Heroica RPG Rules & FAQ

[Lind Whisperer]

What's a Zoot's Plaything and where can I get one?

Not certain, it was before my time, but I'm guessing it's another trinket lost away from the world to the depths of Nu Mercution. Man, that place has all the best drops...

[Pyrovisionary]

What's a Zoot's Plaything and where can I get one?

Oh the sad, sad Irony.

[Asphalt]

:devil:

maniacal laugh!

You Don't say? Perhaps we can do business.

[Flipz]

What's a Zoot's Plaything and where can I get one?

Basically, you can't.

(My character is actually a Zoot's Plaything--no, you didn't read that wrong--but he's already been activated, as that's how he became the Plaything in the first place, by absorbing it and making it soulbound.)

In the early years of Heroica, there was a Quest line involving a fantastic villain named Wren--still in my opinion the best villain Heroica has had. Once per Quest involving her, a weapon was dropped called a Zoot's Plaything. There were a few variations, but they all had the same property: when activated, they would transform into a weapon suitable for that character, and that character only, with WP equal to some fraction of the Hero's own.

These weapons can never be traded away, and can never be sold; they're what I like to call soulbound, which is a fancy way of saying "only usable by one specific character". As a result of this property and some larger discussions on the necessity of using the pre-existing weapon types, Sandy ruled that since they were so rare (no more are ever being dropped, unless Zepher drops one in his Grand Finale Quest, which incidentally had better not be called "Finale" ), they could follow the character to whatever class they took--including Expert Classes. The catch, of course, is that it must transform into a weapon type suitable to that class, so a class with melee-only weapons can't use a bow or a broomstick.

Hoke is going to hit like a truck when he hits Level 40, by the way--he has a 3/4 edition unactivated Plaything in his inventory, and if he activates it at Level 40, he'll have a WP:30 weapon on his hands; additionally, as a Dragoon, High Assault deals 5x Weapon Power plus the user's Level; when I roll a High Assault after the conclusion of 103, I'll be dishing out 20*5=100+33=133 damage (before elemental multipliers, if any), whereas Hoke will be dealing a whopping 30*5=150+40=190 damage before multipliers. Of course, his Flagpole is a mechanically better weapon overall (as Skirmisher is a mechanically superior class to Dragoon for me), not to mention that Dragoon relies a lot more on Level than on WP, but those numbers are absolutely nothing to sneeze at.

[Waterbrick Down]

What's a Zoot's Plaything and where can I get one?

We do have a treasury.

[UsernameMDM]

Hoke is going to hit like a truck when he hits Level 40, by the way--he has a 3/4 edition unactivated Plaything in his inventory, and if he activates it at Level 40, he'll have a WP:30 weapon on his hands;

Pretty much has been the plan for a long, long time now. May just have to wait till level 44...

You Don't say? Perhaps we can do business.

Ne-ga-tive!

*sigh* Now if ONLY I could get that Shadeaux Cape and Anniversay Medal...

Edited September 23, 2014 by UsernameMDM

[Lind Whisperer]

Okay, note to self - stick to Zepher quests from the moment we finish 103#. That's the sort of thing that a Munchkin should be collecting. I've already got an Anniversary Medal, imbue that with a few Effects and we've got a pretty good build for when Lind hits 50.

Someday we really should have a way to increase armor of body/headware. We have Bright Polish for Shields, and Grating Stones for weapons... Of course, then again, do you need to already have some armor on something to increase it...

"Looks studiedly at Mugger's Mask."

Edited September 23, 2014 by Lind Whisperer

[Kintobor]

Can players unequip artefacts on other players? I've never ran it like such, nor run into such an issue.

[Lind Whisperer]

Ne-ga-tive!

*sigh* Now if ONLY I could get that Shadeaux Cape and Anniversay Medal...

You know, I might talk about trading the Medal for a Zoot's Plaything...

[Waterbrick Down]

Okay, note to self - stick to Zepher quests from the moment we finish 103#. That's the sort of thing that a Munchkin should be collecting. I've already got an Anniversary Medal, imbue that with a few Effects and we've got a pretty good build for when Lind hits 50.

Someday we really should have a way to increase armor of body/headware. We have Bright Polish for Shields, and Grating Stones for weapons... Of course, then again, do you need to already have some armor on something to increase it...

"Looks studiedly at Mugger's Mask."

Bright Polish can be used on anything that already has SP, including shields.

[Flipz]

Okay, note to self - stick to Zepher quests from the moment we finish 103#. That's the sort of thing that a Munchkin should be collecting.

That's actually not a good munchkining idea--Zepher is known for having long Quests with lots of battles and great stories, but almost no loot. He's like the Dos Equis guy--"I don't drop loot often, but when I do, it's really good."

If you're looking to minmax, Sandy is THE QM to Quest with, but there's a lot of competition (not to mention Sandy tends to prefer Heroes with a heavy roleplaying focus compared to stats players). You're probably better off with Pie or WBD for your style of play.

[UsernameMDM]

You know, I might talk about trading the Medal for a Zoot's Plaything...

Not going to happen, and the Plaything would be pretty much useless to you until you got to a much, much, much higher level.

[Flipz]

Bright Polish can be used on anything that already has SP, including shields.

Out of curiosity, could a Bright Polish be used on the Flagpole to raise its SP bonus? I, personally, am inclined to say "yes" (even though it'll make balancing even harder when Hoke inevitably returns to the Fields ), but I don't know how others would handle it.

[UsernameMDM]

Can players unequip artefacts on other players? I've never ran it like such, nor run into such an issue.

Figured it would work from a role play stand point (Lind being a fast fingered Rogue) using item trading and artefact equipping rules and precedents from other quests.

[Flipz]

Can players unequip artefacts on other players? I've never ran it like such, nor run into such an issue.

I would say "no". Allowing it just opens way too may potential problems (i.e. theft). Better for Hero inventories to just be inviolable.

[UsernameMDM]

Out of curiosity, could a Bright Polish be used on the Flagpole to raise its SP bonus? I, personally, am inclined to say "yes" (even though it'll make balancing even harder when Hoke inevitably returns to the Fields ), but I don't know how others would handle it.

I believe no. If I remember correctly, only the WP can be changed on it because it is a weapon. I believe Sandy ruled that Enchantment would not be able to be used to boost the SP.

I would say "no". Allowing it just opens way too may potential problems (i.e. theft). Better for Hero inventories to just be inviolable.

It's been done with items. Plus, in this instance, I am giving another player permission.

[Asphalt]

Thanks for the info. Man I wish I had found this place years ago.

[Flipz]

I believe no. If I remember correctly, only the WP can be changed on it because it is a weapon. I believe Sandy ruled that Enchantment would not be able to be used to boost the SP.

With Gold or Ether, sure, because in this case the +3 SP aura acts like an Artifact boost (which also cannot be upgraded by Gold or Ether). Thus, Bright Polish would logically work on it like it would on an Artifact.

[Lind Whisperer]

Not going to happen,...

Well, you seemed pretty interested in acquiring it. I was just suggesting a possible way that I'd see fit to trading.

...and the Plaything would be pretty much useless to you until you got to a much, much, much higher level.

True - but that's the whole idea of long term playing. Use today's tools in a manner that builds for tomorrow's higher levels.

Bright Polish can be used on anything that already has SP, including shields.

Got it. Is there any way of adding SP to something that didn't come with it originally?

[Waterbrick Down]

Got it. Is there any way of adding SP to something that didn't come with it originally?

No, otherwise you've got a good way for something to become unbalanced fairly easily.

[UsernameMDM]

Well, you seemed pretty interested in acquiring it. I was just suggesting a possible way that I'd see fit to trading.

True - but that's the whole idea of long term playing. Use today's tools in a manner that builds for tomorrow's higher levels.

I would make a good trade, not a horrible one. I have had this Plaything and a plan for it for 18 months. You've had the Anniversary Medal for 1 month-ish.

Got it. Is there any way of adding SP to something that didn't come with it originally?

No, otherwise you've got a good way for something to become unbalanced fairly easily.

Not true:

ANWYL SMOKEBEARD'S SMITHY

SERVICES AVAILABLE:

Upgrade equipment (+1 point):

Any weapon can be upgraded with this service, adding one point to its power per upgrade. Each upgrade costs the amount of WP the weapon has after the upgrade times ten. For example, when a Sword (WP: 3) is upgraded to a Sword (WP: 4), it costs 40 gold. When an Axe (WP: 6) is upgraded to an Axe (WP: 7), it costs 70 gold. You can also upgrade the SP of shields this way.

You can order several upgrades for your weapon or shield, but the costs will stack. For example, upgrading a Mace (WP: 3) to a Mace (WP: 5) will cost {40 + 50 =} 90 gold.

Edited September 23, 2014 by UsernameMDM

[Pyrovisionary]

Hoke is going to hit like a truck when he hits Level 40, by the way--he has a 3/4 edition unactivated Plaything in his inventory, and if he activates it at Level 40, he'll have a WP:30 weapon on his hands; additionally, as a Dragoon, High Assault deals 5x Weapon Power plus the user's Level; when I roll a High Assault after the conclusion of 103, I'll be dishing out 20*5=100+33=133 damage (before elemental multipliers, if any), whereas Hoke will be dealing a whopping 30*5=150+40=190 damage before multipliers. Of course, his Flagpole is a mechanically better weapon overall (as Skirmisher is a mechanically superior class to Dragoon for me), not to mention that Dragoon relies a lot more on Level than on WP, but those numbers are absolutely nothing to sneeze at.

(4x21+23*2=214 Sp piercing stealin damage) Before multipliers. Can't beat dual-strike baby!

[Lind Whisperer]

Not true:

That's for shields, though. I was trying to figure out a way to add armor to the Mugger's Mask. I really like the gold-prevention abilities when used with Sticky Gloves, but it doesn't have any armor.

[CMP]

Not true:

Shields don't start with no shield power.

[Lind Whisperer]

(4x21+23*2=214 Sp piercing stealin damage) Before multipliers. Can't beat dual-strike baby!

A few thousand gold of upgrades on my Ethereal Decks, and I'll be beating it*.

Is there an upper limit to how many times you can upgrade WP, other than the astronomical gold cost?

*I should really run the math as to how much it's going to cost to get the decks up to 50:WP each, assuming no upper limit...That Linnaeus method...

50(500) + 1(10) = 510

510 x 25 = 12,750 gold.

Yeah, even assuming problems with the math, and subtracting that they're at 5:WP and 3:WP already...yeah, that's going to take a bit.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Lind Whisperer