@Nyperold: Nope, no penalties, just a nice -4 to AC (This being D&D inspired, a lower Armor Class is better). And as you can see, a wide selection of classes can use them too.
@Zudak: That was basically what I said too. I still remember my mom fighting one for the first time and finding out about the insta-death attack the hard way…”My character is decapitated?!” (Note that “decapitation” isn’t worse than any other form of death in Wizardry..which doesn’t mean it’s something you want, by any means)
And now, a brief…
Interlude: Zudak the Poor Shopper. Oh, and More Grinding
The group decided to get some more training in before heading down to Level 3. On their way, Zudak noted that his Rod of Iron seemed to have a special power. He decided to test it in battle.
Zudak: “Ah, some Orcs. Now to find out what cool power this Rod has. Hmm…it seems to make me a bit harder to hit. Neat….IT BROKE?!?”
(LIVEBLOG NOTE: The Rod of Iron casts Mogref in battle. Mogref is a Level 1 Mage spell [Character Level != Spell Level] that gives the caster -2 to AC for the duration of the battle. And the Rod apparently breaks after 1 use. Thank you for that useful item, Wizardry I!)
Another twenty minutes of pounding on Murphy’s Ghost followed, though the benefits were minimal—Emptyeye increased his command of Mage magic, and Rocky became stronger, but that was really it…this time. Xanatos had finally learned to cure poison at the end of the previous excursion, though.
Next Time: Floor 3, For Real!
Sweet Bonus Commentary!
There was a bit of conversation between the last entry and this one. Nyperold (The Troper, not my character) inquired as to whether the Iron Shields I bought in the last entry carried any penalty for using them. Zudak’s commentary consisted entirely of “Holy shit ninjas.” Other than that, this was just a brief interlude, covering a brief play session, basically starring the Rod of Iron. There are several ways to do a TV Tropes liveblog. You can snark on whatever it is you’re watching, covering it sarcastically, pointing out the plot holes, etc. You can turn it into a sort of narrative, as I’m doing here. You can incorporate pictures and video too. Either way, though, it’s accepted practice to fit as many trope links as you reasonably can into your liveblog. Here, I take advantage of this convention to link to things that make Zudak’s Rod of Iron sound like slang for genitalia. By the way, adding insult to injury: There is apparently some speculation that Armor Class in the NES version doesn’t actually do anything (Which I didn’t know at the time I was playing the game). Yeesh.
-EE