Major Quest, Monster, and Balance Update (v120)

Major Quest, Monster, and Balance Update (v120)

Saves from v117 are not compatible with this update.

This update focuses on mid/late-game rebalance, a major monster overhaul with heavily reworked monster abilities and spellcasting, major quest-flow changes, and many player-facing quality-of-life fixes.

Major Balance Changes

• Player level now adds +1 to melee, ranged, spell attacks, and spell save DCs every 4 levels, up to +4.
• Rebalanced encounter rosters and scaling across the main route, side zones, wilderness, and world map.
• Rebalanced weapon skill training requirements and allowed more practice from tougher enemies.
• Added a second trinket equipment slot, expanding build and utility choices.
• Rebalanced hunger, nutrition, resting, camping, and resource regeneration pacing.
• Rebalanced cleric piety recovery and holy symbol effects.
• Rebalanced druid wild shape stats, natural attacks, and form scaling.

Monster Overhaul

• Heavily reworked monster ability and spell behavior across the roster, making many enemies more distinct and tactical.
• Added 51 net new monsters, including beholders, displacer beasts, ropers, phase spiders, sword spiders, fomorian giants, rocs, shambling mounds, and hangman trees.
• Improved 39 existing monsters, including oozes, hydras, liches, golems, giants, dragons, undead, and high-tier dungeon threats.
• Added new monster factions and variants, including assassins, bandit marksmen, orogs, stronger cultists, stronger necromancers, and blackglass duergar.
• Added 17 new monster ability behaviors, including nets, charges, rusting gear, gases, songs, pulls, and special touch attacks.
• Added new blackglass and primordial-blackglass monster variants for late-game areas.
• Rebalanced monster accuracy, armor, resistances, XP, multiattacks, spell use, and special ability frequency.
• Rebalanced dragon breath, spell use, and late-game dragon pressure.
• Monster abilities now display more clearly in lore and inspection.

Quest and World Changes

• Reworked major main-quest artifact gates and late-game progression checks.
• Reworked the Stoneward Gate, Istarian lift, Blackglass phase, and final descent flow.
• Reworked the Elven Passageways route as part of the late main-route cleanup.
• Replaced the old Perfect Draught quest with a longer multi-step chain.
• Reworked the White Vault cleansing rite and related quest responsibilities.
• Merged and cleaned up several Moonwell-related quest steps.
• Improved Beacon Prism handoff, Watchtower pickup, and several mainline quest updates.
• Cleaned up many quest dialogues and journal entries for clearer guidance.

Zones and Encounters

• Reworked many zone layouts, including Ghostwood, White Seal Tower, Glassroot Hollow, Rockmaw Keep, Ash Tower, Camp Kestrel, Kings Barrow, and Widowrun Cave.
• Reworked the Stonecleft, South Gate, Underway, and Greycliff Quarry route structure.
• Added more organic cave, forest, ruin, road, rubble, water, and room layouts.
• Improved map spawning and dungeon refill mechanics.
• Reduced excessive dungeon refill pressure and improved long-reentry monster churn.
• Improved world encounter rates and spawn distance behavior.

Items, UI, and Quality of Life

• Added 32 new items, including new cloaks, circlets, diadems, rings, holy symbols, and quest items.
• Added rings for free action, paralysis resistance, warding, and new protection/displacement cloak families.
• Added mistletoe holy symbols and expanded divine-focus item support.
• Improved merchant restock cycles, shop stock quality, sell prices, and quest reward pools.
• Added item icons by gear type and improved item list presentation.
• Added clearer attack, weapon proficiency, attribute, spell failure, hunger, wound, drain, and channeling displays.
• Improved autoexplore around revealed traps, doors, and training dummies.
• Improved targeting camera behavior, projectile previews, message prompts, and gamepad controls.
• Fixed many quest, stair, secret door, prop, chest, trap, projectile, and save/load edge cases.