What could we steal from other fantasy games...

[MaxWilson]

Twan said:
I tend to agree with weimaar. I find item forging in MoM far more interesting and immersive than in dominions. Then of course there may be a lot of balance issues with this one approach.

I had a lot of fun with the Master of Magic system, but I didn't actually need all the variety because I was just going to either forge 1.) a cheap item to get me through the interim, or 2.) a top-line item with +4/+4/Invisibility/Flying to put on my thugs. As far as I know this is quite possible in Dominions. Just make more higher-path items that have combinations of powers, maybe Hydra Armor + Amulet of Luck. It won't be perfect (you can't control the cost separately from paths, and it can't cost more than two gem types) but you don't need support from the software so much as you need a set of rules for forging prices, and those rules don't necessarily need to come from Illwinter.

For instance, some item costs:

Luck costs S2.
Regeneration 10% costs N3.
Quickness costs W2.
+10 to damage and +4 to attack costs F2.
AP damage on a weapon costs E1.
AN costs D2.
Misc slot items deduct 1 from total cost.

So I decide to forge a FireSword which is built on a broadsword but has att 4 and dmg 16 plus Luck. F2S2. Throw it in the mod you're using for your current game (even if you don't want any rules changes it's smart to use an empty mod, so you can edit the rules if necessary later without starting a new game, for instance to fix a bug).

-Max