Suggestion: Magicsmith Workshop + Gold Sink

[Steve]

Hello,
Let me preface this post by saying: I have absolutely no idea how to build this! Not that I couldn't apply myself to learn and implement, but I have 3 jobs, and 2 languages still to learn! I admire those that can code, and are WILLING to do such for BGTSCC—I can only hope my idea "has legs." And, I can imagine additional creative minds and mechanics gatekeepers could sharpen this initial proposal.

The suggestion is:

Item Enchancement Magicsmith Workshop (NPC)

It is not crafting, and actually, something far more useful to PCs, and thus Players. I will explain and illustrate my suggestion with some detail.

What I envision is a NPC Magicsmith, that can mechanically enhance Items, as well as remove enhancements/properties, all for a very large sum of gold coin, within preset limits, as to not make any Items created from this system to be beyond what a DM could grant a Player (and perhaps nothing beyond what the Epic NPC Merchants offer in terms of mechanical power). Note: I only remember the Limits that DMs had in the past, for Item granting. This may have changed in the 6 years since I was a DM on BGTSCC.

The System:

1. Function #1 - Property Removal(s)
The NPC Magicsmith, for the cost of 250,000 gp, can remove any property (EB, AB, -x Weakness, ASF, etc.) from any Item. Thus, when you the Player have found on your PC a very useful Item, but said Item also has a negative property which makes its usefulness lacking, you could ACTUALLY remove said negative Property. What a boon! As well, say you found a great item but with AB +1 and a bunch of other Properties, and you want to change the AB to EB (I'll explain further later...), you would First need to remove the AB for 250k gp, THEN you'll be adding back Enhancements, for additional cost.

2. Function #2 - Enhancement Additions
The NPC Magicsmith, for the cost of 100,000 gp per Value (100k for +1, 200k for +2, 300k for +3, 100k for each Property added, etc.) can add Enhancements to any Item (perhaps some enhancements will be disallowed or have their Values locked at low + levels—for example Vamp Regen can not be added above +2).

The Limit, the absolute limit per Item, would be: 4 Properties Total (EB, AB, Keen, Bonus DMG, Ability Bonus, etc.), with the 4 Properties limited to a Value Spread no greater than 1x +4, 1x +3, 2x +1 or 1x +4 , 2x +2, plus Keen (an example) or 2x +3, 1x +2, plus Keen (any Feat really) etc. This Value Spread would be based off the old limits DMs could provide players, but at the least, should match the Limit for Epic Store Items. Note the importance of the Removal Function, so that a Player could prepare an Item for Enhancement, which does have an even greater final cost!

But the GREAT AND WONDERFUL DIFFERENCE is that Players customize their Gear for a massive Gold Sink.

So, imagine this basic scenario: you want to make a Weapon Master with a specific Longsword. Your PC buys a basic Longsword. Then, in order to "craft" it upwards to Epic Quality, your PC would need to spend 400k gp for +4 EB, 300k gp for +3 STR, 100k for Taunt Skill +1 and 100k for Intimidate +1. That is a total of 900,000 gp in order to get a GREAT longsword customized to your PC and your RP, and NOT better than what can currently be purchased for half the price at an Epic NPC Merchant.

The Cost and Value Spread needs review and greater thought, but the basic principle is this: give Players the ability to "craft" custom Items instead of always have to create new NPC merchant Items that are never enough nor never "appropriate," and, most importantly, a massive Gold Sink. Yes, MASSIVE gold sink. Ridiculous amount of coin, but hey, coin becomes valuable again, because EVERYONE will want to customize Items.

Now, I offer one more aspect, in order to prevent the Server from being flooded with Epic Custom Items: make all Items received from the NPC Magicsmith Merchant be set as Plot Items, and cannot be traded or muled from PC to PC. The Item gets locked to a PC Name, so it will allow for an RCR and not cause Item loss.

This proposed System should not replace anything that isn't already setup on BGTSCC. Players can still adventure, still find "great loot," still purchase what is already available from Epic NPC Merchants at current gp costs. But now, Players who have wealth beyond measure and want to custom-fit a PC, will soon become paupers needing to adventure again!

On a personal note, what makes me the most excited about this proposed system is the Removal aspect. I cannot tell you how many Items I've found over the years that were pretty good, but had something like -2 Shield AC, or -2 CHA, or 50% additional ASF, etc, and just ruined the nice find. And if I could have saved up coin and used a NPC to remove that stinker Property, oh Ao, what rejoicing! But alas, I just sold off the Item for 1300gp...because I knew no other Player in their right mind would buy it. And to this day, you see PCs with Items on the Mudd Auction House with such stinker Properties, and you want to buy it, but you just don't because no one wants stinker properties!

That said, obviously, I would adventure like a mad man on some of my PCs just in order to finally get a suitable (re:custom) X Item. As a Player, one of my PCs has such an Item, that was a combination of a decent Loot find and a multiple-year RP effort that led to a moment with the DM Team granted me an upgrade for stellar RP performance. It is now what I would consider a very Epic Item. Yet, it is 1 Item in 10+ years of BGTSCC.

I don't think ANY Player should have to wait that long to get some custom Items for their PC, nor should have it happen only once, then never again, no matter if they RP'd more or less than before!

To say again: it is a proposal. I imagine that Devs and QC and DMs would have their say about it, and rightfully so, to tailor up or down the basic proposal and the Value Spread. But I think it goes without saying that what BGTSCC needs is some form of "crafting," and also desperately needs some massive form of gold sink, like yesterday. Yet, without changing what is already better, in the new Loot Balance, for newbies who come on board with nothing, from scratch. But would have goals to utilize a tool such as this!

Thoughts? Cheers.

EDIT: if you don't like this idea, I appreciate that opinion. I didn't say it was the BEST idea ever, but something that would have benefits...maybe too good of benefits!??

[yyj]

This is an amazing idea!

I think it will also improve RP and PCs acting as crafters too.

I wish I had any suggestions for this but it seems you covered it all, maybe staff will want to tweak prices and enchantments but otherwise this looks super solid I hope a dev gets interested in it.

Good work.

[Ariella]

Honestly any kind of crafting would be great.

[EasternCheesE]

This is so simple yet genious idea!
It can be even supplemented with crafting skills checks for more properties/better properties or slightly reduced cost (say, having 20% discount with huge skillz). That would allow players to actually play crafters not from only rp reasons, but also having those otherwise useless craft skills being worth taking.

[Svabodnik]

QC would potentially need to hash out the involved mechanics/limitations/costs etc., but I'm for it if balanced properly, and to be honest sounds like a potential option for a rudimentary crafting system if a similar system is tied to a crafting bench (with a smaller comparable gold cost) but would instead require a properly skilled character to use.

I mean, nothing preventing the performance of any magicsmith function to be tied to a skill check. For instance, working on a weapon? Craft (Weapon). Fancy new threads? Craft (Armor) may work. Either alternatively or additionally, could check for caster level, presence of crafting feats based on the item type, and/or require a Spellcraft check. The DCs for any reliant check could scale in accordance to the value of the augmentation. The involvement of a crafter could be no different than finding an Appraiser to knock a few (tens of thousands) gold pieces from an epic shop purchase, in comparison to doing it with solo gold investment.

EDIT: To clarify, if the untradable tag is intended to be used on the crafted items, may require two nodes of access - one to select the augmentations to the weapon, and another for an additional crafter to use if not performing the task solo. Kind of like how the wand recharger has the container, but the 'recharge' button can be accessed separately.

[Valefort]

That property removal actually sounds interesting to me, unlike crafting

Gear optimization at the cost of plot status wouldn't be so bad with some limitations, such as only one or two such items equipped at the same time plus maybe having to renew the enchantment from time to time (thinking months long durations).

[abousalif]

II would really like that to be implemented. That would be awesome

[zhazz]

I like this as well.

It is actually quite close to what is present on Sigil. Except they don't even have removal of properties.

My only concern is that with a purely monetary cost there will be a sudden spike in the power gap between old players, and relatively new players. Some of the older players have millions of gold stored away, and while I welcome this as a means to get rid of that gold (to help the economy), they may end up receiving such an intense power boost that even the most difficult content on the server becomes trivialized for them. Which, with the recent changes to chests and loot in general, will turn their stored previously useless gold into a real tangible benefit, where they can much more easily farm the best content.

I will suggest adding a limited resource to the "crafting". Either as a form of lootable item that must be obtained from the more dangerous bosses; or as a timed gateway, where the alteration of properties can only be done once per week. That would at least still get rid of millions of gold over the course of a few months, but it wouldn't cause an instant spike of power over the course of a merely few days.

Regardless, it's a good suggestion, and I'd be happy to see it implemented. I'll also be happy to help work out such a system, should the devs want some input from multiple sources

[Steve]

That property removal actually sounds interesting to me, unlike crafting

Gear optimization at the cost of plot status wouldn't be so bad with some limitations, such as only one or two such items equipped at the same time plus maybe having to renew the enchantment from time to time (thinking months long durations).

I'm thinking that everyone would agree that a 2 custom-masterwork Items per PC limit would be a significant improvement over the current paradigm.

While I appreciate some form of renewal or "tax" system to keep these Items valid, it would totally ruin the experience for Players that take long breaks of months to years, to come back and have their 1,000,000 gp masterwork Item no longer existent or functional?!? I, personally, would be pissed beyond belief!

But...can I just say that I hope you, Valefort, are seeing potential here and maybe...inspiration?!?

[Steve]

IMy only concern is that with a purely monetary cost there will be a sudden spike in the power gap between old players, and relatively new players. Some of the older players have millions of gold stored away, and while I welcome this as a means to get rid of that gold (to help the economy), they may end up receiving such an intense power boost that even the most difficult content on the server becomes trivialized for them. Which, with the recent changes to chests and loot in general, will turn their stored previously useless gold into a real tangible benefit, where they can much more easily farm the best content.

A very valuable concern. However, if it would be limited to 2 custom-masterwork Items per PC, I don't think it would tip the scales to much. Also, considering, that the Magicsmith Workshop NPC would be unable to "Craft" Items greater in power to those available at the current Epic NPC merchants. I mean, you have to admit that some of the Items currently available are super powerful! Albeit, only X number of PCs can actually utilize such static Items, where a custom enhancement system opens near infinite power upgrades.

Which is why some more thought needs to go into the System, overall.

[Steve]

I mean, nothing preventing the performance of any magicsmith function to be tied to a skill check. For instance, working on a weapon? Craft (Weapon). Fancy new threads? Craft (Armor) may work.

It would be a nice bonus that, with Skills invested in certain Crafting options, some form of discount could be had. And, the idea more skilled PCs could assist lesser Skilled PCs in the event of the Magicsmith Workshop, that is a nice RP support. As long as dependencies are not prohibitive to the experience, meaning, you as the Player really will not need to wait on others, but COULD benefit by waiting on others.