Praise for the Underdark

[Ungtar]

I've been spending a lot of time down below, and I've got to say those areas are very well done. I always wondered how the UD races leveled up and I've seen now that they've got some nice, low level and midlevel areas to hang out in. Fully the equivalent of what the surface has.

The area from Menzo to Skullport looks to be as big as everything from Waterdeep to Tethyr and packed full of frontier adventure and thematic fun. It's not near as dangerous as you may have been led to believe and there are numerous safe spots and nice resting locations for your journeys.

This message brought to you by the Underdark Chamber of Commerce.

[Terageld]

Exactly how dangerous is the Underdark? I'm afraid to make one false step and be mauled to death by quaggoths or mind flayers or any other satanic abomination that lives there (sorry, drows).

[Algon]

Regardless of what might have been said...the Underdark is one of the most dangerous places in our world and extreme caution should most certainly be taken when thinking about venturing into it. It is the only place that I know if that actually makes you type a command showing you are aware of the dangers.

So let's not everyone just go running into thinking it is an easy place.

[Althasizor]

I'm not really sure this is something that should be discussed on the forums, and not discovered in-game. Our setting canon calls out the Underdark as one of the most treacherous places in the world, though, and should be assumed/respected as such by surfacers who haven't(or have!) entered it.

[Ungtar]

Do what your sense of adventure dictates. Plenty of people know it so if you do end up dead down there it's not permadeath. I think that's what most people are afraid of.

[Gwain]

The underdark wilderness exists as one of the most dangerous places to go in the prime material plane. There are other places that are more dangerous, but thankfully they are not so readily available to travellers.

[Ungtar]

"Don't go, it's horrible, horrifying, deadly, you'll all die" but I run into countless people I see on the surface down there. I see them in bars eating mushroom stew, visiting obscure trainers, or gathering spell components quietly.

Sometimes the Underdark is as crowded as the Waterdeep market square on a Friday night.

[Harroghty]

People should not feel as if the Underdark is off limits. If it is good form for your PC to visit the Underdark (or vice versa, if it is good form for yours to emerge from it), then please do it, but realize that there is a reason that a prompt forces you to consent to doing so.

Your PC, Ungtar, may do okay, but enough did not that I felt it necessary to add that prompt and warn people.

[Ungtar]

My point of this wasn't to get into an argument about how dangerous is it or isn't, but to express some praise for the (probably) multiple builders who put together those zones. They are well done and really immersive.

There are quests and exploration zones and just a general thrill that's hard to find on the surface, in my opinion. There's a LOT of quests.

Have you ever seen that chart which explains what types of players are on muds?

http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/art ... medev-4173

I'm definitely an explorer.

[Terageld]

Does anyone know how detailed is programming of the Underdark? Is there Upperdark, Middledark, and Lowerdark, or is it all mixed up into one?

[Xryon]

From what I remember (it's been a while) Solaghar made that area crazy detailed. It actually has it's own 'overland map' for when you're travelling between different Underdark areas. Not sure if it has those sections broken down, but I wouldn't be surprised in the least if it did.

[Ungtar]

From what I remember (it's been a while) Solaghar made that area crazy detailed. It actually has it's own 'overland map' for when you're travelling between different Underdark areas. Not sure if it has those sections broken down, but I wouldn't be surprised in the least if it did.

There's vast sections I haven't explored yet, but it is crazy detailed. There are some side areas which resemble stuff you might find in the Middle and Lowerdark and I'm excited to maybe see some more cool stuff too.

The biggest impediment to travel there is the movement rate. If I remember right from some of the canon I read, many inhabitants move around on little boats on the rivers.

[Rhangalas]

I second this and propose more underdark/planes areas. Maybe the abyss. If the abyss grew to be as big as the underdark has... combined with the surface it would be like three worlds in one game.

[Ungtar]

I second this and propose more underdark/planes areas. Maybe the abyss. If the abyss grew to be as big as the underdark has... combined with the surface it would be like three worlds in one game.

Some of the lore has it that the Underdark is less of a place and more of a transition point. Once you go deep enough, you start finding that some of those dark tunnels don't lead to more caves but rather you'll find yourself in the Underdark version of the Elemental Plane of Shadow or some other campaign world (like Greyhawk or Eberron).

The deeper levels of the Underdark (not yet featured in this game, as far as I know) have a lot of liches and demiliches who have set up shop there because it's remote, safe, and extremely hard to get to. They whittle away at eternity, working on their own secret projects. It's the rare lich indeed who wants to meddle in the affairs of mortals.