Masks, pauldrons, gauntlets and the Void Scythe news

We were hoping to get out a themed build in time for Halloween and surprise you all. However, we've had some technical issues lately which has slowed us down. To make it up to you we're releasing the November update a little early.

This time we're talking about about player equipment and we also wanted to show off some concept art.

Player Equipment

We've designed some equipment that you will be able to loot or buy from the Shadow Merchant with souls. Yes, for necromancers souls are currency.

All equippable items for the player are armour items that are procedurally generated to produce random appearance and combat properties that enhance the player's statistics.

Our concept artist has also done some great work in concepting some of the items you can find.

You can read all about player equipment in excruciating detail on the forum if you like that sort of thing.

Item Quality

The quality of an item determines how much it will enhance the player. These enhancements include things like Strength + 1, Widsom + 2, Physical Resistance +5%, Ranged Resistance +2%, Holy Resistance +2, etc.

For all items, including body parts for minions, there are five quality levels for items that can be found:

1. Common - found often and augments items barely (cheap)
2. Uncommon - found sometimes and augments items slightly (affordable)
3. Rare - rarely found and augments items moderately (expensive)
4. Epic - almost impossible to find and augments items substantially (wallet crippling)
5. Legendary - only a few of these exist and are so powerful they are legendary (cannot be purchased)

Mask

This serves to protect the necromancer's identity. Necromancy has always been frowned upon, but now that the Holy Order of Tyrus is openly hunting them this is more important than ever to keep one's identity hidden.

Gauntlet

The gauntlet is worn on the left hand and is the necromancers most valuable and prized possession. This is because of the green gemstone set into the back of the hand. This is the the Eye of the Dead and is what enables a necromancer harvest souls and to impose their will upon the dead.

None among the dead can resist the Eye and without it a necromancer risks their minions turning on him/her to satiate their hunger.

Pauldron

The pauldron is armour that is worn on the right shoulder and is invaluable for protecting attacking arm in combat.

Scythe

While not an equippable item I wanted to mention it here because I really want you guys to see the awesome concept art.

Up until now you have seen the sword, axe and staff weapon which were placeholder props until we could get concept art done.

Now that we have concept art and Scott is busy modelling the new scythe we will replace the sword, axe and staff props.

The scythe is a magical weapon that you will acquire early in the game that has the ability to magically change it's form at your will. Just press Q to switch between scythe forms.

These scythe forms directly correlate to the sword, axe and staff so as to cater for different play styles and permit you to switch between weapon forms to deal with different types of enemies.

1. Void Sword - short range weapon that is fast and harvests a high amount of blood
2. Void Scythe - medium range weapon that is slow, but devastating and harvests a medium amount of blood.
3. Void Staff - long range weapon that is slow, but allows you to attack from a safe distance and harvests a low amount of blood.

The scythe can be upgraded in a number of different ways, but we'll talk about this more in a future update.

In the meantime you can read more about the Scythe on the forums.

Putting It Together

When you put it all together you get this...

We're so happy with how the concept art worked out and we hope you are as excited as we are to start looting and equipping these kinds of items.

Tell us what you think of the concept art. Which scythe form is your favourite?
Tweet/Share on social media #VoidSword, #VoidScythe or #VoidStaff.

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You can get involved in the discussion on the Forum or track our progress on Trello.

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Thanks for the support
Damian
Sandbox D7 Team