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[SomGuye]

First off, I love the idea of strange and mysterious effects.

Artifact weapon:  When weapon is created, it randomly (or not so randomly) chooses itself a "Champion" (not the legendary soldier).  This person is automatically made some skill level (a really lucky roll might net you a legendary user) in the use of that type of weapon.  Weapon can ONLY be used by that person as long as they live.  Not sure about after they die.

I see it happening something like this:
Urist McSharpthings has created PlainScribes the Halls of Reckoning, an artifact short-sword!
PlainScribes the Halls of Reckoning has chosen its Champion!
Urist McSuds, Soaper, Has become a SwordsDwarf!

[SirHoneyBadger]

All of these are excellent, Neonivek, and some of them are quite brilliant.

[SomGuye]

I gonna steal an idea from from Terry Pratchet:

Devices.
The one I saw as being really awesome was the Axle.  In the book it was a pair of cubes joined by an axle.  The cubes turned continuously and provided almost infinite power.  There was mention of an entire Dwarf MoutainHome that was powered by one.  The elevators, air circulation, mine carts, pumps, etc. all ran off this single Device.

[SirHoneyBadger]

Yeah, I'm strongly in favor of "one-off" type artifacts, that don't really fall into the Common-item-written-Large category.

There's already a few real world examples that I'd like to see, including: a giant orrery, an earthquake detector, and an 'Antikythera Mechanism' type device.

Neonivek? Would you consider making a list or two of unique "device-type" artifacts?

I'd love to see what you'd come up with.

[SomGuye]

As for devices, I think the more simple their effect, regardless of how powerful the effect, the better.  That way it is easier to find a use.

Examples:

Heatsink- Object infinitely absorbs heat, does not release any of its own.  Set it to take heat at a certain rate.  What is the scientific term for how rapidly a substance absorbs/sheds heat?
         -This could serve to freeze chunks of rivers/ponds, serve as an air-conditioner in hot climates (coupled with the air-circulation of upcoming releases), harden magma.
         -I like the idea of dropping it into a flooded Trade Depot while the Elves are in town...

Heater- Opposite of heatsink.  Drop into a flooded mineshaft to evaporate the water and give a chance to plug any leaks.   Again, drop into flooded Trade Depot to create a sauna of death for the Elves.  Like Magma, but less burnt goods.

[Footkerchief]

^^^ Those would be relatively simple to implement -- materials can already have a FIXED_TEMP tag, and I think the new material system would allow an artifact to contain a unique material derived from an ordinary (non-FIXED_TEMP) material.

[Neonivek]

Devices? I barely understand the concept though it sounds like they take advantage of scientific principles to produce useful effects. So I am going to go on that assumption when creating these device artifacts despite not having too much of a scientific background.

Devices
-Gyro: When this device is held it spins at such speed that it becomes impossible for it not to right itself. The Holder becomes incapable of becoming prone for better or worse.
-Super Cooling: A Orb that projects a mysterious ray onto a creature. It appears unharmed but for every action it takes it gets colder and colder until they shatter.
-Ultra-vibrations: A large metalic staff with two prongs that when struck upon an object it creates violent sonic vibrations in the air. Creatures who experience these vibrations lose all sense of balance and suffer nausia. This is capable of knocking out weaker creatures.
-Cuffs: These odd restraints are woven in such a way that any failed attempt to break out of them causes them only to become tighter. This can continue until their hands are crushed into lumps of gore.
-Shock Aborber: This device is a thin plate that aborbs blows. It can then release the energy onto a target. If it however absorbs too much energy it may cause a spontanious release creating a violent explosion.

Arrow/Bolts
-Worm: The arrow is like a living creature, when struck it digs around the creature causing damage in numberous places (Causes the current damage Arrows do)
-Pin: The Arrow is capable of causing knockback. If the creature happens to strike a solid object it will become pinned unless it can remove the arrow.
-Second Chance: When you miss with the arrow it will fire itself, as if you did so, from where it dropped at the enemy.
-Return: The arrow will return to you instantly after shot
-Leech: The arrow when stuck sucks the blood and energy from its target until removed. Which can be difficult.
-Gripped: The arrow can be removed easily, it however will take something with it on the way out. Better hope it isn't one of your organs.
-Boulder: The arrow transforms into a large boulder mid-flight. It loses its Peircing damage but instead gains a deadly bashing attack.
-Scythe: The Arrow transforms into a curved blade mid-flight. It loses its peircing damage but instead gains a deadly slashing attack.
-Catops: The Arrow lays a field of dangerous blades across the floor harming those who tred upon it.
-Weighty: The arrow after firing is very heavy. If stuck in a creature it can be enough to slow them down to a crawl.
-Ghost: The Arrow can peirce everything but only does damage to a creature's soul as a result.
-Peanut Butter: When fired the arrow will stick to the roof of a creature's mouth disabling firebreath and biting attacks unless they wish to risk peircing their skull. (Don't ask)
-Vermin Swarm: After a creature is hit with the arrow it transforms into a swarm of vermin who proceed to annoy or even attack the creature struck.
-Eye Shot: The arrow when fired becomes controlled by you as if it was you. It can move around allowing you to see through it. When it attacks a creature it is as if you fired an arrow at it.
-Portal: If the arrow strikes anything that can open: Door, Mouth, Chest, backpack, ect. It will open. It also causes vicous bleeding in creatures as it “Opens” their wounds.

Crossbow/Bow
-Arrowless: The Bow creates phantom ammo that can fire indefinately even without ammo.
-Reloading: The bow reloads itself at different speeds allowing an increased fire rate.
-Weakness: The bow automatically aims for the least armored sections of a creature.
-Burst: The Bow can load multiple arrows to an extent and fire them out all at once striking multiple enemies multiple times.
-Port: Wherever the arrow lands is where you will be.
-Conserving: Arrows that survive will return to the bow
-Luck Advantage: The Bow instantly reloads if the last shot was a hit.
-Sniping: If the enemy is unaware an attack from the bow will become a peircing headshot that ignores armor. Only powerful or brainless creatures can survive this.
-Multitargeting: The bow can attack multiple enemies with one shot.
-Conserving: Arrows only diminish if they break, which they do so less, unbroken arrows simply return to the quiver.
-Sky peirce: If clouds are overhead an arrow can be shot to cause it to rain. If it is sunny it can cause it to rain fire instead.
-Ignores Cover: The Arrow goes through everything and ignores fortifications to strike the target.
-Message: The Bow can shoot messages potential many folds.
-Perspective: The Bow can fire a “Location” beacon. When firing on an enemy it uses the Beacon's locati anywhere in the world and always hit.
-Unorthodox ammo: The Bow can load something different such as Arrows, Bolts, Ballistae Ammo, Severed Disks, Stones, or weapons. It doesn't make the objects any lighter.
-Charge: The Bow can be strung back much further then others of its type and thus can increase its damage on instead.
-Creepy Reload: Bones can be dirrectly loaded into the crossbow forming bone bolts
-Soul Reload: Creatures killed the the Bow create
-Assistant: When firing on a creature there is a chance that a phantom will also fire at the creature.
-Floating Assistant: The Bow can float and fire on creatures for you. It can hold ammo similar to a weapon trap.
-Spherical Ammo: The Bow absorbs the energy of the world around it and focuses it into a single shot. This arrow has a different effect depending on the Sphere. A Luck Arrow always seems to hit its mark while a Fortress Arrow creates a wall around it.
-Alcoholic: The Bow fires continuous streams of alcohol that can enter a creature's body and make them drunk rather quickly
-Celestial Shot: When the Sun is in view it is capable of firing arrows of light that deal peircing and heat damage. When the Moon is in view it fires arrows that deal Slashing and Cold damage. If it is overcast it simply shoots lightning bolts.
-Star shot: The Bow is capable of firing into the cosmos and injuring the ruling star of a selected creature. This gives them crippling bad luck and can even doom them to an early death. If gods existed they may despise the use of this weapon.

Well I hope this holds up well...

[Craftling]

Wheres the love for artifact food?

Probably shouldnt take up the artifact count but WILL be listed.

Filling-Makes the dwarf fuller for longer
Smells good- Gives dwarves minor happy thoughts by smell alone
Tasty- So many tastes out of so little ingredients
Too tasty- Fills the dwarf that consumed it with thoughts of the most delicous meal ever. May lead to insanity

[Neonivek]

Wheres the love for artifact food?

One use artifacts that only target those who eat it? (Though being indestructable... it is sensable that you would eventually get the artifact back)

Anyhow I guess I can try my hand at this.

Artifact Recipes: Food cannot become artifacts in it of themselves so when a Cook created an artifact in a kitched they do so by creating a Recipe Card, book, or page. The Food can only be created by the holder of the recipe as the real power is actually contained in the recipe itself. Recipes can be specific and require specific foods or freeform and can be made with anything. Recipes can be fast or slow.

Recipes can also casually ignore normal ingrediants. Gemstones can be perfectly acceptable. A Recipe can also be multiple of these effects.

Recipes:
-Stonesoup: A Freeform Recipe. It allows Rocks and Sand to be proper ingrediants though it must be accompanied by real ingrediants.
-Monster Stew: A Specific Recipe. When this stu touches someone it attempt to devour them whole. The Stu becomes Dormant afterwords and can be eaten as a filling meal.
-Chicken Noodle: A Specific Recipe. Those who drink this meal find their immune systems strengthened to the point where they can fend of diseases and toxins for a period of time.
-Buffet Buffer: A Freeform Recipe. A Heavy plate taking a long time to prepare with many ingrediants. However when eaten everyone within sight also recieves the filling effect of the recipe.
-Aphrodisiac: When eaten someone becomes pregnant. Either the eater, if female, or someone the eater knows, if male.
-Stuffing: The food causes the eater to bulge and become huge. This recipe is incapable of being remade until the eater is slain.
-Diplomatic: If used in diplomatic proceedings it carries a lot of weight. People will end sieges after eating these and Megabeasts would even consider an alliance.
-Antidote soup: A Soup made with many toxins. It however cures those who drink it of the exact same toxins they are drinking. It ignores the One-each limit.
-Majesty Meal: A meal so delicious that it often makes a noble forget all about a mandate or demand they previously made.
-Fortune Cookie: A Cookie that has a random effect on those who eat it.
-Frog Froth: A meal made of amphibians that can allow a limb to be regenerated. The actual meal is rather vial and the regeneration process is quite painful. There are rumors that eating too much of this can cause your skin to develop infections as it turns green.
-Nightvision Meal: Made of Onyx and Carrot this meal bestows the ability to see well in the dark for a month.
-Jade Soup: Made of many expencive jades and mercury base. Those who drink it and survive its toxicity, which is a heroic feat in it of itself, find their lifespan increased 10 times over. Immortal creatures who drink it have their bodies strengthened a bit.
-Rusty Soup: Made of Iron this meal prevents the entropy of skills and abilities for a month after consumption.
-Comfort Food: Those who eat this meal find themselves to be at room temperature no matter where they go for a month after eating.
-Marrow: This meal allows bone, skull, and tusk to be an appropriate ingrediant.
-Calcium: A drink brewed. Its main ingrediant can be anything from cloth to steel however when drank the drinker's bones become that material making anything but hardened metals a silly prospect.
-Troll Stew: A meal of Trolls. It carried a pungent smell that repells other creatures but it's main purpose is to be drank causing the user to gain some strength and recover from wounds faster. Unfortunately it also gives them a pungent oder and oozing sores making them easy to find and hard to be with.
-Canible Stew: A Recipe often looked down upon. Those who eat this ignore the ingrediants no matter what it inside even if it is their own flesh or that of their mother. It can also be used to eat Vermin.
-War Meal: When used in diplomacy it makes the opposition angry to the point where they are willing to wage war with you at all costs. Individuals who eat it are thrown into a blind rage.
-Rage Mutton: A Mutton that causes those who eat it to go into a Beserk Rage. A great boon to an adventurer.
-Blessed Meal: A Freeform Recipe. This meal confers bonuses specifically from what ingrediants you use. Ordinary creatures and plants give slight bonuses. Megabeasts, Powers, Spherical Creatures, and rare plants however can bestow great and esoteric powers.
-Rotless: Food created by this recipe doesn't rot. Though it may not be a good idea to rely on such.
-Acidic: When eaten the acid in your stomach becomes overpowered allowing it to be used as a weapon. Multiple uses of this food however can cause it to eat through your stomach effectively killing you.
-Stone Soup the Second: When eaten your flesh becomes as hard as stone.
-Herbal Tea: A Healthy meal that lessens all pain that occurs in a month's time.
-You are what you eat: Depending on the ingrediants your character gains the traits of the ingrediants such as appendenges of the animals. This however is taxing on the eater's mental state and they can effectively become an animal. Adventurer's who befall this fate become unplayable.
-Solar/Lunar Soup: This allows Solar/Lunar light to be an appropriate ingrediant. How much it feeds you depends on how your live. Dwarves with Cave adaption will starve to death immediately after eating a solar meal.
-Kids Meal: Those who eat this find themselves to have a body of a child. Their age remains the same but their lifespan extends by the years between childhood and adult.
-Emptyness: For the next day your character will be constantly hungry and capable of eating everything in sight. However everything he eats will add up and be stored for later.
-Buggy: A meal of Vermin creatures. They pass through in and out of your body and you gain the ability to not only control but to see through them. This however can be traumatic.
-Demon Soup: a recipe made by demons by pouring their blood in the recipe. Those who drink it find themselves gaining demonic attributes and features. This however forces them under that demon's control. Those who gain this recipe can use a dead demon's blood for a safer alternative assuming the demon doesn't come back to life.

Uhh I guess that is enough... Not sure about what I put down, then again I never am.

[Craftling]

I stand corrected.

[PTTG??]

It's stew, not Disco Stu.

And vile, not vial.

Perhaps you need less spell check?

[Craftling]

There was a post about this a while ago and its kinda relevent.

Artifact mining.
Should work a bit like this.
Urist Mcminer has been possessed.
Must have 26 tiles to dig out.
Urist mc miner has started a mysterious dig site.
Urist Mcminer has created  the halls of dignity(or something along the lines of that).

Possibly abililties
Calming- Any dwarf that walks through here gets happy thoughts.
Forever-enemies take twice as long to move through here or wander around in circles.
Party place- Dwarves get extra happy from partying here.
Fertile- Can grow things, no matter what the floor is made out of.

[SirHoneyBadger]

Another possible ability: Gem-grower: The walls have the ability to occasionally (only once a year) produce a gem of random value, that can then be mined out (but need not be). Once all tiles have been mined out, all special value is lost.

[Nivim]

"-Body Language: The weapon has or even is a creature's Head or Arm and thus also includes their natural attacks with artifact results."
Medusa's Head!

"-Sympathetic: The Armor Stand's owner gains the benefit of the armor placed upon it in the form of a force projection. The force is weightless and is just as hard though it has none of the armor's abilities."
What do you mean by the armours abilities? Wouldn't that just include it protecting value? Or do you mean artifact armour would not bestow it's enchantment?

"-Insect Appeal: The object in question attracts insects, bugs, and spiders of the vermin variety even when there is no way for them to get at the artifact."
I offer another quote: "Most vermin teleport, so nothing actually contains them." -Fuzzy

"-No rest for the wicked: Owners who die holding this artifact are instead dirrectly sent to heck to be torchured forever by demons."
Unless hell is implemented as entering a HFS or digging really deep, I don't see what effect it will have. Besides;
"As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. " - http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/joke/exoendo.htm
Also, think of a chair that does this, in your dining room. And make it possible for the quality of the item to negate the bad thought of the curse. Just for laughs.

"-True-Self: The Mask gives the user attributes set according to their personality giving them grotesk features as their body is warped. Their likes and dislikes become facial features while their lazyness could give them an obese body."
Wasn't there one guy that died in Boatmurdered that liked demons that was killed? Couldn't this mask turn him into a half-demon?

Also, this mask set seems to be inspired by the Zelda series.

"-Demanding: The Cage asks for the most innocent and pure hearted individual in a city to be caged forever or it will bring bad fortune. The Prisoner's fondest wishes materialise into boons for the fortress such as fortune, food, animals, or people. When the prisoner dies naturally the cage once again becomes hungry."
How interesting, reminds me of quite a few plots and quests. Easy to make the "village with a dark secret" plot with this. Where the people are very prosperous, but visitors would feel as though something creepy and sinister is going on.

"Artifact weapon:  When weapon is created, it randomly (or not so randomly) chooses itself a "Champion" (not the legendary soldier).  This person is automatically made some skill level (a really lucky roll might net you a legendary user) in the use of that type of weapon.  Weapon can ONLY be used by that person as long as they live.  Not sure about after they die."
Hey, that reminds me of Need! The enchanted shortsword from the Heralds of Valdemar that the maker forged herself into. She would choose a woman that she believed would have need of her. Then when the woman starts to rely on her, she leaves. I am guessing this artifact would have the sentient tag. Need's abilities made a warrior immune to magic, and a mage a master of the sword. So Need fit's her name x2.

"-Portal: If the arrow strikes anything that can open: Door, Mouth, Chest, backpack, ect. It will open. It also causes vicous bleeding in creatures as it “Opens” their wounds."
It would be more entertaining to have the arrow open a portal with the thing that can open to somewhere else. I would laugh very hard and long to see a female dwarf get blasted out of a goblins eye. However, I am guessing the small space that the "object" is forced through would cause said object to be reduced to small enough pieces to fit. The goblin would no longer be able to see, or do much else, after this.
Lava is another option, a good one. Perhaps you would be able to designate a portal beforehand? One in a magma pool?

"-Port: Wherever the arrow lands is where you will be."
What happens if the arrow gets embedded in a dragon's stomach?

"-Unorthodox ammo: The Bow can load something different such as Arrows, Bolts, Ballistae Ammo, Severed Disks, Stones, or weapons. It doesn't make the objects any lighter."
Severed elephant heads? (With tusks.)

- Pi Pie: Diner becomes a philosopher.
Something else food related, why can't artifact foods make up a whole batch instead of just one? You would think such meals would be for grand banquets of 50+ dwarves. That would be quite useful.
- Some Dragon Food with a witty name: Gives draconic attributes, both aesthetic and useful. This might just be included under "You are what you eat".
- Self: After the small meal is finished, the diner will continue eating, itself, without noticing. If the diner is tough enough, it won't lose too many limbs before it is full.
- Cake of Digestive Overhaul: Diner will permanently eat a different type of item as food. Rocks, wood, ash, gems, bones, copper, raw vermin...Diner will eventually gain physical alterations depending on diet. So a dwarf that eats iron would see have functioning iron skin, bones, flesh, and organs. The item that the cake changes the diner to would be dependent upon some part of the cooks likes.

How would you determine where the dwarf put the room? I can imagine Toady testing such a thing and the dwarf digging right into a river, magma flow, or subterranean pit. There are also some really awkward places it could be put, like a dining room that everyone starts going to, with its entrance on the outside of the fortress where there are no defenses.
Does the dwarf also smooth and engrave the room? Or other assorted task to finish it? Making doors, tables, or other objects that are required for the room (they would not be artifacts, the room effect would be).

Walls would not grow more crystals. Pools would. You either need slowly cooling magma for good crystals or a solution of the crystal's ions. So I am guessing you could have crystal pools that you grow the gem in, kinda like farms. Except you would need to drain them to "harvest" and fill them with the proper solution. Another use for the alchemists lab perhaps.

[Neonivek]

Unless hell is implemented as entering a HFS or digging really deep, I don't see what effect it will have

Well before the ability to enter HFS it is largely a flavor/cosmetic ability/curse.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The use it does have however it it allows the humans/dwarves/elves/other that normally also appear in the HFS rooms to be characters who have fallen to the curse of this artifact. Allowing them to escape HFC or for you to rescue them yourself. (Imagine the legendary warrior who slain a thousand goblins a hundred years ago... you enter HFC and you find him except he has since been broken down by the demons and you must face the ultimate adventurer)

As for the Sympathetic Armor Stand. It just doesn't copy an armor's magical/artifact powers which is what I meant.

"What happens if the arrow gets embedded in a dragon's stomach?"

What are you doing firing that arrow at a dragon?