ToME WikiIf I artifact a bolt who is "(explosive)", it will both explode and drop on the ground to be picked up again when fired.
Isn't that weird??
Christopher: No. Artifacts aren't supposed to be destroyed.
NeilStevens: I'm undecided on this one.
MayLith: Consider this: An artifact potion, once drunk, goes away. And I've never tried it, but I would presume a certain crumpled artifact scroll, once read, also goes away.
I'm undecided too. I may be wrong, but I personally think it comes down to this. Either:
- the bolt's explosion consumes the bolt, as in the two cases given above, *or*
- the bolt is a pointy housing containing an explosive charge. Expending the charge does not harm the artifact housing, and the housing (due to its artifactness) automatically reloads a new charge.
NeilStevens: If it's a magic bolt, we have a third option.
MayLith: Which is...?
NeilStevens: Magic bolts can produce explosions without consuming anything. It's magic. Thus, an artifact exploding bolt requires no in-game change at all. MayLith: That one did occur to me... it just seems... chintzy. Then again, a lot of magic does. <g>
Simon: bolts as magic as they come, since you need an ego in order to make them an artifact (which is heavy-handed magic in its own right, so with explosive that might be 3 magics). And since bolts can be carried without a shooter (unlike arrows or sling ammo) it's a favorite to artifact.
So what the mysterious third option for bolts?
MayLith: See above.
I think the explosives should go boom only once (after it's a normal artifact), or display (charging) for a while before being explosive again. Or simply (explosive) ammo shouldn't be artifactable, which is the simple option.
In the mean time my bolt of doom (explosive) is doing a killing with +2 extra melee attacks and +40% life. I hope the new alchemy system doesn't allow certain flags on certain eq. slots or restricts how much pval you can have with each flag; alchemy will never be balanced without that.