blade X Useless unless using a charge.
Pynaxters Ring X -6 AC, even if you never use it
otherwise. Doesn't take up a
ring slot.
Ariels Bow X Kills whatever you hit. And thats
w/o using a charge. (As far as I
know. Its killed some toughies,
so far.)
Chrysomere X An Ebony Claymore, at least. May
or may not enforce poverty.
Staff of Magnus X Useless w/o charge.
Warlocks Ring X Ditto.
Lord's Mail X -3 AC (big whoop) w/o using a chg
Thats all that come to mind at the moment...
I'll post this as well
I'll be happy to collect/compile a list of Artifacts and what they do, If
there's sufficient interest...
DOUGLAS W HIGGINS
>continual and greater effects that are basically, as you surmised, essentially
>charges of spells. IMHO there are several items that are worth the quest, and
>some that aren't.
>
> WORTH IT WORTHLESS WHY
>
>King Organums Coffer X 50 GP a week. Gimme a break.
>Ebony Blade X Useless unless using a charge.
>Pynaxters Ring X -6 AC, even if you never use it
> otherwise. Doesn't take up a
> ring slot.
>Ariels Bow X Kills whatever you hit. And thats
> w/o using a charge. (As far as I
> know. Its killed some toughies,
> so far.)
>Chrysomere X An Ebony Claymore, at least. May
> or may not enforce poverty.
>Staff of Magnus X Useless w/o charge.
>Warlocks Ring X Ditto.
>Lord's Mail X -3 AC (big whoop) w/o using a chg
Note: You can regain charges by having a Blacksmith repair the item, and
you can tell him to spend a year working on it if you don't like his
price. It is no big deal, since there is no time limit on solving
the game.
Also: I'm curious, how much are these artifacts worth if you sell them?
I'm starting to run into monetary problems in funding my "find the
pieces" expeditions, which seem to involve spending more than I
find in treasure (the Labrynthian has so far been the only exception
to that rule, where there are plenty of places to take a nap rather
than wasting healing and restore power potions).
Doug
Rollin Baker
>In article <4MAY1994...@eql12.caltech.edu>,
>Rollin Baker <rol...@eql12.caltech.edu> wrote:
>>In article <Cp1B6...@fi.gs.com>, you write...
>
>Note: You can regain charges by having a Blacksmith repair the item, and
>you can tell him to spend a year working on it if you don't like his
>price. It is no big deal, since there is no time limit on solving
>the game.
This is also how to get more than one Artifact.
>
>Also: I'm curious, how much are these artifacts worth if you sell them?
>I'm starting to run into monetary problems in funding my "find the
>pieces" expeditions, which seem to involve spending more than I
>find in treasure (the Labrynthian has so far been the only exception
>to that rule, where there are plenty of places to take a nap rather
>than wasting healing and restore power potions).
No one will buy them. Try knocking over Nobles houses (email me for more
details), unless you're too scruplous, for money. A couple hours of this
will usually net me 100,000.
>
>Doug
Santo Sengupta
Well, I've been playing Arena for about a month or so now, and I'd just thought
I'd comment on a few things..
ARTIFACTS:
THe Artifacts in Arena range in quality. Here's the ones I've found, and brief description
of what they do...
Voldedrung the Dwarven Hammer of Might - Pretty nice. It's a Dwarven (+2) Hammer (3-18)
It Paralyzes opponents on touch. However, after
30-50 blows, the weapon will lose all its
charges and disappear. Not Worth it, really.
SpellBreaker - This Tower Shield supposedly gives you increased spell resistance and reflects
spells back at their caster. I went after the Shield with a Bard, who,
after finding it, couldn't use it at all. Sigh.
Ring of Phynaster - This ring gives you a -6 AC bonus, and, when used, casts Resistance
spells to Poison, Shock, and Cold (I think).
Auriel's Shield - This normal Kite Shield gives you an increased resistance to Fire and
magic, and when used, heals you.
Lord's Mail - Plate Cuirass that gives you resistance to magic, and can be used to heal
you.
The Coffer - Utterly Utterly useless. You can use the item once a day, and get a random
amount of gold.. ranging from 30 - 80 usually. Don't go for it.
The Oghma Infinium - The Best Artifact. Period. Finding this mystic book allows you to
raise your stats to 'God Like Levels' - i.e. you get 50 (FIFTY)
bonus points to spend on your stats. A true godsend. I'd
recommend that everyone goes after this artifact first.. it's worth
it.
The Necromancer's Amulet - The Second Best Artifact I've found. It gives one -9AC (and you
can wear another amulet in addition to it), casts Troll's
Blood (the regenerate spell) when used, and when used twice,
Fortifies one's intelligence by 50 points. Better yet,
supposedly if the Amulet is worn by a spellcaster, it
allows the caster to Absorb Spells just like a sorceror
Oh.. as you all know.. all Artifacts disappear with use.. but they all can be refound
(by going on quest again..), or according to people on this list, they can be repaired.
NOTE : The Oghma Infinium Cannot be 'refound' - I've tried to do it many times, but the
game won't let me get even more Bonus points to 'raise my stats to godlike levels.' =)
CHARACTER CLASSES:
Between my friend and I, I've had some experience with the follow classes..
Bard, Spellsword, Sorceror, Archer, Monk, Ranger, Nightblade, Healer, Battlemage..
The ones I've played extensively have been a Redguard Ranger, and a Dark Elf Sorceror..
and I must say, it is FAR FAR FAR easier to play a spellcaster than a non spell caster. In
fact, the reason I started the Sorceror was because I was not able to finish the Game
using my Ranger. If, however, a non spellcaster has a few items, the game should be a
breeze..
The Items (essential for nonspellcasters..) are - Items of Passwall, Opening, and Jump.
My Ranger collected Seven pieces of the staff, was 20th level, but failed because she was
unable to open a magically locked door.
IMHO, the most powerful class is the Sorceror. They are somewhat difficult to handle the
first 10 levels or so, but once you get the First piece of the staff (And pass Fang Lair)
you're set. From then on, there are just oodles of creatures that cast spells at you,
allowing you to recharge your spell points like crazy.
SPELLS:
Well, first and foremost - Don't Rely on the spells they give you. They're inefficiently
designed for the most part, and you can do much better than that. The spells my Sorceror
relies on are...
Fiery Touch - 1-2 points + 20-21 points a level. Touch only, save vs. Fire.
Toxic Touch, Mystic Touch, Chill Touch, Zapping Touch - Variants of the same
spell, but of different elements. There are some monsters that are very very
vulnerable to attacks by certain elements.
Anyways, I've got to get running. Have fun with the game, guys.
Toe,