I originally thought to include this as a response to PowerWyrms' post on reducing the # of levels of the High Peak, but realized it could be a nice element game-wide.
The general idea is racially specific areas, protected by a field which will only allow those characters of the indicated race/class to pass... These can be sprinkled through in any or all dungeons.
Given the myriad race/class combinations a player can choose - it might be tedious to code for all the options... so just race might be a decent place to start.
How to do it? Well, the material is already there, the magical barriers in the Sher'tul fortress. IE: the shimmering field which protects the portals to the land below.
Perhaps certain vaults, dungeon sections, 'secret passages', et all... could be found which are protected by these force fields... and only those of a certain race can pass.
And don't get me wrong, these 'Easter Eggs' are by no means freebie gear & loot... oh no... how about racial enemies and mean stuff which just happens to know your weaknesses... yet the attraction is there too... dwarven areas would more likely to have fighter gear... halfling chambers might be littered with the dead bodies of halflings and gear for thieves... et all... hopefully the software can look at your class and reward your hard fought tasks.
Ideas,
1. Halflings or thieves of any race can pass a portal that skips them levels ahead... from Floor #4 to Floor #8... sacrificing lots of encounters... but recognizing their ability to find and exploit paths others cannot use. After all, it's player choice whether to use it or not.
Dwarves or berserkers of all races could find a selection of vaults which are nothing more than hack and slashes with lots of summoning molds... something an archer mayhaps would really not like to find at early levels.
Undead could pass a life-stripping forcefield to find & battle something only they could appreciate... a lich!, an undead necromancer, and be rewarded with a race specific prize. We are not talking artifact here, just game fluff to make you feel being this race is different in the world.. than bring a human.
This concept could enrich dungeons which are otherwise the exact same for every character who passes through them. My hundredth purging of the Old Forest might be kind of fun if I have just one single grove of trees I've not had access to until I unlocked the skeleton race. Even if it's juts a grumpy wizard to kill.
Then there are zone specific portals... enter here and you get a whole 'elven only' level instead of the normal one generated for level #3 of the Scintillating Caves. This could be a surprise attack level where it's just regenerating trolls out to get you! And if yer human, it's undead after ya... if yer a halfling... it's mean whatever!
Again, just ideas to enhance re-playability and make race choice matter as one explores the world, not just during character generation, starting zone & a few key interactions late game.
Hope everyone is doing well!
~Robin