On Ioun Stones...

Some thoughts on Ioun Stones based upon yesterday's discussion on yet another forum, hope this one will stay for a while


Inventory images (Not Ioun stone specific)

- All Inventory items are 64x64 and mapped transparent by the alpha channel. Just make sure the alpha channel is black where the item should be transparent while dragging around. All areas with black alpha channel are invisible in the Backpack.

- The equipped image is the inventory icon shrinked to 32x32. Here the alpha channel is ignored, so you need to make a black Background.

- Since the alpha channel can be used to blend out parts of the image in the Backpack-Icon, It's possible to make the Equipped object and the one in the backpack look slightly different, for example a glowing aura on equipped magic items. (See: http://home.tiscali.de/jo.ge/toee/ioun_dusty_rose.tga)




Now the Ioun Stone specific part...

- I proposed to make them helmets instead of tools. Thus the player has a disadvantage for equipping a Ioun Stone, and they won't block the thief's tools.

- I'm not that used with Greyhawk, but I know the Realms and Dragonlance quite good. I'm also a AD&D Veteran, with lacking knowledge about D&D3.x. For me, Ioun stones are something ancient and wondrous. Should Ioun Stones really be player-craftable? I'd prefer to find them at random places or on enemies bodies (and only one of each kind...)

 

About your first point :

- no disadvantage if using helmets, as helmets have nearly no purpose except "lookin cool"

- no disadvantage of having them as lock-picks, as the stones are granting the same bonus to lockpick as thieves' tools.

 

Umm. I found at least one set of masterwork lockpicks, which are better than regular, so it is an issue, unless ioun stones are masterwork? (DMG says all magic items are, but that might not be what game is doing.)

 

I think they should supplant helmets instead of masterwork tools.

Anyway, I'm making some new ones (Obsidian Ioun Stone, among others) and just waiting for Chris Wood to come out with the programming for them.

I'll also be adding glows around them icon graphic piccies to make em real pretty.

 

There are some very good helmets in the game (Circlet Blasting, Circlet Persuation, Headband Intellect, There's a magic helm +5 will save, etc.)

Techincally, Ioun Stones have no disadvantage whatsoever. They require no inventory slot, so maing them into a "choice" of any sort would pollute the funcationality of the origional item.

Finally, In regards to Theifs Tools, they were chosen because the +2 granted by Masterowk Tools is insignificant in this game. The lockpcking/disarming done by a thief is usually either so basic that you could do it with no tools or repeatable until successful. There are so few locks/traps that a player swapping to Masterowk picks for that specific area (three chests, foe example) was the least annoying.

Chris Woods

 

Okay, good argument there, heh.

Masterwork it is, then.

 

Not having beat the game yet, I wasn't sure if it was an issue. I just like playing rogues, so I have to try and stick up for them

 

But normally the player can't craft Ioun stones, and rarely a party finds more than one or two of them.

Like I wrote, I'm not sure if it's okay with D&D 3.5 or the Greyhawk setting to allow the player to craft Ioun stones. For me they're ancient artifacts that can't be reproduced. If getting one isn't much of a challenge, then they should be balanced out by a disadvantage. (IMO)

 

Either that, or we remove them from the item creation feat and put them in some Temple chests.

 

Or we could make multiple item creation feats a prerequisite - somewhat like what you need to create Bracers of Archery. That way players would have to choose to sacrifice multiple feats if they want Ioun stones.

 

Nah!

I WANT Ioun stones, I just don't want them as a gift. Paying with one or several feats is a bit to much for those pebbles though...

My favourite source of Ioun stones would be still a strong enemy or his vault, and I should get a random Ioun stone, so that I need to do the fight again, if I don't like the stone I got

 

I dont get where ya all think Ioun Stones are artifact class items.Ive been a DnD freek since the mid 70's and, they have always been kinda plain.At most they gave you a +1 to something(AC, to hit, etc)There were a few that were slightly more powerful, but they werent so much so.
Yes, they are kinda rare, as in not seen so often, but then so were Drow elves as badguys.
With the advent of DnD 3rd and 3.5, the ability to craft magical items has given the spell-user more weight as a class.I always kinda wondered where all these magical swords and such that you found in treasure troves came from, and now I wonder no longer.I see no reason why a spell-user should not be able to make a stone.They can make rings of protection and such, why not magical gems that float aimlessly around their heads?

 

Agreed. Further, sometimes you have a certain helmet on your character for pure looks reasons and it would be a shame to have to give this up just to use ioun stones.

As far as I can tell, there are ZERO traps on floors, doors, etc. I think there are maybe a few on chests.

Lockpicking is such a slow and tedious process that I quickly just made a couple wands of knock. That works much better and is faster.

Rogues are basically sneak attack bots who are also good at being your "talker."

 

Unfortunately the whole system of magic loot really leans on the creation feats.

In general, the best magic items are the ones you can craft rather than things you find.

This appears to be a design decision by Troika to try and make their crafting system seem more of a major facet in the game.

I have not found any magic items that can compete with Gauntlets of +6 str or dex or an Amulet of +6 to con (that's 30 hit points for a level 10 player!).

 

Hmm... I really should start to play the game... Well, when the player can create such powerful items, I see no reason why he shouldn't be able to craft Ioun stones, especially when there's only one equippable.



Paragon:
The special thing about Ioun Stones as I know them is that they're stackable, and their benefits are independent from any similar effects of other items... They were invented in the Forgotten Realms by Contagio Ioun in Netheril, and for two millenia there was mass production of these items. But the knowledge to create them was lost when Netheril was destroyed. (Not wholly, you could try to ask Larloch )