The NPC Enchanter--A new Idea for CB2 (in General)

Every once in a while I come up with an idea and propose it in this forum. Usually I don't think of why those ideas won't work well--but that's what the forum is for, right? Anyway, this idea is pretty radical, and that's probably why it won't work. Maybe too much coding, or maybe it just can't be done. But, here it is:

Currently we have a Blacksmith and he improves the stats for our weapons and armor for a fee. We also have a Tattoo Artist that can ink our tattoos and change them for us for a fee. I propose a new NPC, an Enchanter. The Enchanter can imbue our items with magical qualities to enhance them. Again, this would be for a fee, and the enchantment can have a finite time, as in item naming (or not).

Armor can be enchanted or imbued to give the wearer additional Hit Points, Strength, Dexterity, Protection or Endurance. Weapon items can be imbued to give the user Bloodlust, Vampiric Aura, Evasion, Archery, and Unarmed Combat. Ammo cannot be imbued.

This would add another dimension to the game by allowing players to customize their equipment and fine tune their strategies. It would also allow for another cash sink. Imbued items would become more valuable than non-imbued items. Even non-rare items can become valuable once imbued.

What do you all think. Please be gentle :)

Awesome idea, only it would have to be a random thing.

the "idea" sounds very cool imo but i doubt it will enter CB2. we can dream for it on CB3 though :)

I like it, though I have not really thought any of it out and tried to decide whether it would really be a good idea ; )

I assume tattoos would not be imbue-able (giving somewhat of an advantage to tanks?)

I'm sure this has been suggested before and shot down.

Would you then get rid of the bonuses on existing items? And decimate their market value / usefulness? Or perhaps make a new class of items? I vote for the latter - dwarven gear! The dwarves had reasonable enchanting abilities, and the practical minds to think of the flexibility to change the enchantment. But perhaps limit the types of enchantments to avoid too much on one type of stat (there's lots of dex and strength gear out there today).

Cool responses so far:

Chargerz: I didn't consider a random imbue ( a la Diablo 2) but that's a cool idea too.

Megman: CB3? I want it now :)

Slayer: No tattoes for the Enchanter--they go to the TA

Maelstrom: I haven't seen or read this idea before. Maybe you thought of it before and forgot about it :)

GMAx: I wouldn't get rid of current item bonuses. And ONLY ONE IMBUE PER ITEM. That would keep things sane and workable.

And while we at it, let's add graphics to cb2 :)

This idea is cool though.

Maybe it was the Enchanter Tattoo idea I was thinking about.

Anyway, I think G Max's idea of special "enchant-able" items would be better, since otherwise items could get way too powerful, even with just a single enchant.

A separate class of armor--maybe--sort of like we have separate Power Shields. Maybe Power Armor? But I don't think you have to do that. One enchnatment per item would keep things reasonable. Plus, you wouldn't want to create a new class of weapons. Regarding the strength and dex armor that adds per plus, it depends on how the enchantment is going to be stacked. If done right I don't think you can make one item too powerful.

Or just restrict it to items that don't have an enchantment effect already. Then ensure the inherent effects of the rares would be more cost effective then customized enchantments. Flexibility or Cost Effective Power, your choice.

The balance issues with this are just horrendous. There's a reason that Jon eliminated TSA: Bloodlust items are apparently a bad idea that way.

Anyhow, there's a reason only specific items have the ability to affect certain intrinsics: For instance, strength affecting items are cheaper to upgrade because strength is less important then dex affecting items.

You would not believe how many things Jon considers before allowing MH-type imbduements to be implimented. For this to be approved, you'd have to get each case by him.

So in that scenario elven gear, CoI, BG, TG, DB, power shields, Gi, HG, corn would NOT be able to be imbued by the NPC Enchanter. All other armor would be able to be enchanted to enhance stats like HP, Str, Dex, Endurance and Protection.

As far as weapons are concerned lets say enchanted weapons like Morg, BoTH, VB, AxBow and ExBow would NOT be able to be imbued. All other weapons could be enchanted to enhance stats like VA, BL, Evasion, Archery, and UC.

Ammo can't be imbued.

I like the idea of an expiration date for the enchantment also. Is 12 months too long?

I can also see how this can be very broken. (Imbue huge AC items i.e. Adam/CML with dexterity boosts)

But it's still fun to think about. How about a different kind of expiration method: Number of fights! So you could imbue an item for 10,000 fights (not including defensive) until the enchantment expires.