On 11.03.2025 05:25, Xx/v]andrak|≡xX wrote:
Janis Papanagnou wrote:
On 11.03.2025 01:10, Xx/v]andrak|≡xX wrote:
Janis Papanagnou wrote:
On 27.02.2025 18:41, Janis Papanagnou wrote:
Again playing a Monk and received the Load Brand, a heavy
(weight:500!)
two-handed artifact sword made of stone. (Obviously it got invented in >>>>> NerfHack.)
[...]
It's powerful, but lugging around an item as heavy as a loadstone
isn't
very appealing. (I'll have to see whether I drop it at my stash or
take
it with me.)
With obtaining more loot I had to switch tactics because of the weight. >>>> While traveling I stash it in my bag of holding - luckily this game's
Sokoban level provided one! - and when fighting with it I drop my bag
to fight unburdened.
That's ridiculous. The Knapsack problem tells us to sort better than
that.
If anything, a weapon of weight 500 is ridiculous.
I think you should treat it like a defensive base, only pick it up to
move it somewhere or wield it because sometimes you can put together a uniform that only weighs 300 stone and together the two would still be 800/1000 total which is doable. I've often put together a non-metal
uniform for characters as well armed as the valkyrie. This could be
pretty similar. So to me it looks like a Frostbrand I think you called
it. A heavy weapon designed for the wizard to use or maybe the ranger.
I don't understand why you refer to Frostbrand here. I do have the
Frostbrand and also the Firebrand (and a couple of other artifacts);
all are, despite being divine gifts, unusable (read: restricted) for
a Monk. These weapons are all lousy toy weapons, though, if compared
to the Load Brand. I do also have a staff artifact that is usable at
least at Basic proficiency, and this indeed has usages if applied at
non-sleep resistant monsters. But for monsters that you typically
meet in the mid game it's ineffective, so you need another option.
The point being that "only picking it up to move it", while sensible
to organize stashes, isn't sensible for a primary weapon. (Unless I'm
using it as I do to temporarily deposit it in a bag of holding while
it's unused and while I'm traveling.)
I don't know what you are talking about with "uniform" generally, and
with "uniform that only weighs 300". - Do you mean armor? - The point
in this thread is anyway that I'm playing a Monk, as I said upthread;
my Monk is wearing no (heavy) body-armor because of the restrictions
designed for the Monk character class.
I agree that this weapon, especially during early game, should be used
by strong characters to not get problems. But, as indicated upthread,
there's a couple of inherent design issues with that. First of all,
artifacts granted from your god should not be inappropriate (or even
unusable in the fist place); YMMV. Then this specific weapon is, even
in its restricted proficiency form, much better than a Monk's Martial
Arts proficiency at Grand Master level, and that's still the case if
you also wear the Monk's artifact gauntlets.
Obviously the intention of the design decision was to compensate the
extreme power of the Load Brand artifact by an absurd weight. So that
you can only use it if you are strong enough and when either traveling
without much loot, or (as I meanwhile have to do) if you put it in your
bag of holding while unused and/or drop the sack/bag of your loot while fighting. (The latter is necessary because fighting while burdened has
a couple crucial disadvantages in the NerfHack variant.)
Just some points from imagination. It's weird though to compare it to a loadstone because it is not cursed at all.
If we are talking about weight it's the only comparable single item in
the game. - The difference is that a loadstone is a problem you have
to get rid of *because* of its ridiculous weight, while the Load Brand
is an item with the same deliberately chosen ridiculous weight, but
it's too powerful to be ignored given the Monk's alternatives. It's a
design issue.
Janis
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