Artifacts

Revision as of 09:15, 12 November 2007 by Galen (Talk | contribs)

Generally speaking, an artifact is an item with a name other than the kind of item it is. For example, there is an artifact katana called the Blade of Insanity, an artifact radiant scimitar called the Soul Seeker, and an artifact spell book called the Tome of Lost Knowledge.

Artifacts can come from many places in the game. The first artifacts spawned in the backpacks of randomly selected players who had achieved looting rights on various boss monsters in the Dungeon Doom.

Artifacts vary greatly in power. Some, called "minor" artifacts and detailed below, generally are just really good normal items with a name. ("Really good" in this context generally means an item with several properties that are nearly maximum, and perhaps 1 or 2 properties that are a little over maximum.)

By contrast, "major" artifacts (again, see below) often have properties that far exceed those normally available on items of that type. For example, the Ornament of the Magician has FC 2 FCR 3 (the normal limit is 1/3), along with a superb amount of Lower Mana Cost and Lower Reagent Cost.

Some artifacts no longer spawn, some are available through use of the Stealing skill in certian dungeons, some are available from certain monsters and "spawn" in a character's backpack, some spawn as normal loot, some are craftable, some are available as rewards for contributing to the Vesper Museum, the Moonglow Zoo, or the Britain Library.

Some artifacts spawned as the result of specific events, such as the Ophidian invasions and the demon invasion of the City of Magincia.

Though most, and the most famous and sought after, artifacts are of a practical nature (weapons, armor, etc.), some are strictly for decoration. Examples include the ruined painting and Thorvald's Medallion.

Some artifacts spawn with a property called Artifact Rarity, a number that varies from 1 to 12. In theory, the higher the number, the less common the item. However, the relationship between the number and the item's presence in the game is at most casual. The Blade of the Righteous for example, Rarity rating of 10 and stealable, is less common than some of the Doom artifacts obtainable from the Doom Gauntlet, which are mostly rarity 11. Also, the decorative Ruined Painting is a rarity 12, and so is the Berserker's Scythe (an artifact from the demon invasions of Magincia), yet the Scythes are far more common. (The ruined painting spawns only a few times per calendar year.)

There are several kinds of artifacts.

Standard Artifacts

Artifacts that adhere to the policy of possessing the Artifact Rarity property can be classified into several categories.

Other Artifacts

It is also common parlance to call several other types of items Artifacts, even though they do not possess the Artifact Rarity property.