Board Thread:General Mod Discussion/@comment-26149161-20170430000736

Mae govannen, mellyn-nin. I've been curious as to how the Fell Beasts and Great Eagles are planned to be added, so I've decided to reach out and see what the Community thinks.

With regards to Fell Beasts (or the more canon name Nazgul-birds), it is my belief that the species is extinct save in captivity, and exclusive to the Nazgul. However, due to the "Gameplay and Balance REEEEE" opinion of many players, we have to have them in some format.

Many users, and I would imagine Mevans himself, likely expect them to be a rare and natural spawn in the Vale of the Fell Beasts. They would be tamed with vast quantities of meat and alignment, and be ridable by the player. However, if one dies, one loses a great amount of Mordor alignment--these are rare creatures, and far more valuable than a single dead servant.

Now, I think that should be the way that Fell Beasts are found, until the introduction of major characters. After that point, Fell Beasts should only be aquirable through a long and tortured quest for Sauron, involving the aquisition of Fell Meats to feed it, and some absurd amount of alignment. This would be relatively lore-friendly--there were at least 10 Nazgul-birds in the lore, and Sauron seemed to have them, as the Witch-king himself was unaware of them until the Hunt for the Ring.

A note on appearance--for all intensive purposes, the Nazgul-birds were a cross of vultures and pterodactyls. They had beaks and long necks, not the film's dragons. I do hope that is the look kept by the mod, as it sounds cooler than some snake-wyvern tbh.

As for the Great Eagles, the same thing. There would be an interim measure to be able to hire them, and then a final method used once major characters and quests are added. The first way would involve, again, massive amounts of meat and alignment,. However, in contrast to the Fell Beasts, I do not think eagles hired this way should be rideable. Eagles were stingy and did not lend themselves to riders. To ride one was a great honor, and it should only be possible after great trial. To do that, one would have to go into battle with the Eagles and slay many foes for them, then deliver a gift of Gold. Only then would they be ridable, and even then they'd be pretty stingy about it.

Once major characters are added, one would have to approach Gwaihir the Windlord and beg leave to hire eagles. This would be accompanied by another gift of gold, and a lengthy quest, possibly involving convincing the Valesmen to not shoot at the eagles. Should he accept, you woud be able to hire Eagles, and one to ride. However, should the eagles die under your command, you would lose alignment with Gwaihir.

There should be a rare Evil Eagle mob, living further to the North and East than the Great Eagles of Manwe. Killing one would grant a lot of alignment with Gwaihir, but it would of course be a challenge--even normal sized Golden Eagles are deadly, and a giant one would be incredibly hard to slay.

Discuss below what you guys think is best. I'd like to see what the community thinks on these features.

Ithilion, Discussions Moderator (Auta i lómë) 00:07, April 30, 2017 (UTC) 