This is just a brainstorm I had.
TL;DR: Dragons are Marked of Pharasma. Their loot pools are filled by the husks of the players they kill. Their loot drops are husks which players get a couple of minutes to harvest before dragon respawns.
So Ryan pointed out somewhere in these forums that there is one very major issue with having big boss spawns like dragons in a game like this. Simply put, imagine word goes out that a dragon has turned up in a hex, then suddenly hundreds of people in the nearby hexes swarm on it. Bad things happen, not fun things. If nothing else, only a small handful of people actually get to enjoy killing the beast, while everyone else gets stuck out in the cold. So random big monster spawns are a bad idea in this game.
My idea: Have "Dragon homes" (or homes for other similarly large, rare creatures we would like to see in the game). Pick a hex- or even just a portion of a hex- that is a home to a dragon. Locate an (inactive) Shrine of Pharsma there, and say the Dragon is one of the Marked of Pharasma. Players can kill the dragon, but the dragon will just respawn in a very short time-frame (1 or 2 minutes).
Now here is the catch: The dragon does not drop loot. It drops a husk (or husks) that the players have to harvest while the beast is dead.
Here is the second catch: Those husks aren't filled by the game. They are filled with the husks of dead players the dragon has killed. In other words, when your husk drops after the dragon eats you, it immediately gets absorbed into the dragon's loot pool.
What this does: It sets up a system where we can haz dragons, players can enjoy seeing the dragon, fighting the dragon, and getting eaten by the dragon. Then players can enjoy one day actually being able to kill the dragon and take some of its stuff- but not all!
This system should remedy the issue of everybody wanting to rush to see the dragon since it will always be there. Likewise, it will remedy the issue of players trying to farm the dragon for goodies, since the dragoon only has as much loot as the people it has killed. Other than the Dragon's loot coming from other player's husks, and the dragon dropping its own husks, this system would work basically just like the current PvE combat system.
Some stats for two different dragons:
Great Wyrm Red Dragon (intended to be nigh unbeatable):
80 All Resistance
100 Fire Resistance
20 Cold Resistance
~250 Reflex, Fortitude and Will
4,000 hit points
100 base damage for its attacks
Range on Breath attacks: 35 Meters
Range on Bite Attacks: 10 meters
Perception: 300
Aggro Distance: 35 meters
Mature Adult Black Dragon (Intended to be beatable by T2 parties):
40 All Resistance
100 Electirc Resistance
~150 Reflex, Fortitude and Will
2,000 hit points
70 base damage for its attacks
Range on Breath attack: 35 meters
Range on Bite attack: 5 meters
Perception: 150
Aggro Distance: 35 meters
Possible Locations:
Black Dragon: Monster Home Hex in the swamps south of Hammerfall
White/Silver Dragon: On snowcapped peaks of mountains near Brighthaven and Callembea
Green Dragon: Forests anywhere
Red/Silver Dragon: Mountains
Blue/Brass Dragon: Lower Plains
Copper Dragon: Hilly hexes
Gold Dragon: Lower Plains, or Forests near LG settlements like Ozem's Vigil
I'm thinking one of each type on the map, so they are rare enough to be special, but common enough to not be meccas.
Goblin Squad Member
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Big bad monster/bosses might be best for "Dungeons" where the person who found it/claims it decides who can take on the challenge. Of course, it would be really challenging if the players don't know there is a Big Bad Dragon hidden in the back of that dark cave. These would be one time events.
So again, the issue with one-time or random events is that only the handful of people that show up for them would get to enjoy the glory of it. Ryan wants things that are open for everyone (or everyone of an appropriate tier) can enjoy/participate in.
But yeah, some additional source of loot would be necessary for the dragon. Say, it accumulates coin/wealth at a slow rate over time, then the players that kill it get to try to steal some of that wealth before the beast respawns.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I have never really like Raids in MMOs and having a Dragon or other such creature regularly "Raided" even if it is random locations each time, is not very pleasing to me. In my experience, Raids quickly become boring and also brings out the worst in players (at least the vocal ones) but in order for your character to remain relevant, you need to do these Raids.
I would be satisfied if the only Raid-like content is Settlement Warfare. That at least has the potential to be more fun and not cookie cutter like NPC Raids when it comes to strategies.
Dragons are supposed to be intelligent, and setting up home where some players can just show up and kill it is stupid. The thing has wings, so it's going to move into a cave on ground level? Dragon with downs syndrome maybe.
I've found that in most RPG's dragons are played as very stupid and do no justice at all to the idea.
Dragons are supposed to be intelligent, and setting up home where some players can just show up and kill it is stupid. The thing has wings, so it's going to move into a cave on ground level? Dragon with downs syndrome maybe.
I've found that in most RPG's dragons are played as very stupid and do no justice at all to the idea.
Yeah that is an itty bitty issue with my idea :)
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Goblin Squad Member
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The problem with dragons is they kinda become pets for high level characters.
I still recall fondly how my Drow clan on the NWN Richterm servers about 10 years back used to bait dragons and get them to follow us into the surface dweller towns and drop them off in the market place. Much mayhem would ensue. For some reason the server mods were not amused.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Perhaps Dragons is best left for Mods to spawn when we got to complacent and there are two fixed alliances ruling each half of the world in agreement.... hoarding gold in the vaults...
But the idea works for other kind of lesser monsters. I like the idea of monsters hoarding loot from killed charaters.
In my potential NWN server I had cleaners in form of ghouls collecting all stuff littering at dusk (if no PC was near). All stuff worth anything went to a ghoul nest which open up for looting as a sidequest when full enough of stuff.
Perhaps Dragons is best left for Mods to spawn when we got to complacent and there are two fixed alliances ruling each half of the world in agreement.... hoarding gold in the vaults...
But the idea works for other kind of lesser monsters. I like the idea of monsters hoarding loot from killed charaters.
In my potential NWN server I had cleaners in form of ghouls collecting all stuff littering at dusk (if no PC was near). All stuff worth anything went to a ghoul nest which open up for looting as a sidequest when full enough of stuff.
Which could be a cool thing to do with unclaimed husks.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Which could be a cool thing to do with unclaimed husks.Perhaps Dragons is best left for Mods to spawn when we got to complacent and there are two fixed alliances ruling each half of the world in agreement.... hoarding gold in the vaults...
But the idea works for other kind of lesser monsters. I like the idea of monsters hoarding loot from killed charaters.
In my potential NWN server I had cleaners in form of ghouls collecting all stuff littering at dusk (if no PC was near). All stuff worth anything went to a ghoul nest which open up for looting as a sidequest when full enough of stuff.
I am not sure I really want Cadaver Collectors wandering around Golarion.
Cadaver Collectors are probably the cause of dismiss of more of my 3.5/Pathfinder mid level characters than any other single monster.