Discord
Changelog
I respectfully disagree with some of the points you made here, Animayhem.
First off, and most importantly, the addition of new questgivers is partly meant to be as incentive for players to get out and adventure and explore every nook and cranny of the PW. You never know where you’ll find a questgiver who gives an awesome item you’re going to love – so the point is to get out, look around, take others with you, and adventure! Furthermore, it’s pretty apparent there is already a gross overabundance of metagaming when it comes to lower-level static questgivers. Almost all new characters from people who have been around know who to go and see at what *exact* level. I refuse to further encourage the ‘questgiver checklist’ mentality by posting things like special questgiver names and *especially* the levels at which they hire PCs.
My recommendation to all players is to take your PCs to locations further away from Tyraturos, Pyarados, Amruthar, and Bezantur as you level and search for questgivers that give you new stuff. Powergaming, trying to level as quickly as you can, or grinding through the same old dungeon over and over and over and over is likely going to result in you leaving behind some questgivers that may have given you a reward at a lower level which could have made your PCs life easier in the long run.
Next, In regard to the creatures not being around that drop the special ‘things’ certain questgivers look for, I have tried very hard to a.) keep in mind when designing the quest at what PC level(s) the creatures that have the items will spawn, b.) create a range of creatures at different levels (like lycans, vampires, dragons, etc) that drop these items, or c.) add a few specific creature spawn points in out-of-the-way rooms in certain dungeons (like crypts and towers).
The last point (c.) has been very limited because in these cases, they are generally mid-upper level creatures. And since the spawn system in Thay is one that scales with the PCs in the area (to a point), there is a danger in placing these specific creature spawn points because there is no CR check on these spawns which means unlucky PCs at low levels could wiped out by them if they delve too greedily or too deep. And then we get angry posts here about how unbalanced the spawns are. So while there are specific creature spawns, you’re going to have to go off the beaten path or to the deepest, darkest levels of certain areas of adventure to find them.
Ideally there will eventually be a small range of these creatures created (like small, normal, and huge gem golems, for example), but since there is a guaranteed way to get to them (albeit at a slow rate), it’s not been a priority for me to complete. But with that said, if there is anyone who would like to create a range of some of the quest creatures you feel are lacking in your adventures at various levels, send me a PM. I’d love to put you to work.
So in closing, I will give a few tips here free of charge (well - except the price of having to listen to me rant up above and read the small book I wrote):
1. Hopefully this is somewhat apparent among longer-term players, but the further you get from the current center of Thay (Tyraturos, Pyarados, Amruthar, and Bezantur), the more the areas (and questgivers) are generally targeted at mid to upper level PCs. I can guarantee that level 18 PCs will not find a questgiver, or things a questgiver targeted for level 18 PCs seek, in the Bezantur Sewers for example.
2. There are currently 67 dungeon/adventure/encounter areas in Thay, not including unique areas like planar areas and places in The Citadel. Upon reaching level 17, non-static questgivers would have had the chance to send you to all of them. So when you’re looking for that quest item, consider how many you have been to and if it’s possibly time to expand your adventuring range to locate that elusive creature.
3. With the latest server update; every city, town, and castle in Thay has at least one a special questgiver in it now, and that will be the plan moving forward as well.
4. There are currently 30 unique questgivers that give a unique quest reward. In addition, there are another 4 that are also unique but their reward is the same thing. This is the closest thing to a list of questgivers that I will give. And if it makes any difference - not even the staff or DMs have a list of the questgivers or their rewards.
First off, and most importantly, the addition of new questgivers is partly meant to be as incentive for players to get out and adventure and explore every nook and cranny of the PW. You never know where you’ll find a questgiver who gives an awesome item you’re going to love – so the point is to get out, look around, take others with you, and adventure! Furthermore, it’s pretty apparent there is already a gross overabundance of metagaming when it comes to lower-level static questgivers. Almost all new characters from people who have been around know who to go and see at what *exact* level. I refuse to further encourage the ‘questgiver checklist’ mentality by posting things like special questgiver names and *especially* the levels at which they hire PCs.
My recommendation to all players is to take your PCs to locations further away from Tyraturos, Pyarados, Amruthar, and Bezantur as you level and search for questgivers that give you new stuff. Powergaming, trying to level as quickly as you can, or grinding through the same old dungeon over and over and over and over is likely going to result in you leaving behind some questgivers that may have given you a reward at a lower level which could have made your PCs life easier in the long run.
Next, In regard to the creatures not being around that drop the special ‘things’ certain questgivers look for, I have tried very hard to a.) keep in mind when designing the quest at what PC level(s) the creatures that have the items will spawn, b.) create a range of creatures at different levels (like lycans, vampires, dragons, etc) that drop these items, or c.) add a few specific creature spawn points in out-of-the-way rooms in certain dungeons (like crypts and towers).
The last point (c.) has been very limited because in these cases, they are generally mid-upper level creatures. And since the spawn system in Thay is one that scales with the PCs in the area (to a point), there is a danger in placing these specific creature spawn points because there is no CR check on these spawns which means unlucky PCs at low levels could wiped out by them if they delve too greedily or too deep. And then we get angry posts here about how unbalanced the spawns are. So while there are specific creature spawns, you’re going to have to go off the beaten path or to the deepest, darkest levels of certain areas of adventure to find them.
Ideally there will eventually be a small range of these creatures created (like small, normal, and huge gem golems, for example), but since there is a guaranteed way to get to them (albeit at a slow rate), it’s not been a priority for me to complete. But with that said, if there is anyone who would like to create a range of some of the quest creatures you feel are lacking in your adventures at various levels, send me a PM. I’d love to put you to work.
So in closing, I will give a few tips here free of charge (well - except the price of having to listen to me rant up above and read the small book I wrote):
1. Hopefully this is somewhat apparent among longer-term players, but the further you get from the current center of Thay (Tyraturos, Pyarados, Amruthar, and Bezantur), the more the areas (and questgivers) are generally targeted at mid to upper level PCs. I can guarantee that level 18 PCs will not find a questgiver, or things a questgiver targeted for level 18 PCs seek, in the Bezantur Sewers for example.
2. There are currently 67 dungeon/adventure/encounter areas in Thay, not including unique areas like planar areas and places in The Citadel. Upon reaching level 17, non-static questgivers would have had the chance to send you to all of them. So when you’re looking for that quest item, consider how many you have been to and if it’s possibly time to expand your adventuring range to locate that elusive creature.
3. With the latest server update; every city, town, and castle in Thay has at least one a special questgiver in it now, and that will be the plan moving forward as well.
4. There are currently 30 unique questgivers that give a unique quest reward. In addition, there are another 4 that are also unique but their reward is the same thing. This is the closest thing to a list of questgivers that I will give. And if it makes any difference - not even the staff or DMs have a list of the questgivers or their rewards.