What is the "secret mechanic" in Illithid Invasion?

[PurpleSerpent]

First of all: Sorry, Arcana. I know you're busy already.

OK, so a bit of context: On yesterday's Fridays at Four stream, we got an interesting hint from Cordovan about one of the four quests in the new Illithid Invasion "adventure pack" (strictly a chain, but I'm quibbling there.) Apparently, the dev behind one of the quests - no word on which one - was particularly excited about the launch of that quest. The reason? Apparently, there was a combat mechanic in that quest that, as far as the dev could see, hadn't been mentioned within the community whatsoever.

Now, not everything in the quests would have been a talking point - the Glabrezu in Pilgrims' Peril hadn't been specifically mentioned at the time I did my first run of the quest for the wiki, although I'm sure someone must have run into it - but the idea of a wholly unmentioned mechanic interests me. Hence, this thread - can we work out which quest this is, and what mechanic Cordovan was talking about?

At time of writing, only Pilgrims' Peril and Stolen Power have been released, and I can never get the Lamannia client to work on my computer, so I'm flying blind for the other two quests. However, I would like to open with a theory.

The Human monsters in Stolen Power all have a special effect called Spell Damage Shield. In my write-up on the wiki, I describe this as essentially an auto-renewing Protection from Energy - it blocks nearly all spell damage to a certain threshold, then takes a few seconds to reset. However, the actual text of the enchantment is worded a little differently. It suggests that there is another way to deactivate Spell Damage Shield which doesn't involve blasting through it.

So, my first question would be this - does anyone know of an alternative way to deactivate Spell Damage Shield to direct damage?

 

[CBDunk]

So, my first question would be this - does anyone know of an alternative way to deactivate Spell Damage Shield to direct damage?

Not offhand. First guess would be Dispel Magic and the like.

That said, I can tell you that there are still new mechanics to come in the two quests that haven't been unlocked yet. For example, in Astral Ambush there will be a shield that blocks damage outside melee range... so you can still use ranged and magic attacks, but you have to get up close inside the shield for them to work.

I hadn't even noticed the 'Spell Damage Shield' when I ran the quest once on each of the Lam previews, so there is a chance it was added later. More likely there is just a lot going on in these quests and it will take a while to analyze all of the new effects.

I'm just hoping we continue to see different ways of using these kinds of effects to create new challenges. Like... give some of these new abilities to random monster champions. I'd love to be running through 'Den of the Kobold Brothers' on R1 and suddenly find a 'Shield-keeper Kobold' champion.

 

[erethizon1]

Like... give some of these new abilities to random monster champions. I'd love to be running through 'Den of the Kobold Brothers' on R1 and suddenly find a 'Shield-keeper Kobold' champion.

I would like this as well. Especially if they recognize that making the game harder for all players isn't the best idea (some people find it hard enough already). I would say new champs should be found only in reaper above a certain R level. Like maybe they only show up in R2 and higher or R4 and higher. This, coupled with finally fixing the terribly low RXP for heroic quests might give people reason to finally play heroics in R4 and above.