Pronunciation: \ˈta-ləs-mən, -ləz-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural tal·is·mans
Etymology: French talisman or Spanish talismán or Italian talismano; all from Arabic ṭilsam, from Middle Greek telesma, from Greek, consecration, from telein to initiate into the mysteries, complete, from telos end — more at telos
Date: 1638
1 : an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune
2 : something producing apparently magical or miraculous effects
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/talisman

Ok, so what seems like a pretty long time ago, bashiok said somthing about the " super secret talisman" have we heard anything else about this or is it still just as super secret? it seems like he mentioned it 2 maybe 3 times then never mentioned it again. I figure this is possible because A) it's still super secret B) it's been scrapped, or C) it's been revealed and i missed it

Anybody have any idea what it is?

By the definition i found it seems like it would have a similar function to charms in d2......(an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune)..... but that doesnt seem like somthing they would hold as a super secret.... I could also see it as some way of imbueing items with buffs.....something producing apparently magical or miraculous effects.....

Shed some light or share your thoughts if you wish....

Naw, it's not super secret at all, otherwise users wouldn't have brought it up for Bashiok to respond to.
Right now it's complete function is a mystery, but it used to serve as a type of stat modifier.

http://www.diablowiki.net/Talisman

It's still more super secret than revealed, though. It's "supposedly" a stat modifier, but how it modifies stats remains a mystery. I hope it's not some bland "pop these jewels in these sockets to raise strength by 15!" type modifier. Maybe make it do all sorts of crazy things in addition to raw stats; makes your deal more damage w/ two-handed axes, when you crit w/ ice spells, you increase your spell haste by an amount, when you pick up health orbs, you get a short blaze effect. There are all sorts of bizarre and interesting things they could do w/ it. Increase a wizard's melee damage and armor at the expense of her spell power, allow barbarians to use throwing weapons effectively, allow monks to smack demons around w/ two shields like a psychotic Captain America. Possibilities are endless.

Gems go into it.

I didn't say that!

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Q u o t e:
Pronunciation: \ˈta-ləs-mən, -ləz-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural tal·is·mans

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That was useful information, thank you for that.

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Q u o t e:
We've never said anything about it because it may not even end up being a feature in the final game. It could just get cut.

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noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo :(

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Q u o t e:
We've never said anything about it because it may not even end up being a feature in the final game. It could just get cut.

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You should have just called it the "Chat Talisman" then. :p

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Q u o t e:
We've never said anything about it because it may not even end up being a feature in the final game. It could just get cut.

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If it is what I'm sure it only could be, I don't see anything wrong with the feature. It would probably work better with Jewels though but as far a I know, you guys aren't even putting those into the original D3 Game.

I still think it adds flavor to the game, but hey if you guys think it's too clunky then I guess it doesn't matter all that much. You could make a more Basic Version of it, but you guys are the designers here, I just want to play a super awesome D3 game, and you guys know what your doing more then an amateur gaming enthusiast ever would.

I'm glade you guys get a whole year (or longer) to create more content and polish the game though. Can't wait to see how you guys have re-modeled the final class.

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Q u o t e:
We've never said anything about it because it may not even end up being a feature in the final game. It could just get cut.

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In exchange for something more awesome and more super-secret?

There is this:

Diii.net: The Talisman. You said initially it was some sort of stat-boosting thing, but it’s been disabled for the past year and a half, in playable builds anyway.
Jay Wilson: Mm-hmm. It’s still on hold.

Diii.net: People are wondering if there’s going to be some mechanism to allow greater character diversification in stats, given that we can not manually assign our own attribute points in Diablo 3. There will be something more than just finding +10 on an item. We’ll be able to do something more to differentiate our characters from others?
Jay Wilson: Yes. We’re stated in the past that we’re working on a new customization system. A system that’s part of your character building. Also that within the item space we’re looking for ways for more… we really prefer the single point stat customization be more item based. But we’re going to have a system to more or less replace the attribute point spending system.

http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/

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Q u o t e:

That was useful information, thank you for that.

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I just copy pasted the insert on the web page and never bothered to delete the extra info.....you could have read over it like everyone else........It did get me my first blue though =D im not sure why thats cool but its kinda nice to know u got noticed

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Q u o t e:
There is this:

Diii.net: The Talisman. You said initially it was some sort of stat-boosting thing, but it’s been disabled for the past year and a half, in playable builds anyway.
Jay Wilson: Mm-hmm. It’s still on hold.

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Anything below this quote is irrelevant when it comes to the Talisman. This is a conversational transition where Jay begins to talk about a different system in the game and does not relate to the Talisman so all we knew is that it was "on hold" and now Bashiok has said that it may not be in the game.

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Q u o t e:


I just copy pasted the insert on the web page and never bothered to delete the extra info.....you could have read over it like everyone else........It did get me my first blue though =D im not sure why thats cool but its kinda nice to know u got noticed

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I did read it, grats on first blue. For me though, for some odd reason, maybe Bashiok likes responding to my topics but he posted in maybe 8 of my threads over the year.

I dunno, I always thought this "mysterious talisman" could do a lot more than just boost certain stats. In D2 there were a lot of "gear builds" that couldn't do anything at all until they had the right pieces of gear (aura runewords especially). This system could be a much more elegant and deep way to achieve that result, while also being a way to radically change the playstyle of some of these characters.

A shield wielding monk, a la Captain America? Talisman.
Effective bow using barbarian? Talisman.
Tanking wizard? Talisman.
Rogue-like assassin witch doctor? Talisman.

You could use skill runes, item gems, or even "essence" that you get when you break down old gear or junk (think WoW enchanting). So many things you could do w/ this thing.

I think the talisman is an interesting idea as such, or at least has a lot of potential.

hell stick it to the [talis]Man!! don't let him get you down...