A concise description of the effects of each augmentation crystal[G5]

[Untamed Banana Slug]

This has been a long time coming!

 

Note that a * means that effect is not added two second attack for quick action (confirmed).

 

 

 

Blessing Crystal

 

Armour: 5% to armour (only armour). NO change to dodge.

 

Weapon: 5% to hit. NO change to damage. Applies to second attack for quick action.

 

 

Runed Ruby

 

Armour: 5% resist fire

 

Weapon: Avg. of 10 fire damage* (range = 5-16)

 

 

Charging stone:

 

Armour: 5% resist cold

 

Weapon: Avg. of 15 cold damage* (range = 4-27)

 

 

Runed Amethyst

 

Armour: 5% resist acid

 

Weapon: 34/68 acid damage per round

 

 

Ivory skull

 

Armour: Increases to hit by 10% to all attacks (spells)

 

Weapon: Curses every hit (ie. reduces attack strength by four)

 

 

Tiny Orb of Mist

 

Armour: 10% to dodge

 

Weapon: No observable effect

 

 

Runed Onyx

 

Armour: 5% resist energy

 

Weapon: 25% chance to bestow slow effect on a successful hit*

 

 

Ethereal bindings

 

Armour: 5% resist stun

 

Weapon: Drain life*, avg 20, range = 12-22

 

 

Steel Spine

 

Armour: Damage attacker, avg. 13, range: 8-19

 

Weapon: 22 physical damage* (8-34)

 

 

Golden Crystal

 

Armour: 5% to armour, fire, cold, energy, stun, mental, poison, acid. NO change to dodge.

 

Weapon: Increases attack strength with weapon by six (+30% to hit, * 6 multiplier, note that this is two more levels than war blessing!). NO change to hit/damage for spells. Applies to second attack from quick action.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

From memory, it has been previously mentioned that the Golden Crystal increases damage by the roughly the same amount as war blessing. As we can see, this isn't exactly true. A golden crystal attached to a weapon increases attack strength by six, which is two more than offered by war blessing (attack strength of four). This increase in attack strength not only means * 6 on multiplier damage, but also a +30% to hit. Wow.

 

I think it's blatantly obvious that the Golden Crystal is the best enhancement you can add to weapons and armour, but we all already knew that, although some posters have mentioned that they add the runed onyx/ivory skull to their weapon.

 

The results I obtained from the Runed Onyx support my own experiences of it being a useless addition to a weapon. The Slow status is only bestowed on one out of four hits, and the Slow effect only kicks in one out of every four turns the round after it has been bestowed. If you do the math, that means that the probability of your opponent being slowed the next round (assuming 100% chance to hit) is 1/16, or 6.25%. That's lousy.

 

You'd be much better off with an Ivory Skull, which not only is guaranteed to curse the enemy, but even better, the curse effect kicks in *that same round*. On torment, a -4 to attack strength is significant, as every die of damage is doubled.

 

Of all the crystals that add elemental damage, Runed amethyst wins out easily. You'd be better off adding Blessing Crystals/Runed Rubies/Charged Stones/Runed Amethysts/Runed Onyxs to your armour early on.

 

Personally, I'd sell steel spines, ethereal bindings, and tiny orbs of mist without a second thought.

[Randomizer]

Thanks for testing them.

 

Golden crystals are still the best just for plain damage reduction. This game really needs damage reduction.

 

I use a steel spine just for the extra damage when I have to heal myself in the round and can't attack.

[Lilith]

The Runed Onyx can be useful under very specific circumstances where you have no other way of inflicting Slow and you abuse save-reload to make sure the enemy is slowed on your first attack. I used it that way against certain bosses in my G4 no-magic run. Most of the time, you're better off with something else.

[Untamed Banana Slug]

I guess you could have your main sword with a golden crystal, and secondary swords with ivory skull/runed onyx/runed amethyst to curse/slow/acidify when desired. It only costs 1 point to switch between them.

 

But on the other hand, why would you just use ensnaring fibres or a slow time wand?

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: Untamed Banana Slug

I guess you could have your main sword with a golden crystal, and secondary swords with ivory skull/runed onyx/runed amethyst to curse/slow/acidify when desired. It only costs 1 point to switch between them.

That is in fact what I did in those runs.

Quote:

But on the other hand, why would you just use ensnaring fibres or a slow time wand?

Because those don't also inflict damage.

[Øther]

And there is a limited amount of them. Because of that, I end up hardly ever using those things.

[Untamed Banana Slug]

I tend to horde expendable magic items, and due to the fact that they are expendable, never use them. This results in pile of wands, potions, spores and crystals outside the entrance to every town. Doh.

 

On the bright side, if I want to test the mechanics of the game, I can just load up an old save and find whatever I want outside a town entrance.

[A less presumptuous name.]

I suppose I could benefit from using the crystals, but as a heavy shaping Shaper, it never seemed worth it. I always sell them right away. Maybe playing on torment would change that...

[questionmarket superscrip]

I hoard expendable items too, and never use them. I hate expendable items. The ideal RPG I will never make won't have any.

 

You said that Torment doubles die size. Are you sure it doesn't just double the number of dice? I was under the impression that most of the differences in Torment were caused by drastic changes to enemy level and, therefore, enemy str/dex/int/end. However, I may be conflating with Avernum and/or just wrong.

[Untamed Banana Slug]

Originally Posted By: Quite the Yahoo

You said that Torment doubles die size. Are you sure it doesn't just double the number of dice?

How would we determine that?

[questionmarket superscrip]

Look at the average damage change over (far too many) enemy attacks in Torment with and without a curse (or bless) effect. Of course, you'll want to eliminate other variables such as armor.

 

Anyway, I'm skeptical that the -4 for curse is equally significant on Torment. My guess is that Torment adds dice and therefore the -4 is less significant.

[Acky]

Oh, this is pwetty. Thanks for doing this.

 

The Last Archon

[Thrasher]

Yes, thanks! This was sorely needed!

[Malignment]

this should be added to the sticky thread on strategies, imo

[Randomizer]

It was weeks ago.

[Malignment]

my apologies, I didnt see it in the list on first scan

[Thrasher]

Which, if any, of the weapon effects affect spellcasting?

[The Ratt]

I don't think any do, but I'm not sure. Maybe the draining effect since that is similar to Vampire touch.

[Acky]

Just a quick correction: The Ivory Skull doesn't curse its enemy *every* time. More like 9/10ths of the time, but I just had a cursed blade not curse its target.

[Dikiyoba]

Are you sure you just didn't hit a target who was blessed or had some other beneficial effect on them?

 

Dikiyoba.

[Acky]

I hit those Clawbugs north of Kratoa-Kel. I gave my Charmed Falchion an Ivory Skull. I wasn't cursing the clawbugs everytime. Most of the time, which makes me suspect that its set pretty high, but I didn't curse them everytime.

 

To make sure it wasn't a random bug, I ventured into those Cryoa infested woods near the brewry. Same deal. I'd curse them most of the time, but not everytime.

[Flipstylez]

Originally Posted By: Untamed Banana Slug

This has been a long time coming!


The results I obtained from the Runed Onyx support my own experiences of it being a useless addition to a weapon. The Slow status is only bestowed on one out of four hits, and the Slow effect only kicks in one out of every four turns the round after it has been bestowed. If you do the math, that means that the probability of your opponent being slowed the next round (assuming 100% chance to hit) is 1/16, or 6.25%. That's lousy.

You'd be much better off with an Ivory Skull, which not only is guaranteed to curse the enemy, but even better, the curse effect kicks in *that same round*. On torment, a -4 to attack strength is significant, as every die of damage is doubled.

Of all the crystals that add elemental damage, Runed amethyst wins out easily. You'd be better off adding Blessing Crystals/Runed Rubies/Charged Stones/Runed Amethysts/Runed Onyxs to your armour early on.

Personally, I'd sell steel spines, ethereal bindings, and tiny orbs of mist without a second thought.

So is this still confirmed? About the slow thing? Man that sucks. I shouldn't have used slow on my Flaming Sword then, shouldve went with Curse... =/

[Flipstylez]

Does anyone know how long the Curse lasts? I have Curse augmentation and I like to switch weapons. I'm used to right-clicking the enemy and see if it's still "cursed" or "slowed", in G5, I wouldn't know if they are still cursed, slowed or not...

[Randomizer]

You are supposed to see colored dots and other shapes swirl around a monster to denote what is affecting it.

[Flipstylez]

i see, it would be nice to know which of the dots is which.

[ArchMage81]

I got a question, if i craft fyroaskin cloak with a Runed Ruby, will it have 10FR ( 5 from the cloak and 5 added from ruby?)