Follow TV Tropes

Following

Video Game / Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/solasta_crown_of_the_magister_wallpaper_1.jpg
Solasta is a party-based RPG by indie studio Tactical Adventures, based on the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition ruleset. After a successful Kickstarter campaign and an Early Access period, the game officially released on May 27, 2021.

Long ago, the world of Solasta was - somewhat literally - turned upside-down by the arrival of a strange new race called "humans" through an interplanar rift. The rift had the side effect of destroying the high elven Manacalon Empire, the survivors of which were forced to team up with their new human neighbours to patch reality back together. Many years later, the former heartland of the Empire remains a desolate waste known as the Badlands: a place where ancient treasures are just waiting to be picked up, if you can get past the various natural and supernatural hazards found throughout.

The player starts out by creating a party of four adventurers who are about to be sworn in as deputies of the Legacy Council, a slightly fractious alliance of Solasta's various nations who have pooled their resources to survey and reclaim the Badlands. It's sure to be a routine assignment, and pay no attention to that crazy drunk who insists that the Soraks are real...

Gameplay-wise, Solasta sticks very faithfully to the 5th edition D&D rules, although not all of the usual character classes and races are represented - mostly due to the restrictions of the SRD or technical limitations. It even pays attention to some details that are often overlooked, such as languages, food rations and lighting levels. The ability to climb and jump around in multi-layered environments is also a key feature.

In April 2022, the game received a second campaign DLC, Lost Valley. This expansion also came with new Sub-Classes and a multiplayer mode. In November 2022, another DLC added the Bard, the Monk, the Warlock as playable classes and the Dragonborn as an ancestry. Tactical Adventures announced that another DLC, Palace of Ice came out on May 2023 and is the continuation of the Crown of the Magister campaign. The DLC also features the Gnome and Tiefling races to play as.


This game provides examples of the following tropes:

  • Absurdly Low Level Cap: It's not uncommon for players to reach the maximum level, twelve, long before the end phase of the campaign. This happens again in the Lost Valley and in the Palace of Ice with the latter ending at level 16.
  • Alliance Meter: The party can increase their standing with several different factions in order to get access to a better range of magic items as well as discounts at their shops.note 
    • This also factors into the Lost Valley campaign as well. However, here it's a lot easier to make the varying factions hostile so they join your enemies in combat or even attack you on sight.
  • Amazing Technicolor Population: The game allows you to create a character with any colors who wish.
  • Ancient Artifact: The Crown of the Magister itself.
    • Cursed Item: Downplayed. While the crownbearer cannot take the crown off for most of the game (and you lose if the crownbearer dies), the crown is a wonderous multi-tool that makes up for its curse by acting like four different magical items at once, with resurrection spells, +1 to saving throws, +2 to Diplomacy and Persuasion, and even +2 bonus to saving throws against certain spells. Unfortunately, you don't get to see the remaining four powers since you lose the crown near the end, and it permanently prevents that character from wearing a magical helmet for the rest of the campaign, as its ghost continues to latch on.
  • Anti-Frustration Features:
    • The game bypasses the need to carry a lot of items around with the Guild of Scavengers, who will scour any area you have previously explored and sell off whatever loot you left behind for you. They'll even give you a second chance to claim any scavenged item before it's sold.
    • Crafting is made easy. The character doing the crafting doesn't need to carry the ingredients and tools in his inventory. As long as someone in your party is holding them, usually the one who serves as the party's pack mule, the crafting will work.
    • Once you read the recipe for crafting an object, it's available to all party members. This is especially useful as it avoid the need to remember who learn the recipe to begin with.
    • Failing at crafting will not waste any materials. It just mean that you'll take longer to finish creating the item.
    • If you acquire an unidentified item that you've already identified in the past, you wont need to identify it again.
    • On various areas, there are several waypoints that you allow to fast travel from one point to another.
  • Batman Gambit: The Soraks invent a means to prevent This Was His True Form but don't use it until their end-game in 1024, where they masquerade as 30 foreign diplomats and then poison themselves to death. Their deaths threaten to spark a war, so the pacifistic and rich Princess goes out of her way to resurrect the diplomats... in the middle of the most protected church in the city... where the MacGuffin happens to be located.
  • Beef Gate: In The Lost Valley the inhabitants of titular valley are kept from leaving by the infestation of Redeemers, powerful and tough giant beetles, that are thick in the surrounding mountains. The player's ultimate goal is to escape the valley, and while you can choose to ally yourself with one of the rival factions in the region in order to gain a method of avoiding the Redeemers it's totally possible to ignore all of that and just fight your way through the nest.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: Giant insects are frequent monsters you'll face. They resemble beetles and are called pilgrims, zealots and juggernauts.
  • Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Yetis are present in the northern regions. Unlike most incarnations of this trope, they have a pair of horns on their back and their fur is colored green, blue or brown rather than the usual white. They are known as Peak Terrors and Peak Abominations.
  • Bigger on the Inside: In the Lost Valley, there's a small hut in the swamp. Enter it and you'll find yourself inside a large and luxurious mansion.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Sorr-Akkath and their stooges are constantly this.
    • The Baron of Coparann only tries to be polite once he realizes the party has what he needs. And then he stops playing nice once his squad is in position to ambush.
    Baron: And now, friends, we shall have a nice, long chat together! AND YOU WILL GIVE ME THAT CROWN!
    • The Archivist, Allan Miller, in the 'Family Reckoning' side-quest seems meek and adorkable, but you discover he forced a farming couple to falsely plead guilty to high treason by threatening to murder their child.
    • The politest heir in the 'Heritage of Distrust' side-quest is the most unhinged. If you don't give her the inheritance, she'll immediately fry her siblings and the lawyer with a fireball. Hack-and-Slash fans might realize her name, 'Adria', was a dead giveaway.
    • Halan Summer, the traitor on the Council, is as friendly as the other Council members and won't cheat you out of money. And then you discover their secret hideout, and it's straight-up nightmare fuel; hundreds of skinned corpses are piled up in the dimly lit backroom, giving off enough blood to ooze red.
  • Boring, but Practical: Spells that give light. They rarely do damage, but a surprising amount of enemies have Light Sensitivity (or in the case of the Defiler type enemies, Super Light Sensitivity). Enemies attacking with disadvantage greatly helps fights go in your favor, especially when you are not.
  • Breath Weapon: All dragoborns can breath fire, cold, lightning, acid or poison, depending of their draconic ancestor.
  • But Now I Must Go: The final parting words of Kaseinax, the spirit of the Magister, are this as he's closing the rift.
  • Cassandra Truth: Arwin was one of the first to report of the Soraks existence to the council, who didn't believe him at first. It was only after when the party encounters one that they start believing him and the council finally relents when the party brings a Sorak head to them.
  • Cataclysm Backstory: The rifts that brought humans to Solasta did a lot of damage.
  • Clingy MacGuffin: The member of your party who picks up the Crown of the Magister will find it hard to let go of.
  • Cool Gate: Manacalon Major Gates are found in various places for quick travel around the Badlands.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Downplayed with the Paladin's Oath of Tirmar sub-class. By using your Scourge of the Hidden power, you can deal major damage to everything that shapeshifts and/or sees in the dark. And that's it. But nearly all beasts, as well as quite a few other creatures in the base game have Darkvision, so you'll get a significant mileage from the ability regardless. Shapeshifters are much less common, but the Sorr-Akath, main antagonists of the Crown of the Magister campaign, have both Darkvision and shapeshifting, making them take the bonus damage twice.
  • Cunning Linguist: Each member of the player's party knows a number of languages dependent on their race and background. An elf with the academic or philosopher background can start out knowing most of the languages that are used in game.
  • Deadpan Snarker: One member of your party will usually have this role, depending on the personality tags you pick.
  • Decapitation Presentation: The Legacy Council orders you to find proof of the Sorak's existence. When you return with the proof, you show them a decapitated head of the creature.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
    • Your party fight and slay the demon lord Sessroth at the end of the Palace of Ice. His final death happens in his own plane, so he can no longer respawn.
    • You also kill the avatar of Sorr-Tar along with Sessroth. Since that was just his physical manifestation, Sorr-Tar is still alive somewhere, although he can no longer threaten Solasta.
  • The Dragon: In Lost Valley there's two:
    • Malariel for Orenetis, the Lord Protector of the Dominion.
    • Ellaria for the mysterious leader of the Rebellion. She's also her very distant descendant.
  • Dual Wielding: Available to any character who uses two light, proficient weapons, one in each hands. With the Ambidexterity feat, you can dual wield with non-light weapons. It works better for some classes than others, as the off-hand attack won't get the ability score bonus to damage. Fighters and Rangers can take a combat style which allows the off-hand attack to have the ability score bonus to damage. Swift Blade subclass Rangers get a bonus to AC when dual wielding. Rogues get another chance to hit with sneak attack damage by using two weapons.
  • Elemental Powers: Damage are listed like this:
  • The Empire: The Manacalon Empire was powerful and authoritarian, and most people seem quite happy that it didn't survive the rift incident. The people who miss it are mostly members of its successor, the New Empire, which is significantly less powerful.
  • Escort Mission: Several quests saddle you with an NPC companion, getting a game over if they die. Thankfully all of them are totally under the player's control in combat and most of them are able to hold their own in a fight, meaning that they're not typically any harder to keep alive than your normal party members. The few who are actually defenseless can easily be told to run away from the enemies and hide behind cover to keep them safe.
  • Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: When you ask where are the bodies of the dead delegates, Carran explains they are being resurrected inside the Temple of Einar. Your party come to realize that the dead delegates are secretly Sorak agents and are in the most secure place in the kingdom...along with the Crown of the Magister within their reach.
  • Extra Eyes: Giant spiders have a ridiculous amount of eyes than their real-life counterparts. Blame it on the Cataclysm.
  • Fantastic Racism: The Manacalons viewed elves, particularly high elves, as superior to all other races. Orenetis in The Lost Valley, who was a member of the Empire, only has High Elves working in his palace.
  • Fantasy Character Classes: Many classes are available to players. While multi-classing has not been implemented, there are several sub-classes. Lost Valley added an extra sub-class to each class.
    • Cleric. Elemental (Fire), Elemental (Ice), Elemental (Lightning), Sun, Battle, Law, Life, Oblivion, Insight, Mischief.
    • Fighter: Champion, Mountaineer, Spellblade, Commander.
    • Paladin: Oath of Devotion, Oath of the Motherland, Oath of Tirmar, Oath of Judgement.
    • Ranger: Hunter, Marksman, Shadow Tamer, Swiftblade.
    • Rogue: Thief, Darkweaver, Shadowcaster, Hoodlum.
    • Sorcerer: Draconic Sorcerer, Mana Painter, Child of the Rift, Haunted Soul.
    • Wizard: Shock Arcanist, Loremaster, Greenmage, Court Mage
    • Barbarian: Path of the Berserker, Path of the Magebane, Path of Stone, Path of the Claw.
    • Druid: Circle of the Land, Circle of Kindred Spirit, Circle of Winds, Circle of Balance.
    • Bard: College of Lore, College of Hope, College of Heroism, College of Tradition.
    • Monk: Way of the Open Hand, Way of Survival, Way of Light, Way of Freedom.
    • Warlock: the Fiend, the Hive, the Timekeeper, the Tree.
  • Fantasy Pantheon: Solasta didn't have any gods originally; they arrived at the same time humans did.
    • Arun is the god of the sun and the elements of nature.
    • Einar is the god of honour and courage.
    • Maraike is the goddess of life and death.
    • Misaye is the goddess of mischief and luck.
    • Pakri is the goddess of knowledge and order.
    • Sorr-Tarr is the patron deity of the Sorr-Akkath.
  • Final Death Mode: Ironman mode is this. Your are allowed to resurrect a dead party member, but if everyone dies, your only saved game is deleted for good.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Arwin rebuffs you because he thinks you're just another band of adventurer wannabes sucking up to the Council. After you bring him his sword and convince him to tag along for a side quest, he comes to respect your bravery and skills.
  • Full-Circle Revolution: The Rebellion in the Lost Valley causes this if they end up ruling. The achievement is even called "The cycle continues."
  • Get Out!: If you ask too many personal questions to Arwin, he'll yell at you to leave.
  • Giant Spider: Wouldn't be a cRPG without them. They are not only big and poisonous, they can also crawl on walls.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: When you see people with glowing blue eyes, it means they are under the Sorak's control.
  • Gold–Silver–Copper Standard: The game uses platinum, gold, silver and copper coins.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: You must find all the gems for the Crown of the Magister.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: Some NPCs will join you temporarily, but you have to watch out: if they die, it's game over. The dragons who assist you at the first phase of the final battle thankfully don't have to live as they are more of a liability than an asset especially at higher difficulties.
  • Guide Dang It!: It's possible to get maximum reputation with all of the clans of the Snow Alliance. However, this require specific dialogue choices and actions. You wouldn't know it unless you look online or save and reload your games to try all the outcomes.
  • Half-Human Hybrid:
    • Half-elves and half-orcs are all offsprings of human mating with an elf and orc respectively.
    • Averted in case of dragonborn - unlike their generic D&D counterpart, Solasta ones are hybrids of (polymorphed) dragons and high elves, not humans.
    • Tieflings are half-human and half-demon offsprings.
  • Haunted Castle: The Dark Castle explored early in the main campaign is dark, run-down, spooky, and absolutely crawling with the undead, courtesy of a coven of necromancers and a Defiler who have made their home there.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Once you finish the Final Boss of the The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, you have can't return to Solasta unless you sacrifice a soul to power the portal. Should you choose one of your party members' soul, he or she will be trap in the demon realm while everyone make it safely to Solasta.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Incautious use of some abilities (by players or enemies) can be used against the one activating them. One of the more common is a spellcaster using the "Fly" spell to get out their Squishy Mage self out of melee range only to be shot by a ranged character, failing their concentration check and plummeting.
  • Hold the Line: The vision that the crownbearer witnesses is one lone paladin holding off a ton of Soraks while the wizards behind him are closing the portal. This happens at the end of the game where the first phase of the battle has the players assisted by dragons, who unfortunately aren't at full health and will die at some point due to the Soraks rolling pretty high against the dragons even with a 19 Armor Class. The second phase will have the spirit of the emperor who used to own the crown to close the portal, requiring the party to hold off for four rounds before the portal closes.
  • Homeworld Evacuation: A 1000 years ago, the humans of Tirmar left their world to enter the world of Solasta. They were fleeing their sworn enemies, the Soraks, who unfortunately, have followed them in their new world .
  • Hub City: Caer Cyflen is the headquarters of the Legacy Council in the Badlands, so you report back there a lot. The Lost Valley has Caer Hyfryd, the center of civilization in the valley and seat of power for Lord Orenetis. Both cities have the most varied selection of goods for sale of any other location, as well as housing most of the quest-givers and faction representatives.
  • Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels:
  • Item Crafting: You can find recipes and components that your party can use to craft various magic items during travel time and rests.
  • Informed Ability: Lisbath Townsend is described by her superior Robar Sharp as being a good soldier and good with a sword. In comparison to the rest of the party and the three other Caer Lem survivors, she's fairly squishy with a mere 14 AC and 12 HPnote .
  • Informed Equipment: Only equipping armor, weapons and shields will change the way you look. Any other pieces of gear will not alter your appearance.
  • Irony: The Legacy Council vote to remove the Crown from you because they feel it will be safer in their hands, rather than letting you risk losing it to some random Sorak ambush. They were dead wrong.
  • Justified Tutorial: The four party members meet at the Gravekeep's Cask inn and each tells a story about their journey there, which is played out to take the player through the basics of gameplay.
  • Kill and Replace: The usual method of the Soraks is capturing their victims and learning of their behavior, voice and personality before impersonating them.
  • Killer Gorilla: Gorillas are introduced in the Lost Valley. They have two attacks: a melee attack and boulder throwing. The druid can also shapeshift into one.
  • La Résistance: There's three of them in the Lost Valley: The People, the Rebellion and the Mask. They all have different reasons to overthrow the tyrannical Dominion and their methods and goals are equally different. The last faction, the Forge on the other is only interested in profit.
  • Literal Split Personality: In The Lost Valley you can find that Orenetis's sudden descent into tyranny prior to the events of the campaign is due to him actually only being half of a person - all of his best qualities were split off into a separate person named Sitenero, who Orenetis had imprisoned. The player can choose to assist Sitenero in merging back together with Orenetis, leading to a much more benevolent ruler sitting on the throne, or can just kill Sitenero as doing so will also kill Orenetis.
  • The Load: When Kythaela joins your party, she only has two spells and a dagger, making her a liability in combat. Once you find her spellbook however, she does get better.
  • Low-Level Advantage:
  • Magic Knight: Aside from classes like the Paladin and Cleric, which have access to decent armor by default, it's common for players to choose the Sellsword background for spellcasters since it comes with free medium armor proficiency, allowing Squishy Wizards a bit more survivability.
  • Marathon Level: The final level of the game doesn't allow any long rests. Spells and limited abilities must be carefully managed until your reach the end of the level. Short rests are allowed however.
    • This is true of the final level of Palace of Ice as well. You won't be able to long rest once you enter, and your party will also be under an unremovable debuff for the whole run through.
    • A downplayed example for the Lost Valley expansion, the Research Complex is a very long level, but there are rest spots and you can leave and come back later if you need to.
  • Massive Race Selection: The game has many races and sub-races to choose from. Some were added through various DLC:
    • Humans.
    • Half-Elves.
    • Half-Orcs.
    • Tieflings.
    • Dragonborns: Green Black, Blue, Silver, Gold.
    • Elves: High Elves, Sylvan Elves.
    • Dwarves: Hill Dwarves, Snow Dwarves.
    • Halflings: Island Halflings, Marsh Halflings.
    • Gnomes: Rock Gnomes, Shadow Gnomes.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Snakes with bat-like wings that use poison attacks. They are known as tiger drakes or brimstone vipers.
  • Monster Compendium: The game has a page with all the monsters and bosses that you've fought. After slaying a monster, your characters will make a DC to see if they can improve the monster's lore. Success will give you more entries in the log with additional information, such as feats, skills, saving throws, spells, special abilities, etc.
  • Money for Nothing: Inverted. Everything in this game is expensive and money is hard to come by.
  • Multiple Endings: In the Lost Valley story the party can escape with the support of several different factions with different endgames in mind, or ignore all of that and just brute-force their way through the massive horde of Redeemers guarding the valley's exit.
  • Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Only two of the four Caer Lem survivors will follow you. One gets killed by a Sorak infiltrator, and the last one is left to an Uncertain Doom.
    • Talking with Beryl Stonebeard will save her, but will result in Robar being killed if she's convinced to step down. If she can't be convinced to step down, Lisbath will be killed, and Daliat will disappear to find his own way out.
    • Talking with Daliat Sunbird will save him, but will result in Robar being killed. Lisbath will mourn him and demand to just be left alone, leaving Daliat and Beryl to join the party in the escape from Caer Lem.
    • Talking with Robar Sharp will save him, but depending on whether or not you convince him to relieve Beryl of command either she (success) or Lisbath (fail) will die. Daliat will disappear to find his own way out.
  • My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Some bosses have legendary actions which allow them to make attacks or take actions outside of their turn. Naturally, you can't do that, you have to wait for your turn to come.
  • Old Save Bonus: The newest DLC, the Palace of Ice, allows you to import your saved game from the main campaign or the Lost Valley DLC. Your wealth, equipment and skills will follow your characters' newest adventure.
  • Our Giants Are Bigger: Introduced in the Lost Valley, giants comes in various varieties: hill giants, frost giants, fire giants and storm giant. Not all of them are hostile and some can befriended.
  • Our Goblins Are Different: Like their tabletop counterparts, goblins are low-level monsters easily slain by seasoned adventurers.
  • Our Minotaurs Are Different: There are minotaurs you face as enemies. And they yield huge axes, just as expected.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: Despite the game being based on the rules for Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition, vampires don't fully fit the typical D&D mold. They're not called vampires, for one thing, instead being called "Defilers," with vampire spawn being split into three different creatures: Brood of Blood have a draining bite and a ranged spit attack, Brood of Dread frighten anyone they bite, and Brood of Flesh have paralyzing claws. They lack several abilities that 5e vampires possess as well, such as regeneration or the ability to turn into mist, and are equally harmed and weakened by all light rather than just sunlight, making torches and Light spells very useful against them. Some of the stronger Defilers do possess more unique abilities to make up for it though, such as innate flight or the ability to conjure a magical darkness that only obscures the vision of the living.
  • Our Wights Are Different : Unlike most works of fictions, the wights in this game are skeletons in armor. They also hit harder than normal skeletons.
  • Permanently Missable Content:
    • No matter what, you can't achieve maximum reputation with all the factions. There aren't enough ancient relics to please everyone.
    • The same goes for all the background side quests. You can only complete four of them out of nine, one for each party members. If you're unlucky to pick up a background without a side quest, you're only resort is to restart a new game. Thankfully, the character creator does warn the player that certain backgrounds will not have a sidequest attached to them.
    • Some crafting materials are extremely rare, so you probably wont be able to craft every magical items in the game. The most precious crafting materials can also be found on lucky drops, but they are very rare.
  • Player Character Calculus: The maximum of adventurers is four, all created from scratch.
  • Point of No Return: Once your crown can no longer track other gems, the final phase of the game will commence and any uncompleted quests will fail. At least you get a warning about it in your journal.
    • This also applies to the Palace of Ice expansion, when you are ready to challenge the Palace of Ice. You similarly get a warning that it will be a point of no return so you'd better rest up and prepare beforehand.
  • Politically-Active Princess: Princess is neutral in the affairs of the Legacy Council. When the kingdom is attacked from the inside, she does take up arms to defend the city.
  • Point Build System: The game allows you to create your character with three methods with one of them being point build system just like the tabletop. The other one is random rolls of your attributes and distribute them to your liking. You're allowed to keep the rolls and recall them at anytime. The third one is manually set the value of each attributes with no restrictions and create an absolutely all-powerful game breaking character.
  • Previously on…: The opening of the Palace of Ice DLC start with a recap of your actions in the main campaign.
  • Random Drop: Any items can drop, including crafting materials and +2 magical items. Don't get your hopes too high however. These items don't drop too often.
  • Sadistic Choice: Returning to Solasta requires a soul to power the portal. You can use the soul of one of your party member or the soul of the Speaker who was kidnapped earlier.
  • Save Scumming: Content of containers are randomized when you enter an area the first time. If you truly want a particular item, be prepare to reload a lot of times.
  • Scenery Gorn: The rifts left entire ancient buildings fused oddly into the landscape, sometimes parallel to ground level.
  • Shapeshifting: The Sorr-Akkath use this to infiltrate other societies.
  • Shout-Out: You can find a Dwarven Thrower in the game, but it can't be used as a weapon. The flavor text implies you may simply be not worthy.
  • Skeptic No Longer: All this talk of Soraks is just fairy tales to almost everyone, including your own party. Then you end up fighting them at increases occurrences, which convince everyone of their threat.
  • Slept Through the Apocalypse: During one your major quest, you'll find Kythaela, an elf, sleeping inside a mausoleum. When you wake her up, you'll learn that she never heard of the Cataclysm that ravaged Solasta.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Ages before the cataclysm, a dragon named Exonaïka created the network of gates. One of her incursion led to the demonic realms. This caused demons to pour into Solasta for the first time and have long term effects eons later in the Palace of Ice DLC, centuries after Exonaïka's death.
  • Snowy Sabertooths: Saber-toothed cats are enemies found in the northern regions. Unlike you, they are never affected by the cold weather.
  • Spy Speak: If one of your party member is a spy, they'll get an extra dialog option to speak in coded dialog, which doesn't make any sense for non-spies.
  • Starter Equipment: Like all games of this genre, you're given low-level equipment at the start of your journey. What makes it different from other games is that you can choose which low-level equipment you want.
  • Story-Breaker Power: The reason why Princess Silverflower can't come to your aid to beat the end of the game. She says that the energies of the rift will kill her, even in her dragon form. And she also has a kingdom to defend from invasion and Soraks are slaughtering everyone on the streets. Two dragons are present at the battle of the rift, but you're very much on your own, as they can die pretty quickly.
  • Time Abyss:
    • Kythaela is at least 1000 years old. All she remembers is the old empire of Manacalon when you wake her in present day.
    • This apply to most dragons who were also from the pre-rift era.
    • The leader of the Rebellion is an undead king who predates the founding of the Manacalon empire.
  • Time Skip: Palace of Ice takes place many months after the conclusion of the main campaign.
  • Turbulent Priest: Reya Schildberg in The Lost Valley is a cleric who subtly resists Lord Orenetis's tyranny, and is a prominent figure among the people of the city. Somewhat of a Downplayed example, as she doesn't begin openly defying him until he tries to arrest her on trumped-up charges.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Even if you achieve "living legend" status, the highest obtainable, with the Rebellion, its leader is an uncaring undead bastard who doesn't give a rat's arse about you and will treat you as nothing but a slave.
  • Villain Respect: A minor example - a Defiler miniboss encountered relatively early into the main campaign will say that she's impressed that the party managed to get to her, since doing so requires fighting through at least a few dozen skeletons and ghouls as well as a powerful necromancer.
  • Wall Crawl: The Spider Climb spell and certain magic items can allow this, and certain enemies have this innately.
  • Weakened by the Light: Defiler undead are super-strong but will take major reflex penalties and 10 HP damage each turn they're in bright light. It doesn't even have to be sunlight, a mere Light spell is enough.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?:
    • After you escape from the volcano's eruption, there are no signs of your orc companion(s).
    • When Halan Summer is revealed to be a Sorak agent, you never get the chance to find him, so his final fate is unknown.
      • This continues in Palace of Ice and brought up by one of your characters when you stop by a closed down Antiquarian Hall, who will mention Halan Summer was never found.
  • You All Meet in an Inn: It's left a little ambiguous whether your party members are meeting for the first time this way, or whether they know each other already.


Top