Randarts...

[TJS]

The fact that priests need a "blunt" weapon is a bit arbitrary. Especially since it definitely is not "weapon that does not draw blood" because some of those "blunt" weapons contain spikes and other sharpish edges, just not one sharp edge.

Maybe we could make that restriction even more restricted and just force priests to use "blessed" weapons: Temple should sell blessed weapons, and some high level priest spell could be "bless weapon" to make any weapon "blessed" for priest. Otherwise they suffer from penalty just like mages suffer from handgear without DEX or FA. Note that I'm not talking about "blessed" -ego, just flag "blessed".

The way I see it is that the priests have chosen their religion and interpret it in their own way. They decide that their God doesn't like them using pointed weapons such as swords, which means that when they wield them they feel uncomfortable because it is against their own beliefs and that interferes with their praying. It isn't a punishment from their God.

The fact that their belief isn't particular logical is fine, because a lot of religious beliefs are quite contradictory anyway.

From a gameplay point of view it is fun because it encourages different equipment choices for different characters.

I agree with Powerdiver that paladins should suffer the same penalty and it should also apply when wielding bows and crossbows too.

[Timo Pietilä]

The fact that their belief isn't particular logical is fine, because a lot of religious beliefs are quite contradictory anyway.

I agree with Powerdiver that paladins should suffer the same penalty and it should also apply when wielding bows and crossbows too.

Taken real world into account there is no reason for paladins to have same penalty. Major religions are full of contradictions and for example Christianity has been used to rationalize pretty horrible things in the past even that main message is forgiveness and love, even your enemies.

[Tiburon Silverflame]

Applying the blunt weapon penalty to a paladin, is also a much greater negative. Paladins can't use spells to anywhere near the degree that priests can. Also, the principles for the 2 classes, are quite different. The paladin is a Holy Champion, and is definitely intended to be a warrior in the name of his deity. One doesn't hamstring one's champion.

[kaypy]

Possibly what randarts need isnt so much a fixed linkage between INT and WIS as a more general, more probabalistic notion of compatibility between pairs (or more) of abilities. So one makes the other more likely, but not guaranteed.

Datamining the standard artifacts (and probably the egos as well, for extra thematic groupings) should bring out a bunch more common groupings (and a likely extent of them)

A variety of likely candidates off the top of my head (needs more research and less guesswork...):
WIS and bless
DEX and blows
DEX and speed
DEX and Free Action
[stat] and sustain [stat]
[baseresist] -> resist all

Bound to be a zillion more. (And probably some 'these shouldnt happen' pairings, too...)

[Magnate]

Possibly what randarts need isnt so much a fixed linkage between INT and WIS as a more general, more probabalistic notion of compatibility between pairs (or more) of abilities. So one makes the other more likely, but not guaranteed.

Datamining the standard artifacts (and probably the egos as well, for extra thematic groupings) should bring out a bunch more common groupings (and a likely extent of them)

A variety of likely candidates off the top of my head (needs more research and less guesswork...):
WIS and bless
DEX and blows
DEX and speed
DEX and Free Action
[stat] and sustain [stat]
[baseresist] -> resist all

Bound to be a zillion more. (And probably some 'these shouldnt happen' pairings, too...)

Some of those already happen in the existing code, but yes, it's a good point. Ultimately my plan is to have any corroboration in artifact.txt mirrored in randarts.

[Derakon]

Some others off the top of my head:

Slay Undead + SI
WIS + telepathy
STR + DEX + CON
SI + FA + base 4 resists
STR + tunneling