Hexen Arsenal Redux

About

I've always disliked only having four weapons. I've always anticipated custom weapon support in Zdoom. It seems so right.

Now that it seems pretty close, I've decided to (tentatively) attempt a mod for Hexen, using zdoom, that expands the Hexen arsenal in three ways:

• All classes will start with two basic weapons, just like in every other FPS game you have your puny blaster and your knuckles as a standby
• Two of the artifact weapon pieces will be hijacked to allow for two completely new weapons that can be got on any existing Hexen map. The exact way in which this will be done is up in the air, since the order you get them in is pretty random. In Vanilla hexen, for example, this would work out as you getting weapon 5 (first artifact piece) at the end of seven portals, before getting weapon 2 (hammer) on Shadow wood.
• The tome of power will be back if support is there for it :). If so, the icon of the defender will be axed, because invulnerability is evil.

• [Stealth 4th option] Also, the existing weapons will be tweaked, improved, changed as needed and given some nifty abilities if the tome of power support is added.

To remind myself of how over-ambitious this project is everytime I open this page, that equates to three new weapons per class, totalling 7, times 3 (for each class) equals 21, and double that for the tome of power. 42

At the moment, I'm collecting all the various ideas that have been bouncing around my head waiting to be used (as well as unashamedly plagiarising from various places). Once I've created an outlay of the full arsenal, I will start testing their implementation in decorate, and modifying [bastardising] their cababilities to suit what is actually possible.

Graphics will be the final stage, once all the behaviour is solid and as balanced as possible. They will probably not be as nice as the Raven sprites, but hey. Placeholders will be used in the meantime, possibly (probably) taken from other fantasy games.

Arsenal Changes

To make sure this page is birthed with at least some substance amidst my rambling, here is what I have in mind for the fighter class. The other two classes I am undecided on presently, although its just a matter of planning how to distribute my ideas between them. If you want me to attempt to create a weapon on your behalf, feel free to add it as well (although I may want to mangle it towards my own devious purposes. A tiny bit.)

Fighter

Gauntlets

No change here, although for the tome of power version, a cleave inspired effect should be present; when the power of a punch is enough to gib a monster (50/50 chance for most), the fighter strikes right through it and hits anything that was standing behind for slightly lesser damage. If that should be enough to gib the second one, it happens again, much to the players surprised delight.

Short Sword

The sword is an extra, staple weapon for the fighter to give him some variety. It has better range than most of his other melee weapons, but is slightly slower, and not as effective as the fists to give him a choice to think about. It can however burn mana for a more effective strike.

Timon's Axe

No change to the normal version. With the tome of power, the fighter can use the mana powered attack even if he has no mana. If he does have mana, then strikes are even more powerful, creating a chain lightning effect on nearby creatures (thanks dsm :)

Hammer of Retribution

The changes planned for this one probably wont be simple, ever. Here they are:

When thrown, the hammer only travels a short distance, then returns. This is because there is a much more powerful ranged weapon below.

When thrown, the hammer cannot be drawn until it either returns, or strikes something (this causes it to teleport instantly into the players hand)

When the hammer is in the air, the fighter can resort to punching things, a perfectly reasonable backup attack.

If the hammer is swung with good timing at an incoming projectile, the projectile is struck back to whatever fired it.

If the hammer strikes a projectile in mid flight, it is deflected at a random angle.

When the tome of power is used, the hammer needent be thrown at all :) targets at a distance are struck as if they were close by. Monsters within a close forward arc of the player are struck backwards as per the repulsion effect. All projectiles in a close forward arc are reflected back, as seeker missiles if possible.

There, now the name damn well sticks :P

Dragon Claws

The Dragon Claws are a mysterious artifact from another world. To most people, they appear to be ornate, decorative gauntlets, with no particular benefits in combat. However, the spirit of an ancient Red Dragon has been bound within its seemingly innocuous gemstone. When the gauntlets are worn by a skilled and brutal warrior, the Dragon's spirit is stirred with bloodlust, and their true powers come to bear. With these gauntlets, warriors can strike deadly blows at distant targets as if they were mere inches away, which has come as a great shock to many a marksman over the endless ages since their creation.

Functions much like the normal fist attack from Hexen or Hexen 2, but can hit targets at a distance. Some kind of visual strike effect indicating whether the puch was an uppercut, left hook etc (bright blue slashes in the direction of the punch). There is a limit, and the gauntlets are more effective the closer the target is. At point blank range, they are devastation.

Tome of Power: Teeth and nails spray from the impact blast and stab things in their path

Quietus

The quietus blade will be bumped down a notch in power to allow for the new artifact weapon. Power will be balanced accordingly, however the weapon will now have an unpowered melee attack.

Ravager

The Ravager. Those who wield it are seldom recognised by name, as the viscious fury unleashed by this artifact puts fear of the hells themselves in even the bravest mortal men. In its passing, only bitter carnage and merciless bloodshed are remembered, serving to once again shroud it in obscurity as it awaits a new wielder, and another brutal killing field.

This weapon is an amalgamation of lots of different things from various places. In ordinary mode, its a lot like the firemace, spitting out spiked balls that bounce around at high velocity and split into smaller balls that split into blades etc, hacking and tearing everything in a room and causing mayhem.

When used with the tome, it becomes like something out of hellraiser. It fires a long, chained projectile that embeds itself inside whatever it strikes, causing wracking pains. Then, it explodes, showering giblets of its victim everywhere, and shoots out even more spiked chains that grapple and pull in nearby foes. Then it explodes again into a hail of bouncing, spinning, slicing, hurting blades. If theres anything left of anyone, they can be dealth with using harsh words, eg: insults about their mother

Cleric

Since the cleric is a sanctimonious warrior, his new weapons are nice and simple. They are semi religious themed artifacts that will rely more on sound and visual effects than abilities for their interest value.

Mace of Contrition

This will upgraded somewhat with the tome as it is just plain boring to use. It still wont be as powerful as the fighters weapons though, for the sake of fairness.

Unremitting Crossbow

These powerful magic weapons are given to the highest ranks of the protectors of the Church, that they may never be defensless against the corrupting magic of the Arcanum or the trained bow of the Legion should war ever plague the land once again. Of course, that would be swell if it weren't for the fact that they're kinda lame...

It's the ethereal crossbow again. This is the cleric's basic missile weapon. It has rather weak damage potential, but is handy in a pinch. When it is powered up, the bolts split in mid flight in separate stages, forming a funnel shaped arc, and therefore making the crossbow vaguely comparable to a shotgun.

Serpent Staff

I dont think this one fits the cleric particularly well, but it would be a shame to throw it away, because it's nice, and its interesting, and somewhat likeable.

For the powerup effect, the regenerative drain works from a distance, and pulls monsters to the cleric (from where they can be clubbed if desired)

Firestorm

The firestorm will be largely unchanged in its normal state, but for the tome of power effect, the logical conclusion is to bring back the old raven favourite in the form of firey rain. The name even fits :)

Sceptre of Disruption

The Sceptre of Disruption leaves burning blisters on the hands of those who are not pure of heart. Infused with divine wrath, when it is swung by members of the clergy, it creates searing burns on those who are struck by it.

This is a melee weapon, which causes intense pain on monsters causing them to hesitate in their attack, and blinding light in the eyes of players to achieve a similair disadvantage. When it hits something, it goes 'ahhhhh' (imagine chorus voice). It is equatable to the hammer in damage, although has longer reach.

When powered up, each hit kills instantly (with gibs).

Divine Castigation

I want something holy that makes the bad things do the ow noise. This will be it, and it will probably involve bright lights and melting flesh ala Indiana Jones

Wraithverge

The original wraithverge is perfect, and I would never want to change it.

The only problem is how to top its original effect when using the Tome...

Mage

Mages dont like lifting things, and go to extroadinary lengths, twisting the rules of the cosmos, to avoid doing so. I hear now that they can just write devastating weapons onto a piece of paper and then they'll work exactly as intended...

Dagger

The mage is the only class with a missile weapon to start with, which I found somewhat annoying. Now, he gets a fast, deadly blade. It will be the weakest and the shortest ranged melee weapon, though still good enough to get the job done on ettins. Backstab will be the centerpiece of this weapon, but that is only if it is possible somehow. If not, some stand in effect will be used.

Sapphire Wand

This weapon will be downgraded to requiring mana to function. Then its damage level will be changed to counteract any effect this has on balance.

Frost Shards

This spell is most obviously based on Cone of Cold for DND, and thus its powered up effect will be similair. A blast of freezing wind, possibly with the ability to knock back enemies if this is feasible.

Arc of Death

The electrocutioners delight! Hopefully, some kind of chain lightning effect will be made for the powered up version, which bounces around from monster to monster repeatedly for a few brief moments.

Vitriolic Sphere

If it is possible to define Disruption states for monsters, then I am going to melt things horribly with this...

A tracking, erratic projectile that bursts and sprays acidic death when it hits. When it is powered up, Acid Rain

Monster Summoning MCMXCIV

I am going to do this, because I dont think its been tried before as a generic weapon idea. Basically, the mage will summon in friendly monsters, such as imps, etc, to help him off targets. This puts him in the same league as D'Dparil and the Heresiarch. Something that would be cool is to have it function like the HL2 pheropods, but I doubt that will happen...

BloodScourge

The only way I would want to change bloodscourge is to prevent the fireballs from smashing into the floor so often, because its just annoying. That probably involves digging into the source though, so I wont go there yet.

Progress Log

7 Jan 2005

I am nearing completion of Tome'd up variants of all the original weapons. Since this is the easiest part of the process, I will take the oppurtunity to release a working version that just contains these weapons. Unfortunately, it has become unavoidable to make this project into its own executable file, since some of the effects require just too much complex control that isn't possible even with decorate weapons. Thus far however, I have managed to keep the changes entirely inside the source files for the weapons and nowheere else, meaning that it should be a simple affair to keep it up to date with new Zdoom versions.

The lightning bolts from the Axe are FUN, and I managed to pick out the perfect sound for it. I found it so addictive, that I won't be able to stop myself using a similair effect on the mage's arc of death, and probably the powered up Bloodscourge as well(because I currently lack any other ideas for it).

I have successfully converted the throwing hammer into a returning weapon, meaning you cant just throw hammers willy nilly any more. The hammer returns instantly when it strikes something, so if you have good aim, you'll be hard pressed to notice much difference. You can also throw hammers behind a monster, then line yourself up with it so that it gets hit from behind :). The projectile reflection ability however may prove more difficult even than I originally anticipated...

The firestorm rain effect is dissapointingly weak, unless it is used on a large monster, in which case it devastates because almost every raindrop (er flamedrop) strikes it. It makes slow work of a single ettin, but brings Korax down with just a few shots. This may prove difficult to balance, but I will think of something.