[AREA] Menzoberranzan

[Sszaghar]

I was going to send this in an email to the builders , but at the moment I cannot get my email account to work.

Sszaghar just recently graduated Sorcere and he noticed a few oddities:

1. The Masters in Sorcere do not teach spells pertaining to their profession (except for the mage) and most of the spells you can learn are divinations.

2. Drow are a race that specializes in magic, but Menzo does not have any sort of component shop and hardly any spells to be had. The closest place Sszaghar has heard of that has anything for casters is Ched Nasad, and from what he has gleaned from other Drow, it is difficult, expensive, and dangerous to travel there.

I can understand that some components would be rare considering that Menzo is miles from the surface, so plant-like components would be hard to come by. Though gem-type components, minerals (phosphorous, sulphur), fine metal-worked components, smooth stones, fur, spider silk, scales, pearls (gathered from subterranean oysters ), crystal (rods/beads) etc... should be in abundance.

No ire or hard feelings intended... just seems like its hard times for a caster down here.

[Caelnai]

- I think it is reasonable to ask a mage to travel to one of the other cities for advanced training. However, I agree that there are some basic spells that badly need trainers in Menzo. I would also note that Tier Breche is closed off to < lev 10, further restricting training basic skills.

- Agree with Sszaghar on the component situation! I'll ping the shop application I sent in to builders a long time ago which would address some of the component shortages.

- I also believe there is a bug that the Sorcere quest is not triggering for some mages. (I believe that was sent in. I'll check and get back on that!)

I will prioritize any builds/tweaks in these areas if the builds are approved.

[Nedylene]

If you ask around IC there is a VERY well known drow merchant that can get pretty much any component you desire. And it is an ACTIVE character/player

[Selveem]

I understand, Nedy. That's a good short-term solution, but not a viable long-term one.

Such an intricate part of the game shouldn't rely on a single player logging in the game. Imm, or otherwise.

Something like that is destined to fail as any person with an IT background knows.

We need a viable long term solution.

[Sszaghar]

I wasn't suggesting putting advanced trainers in Menzo. I was just putting it out there that the masters do not teach spells of their profession and that most of the spells that you can learn in Menzo cannot be cast anyway because you cannot get the components for half of them.

Take for example the Master of Necromancy. You would think that he would teach a few necromancy spells(perhaps chill touch(offense), blindness(defense), and animate dead(utility). Something like 1 spell per spell level up to third level spells, for a total of three spells. 1 for offense, 1 for defense, and 1 utility spell.) Though despite the guild he represents, he teaches identify and there aren't any shops in Menzo that sells pearls or feathers.

I had an idea while in the middle of posting this, so I'm just gonna throw it in as well:
Maybe move the three divination spells that the spire masters teach: clairvoyance, magic mirror, and identify to the Master of Lore, and move the three transmutation spells taught in Sorcere: Infravision, Levitate, and Mnemonic Enhancer to the Master of the Sorcere. So the Master of Lore would be an impromptu divination teacher and the Master of the Sorcere would teach transmutation. Then give a spell from each Sphere not already represented: Abjuration, Conjuration, and Enchantment to the Master of Magery, i.e. acid arrow (lvl 2 conjuration, offense), armor (lvl 1 abjuration, defense), and fury (lvl 3 enchantment, utility). So all in all each trainer NPC in Sorcere would teach three spells, and all eight Spheres of Magic would be represented. Spells listed were just examples to illustrate the idea, I have no idea how rare said spells are intended to be in FK.

On a side note, I also noticed that the westernmost merchant in Shaun the Fashion Merchants shop has mis-strung items. The green colored items are strung as being black and the black colored items are strung as being green. No big deal, just though it was worth a mention.

[Duranamir]

As far as Spell choice i absolutely and whole heartedly agree with the comments above. In fact for me one of the most absurd things is that there is a teacher for the Infravison spell in the Sorcere, what are Drow with natural low light vision going to do with infravision !. So hopefully we might get another visit from the revision fairy, who has at times made his/her presence felt in Menzo. If they do choose to turn up a message post might be a nice decorative addition to the Bazaar as well .

OOC i agree that relying on a single character for access to components is not the greatest idea. IC of course the idea of a monopoly warms the cockles of Duranamir's little black heart But without getting too IC there is nothing to stop any other character doing the things that Duranamir has done to acquire components.

Component wise i am also waiting to see what happens with the Alchemy developments as Drow do have good access to several of the types of crystal that form the basis of this trade and I am sure a mage could be persuaded to teach them the relevant rituals.

If you include the three cities that Drow have access to and the various areas of the underdark Drow do have access to a surprising number of components though they do tend to go out of stock in a rather annoying manner in most of the shops. Also some things that should perhaps be components are not for example vials of rothe blood are not it seems vials of blood as far as being a component goes.

I would support the addition of some of the more obviously underground ones like crystal rods or various kinds of gems either in shops or preferably in a location that would require a degree of adventuring. One idea is to have crystal rods or onyx gems for example growing in a similar manner to the elemental shards, and then place these collection points in various places in the Underdark or perhaps Skull Caverns so they are accessible to surface siders too.

This would do two things give the Drow mages/priestesses some help and also give the Drow something to trade with the surface.

Duranamir