Minor Quibble

[sffp]

My @ just picked up the Small Metal Shield of Thorin (a most useful device)

My quibble isn't the usefulness of Resist Chaos or -1 to stealth for my level 16 hobbit rogue at dl 12

But the man's (okay, dwarf's) name is Thorin Oakenshield. Should his artifact shield be made of metal?

Don't get me wrong (5 +25) AC, immunity to Acid, +3 Str +4 Con, protection from sound, FA, ProtFear. I am wielding this thing!

But shouldn't it be made of wood?

[DavidMedley]

And not no pine, neither! I'm looking for SOLID OAK!!

[Sky]

lol not at all. get your LOTR facts straight, boy.

Thorin II was born to Dwarven prince Thráin II ..

..he participated in the Battle of Azanulbizar in TA 2799. [/] At some point in the fighting, his shield broke, and using an oaken tree branch found on the floor as a shield, he gained the epithet "Oakenshield," which would remain with him even in death.

[backwardsEric]

Originally Posted by Sky

Thorin II was born to Dwarven prince Thráin II ..

..he participated in the Battle of Azanulbizar in TA 2799. [/] At some point in the fighting, his shield broke, and using an oaken tree branch found on the floor as a shield, he gained the epithet "Oakenshield," which would remain with him even in death.

Current versions of hengband have a club of Samson as an artifact:

This is the donkey's jawbone that Samson used to defeat a Philistine Army.
Lightweight but effective, this club's sacred power is especially deadly against evil foes.

So there's a precedent, perhaps questionable, for basing an artifact on something a well-known figure happened to pick up on the battlefield.

[Sky]

i mean, sure, you could have The Oak Branch Of Thorin Oakenshield as an artifact - and that would totally be made of oak.
But the shield of Thorin, Son of Thrain has no particular reason to be made out of oak.

[sffp]

Originally Posted by Sky

i mean, sure, you could have The Oak Branch Of Thorin Oakenshield as an artifact - and that would totally be made of oak.
But the shield of Thorin, Son of Thrain has no particular reason to be made out of oak.

My take is that an artifact is imbued with it's power at exactly moments like Thorin's showdown with Azog. The Valar looked down on the young dwarf prince and saw his bravery in the face of the overwhelming opponent and granted that mighty oak with POWER.

But, like I said, I quibble.

It's funny because that shield cost my @ its life because without it I would have worn the knight's shield of preservation which include RPoison.

I had a heck of a shield choice...

[Adam]

I don't know the situation but maybe the +3 stealth or ESP could have also saved your @.

[DavidMedley]

Not to pile on, but you saw green wake up at least 2 turns before it breathed on you. Not that we haven't all missed crucial info like this.

> The mature green dragon wakes up.
> You hit the air elemental. It was a good hit!
> You have destroyed the air elemental.
> You freeze the cave troll.
> You have slain the cave troll.
> The mature green dragon breathes poison.
...
> You die.

[archolewa]

Originally Posted by sffp

It's funny because that shield cost my @ its life because without it I would have worn the knight's shield of preservation which include RPoison.

I had a heck of a shield choice...

I feel you. These days I have a hard requirement: FA, and resistance for all the basic elements and poison. I will sacrifice pretty much everything else for those. Maybe Ill give up poison or a basic element resist for ESP depending on my depth and class, but if I do, I stay very far away from enemies that do the damage I dont resist. I like being protected against the occasional mistake.

[Ed_47569]

Originally Posted by sffp

My take is that an artifact is imbued with it's power at exactly moments like Thorin's showdown with Azog. The Valar looked down on the young dwarf prince and saw his bravery in the face of the overwhelming opponent and granted that mighty oak with POWER.

But, like I said, I quibble.

It was actually Thorin's cousin, Dain II (Ironfoot), that slew Azog at the Battle of Azanulbizar, immediately avenging the death of his father Nain. Dain II then becomes King Under the Mountain after Thorin's death at the Battle of the Five Armies.

For some reason, the Hobbit films directed by Peter Jackson brought Azog back, when in fact he had been dead for many years before the events of The Hobbit.

Come to think of it, there are no artifacts for Dain II in Angband, even though we have the Mattock of Nain.