Draft:Burnt-out Orb
| & | |
| Type | Artifact |
|---|---|
| Base value (Au) | 100 |
| Item level | 1 |
| Weight | 25 |
| Unidentified appearance | Black Orb |
| Cursed name | Burnt-out Orb |
A Burnt-out Orb is an artifact left by using an elemental Orb or the Orb of Mastery. It can also be found directly. Despite its name, a fresh Burnt-out Orb has a destructive activation: it erases spell knowledge, strips many accessible item powers and can reduce the player to level 1 or kill them.[1]
Generation
Its Black Orb appearance differs from the Mysterious Orb shared by the five unused kinds. It is a repeatable item-level-1 random artifact, including eligible random monster treasure; it need not have belonged to another adventurer. Normal acquirement and automatically generated pawn-shop stock still exclude artifacts.[2]
Successful individual use of Fire, Water, Earth or Air leaves this object, as does a completed Mastery activation. An elemental mistake can also leave one if the player survives and the effect completes. Replacement resets the selected object to a single burnt-out copy; using a stack is not a way to save the other elemental copies.[3]
Activation
Using A → a with a fresh Burnt-out Orb in accessible inventory invokes its drain immediately. There is no element question, identification safeguard or mana requirement, and blessing or cursing it does not make the effect beneficial.[4]
| Affected resource | Result |
|---|---|
| Spell knowledge | All 41 spells become unknown; stored mana costs are not reset |
| Accessible items, including equipped slots | Enchantment values become zero and many magical-use powers are removed |
| Items in the pack | Not included in that item-stripping loop |
| Character level and HP | Level becomes 1; above level 1, current and maximum HP are reduced and the current-HP loss can kill |
| Mana and Power, if the drain is survived | Mana becomes zero and current Power loses 10; maximum Power is unchanged |
| The Orb itself | Remains present, but loses its own harmful activation power |
Level loss removes (old level − 1) × floor(old maximum HP / (old level + 1)) from both current and maximum HP. It directly changes these values rather than using a damage-type attack, so negative-energy immunity does not block it. At level 1 this part removes no HP; at level 0 the same formula instead raises level and HP. The other losses still apply.[5]
The drain does not erase accumulated experience. Later ordinary experience gains can therefore restore levels according to the existing experience total, although that does not restore erased spells or damaged item powers. The item effect is also narrower than a complete reversal of every equipped benefit: it changes accessible items without individually switching off their already-applied equipment effects.[6]
Enchantment and disposal
Burnout cannot be reversed into an elemental Orb or Mastery. Beneficial enchantment on a fresh Burnt-out Orb produces ordinary artifact backlash. If the Orb has already drained you and lost its power, enchantment restores that harmful drain, not its former elemental identity. Leaving its stripped power alone avoids rearming it.[7]
It has no role as a Mastery material or a substitute in the Duke's quest. Drop or sell an unwanted copy instead of activating it. The item-bashing command is not risk-free either: a failed attempt to destroy this level-1 artifact can inflict 10 unstoppable damage.[8]
Strategy
Keep the unused elemental Orbs and their black remains distinct in inventory. The name burnt-out does not establish that a newly created copy is safe to test, and identification does not disable it. Storing it in the pack avoids accidental selection by the artifact-activation menu, but dropping an unwanted one is simpler.
After an accidental use, restore drained Power with a restoration potion and recover spell knowledge through the usual learning sources or Kolwynia. Beneficial artifact enchantment can restore a stripped useful artifact's own power; it does not automatically repair every kind of affected item. Regaining levels does not undo the full loss, so surviving with high HP is not a reason to use the Orb casually.[9]
References
- ↑ iinit.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 398; itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 396–569; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 323–336.
- ↑ iinit.h in Omega 0.90.4, lines 388–398; item.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 7–41; lev.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 382–393; effect1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 763–769; site1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 1043–1054.
- ↑ itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 396–547; iinit.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 398.
- ↑ command2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 100–128; itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 550–569.
- ↑ itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 550–569; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 323–336.
- ↑ itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 555–564; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 323–336; aux1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 659–669; aux2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 452–482.
- ↑ defs.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 779; defs.h in Omega 0.90.4, lines 888–893; itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 550–569; effect1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 68–88.
- ↑ itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 519–522; guild1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 263–271; command2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 896–931.
- ↑ effect2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 451–475; itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 292–308; effect1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 68–114; aux2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 452–482.