New Quest Ideas for the Devs

[sirgog]

It's been months without more than a hint of new content (2 raids, 1 quest plus a little quickly forgotten lowbie stuff since about Feb) - and you know what? I think I've figured out why.



Since Mod 6, the Devs must have been suffering from writer's block. It happens to the best of us, you know!


That's where we come in. Post your ideas for quests, wilderness areas, raids, whatever here. It can be new ideas, ideas you've posted on the forums before, or whatever.

[sirgog]

Here's a couple that go way, way back (these were suggestions for Mod 6.1). Then, suggestion 4 is pretty much new. It's how I'd make the next raid.





1) Return to Stormcleave Outpost.
Xant'ilar, the former scourge of Stormcleave, appeals to House Deneith for help - the Thirteenth Eclipse has caused a huge portal to Shavarrath to appear at SC Outpost. The heroes have 45 minutes (35 hard, 30 elite) to fight their way through a demonic army to gather the four mystic shards required to seal the portal. Xant'ilar fights on their side in the end battle - if he survives, additional rewards (of XP and an extra chest with named loot) are awarded to the party. Level 16 quest.

2) Insurrection!
Travellers to Tangleroot Gorge have been going missing, and Chief Ungurz lies dead. A hive of beholders has seized Splinterskull Fortress, and has begun breeding mutant hobgoblins which are waging war on the surrounding area. They must be stopped! Level 13 quest.

3) Siege of Tempest's Spine
Sor'jek Incanni lies dead, or so the world thinks. In order for Sor'jek to be truly destroyed, the six Runes of Power hidden in and around his lair must be sundered. The runes are found randomly in six of twelve possible locations, hidden around the entire Tempest's Spine complex, both inside and out. The runes can be obtained through use of stealth, speed, or good-old hack and slash (and as the foes in this dungeon are immensely tougher than anywhere else in the game so far, a mixture is likely called for). After obtaining all six, the party must climb to the summit of Tempest's Spine, where the ghost of Sor'jek Incanni will unleash hell to prevent his obliteration. Level 17 no-flagging raid (same loot mechanics as non-raid quests).


4) Assault on Isoleta
This one goes in conjunction with the encounter area which will be posted in the next post. A cabal of frost giants have seized Isoleta, an enormous ancient planar orrery in the Menechtarun Desert, and have realigned it to conjure a colossal portal to Risia. The raid party must infiltrate Isoleta, and slay the eight members of the Cabal of Frost before Zawabi's Refuge (and the whole surrounding area) freezes over and falls under Risia's influence.
The party have two main options - they can enter and seek a straight-up fight with the entire Cabal of Frost at once (a fearsome task indeed - each member of the Cabal is of similar strength to the Lieutenants of Shavarrath found in the Shroud, and the Cabal have enlisted the aid of a rogue (evil-aligned, yes that happens in Eberron) silver dragon named Gol'tarrath). Alternately, if they feel they cannot take on the entire Cabal and the dragon at once, they can provoke the Cabal into attacking them by hunting down and destroying clusters of Gol'tarrath's eggs - if they destroy these eggs, some of the Cabal members will teleport to attack the party, reducing the number left and thus making the climactic battle more manageable.
Along the way, the party will encounter many Risia-aligned foes - ice flensers, extremely powerful Ice Mephits, Tundra Gnolls - more hardy versions of their desert cousins, and also the potent defenses that the giants of ancient times build to guard Isoleta.
In addition, Isoleta is guarded by a significant number of Mithril Golems - powerful constructs not unlike Iron Golems, but tougher and faster. The party will have an opportunity to destroy their controller, the tundra gnoll archmage Slivenstar, and by doing so seize control of the golem army for themselves.
Raid, with no bound 'raid' loot or timer - instead the quest should function like Tempest's Spine, allowing players to repeat it as often as they want, save for the ransack mechanic. One level over the level cap (so 19th if it comes out in a module that brings level 18 to the game, 17 otherwise)

More on Isoleta and surrounds below, in the wilderness area post.

[Kurlore]

indeed, some updates on what might be coming is a good idea =] the player demand is rising for them.

[sirgog]

Icy Oasis

High-level, raid party wilderness area (level 17, full XP available from 13-21)

Entrance: Enter from Zawabi's Refuge, via a new exit, or directly from the Sands of Menechtarun (i.e. those two areas link to each other).

General description: Just as in the Vale of Twilight, this area is dominated by a sharp contrast. The southern half of this area of the Menechtarun desert is dominated by an ancient giant fortress, in which a cabal of Frost Giants have opened a large portal to the plane of Risia. The area is of similar size to the original Sands of Menechtarun widerness.

The northern half of the wilderness is a typical desert, with similar foes to Menechtarun, although all are significantly advanced (for instance, instead of the mid-level mephits from the original desert, use the elite versions of the Pure Dust Mephits from Let Sleeping Dust Lie, instead of the mummies found in Menechtarun, use the Mummy Avengers that spawn on PC death in the Abbot on elite, and instead of mid-level gnolls, high-level gnolls like those in elite Ritual Sacrifice abound).

Things abruptly change as the PCs get towards the middle of the map. Just as in the Vale of Twilight, there is a fairly sharp transition between one half of the map and the other. The southern half of the map features creatures of cold - Frost Giants, Ice Trolls, very powerful Ice Mephits, and occasional humanoid cultists. In addition, the entire area is under the same planar effects as the Risia room in Prison of the Planes.

The entire south end of the map is dominated by Isoleta, an ancient giant fortress (the portal to Risia is inside this gigantic structure).


Sample Explorer Points:
1) Find Pyroclast's Lair
2) Find the tomb of Tumarok, Bane of Fire Reavers
3) Find Eberron's Spine (an extremely tall rock formation, very difficult to climb)
4) Find the frozen oasis
5) Find the ancient giant orrery
6) Find the entrance to Isoleta

Slayer objectives:
1) Slay XXX mephits (both desert and icy sides)
2) Slay XXX undead (both desert and icy sides)
3) Slay XXX gnolls (north side only)
4) Slay XXX frost giants (south side only)

Sample Rare Encounters:
Note - the desert side is intended to be easier. As such, chests from rare encounters in the north half offer -1 loot (so the same as a level 16 quest on normal). The icy side is intended to be much tougher, and chests there have +1 loot (same as a level 16 quest on elite) and offer better named items. Each of these has a 25% chance to appear in the Fire side and 35% in the Ice side unless noted otherwise

1) Destroy Marvik Kuthar, Mummy Champion - Fire side. Marvik is a very-high level mummy that hits incredibly hard in melee, and casts Greater Dispel Magic, lightning and acid spells, and Greater Shout. Marvik begins combat with a (dispellable) Fire Shield - Cold, Resist Fire and Protection from Elements - Fire and Greater Heroism all cast on himself. In addition, when encountered, Marvik is accompanied by two melee-oriented blackbone skeletons.
Marvik's chest offers standard level 16 loot, plus a small chance (2% per party member) at a named item, the Bone Talisman - a trinket that grants Superior False Life (+40hp), but grants a -5 penalty to all saves against disease and poison.

2) Destroy the Summoning Stone - Fire side. A stone in the northeast corner of the map has been enchanted to summon fire elementals and fire mephits. The party must destroy it by dealing 25000 damage to it (cold damage is doubled). As they attack it, fire elementals, fire mephits and efreeti attack them. The chest the party receives has a small chance (2% per party member) of dropping a Searing Stone (Trinket, Superior Fire Lore, Power X)

3) Slay Pyroclast, the Red Dragon. Pyroclast is a purple-named Huge red dragon. She uses similar tactics to the Gianthold Tor dragons. Pyroclast's breath weapon deals ~270 damage on a failed save and also dispels buffs (just like Velah), and has a Reflex save DC of around 37. In addition, Pyroclast has considerable fast healing, and enjoys a permanent, undispellable Fire Shield - Warm which deals significant damage, and Resist Cold. In melee, she makes cleaving attacks with a very high attack speed, attacking with a bonus of about +55 for around 70 damage per swing. Her AC is exceptional (55) and she has a not-insignificant 50k HP.
In short, she's meant to be tough (although not nearly as tough as elite Arrietrikos, despite having a higher AC).
This encounter awards ten times the normal rare encounter XP on first completion. It has two level 19 chests (as Shroud elite) -one with a Red Dragon Scale dropping for each party member (100% drop rate, turn these in in Gianthold for more new loot) and the other with three named items with low drop rates (2% per item per party member): Pyroclast's Fang - a rapier fashioned from one of the dragon's fangs, this is a +5 rapier (base damage increased to 2d4) that, on a successful critical hit, deals 10d6 fire damage to the target; Shield of the Red Dragon - a +5 adamantine tower shield of superior fire resistance and superior cold resistance (resist 40 Cold, resist 40 Fire); and Pyroclast's Ring - an exclusive ring with +6 Dex, Fire Shield - Warm 3/day and Improved Fire Resistance.
Pyroclast spawns in every instance of this wilderness, but she may be in one of three locations - the explorer point Pyroclast's lair, the top of Eberron's Spine, or close to the border of the area influenced by Risia.

4) Slay Paranisa, Prince of Ice Flensers - Ice side. Paranisa is an exceptionally powerful ice flenser, capable of casting Polar Rays that deal 300 damage, Cones of Cold/Oitluke's Spheres for similar amounts, and also capable of teleporting like an Orthon and a terror in melee. Paranisa's chest can contain (2% chance for each party member) the Chillblain Helm, a helmet that grants Superior Cold Resistance (resist cold 40).

5) Wreck Chilshard, Experimental Mithril Golem, beyond repair - Ice side. Chilshard is a powerful construct that has escaped from Isoleta. Chilshard acts like an Iron Golem, but moves at the speed of a hasted, sprint-boosted barbarian and deals an additional 10d6 cold damage with each attack due to having been imbued with the soul gem of Paranamal, the Ice Flenser from Prison of the Planes. Chilshard's chest has a 2% chance per party member to contain the Bracers of Speed (Bracers, +6 Dex, 5/rest Haste)

6) Rescue Cyranis, Lost Soul - Ice side. Cyranis was a former paladin of the Silver Flame, captured decades ago by a (now-deceased) necromancer and turned into a Cinderspawn. The party must guide Cyranis to the entrance to Zawabi's Refuge. Every monster in the entire wilderness zone attacks Cyranis as though he was a party member (Cyranis has identical stats to the Cinderspawns from Inferno of the Damned on hard, and will fight back as best as able. Note that the party may use negative energy spells or fire attack spells to heal Cyranis).
If the party succeeds, Cyranis transforms into an aasimar paladin and rewards them with two level 19 chests - one of which has a 2% chance (per party member) of dropping his signature weapon, Bonechiller, a +4 icy burst keen rapier of puncturing

[Deadslug]

I AM ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

First, I'd like to mention that I enjoyed since Feb them creating the new 3BC and writing good stories for all the new material there, and that I have not forgotten it. I've also liked all the work they did creating the new Monk class.

Ideas: bounty boards in the Market, D, K, P, J and for all the explorer / rare areas. I like them in the Harbor.

Idea: PVP areas. My point is that commonly, really only the Wayward lobster area and sometimes Pheonix Tavern is used. Take the Hammersmith inn brawl area and Have the "bouncer" need help clearing all the brawling drunks out of what used to be the PVP area. You can have Mid-lvl NPC's of every race / class. Kobolds, orcs, hobgoblins, Minotaurs and bugbears all being unruly and fighting each other, but when they see the PC!!!!! Now they have a common enemy.

Idea: Cerulean Hills: The Orc cave where you normally find the kidnapped farmer? Turn it into a full fledged cavernous quest.

I'm 19037, and that's what I think.

[Jarlaxxx]

The Good Idea Fairy visisted me and whispered in my ear. This is what she said.

"Make a quest where the party gets captured from the start. Then they have to fight their way out without their gear that they started with. Then as the party moves through the quest they find thier gear in chests but not all at once but in certain Orange named sub boss's chests who thought your stuff was real cool. Hey they may even use that +4 Vorpal Koepesh of back stabing against you. You just have to take it back from him. That would be realy cool. Oh and if you leave the quest without finishing it you loose gear that you left in chests that you didnt loot."

I thought about this suggestion and it did have some merits. You would have to depend on your Rogue, Monk, Cleric, Caster, and your DPS guy to get you out of it. Hell it sounds like you would need a party that would have to work together in thier Uberness, weaponless, nakedness, and overall good play to accomplishment. The reward would have to be pretty good for possibly loosing your gear. Don't think that if you just don't bring your gear along you will be good. You would need your best stuff to kill the main boss at the end because he was the master mind who captured you in the firstplace he WILL have a very devious plan to kill you.

Characters would have to have a wide variety of ways to get out. Whether the rogue picks a lock and sneaks to a chest gets what he can and brings back to the party or the Sorceress lures the guard into the cell for possible relations then BLAM the Barbarian clobers him. The point is there is many open ended ways for the party to accomplish their goals but the party has to work together.

Heck the quest giver in the Tavern is in on the whole thing. She tells a very spectacular tale about riches beyond imagination. To bad she has pulled this con on countless other parties to turn a very good profit.

Anyways have fun with the Idea.

Jarlaxxx