Short question regarding Artifacts

[Skari-dono]

Alrighty, in the core book it states that all kinds of weapons can be made from the five magical materials and will have some changes to their stats if they are attuned with 5 motes.  Easily understood I think but how are they regarded as objects of value?  Do they add 1 or 2 points of Resources as their prize or do they count as Artifacts (what rating do they get if so)?

 

[Seiraryu]

A version of any weapon made from Magical Materials will logically be an Artifact.  Magical Material swords are daiklaves, etc.

 

[Skari-dono]

I would actually think of it as daiklaves are magical material swords but any sword can be magical material sword if it is made from any of the magical materials.  But if you're saying that the weapons will have artifact rating 2, that makes sense in a way.

 

[Flagg]

I would actually think of it as daiklaves are magical material swords but any sword can be magical material sword if it is made from any of the magical materials.

Huh?


-S

 

[Jakk Bey]

I think that the question is can you have a weapon that is made of the Five Magical Materials that is not an Artifact.


I suppose, in a world where Crafters are just damn silly, blind, and unable to comprehend the import of such things, you could have a blade that hasn't recieved anything remotely looking like mystical crafting, and thus have a jade hammer that hasn't been prepared with any kind of enchantments or rituals.  


But why would you? The Five Magical Materials aren't easy to work with. If you weren't going to create an Artifact, why bother with the 5MM in the first place?  While the 5MM are relatively common--like jade--that doesn't mean that they're so common that every soldier has a few pieces of the 5MM laying around the house.

 

[Skari-dono]

I was more of wondering if you make a Slashing Sword from, say, Jade, what lvl of artifact would it be?  Would it be lvl 2 like the Daiklaves or one lvl lower?

 

[Seiraryu]

I would actually think of it as daiklaves are magical material swords but any sword can be magical material sword if it is made from any of the magical materials.

I second Still's "Huh?"


Magical Material swords are called daiklaves.  Magical Material Seven-Section Staves are called Serpent-Sting Staffs.  Magical material mace and tetsubo are called goremauls and grand-goremauls.  This isn't a "all women are human but not all humans are women" sort of deal.

 

[Jakk Bey]

It depends on what the dang thing does for damage, how fast it is, and if it's got any goodies attached.


Look at the stats in the PG and work from there.  It's not a straight table conversion--if you're looking for that, this is perhaps the wrong game.


"It depends" is the only answer you can really get, unless you specify more what you're looking for the sucker to do.


A blade that is short, but has a really improved defence rating is going to be higher as an Artifact than one that is more straightforward.  


Instead of looking at these weapons as straight up "Magic Items" with a particular set of Pluses, you might try instead to look at each as an opportunity.


Every Artifact is unique, with some serious history--unless you're characters are making them afresh, and even then, they're bound to have a little flavor text associated.  Even a DB's pretty plain and straightforward Daiklaive has got history behind it.  Rather than just dusting your villains with goodies, essentially turning DB's and other adversaries into just jumped up Extras, take a little time to think about the encounters a bit. Reasons why.  Build on them a little bit.

 

[Flagg]

This isn't a "all women are human but not all humans are women" sort of deal.

I think we need a Venn diagram.


-S

 

[Obsidian Soul]

Not all Artifacts are unique.  Any Artifact of level N/A is almost always unique, any Artifact of level 4 and 5 is probably unique, any Artifact of level 3 is possibly unique, especially if produced in the Realm but level 2 and 1 Artifacts are probably mass-produced.  Using the rules in Savant and Sorceror, it's a lot more efficent to make level 1 or 2 Artifacts identical and mass produce them.  In Lookshy and the Underworld, where they still use Shogunate production techniques, you can even affordably create production lines feeding off the Shogunate-Era Artifact Factories so that mortals or ghosts can mass produce Artifacts, leaving the DB's or Abyssals to work on the real tough Artifacts.


Look at Savant and Sorceror for the Artifact rules.  To get the artifact level for a weapon or armor (and possibly a shield, they don't specify), you average the Resource cost of the base item with the Power of the Artifact to get the final power.  Therefore, a spear or other Resource 1 weapon will never have a final Power above 3 and a Resource 2 or 3 weapon will never have a final Power above 4.  The slashing sword, if it only gets a +2 to Speed, Accuracy and Defence, for example, will be a power 2 item and will, most likely, only be a level two Artifact.

 

[Viragos]

I think what hes trying to accomplish is a slashing sword with the artifact secondary bonuses (Unbreakability, looks good, yada, yada yada) but that lacks the daiklaive benefits in terms of dot adds to speed, accuracy rate and damage, and that likely isnt 4 to 8 feet long. As to actually making it work, look at the artfact creation rules in S&S.

 

[Seiraryu]

Two words: short daiklave.