Magic Items under CBM

[Sir_Dr_D]

In terms of gemgens is it possible to instead of making them unique, make them more expensive and add other abilites to them. They could raise stats such as magic resitance and protection, or auto cast some spell. The idea would be to make them expensive enough so they are only worthwhile for certain mages or SC's equipped for combat.

[Sombre]

I agree the wraith sword is pretty bad currently. 2 handed weapons need to be particularly powerful in order to make up for the fact they're two handed, or they need to be cheap so you can use them as throwaway weapons on anti-SC thugs, who you wouldn't want to give a shield or second weapon necessarily.

Wraith Sword is neither. It drains life, which is good for killing chaff and armies, but two handed weapons aren't really suited to that duty. It does reasonable damage so you can use it vs SCs and thugs, but there are a variety of other two handed and even one handed weapons that are better at that and cheaper too.

[Sombre]

Originally Posted by Sir_Dr_D

In terms of gemgens is it possible to instead of making them unique, make them more expensive and add other abilites to them. They could raise stats such as magic resitance and protection, or auto cast some spell. The idea would be to make them expensive enough so they are only worthwhile for certain mages or SC's equipped for combat.

No.

[Psycho]

Maybe vine shield can be nerfed as well, since it is definitely the best choice for the shield by far. I'd put it higher in the research tree - constr 6.

[Mardagg]

Originally Posted by Amorphous

Also, I have to wonder if making the fire brand less effective against SCs and thugs this way is really a good thing. Big and strong commanders will not care much that you knock off a couple of points of inherent damage, but smaller and weaker commanders will. CBM has already made it easier to kill ordinary troops through price and path reductions of items (cfr Demon Whip), so I have a hard time seeing it as balance promoting to tip the scales even further in the direction of physically impressive commanders.

I got a different opinion here.
Currently,the Brands are great vs chaff and great vs SC`s,all while being cheap.
That makes it a no-brainer almost every time for any SC or Thug to give it a Brand.Thugs with a Brand are pretty good vs chaff,too.
In turn,any SC equipped with a brand is well rounded.
By reducing the damage,generic SC`s become weaker vs specialized SC`s/Thugs,equipped for maximizing damage on just one target.
This is mainly the place where i see many 2 handed weapons in future use.
U could e.g. make the flambeu slightly better or cheaper and it would be a viable choice for anti sc purpose with its triple damage vs undeads.There are many,many possibilties here if you manage to nerf the brands so that they arent a no brainer anymore,while still being a good choice.

[Sombre]

Frost brand isn't so great vs SCs and thugs, but man it's cheap for what it does.

[Quitti]

Frost brand isn't so great vs SCs and thugs, but man it's cheap for what it does.

Indeed, 5w gems and requires just w1 mage to make.

So, because death has powerful summons available it should also have powerful magic items?

Not necessarily so. Either the items need to be toned up or the summons toned down.

Other stuff from Amorphous

The already stated Standard of the Damned is a better choice than Wraith Sword. And yes, I know con6 vs conj9 and possibly ench8 for demiliches does require more research (difference of path 6 vs path 9 on normal research is 3560 RP afaik), and you basically need both to fully utilize tartarians, both construction and conj9. Not to talk about figuring out how to heal those tartarians, and afford the GoR you'll want with it. Still, I wouldn't WASTE my gems on such a low quality item vs the gem cost currently. The pretty much same effect comes from slapping skullfaces on scouts and using the raise skeletons it provides. Probably better one actually. With the same gem cost. Besides, Wraith Sword, should it be used with current stats, would require HUGE strength most of the time to utilize, in addition to very big attack skill to quarantee hits, and preferably used with quickness (10-15 gems or water magic on the commander). And it doesn't let you use shield or another weapon. Only 2h weapons I can see use for are a) some of the ranged weapons b) Gate Cleaver c) Flambeau (or Holy Scourge in a pinch). And the last two again require quickness to utilize well enough.

Generally, for death gem income, it's simply not worth the effort to forge items with (with the exception of boosters, and few select items depending on the situation, which do not include Wraith Sword), unless you have some useful national summons, such as Lankas blood summons or other monkey people astral conjurations.

[Wrana]

Originally Posted by Psycho

Maybe vine shield can be nerfed as well, since it is definitely the best choice for the shield by far. I'd put it higher in the research tree - constr 6.

Agreed. This is the most used shield by far - unless I don't have Nature gems...
As for Brands - I agree with Sombre that cheapness is main attrcation of the Frost one. Same price Stick and Demon whip (CBM) have worse att/def. Shadowbrand is more costly with a risk to user, which is also true for Evening Star (but how famously the latter clears crowds! Definitely shouldn't be too cheap/easy to make). So in this group Fire brand is also the cheapest considering that it also gives FR and is AP. This second group can be used against thugs/SCs, but it still isn't optimal for it - better options are present, unless, of course, you didn't know that you would fight other thugs or are constrained in gems. So - I wouldn't say they should be nerfed in damage, but I also wouldn't say they should be placed low in the research tree as current CBM does. With Stick & (probably) Whip at 2, Frost & Fire brands at 4, Shadow & Evening Star at 6 it should be OK, I think.

[Trumanator]

Originally Posted by Psycho

Maybe vine shield can be nerfed as well, since it is definitely the best choice for the shield by far. I'd put it higher in the research tree - constr 6.

Really? I almost universally prefer the Eye Shield, since even if you run into an unexpected thug it means you have a good chance of killing it.

[Sombre]

I find eye shield, vine shield, charcoal shield, lucky coin and gleaming gold all pretty much equally useful. Which is a good thing.

qm doesn't tend to like moving research levels or path requirements around for commonly used items, because it does confuse people a fair bit. So I doubt the brands will be moved. At most I would expect a stat tweak.