ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

I propose that undead get a new zone upon returning to the west.

Should they travel near their starting zone, they should experience a collapse in the ground that returns them to said zone.

The gist is this:

The Necromancer who made you (who is suspiciously weak) was toying with forces beyond his control. He created access to the underworld. Without him there to manage his portal, it grew unstable and unleashed undead forces before it collapsed.

Once you enter it, it's partial collapsed thus the top level is smaller and each level down it gets bigger, all within the same format as when you were first there.

Then, at the bottom near your starting point is a new level. This level should be riddled with pockets of burning floor (but not entirely covered... give a player a break, ha ha).

The entire level should be filled with undead... I would argue mostly ghosts and dreads, et al.

Then at the end, you should have the equivalent of a backup guardian that is a massive ghostly form of some kind... something heavily resistant to physical damage or whatever.

That's my idea. Thoughts? Criticisms?

hmm how about...
when you pass by the the place of your rebirth, you decide to maybe take a look at the place, for whatever reason. something caugh your attention.

and if you decide to descend again, on the first floor you meat another necromancer with a few undead for an escort.
confrontation bit like the assassin lord? (what? its not like there are only 2 competent necromancers on the whole Maj'Eyal! and i am not counting Celia, she is new at it.)

turns out that the "aspiring necromancer" was an idiot, similarly to the one who turned himself into a litchmold, and his teacher is very disappointed.
however when he notices you, he decides that there maybe a way to salvage the situation, since technically his work did produce you.

at the start he greats you, and there would be 2 choices.
"not another one... [attack]" if we were to count celia, this would be your 4th necromancer you meet.
"well, better than the previous, what do you want?" (maybe better worded, since you are the one visiting here...)

if you chose to listen, he gives you a "quest", appropriate for a necromancer.

and few possible answers.
"so just another monster.[ATTACK]"
"killed so many, few more cant be that bad. sure"
"hmmm nah, not interested, bye." (end and walk away. if it was possible to control you, "the master" would have tried.)

just an alternate idea.

edit
do we know who was the mentor of the litchmold? could be the same one here.

Both of those ideas actually sound cool to me. I'm not certain if DG would want to delve into the setting's afterlife, though - it's a major thing to define.

I like Radon's suggestions...

Perhaps not another necromancer at the bottom though as I've always figured that they ought to be rare-ish. Then again, who knows?

What kind of reward though? Just XP? Here are some rough suggestions:

1. Just XP and gear.

2. A specialty lamp called:

"Jar of Eyes" which is literally just a jar filled with different eyeballs and it grants telepathy: human, orc, and undead, see invisible/stealth bonuses +25, +8 infravision, 0 light radius, +65% blindness resistance, and grants "Vision" at level 2 and "Arcane Eye" at level 4.

3. A Cloak that grants only undead (either by race or equipment) the ability to recover from ONE status effect (any type) every 5 turns and a flat reduction in damage of 10 per hit, after all other calculations have been made.

Lastly, said cloak would also increase the base life regen of an undead by 10.

Any other thoughts?

I am generally supportive of the general idea, but am unsure about the specifics.
I can't think of anything else to say. (possibly because I've been on planes most of the day and just got home.)