Favourite/preferred kind of quest reward?

[Drusilla]

Yeah, having several new houses would seem excessive. I'd say one new house would be nice, if only to have the convenience of being able to store a little more...though it'd defeat the point if it was only a replacement if you lost Gondolin. For those of us who have long since learned not to lose Gondolin, it doesn't seem quite fair.

The Gondolin quest structure works a wee bit differently in Theme - I think the eventual loss of Gondolin may be inevitable, but I may be thinking of Annals of Ea.

[furiosity]

The Gondolin quest is the same in Theme as it is in regular ToME - the only difference is that since Gondolin's location has moved to a more thematic place on the map, there's some hilarity involving a secret valley and road signs.

Hunter, I agree that skills, if given, should be given sparingly and perhaps in the manner of the BM. Too much freedom with the skills can lead to overly easy play. But...would you say a potion of learning would be a good reward for a very difficult quest? (keeping in mind that the amount of skill points you get is dependent on luck)

A lot of really really good ideas in this thread. I don't know about implementing half of them, but hopefully I can implement a few.

[erisdiscordia]

Here's an idea. Although I've never played the Void (stupid Storm Wyrms of Angband... GRRRRR...), what I've read about it on the forums is that pure warriors have a difficult time there because it's so hard to hit. If Theme also has a Void, perhaps a nice late-game quest reward would be something with a massive to-hit bonus, making a pure-warrior more suitable for the Void.

Eris

[Yottle]

I voted for generic skill points, although I have been playing sorcerors and they get more skill points than they need (I have won with sorcerors with unused skilll points). Without FF quests to get access to mimicry and symbiosis, I really don't know what a sorceror would do with 250 skill points. Every other type of character that I have played has been limited by skill points, however.

Hit points would be a close second, although I agree with the comment that a monster that can you with 1000 hp can kill you with 2000 hp. My sorcerors have been going into the Void with 700-800 hp, and most of them have been successful.

I don't find the idea of more houses very useful. I generally keep enough stuff to fill up about two houses, so the four regular ones are more than enough. I have never used the one in Khazad-dum.

I am worried about the idea of getting too many skills available to all characters. This leads to generic characters. The reason that I stopped playing N**H*** was that eventually every character ends up using the same equipment and the same tactics. Experienced players in that game only stay interested by making up artificial restrictions: can you win only using the keys on the right side of the keyboard?

I usually don't find the guaranteed drops or equipment rewards to be very useful, although there are exceptions. Morgoth and Tiki both give items that all of my characters use. Ar-Pharazon's drop and the Minas Anor Old Mage's reward are good for mages. The reward for Eol is useful for anyone who hasn't found an artifact light source. The Orc Cave treasures and the Minotaur's drop are useful in the early game. Luthien is nice if I don't have a cloak with multiple immunities. Narya is OK for a character with multiple ring slots. The Helm of Knowledge and the Stone of Lore can be useful for a character that doesn't have the ID spell.

The thunderlord gate reward is great because it relieves tedium in the late game. How about expanding it to give access (via the thunderlords) to all towns as well as dungeons?

There really should be a quest that gives you a guaranteed cloak of air. This could save future Void divers half an hour of scumming the Sandworm Lair after killing Morgy. The quest reward of a wish could do this, of course.

[christopher]

Without FF quests to get access to mimicry and symbiosis, I really don't know what a sorceror would do with 250 skill points.

Just do what all my sorcerors do, and dump points into spirituality or necromancy. Necromancy helps recover hit points easily (absorb soul or whatever it's called) and gives undead form, and not much can stop a sorcer with Legendary[10] saving throw (speaking from personal experience!)

[kfoelsch]

I'd have to vote for skill points too. However, if you invented new & useful artifacts, those could be fun, too!

[feathin]

I actually voted for hitpoints. Getting 6 skillpoints each level gives most classes a fair bit of leeway, and its good to still have to make some decisions about what to train in, rather than being able to get proficient in too many areas. Maeglin's quest reward is one in the normal game I drool most over.

Sure, sometimes if you die with 1000 HP, you'd also have died with 2000 HP. But rarely. And usually you'd at least have more time to realize you are being slaughtered and get out of there. And many, many times, you can have nearly finished off the battle, and then the last creature just manages to kill you before you kill it. Or if you hit an incredibly nasty trap (or two) when you have taken quite a bit of damage already.

There really should be a quest that gives you a guaranteed cloak of air. This could save future Void divers half an hour of scumming the Sandworm Lair after killing Morgy. The quest reward of a wish could do this, of course.

Whoohoo yes! I've found a cloak of air like, twice. And no I don't have my automizer automatically destroy cloaks before I even identify them.

Going off-topic somewhat...

Morgoth and Tiki both give items that all of my characters use.

You never play monks? You should try one. Then you'd have a char who wouldn't be interested in Morgy's drop.

... the Minas Anor Old Mage's reward are good for mages.

My most recent melee chars have actually been using the special tome, since they are dragons and can't get a digger. Rather than carry Thrain my whole life I train in earth magic (blue dragon) to get dig. Also am planning on training a bit in divination to get identify with my current bdm, and sometimes I've considered conveyance too to get disarm.

The reward for Eol is useful for anyone who hasn't found an artifact light source.

I love the magic mapping ability so much I've taken that light source right to Morgoth, occasionally using it for a swap-in for the ability if an artifact light source provides a resistance I otherwise lack.

Less off-topic....

However, if you invented new & useful artifacts, those could be fun, too! Very Happy

Yes, that would be cool. Like a good way to get Nimpelos with its amazing dazzle ability, for all the poor non-blue-dragon chars.

Or, one-shot alchemy. Choose the item from several, then choose a couple powers from a limited list. Could help in equipment design for characters to specialize, similar to the special tome in Minas Anor.

I like erisdiscordia's idea about adding to-hit. That would be fabulous for melee chars.

Slightly related: choose an item to upgrade, similar to a scroll of craftsmanship. But would/could increase the to-hit, to-dam, or armor bonus of the item instead of pval.

Something that would be very very cool would be more character-varied quests, like in Bree with the Troll quest or the Wight quest, depending on Magic skill vs Combat skill. Could be used to make very class-specific quests, or even race or ability quests. (Skill in dodging: give quest with reward of randart ring based on ring of slaying. Race is dragon: quest to hunt down great eagles. Have undead form: give quest to destroy graveyard.

Speciallized rewards like that would become very very applicable in 3.0.0, when you can have items give skills...

[kfoelsch]

I really like the custom alchemy idea

[Armada]

Finding exceptional Items in the early game keeps me going, such as the Cap of Seeing with full esp i found in my last game. Got the Rohanknight classic swordmaster to level 30 before being slaughtered by the treader of the dust.

+2 or 3 speed might be a nice 1 time quest reward.

I have to admit i dont use generic characters, so quest rewards like FF gives arent too usefull to me. If i play a thief im going to roleplay a thief.. Dagger or similar weapon only, shadow cloak and lots of stealth. I dont want to get thaum with that character, but Conveyance might be in theme.

Never actually managed to fill up even 1 house with usefull stuff, even when im keeping arts to sell to more expensive shops. More HP's would always be welcome, as would a guarenteed improvement in a weapon or armor. +20 AC? Yes please. +10 hit and +10 to damage on my randart dagger? Of course.