Creatures & Artifacts.

[Tolknor]

I'd like to see some of the artifact and creature writeups that have been in the other GMs games. Just for the heck of it.  I was just thinking it might be entertaining, taking them out of the context of their games, and looking them over.


Black Horses of Lady - 39 points
 2-vitality, movement,endurance,warfare, Rapid Heal
 1-Combat Trained, intelligence, armor
  x3 horde

30 pts Vek-Horse of Vance
4 -Amber Vitality, Endless Stamina, Engine Speed, Invunerable Armor, Rack & Use Spells
2 -Speak & Sing, Shadow Path, Rapid Heal, N&N Forms.
1 -Combat Trained, Extra Hard

8 pts Hernk-Horse of Delwin.
4 Deadly Damage
2 N&N Forms: Horse, (3) Sparrow, (2)Dragon,
1 Animal Vitality, Mobility

Symbiotic Body Sheath Armor-22
4-Seek in Shadow, Limited Shapeshift, Regen, Invulnerable Armor.
2-Speak & Sing, Psyche Neutral,  
1-Psyche Ability, Mobility.

45 Point Grouped Circus Animals-Lions, Tigers, Bears, Puma, Jaguars, dogs, Elephants, cats, etc.
2-Chaos Vitality, Amber Stamina, Double movement, Immune to Guns, Combat Reflexes, Double Damage, Rapid Heal
1-Combat Trained.
X3 Horde

Nogril, Dwarven Ring of Power
2 pt Able to speak and sing, Rack 12 named spells:
4 pt Extraordinary Psyche   
1 pt Mold Shadow Stuff:

[Artifacts of Amber]

I'll have to diog through my stuff to find one but since I have rewritten the artifact system into something more useful to me I am not sure how useful it would be to others.

I had to rewrite the system while running Artifacts in Amber at Ambercon since granting advancement would have meant some broke ass characters and also limiting people when the maxed out an ability.

I have played a Character that had nopattern but like 56 points in a dragon that was his means of getting about. they were almost equals in a lot of ways and the dragon was never treated as a pet or object

[Tolknor]

benedict's Rings of Compulsion: 102 for the rings, 20 for the control ring.
Chaos Vitality-2, trans-5
Double Speed-2, trans-5
Psyche res( Compulsion/control)-2, trans-5
Regeneration-4, trans-10
*3 horde
34*3=102

Benedict's Command Ring
Shadow Manipulation Mold Folk-2, trans 10
Seek Benedict 4
Psyche Barrier-4
20 pips  

Theses were used in my later game as a tool for training Benedict's troops.   He occasionally let players send their followers through the training sessions.

Under Benedict, or one of his drill instructors, a person engaged in an intensive course of physical training, martial arts, running, and other activities.  The wearer of the command ring set the pace and the compulsion rings made the wearer act in concert, like martinets or a synchronized dance group. The regeneration rebuilt muscles torn down by the punishing routines.  Daily Marathons runs , hours of calisthenics, weapons katas.
 After the course the followers would advance to chaos rank in Endurance and warfare (combat forms).

[Bird_of_Ill_Omen]

Once upon a time I played a Trump Artist with Advanced Trump Artistry, Sorcery and Conjuration.  He created the following items:

ARTIFACTS OF POWER
Trump Database [5 points] - This deck serves as the "database" for the Master Trump (see below), stowed in a safe and secure place in the Trump Artist's manorhouse in Amber.

• Trump Deck [2 points]
• Psychic Sensitivity [1 point] - to be receptive to the Master Trump's contact.
• Psychic Neutral [2 points] - to help keep its presence hidden.

The Master Trump [16 points] - This is the remote link to the Trump Database.  This card is able to display any Trump in the deck that the Trump Artist wishes and then use it as if it were the actual Trump.  Multiple Trumps can be displayed at once (allowing for "conference calls" or spying on multiple trump contacts).  If someone other than the Trump Artist attempts to use the Master Trump without consent they will activate the Trump Trap which will display any image they wish, but will open a connection to The Tower (see below) instead.

• Augmented Trump Power [8 points]
• Able to Speak & Sing [2 points] - enough intelligence to follow commands.
• Extraordinary Psychic Sense [4 points] - allows this card to contact the Trump Database from anywhere in Shadow.
• Psychic Neutral [2 points] - to help mask the remote link Trump transmissions to the Trump Database.

PERSONAL SHADOWS
The Tower [6 points] - This is not a shadow, but a pocket world within a Trump.  It is made up of Trump-reality, therefore Pattern and Logrus are ineffective here.  The only way into this land is through the Trump of The Tower in the Trump Database deck.  It has been barred from all outgoing Trump calls except via The Fool which leads to the Steps of Kolvir.

• Trump Plane [4 points]
• Restricted Access [2 points]

[jibbajibba]

Axiom
The Blade of Truth
Pattern Blade
Destructive Damage (
Physic sensitivity to sorcery (1)
Dissipate Hung Spells (4)

Cost 13 points

The sword was designed to purge Amber of the Chaos taint of Sorcery by a particularly zealous PC.


Moeibus
Hugo's Blade
Deadly Damage (4)
Able to Mould Shadow reality (4)
Speak and Sing (2)
Amber ranked Combat (4)

Cost 14 points

Moeibus helped Hugo win at combat by cheating
The Blade manipulates the shadow where combat is occuring to give Hug an edge
A carpet will ruck up, a trapdoor just behind the opponent will open, a vase will just topple of a shelf.
It does all this using Amber ranked combat so it knwo what will help and it works ont eh shadow as Hugo fights.


Cornelius's Deck of Many things
rack spell 1
Horde (x3)

A deck of cards each one imbued with a spell. Cornelius draws a card and tears it to activate the spell.

[Tolknor]

School Rings of Fantalin
Follow Shadow trail-1, trans 10
Rapid Heal 2, trans 10
*4 Shadow wide   92 pips

These were a class project at the University of Fantalin, sponsored by the House of Amber.  Students of Magic worked collectively to create the rings.  Graduates of the program received a box of 5 of them.  

 They could give them to friends, followers, squires, etc.  The holder could shadow walk to the University of Fantalin.  It also helped them survive sicknesses, little injuries, and other vicissitudes they might endure on the trail.

[Tolknor]

Cornelius's Deck of Many things
rack spell 1
Horde (x3)

A deck of cards each one imbued with a spell. Cornelius draws a card and tears it to activate the spell.

I like that.    I can see that being incredibly useful.

[jibbajibba]

I like that. I can see that being incredibly useful.

Ridiculously useful...little bastard

If you are going to let a very bright Maths whiz be in one of your games then when he says he had a month off before he starts his new job read through his 6 page character sheet very very carefully

[jibbajibba]

some lower power stuff      
            
Dale's Lens    - 6 points
Pychic (2)      
Powered by Pattern (4)      
The lens acts like a modified pattern lens. It will reveal, hidden and invisible creatures, shapeshifters, glyphs and wards, hung spells and enchantments      
            
The Nines -Dale's agents in shadow always 9 of them  - 8 points         
High Espionage Skills (1)      
Combat (1)      
Golden Circle Wide (x4)

[jibbajibba]

Something ridiculous

Maelstrom - 120 points
The primal energy that causes shadow storms

Destructive to Elements of Pattern (16)
Psychic Contol (4)
Ubiquitous in shdow (x6)

This was the first cut I made it into a Power in the end and there was a construct called the Matrix (this was in '94/5 ) made from Trump that could control it to a degree.
Effectively the Matrix enables you ro construct a mental cage of trump around the tiny spark of Maelstrom that exists in all shadows and expand it to allow the Maelstrom to grow and destroy the entire shadow.

[RPGPundit]

Awesome thread. I wish I had a current campaign going, or notes from older ones, to be able to share...

[Tolknor]

Awesome thread. I wish I had a current campaign going, or notes from older ones, to be able to share...

oh come now, i'm sure you could whip something up!
I'd be curious about artifacts and creatures in the other diceless games too!

[Tolknor]

Hamsters of Alhuus-Caine's informers.

Vitality-chaos 2
movement-double 2
amber stamina-2
Intel tongues-4
psyche danger sense-2
psyche res-1 (they are often ignored in their passage)
seek in shadow-4
mold shadow stuff-1
self-healing-1
n&N shapes 2 (tiny mice, hamster, tough gutter rat, 3 differant cat forms, 3 differant bird forms )
n&n spells 2 (5 spells)
(*3 horde)

These are Caine's spys.  Jeweled Amber game.

Seen around the castle for centuries and almost always ignored.  They were the birds on the sill, the cat on the pillow, the rat on the stair and mouse in the kitchen.   Creatures sometimes loved by members of the castle and city.  Feral cats that showed up at the doorstep wet and bedraggled and were adopted by young daughters of powerful people.  

They bring all the tidbits to Caine.  In the past it was to give him an edge.  Now, under Random, in his role as Spymaster of Amber, these creatures no longer are just found in Amber.  They have found there way to many locals and in many forms, they supply the Spymaster with information.

[RPGPundit]

oh come now, i'm sure you could whip something up!
I'd be curious about artifacts and creatures in the other diceless games too!

This is one of the big rules changes in LoO.  The item-creation rules have actually been simplified, and split into two types: Daemons and Olympian Artificing.

It was my feeling that Amber campaigns often got too heavy with people trying to manipulate the point-buy system of item/creature creation in order to get away with abuses.

[Artifacts of Amber]

Hence RPGPundit I had to rewrite the system for Artifacts in Amber at Ambercon. It broke way to fast.

I still use the same scale and point cost just clearly define what that means and what you get for free.

So Items are cool things to have but not a real powerhouse unless they are high point items like Morgenstern!. If he cost the same as pattern then he should be as useful and powerful in my games.

but 9 points in an item doesn't make it awesome except at maybe one thing.