GregLink/RingOfGodlyMight

Background on these artifacts and the notation used, as well as a disclaimer on the contested efficacy of the S&S artifact rules, can be found here: GregLink/SandSArtifacts.

The Ring of Perfected Godly Might is a Power (and level) 5 Artifact, created (mostly) using the S&S Creation rules.

Having said that, I present the Ring of Perfected Godly Might.

5x
  4x
    3: Level 3 Jade Hand * (See note below)
    3x
      2: Double Movement, Triple Jumping
      2: +4 Martial Arts
      2: +2 Dex
    3x
      2: Level 2 Jade Hand * (See note below)
      2: +2 Sta
      2x
        1: +2 Athletics
        1: +1 WP (not a canon level 1 effect, as a note)
        1: +2 Presence
  4x
    3: +6 Soak
    3x
      2: Sidereal Astrology Effect to grant 1 WP the first time in a day a spell is cast
      2: Sidereal Astrology Effect to grant 1 WP the first time in a day the Sun is seen.
      2: Sidereal Astrology Effect to grant 1 WP the first time in a day that my cast mark shows.

Side note: Adding astrology effects isn't a canon effect either, but I've convinced both my ST and many wikizens that such is reasonable. The claim is that an effect of Power X requires an effect of level X.

    3x
      2: +2 to Strength
      2: +2 to Charisma
      2: +2 to Intelligence

• Note: Traditionally, trading lower-level things to make higher-level things is totally cheatery. An example is trading a power 3 effect of "+4 Str" for three power 2 effects of "+2 Str each" resulting in a total +6 Str, and thus, a total violation of the intent of the rules. In this particular situation, I have noted that I'm employing the effects of two Jade Hands, and thus, a red flag is raised. My claim, and possible defense, is that a true level 5 Jade Hand would result in something like this: "Reduce the cost of all Zenith-related charms by 5m, to a minimum of 1m". Instead, I've got an effect much closer to 5 different level 1 Jade Hands, each like this: "Reduce the cost of all <caste> related charms, by 1m to a minimum of 1m". My belief is that as such, using a level 2 and a level 3 is actually being slightly generous, as I could easily instead break a single level 3 into nine level 1's, having four level 1 effects left over. As this would make the second effect of "reduce commitment cost of orichalcum artifacts" totally and obviously violate the "can't add low-level effects to make higher-level ones" rule, I went with a lvl 2 and a lvl 3. To me and my ST, this is a reasonable middle-ground. To you and yours, it might not be. Discussion is currently under way to see if this trade-off is, in fact, acceptable to wikizens or not. We'll see.

One of the few truly powerful artifacts created in the Second Age, the Ring of Perfected Godly Might was developed at a Cult of the Illuminated Camp, under the watchful eyes of one of Venus' chosen, and at the hands of their Solar protege. Nearly solid Orichalcum, this ring bears a representation of the Sun as it's face, and is intended to ensure that the bearer of this symbol is as impressive in deed as he is in name. By starting with a fundamental understanding of both the intricacies and flaws of the much more crude jade hands, this artifact resonates with the Solar essence of the bearer, reducing the cost of all Solar charms by 1m, to a minimum of 1m. In addition, it reduces the commitment cost of Orichalcum artifacts by 5m. By embracing the purity and power of the Orichalcum, this resonance is then channeled back into the user's being, granting additional soak, dexterity, and the attributes associated with orichalcum, Strength, Charisma, and Intelligence. Within the filligree on the face of the ring is hidden arcane symbols of Martial Arts, and inner strength, granting the user additional abilities in both his martial and public endeavours. Finally, the Sidereal mentor helped finish the artifact by creating three Astrological effects, each with a scope of a single person, defined to be "the Solar wearing this ring", granting them additional willpower once per day, the first time each of three simple and fundamental conditions are met. As the Solar sees the sun, his faith in the sun's unconquerable nature is assured. As he sees his cast mark, his faith in his own reflection is ensured, and as he casts a spell, his faith in his place in Creation's heirarchy is solidified. The Ring of Perfected Godly might still travels with it's creator, but if another were to be fashioned (quite possible, given that the plans are still on file with the Sidereal mentor), its default design calls for a commitment of 25m.

Comments

So, is this supposed to be a serious artifact or a joke? Because I hope it's a joke to laugh at how silly the S&S rules are. That's not a level 5 Artifact, that's a collection of stat bonuses thrown together to be the most twinked out possibile MA tool. Also, it contains a level 5 artifact due to the stupidity of whoever wrote the Jade Hand. Level 3 Jade Hand + Level 2 Jade Hand = level 5. Which interestingly means that a level 3 Artifact can actually contain a leve 6 Jade hand by trading its level 3 power for three level 2 Jade Hand powers. D0d3, h0w ub3rl33+! - Telgar

To be honest, it's both. (And not to be offensive to you, Telgar, but you and I often see so far apart that I kindof knew you'd be the one to hate such things.) And while normally, I'd agree with your assessement of how the Jade hand can't be 'added' like I did, it's also an example of what 'legal' adding might be. The reason is that unlike, say, +2 Str and +2 Str (which obviously add to the same thing, and make +4 Str), the way I 'allocated' the jade hands is different. Instead of using a lvl-2 and a lvl-3 to generate a lvl-5 effect, by reducing the mote cost of, say, all Zenith abilities by 5, I instead actually used the effect of 5 lvl-1 jade hands, to reduce the most cost of all Solar charms by 1m. So yeah, there's a non-canonical tradeoff there, admittedly. At the same time, another way of writing it would be "Level 3-ish Jade hand effect, covering Dawn, Zenith, and Twilight, and a Level 2-ish Jade Hand effect, covering Eclipse and Night". Honestly, since they're all separate effects, I could, in theory, actually use 5 level one slots, which can be bought for roughly one-half of a level 3 slot. Since I used a lvl 3 and a level 2, you can at least imagine that I wasn't trying to bend it well beyond the breaking point.

As for the overall artifact, yes, it's a hodge-podge of stat boosts. It's custom-tailored to a character that is both alive and well, who created the thing himself. Of course it's custom-tailored to what he wants and needs. As for "how bad the S&S rules are", yes, they can be misinterpreted, and used for some horribly powerful things. And I like to think I've admitted to the places where I didn't follow precise canon (I obviously missed the Jade Hand thing). Overall though, the biggest thing to remember is that high level S&S artifacts have, in general, much higher commit costs than non S&S ones. I've done some studies, showing that what the canon book calls Artifact 5 is often Power 3 or 4, with a much lower commit. They're trading power for commit, quite often. On the other hand, if you really want to tie up your pool, it is possible. So yes. I'd say this is both and example of how "uber-l33t" S&S artifacts can get, and also an example of what you can do, and what your ST needs to be aware of. Many of the artifacts I've had and built in-game have these kind of stat boosts (Especially build-time and Int boosts) so that the next time I make an artifact, it gets both faster an easier. This is incorporated into the game, of course, as the Dawn's got an army, and the Eclipse has an empire. By the time you hit high-XP Ess 4 characters, with a wealth of charms, powerful artifacts can very easily be a regular part of the game, if you desire.

I don't necessarily expect you to agree with me, as if I recall correctly, we usually agree to disagree. At the same time though, the arguments we have do tend to show two different ways of playing and interpreting the game, so I like to think we're valuable to other wikizens as examples. -- GregLink

I don't disagree with powerful Artifacts at all. I've played a high-end Solar game myself and written several artifacts for it. I disagree with this *style* of Artifacts: Artifacts that do little but act as a collection of Charms, Hearthstones, Spells and stat-boosters. It involves no creativity or effort to throw together all the stat boosts and assorted powers you want for your character and to slap a committment cost on them. Yes, I'm sure you worked for a while to figure how best to combine these various effects but the point is you flipped through the books saying "Oh, I want that in my Artifact" and plopped it down.
Artifacts are too great a plot device to simply be a "tattoo of Perfect Mobility" or a "Belt of Strength +11". I loathe S&S forever for creating the idea of "Sword of HGD+2" as an Exalted concept. Maybe that works for D&D but it runs totally against the grain of what I think Exalted should be doing. Exalted needs Gonturan, the Eye of Odin, Thor's Hammer, even things as silly as Sailor Moon's Silver Moon Whatsit Crystal of Shiny Love. Not "Charms On A Stick". Charms are Charms and Spells are Spells and Hearthstones are Hearthstones because their mechanics and thematics are suited to THAT type of implimentation. They're not generic "powers" that you can swap and trade amongst whatever backgrounds you can scrape together.
I actually have to applaud you, somewhat, for at least having consistent themes in your artifacts as opposed to a grab-bag of "oh, this is cool." which is the more common approach to Artifacts by people following the book's stupid, stupid systems. But still, these are Charms On Sticks. And that, in my view, is a Bad Bad Thing (tm). - Telgar

As I noted in the /SandSArtifacts page, I actually agree with you. You've got a strong point there, and the S&S rules are quite horrible for creating such Gonturan (a great sword, BTW) type things. I also thank you for the compliment as to the relative consistency of themes in my artifacts. So, as I said in /SandSArtifacts, everyone reading this? Telgar's right. While these are mostly mechanically sound, they're bad examples of properly colored artifacts. The closest one I've got to proper is the Seed of Autocthon, which I believe has the most color of all of them, and I'd say the worst is this particular ring. It really is a hodge-podge of "Oh, I want that", thrown into a bag. So yeah. Color = good, grab-bag = bad. -- GregLink

Ah well, at least you're honest about creating horridly boring and lame artifacts. And you know what Gonturan is. Which is pretty rare actually. So, you may continue on with your lameness as long as you remember it's lame. - Telgar

Oh - I also know the torrid and stodgy history of your Weyr, my good compatriot. Long live Benden! -- GregLink