Author Topic: Defensive item activation?  (Read 4813 times)

Offline Belial666

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Defensive item activation?
« on: June 12, 2010, 12:24:07 PM »
We all see Harry in the books take sudden attacks that his duster absorbs. We also see him quickly using his shield bracelet to erect a shield in response to attacks. The shield thingy needs effort so it could be done as a readied action or even a supplemental action at -1 (I think). But what about the duster? it does not seem to need actions to activate.

Can defensive items activate as a response to an attack without needing to be readied as an action?

Offline Papa Gruff

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2010, 12:46:33 PM »
Defensive items indeed activate as a response to an attack. The defensive enchanted items are supposed to be in a state of always ready. When we just look at the rules the wizard even gets to decide if the item auto activates or not. Not sure that this should be possible on any item though.
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Offline Belial666

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2010, 01:07:07 PM »
Nice. Now I can sic Mandarin with 12 shift blocks on my PC group without worrying about him being killinated.

Offline Papa Gruff

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2010, 01:11:51 PM »
Nice. Now I can sic Mandarin with 12 shift blocks on my PC group without worrying about him being killinated.

Care to explain? How are you getting a 12 shift block on an enchanted item?!
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Offline luminos

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2010, 01:17:10 PM »
He gave the mandarin 5 lore, a +5 crafting strenth focus item, and +2/+1 crafting strength/frequency.
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Offline Papa Gruff

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2010, 01:29:15 PM »
Aren't enchanted items supposed to not be stronger then double the lore of the PC? I ask out of curiosity ... can't say I'm solid on the focus/enchanted item rules.

Quote
Regardless, an item’s casting strength after
all bonuses are totaled should never exceed
two times the crafter’s Lore rating—at least
not without a very good rationale and a ton of
baggage. (YW 208)
« Last Edit: June 12, 2010, 01:33:14 PM by Papa Gruff »
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Offline Belial666

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2010, 03:35:22 PM »
That refers to spending extra slots for the item. It does not refer to having a Focus that enhances the item's power that is discussed in a later paragraph. :)

Offline Papa Gruff

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2010, 03:41:57 PM »
Fair enough. It's still restricted by its uses, so it is in no way OP. From what I can tell defensive items seem to deplete fairly fast, at least in the session we had until now.
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Offline Belial666

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2010, 04:01:22 PM »
That happens if your character is a wizard first and an artificer second. If you really concentrate on item-making, you could have enough items to last 4 combats... at the expense of almost everything else.

Offline Falar

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2010, 05:02:22 PM »
Focused Practitioner [-2] (Item & Potion Crafting)
Refinements [-7] (4x Focus Items, 20x Enchanted Items)

1 +3 Strength/Uses Focus Item for crafting items/potions

20 Legendary (+8) items with 4 uses each.

OH MY GOD.
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Offline Belial666

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2010, 05:29:15 PM »
Actually, you get thaumaturgy [-3], which gives free 2 focus items and 1 free specialisation for +1 power. 3 specialisations for +8 focus total (+5/+3) and another 3 specialisations for 12 enchanted items.

Lore 5 + 5 focus +1 specialisation for a total power of Legendary+++  (+11)
1 + 3 focus for a total of 4 uses each.

12 items at +11 strength, 4 uses each.
For defense you get one item at 11 strength 4 uses, one item at 10 strength for 2 exchanges 4 uses, one item for 9 strength 3 exchanges.
For offense you get 5 items for 4 disruptions, 4 physical attacks, 4 mind controls, 4 transformations. All Power 11.
For specials you get 2 items for 4 veils strength 10 duration 2, and 4 teleportations strength 10 duration 2 (20 zones).
You also get 2 potions of whatever you want of base power 11 which you invoke 2 aspects (or have a helper invoke them) to get power 15 and invoke an additional aspect when used for power 17.

Last but not least, you are still a full thaumaturgist with Lore 5, Lore 11 for crafting things like Golems via ritual. If you make and drink a potion of Lore before doing your thaumaturgy, you could raise your lore to 13 for enough time to do a Power 13 thaumaturgy spell. And you can still do slower rituals.


Yeah, that's a huge amount of stored magic. Unfortunately, you cannot adapt to the situation; your powers are prestored. But maybe that's something you have no problem with.

Offline Falar

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2010, 05:42:41 PM »
I'd still go Ritual [-2] due to no templates available that offer only Thaumaturgy and already getting two free Focus Item slots, so the biggest thing I get from Thaumaturgy is one more point of either strength or uses. I can spend that on a level of Refinement to pick up +2 on either or +1 on both with a focus item. Let's say I do it my way, your way.

Ritual [-2] (Comes with two Focus Item slots)
Refinement [-4] (Focus Items, 8 Slots)
Refinement [-3] (Enchanted Items, 12)

Focus Items:
1 w/ Strength +7
1 w/ Uses +3

Then I will have 12 items with +11 strength and 4 uses. The same thing that you've got and I don't have to write a whole new template to do it.
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Offline Belial666

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #12 on: June 12, 2010, 05:58:10 PM »
You can't have a focus item higher than your Lore unless you use a refinement to improve your focus items. Also, Thaumaturgy offers rituals for other stuff like Divinations, Summonings and Wards. You could make them via "potions" like Harry's one-use crystal that makes a powerful shield I guess but it takes more time and you can have only a few at a time.

But yeah, the template is still a problem. Unless you say you started as a focused practicioner and then expanded your Ritual into full-blown Thaumaturgy with more learning and experience.

Offline Falar

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #13 on: June 12, 2010, 06:14:43 PM »
I knew there was a reason I wanted to go for a 5/5 split - other than thinking that +10 is more than you'll need and being a use fiend!

And I know Thaumaturgy is more widely powerful - but if I'm going to make an Item/Potion Creation character, it just makes sense that it's a focused practitioner and not half a wizard. Not only because there's no template to create a character like that, but also because it dilutes the brand of the character.
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Offline Deadmanwalking

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Re: Defensive item activation?
« Reply #14 on: June 12, 2010, 09:24:22 PM »
That refers to spending extra slots for the item. It does not refer to having a Focus that enhances the item's power that is discussed in a later paragraph. :)

No it doesn't. Iago and other designers have specifically stated it means all bonuses. Also, that's what it says. If it just meant a specific variety of bonus it would specify.