Publish 27, as with most game publishes, contains a number of game updates and bug fixes. This article contains a summary of the game improvements that came about with Publish 27.

Bug Fixes:
fix for 6th char slot text color issues
fix for 6th char slot client shutdown crasher
fix for "properly placed house becomes improperly placed" bug
turn serpent pillars back on for production shards
unused and nodraw tiles are no longer displayer inside containers in the 2D client
reduced cpu utilization in the 2D client
fixed memory leak realted to resizing the gameplay window in the 2D client
improved efficiency of the 3D client
Game Content Improvements:
paragon creatures in Ilshenar
added Leviathan (kraken boss)
minor artifacts
new chests, fishing nets, and SOSs
allow house customization without redecoration
Infrastructure
detect presence of DVD drives in WinXP, report using client metrics (updated to skip examining a: and b:)
Game Enhancements
Added fabled fishing nets and ancient sos treasure
Added leviathan sea creature
Turned on serpent pillars for production shards
Sea serpents and deep sea serpents will now be susceptible to snake and reptile slayer weapons and musical instruments
Added the chance for paragon creatures to spawn in Ilshenar (see below)
Added ingeniously drawn treasure maps (level 6) for Trammel and Felucca facets
Added minor artifacts that will spawn in level 6 treasure chests & on the new leviathan sea creature
Added minor artifacts that will spawn on paragon creatures in Ilshenar
Added ingeniously drawn treasure maps (level 6) treasure maps to test center bank boxes
Added a bag of minor artifacts and 10 ancient sos bottles inside this bag to test center bank boxes
Increased fame and karma caps to support paragon creatures
Game Tweaks (Loot)
Added leather skirts to magic item loot tables
Reduced faction trap cost to 250 silver
Slightly tweaked monster loot backpacks
Added level 0 treasure maps for strong mongbats
Added level 5 treasure maps for rotting corpses
Bug Fixes
Localized "You have deserted your quest for the golden skull of Chyloth" for Doom quest
Fixed cliloc errors with golem special paralysis attack
Added necromancer familiar fixes (should attack a necromancer's enemies and flee with necromancer)
Fixed immobile creatures not engaging in melee combat
Fixed immobile creatures from becoming mobile when struck with a paralyzing blow
Paragon Creatures
There will roughly be a 5% chance that any creature in Ilshenar will spawn as a Paragon of its kind. Paragon creatures are intended to enhance play for the Ilshenar facet. They are to provide a challenge to player characters who wish to partake in high end PvM. These creatures will test the mettle of player characters, and the more powerful creature templates are intended to require an adventuring group to battle. For comparison purposes, consider paragon creatures to be mini-champions of evil. In any case, an Ilshenar Champion of Evil will not spawn as a Paragon.
Rather than greatly increasing damage output for paragons, they have been given buffs in their speed, regenerative capabilities, and hit points.
Whenever a creature in Ilshenar spawns as a paragon, it is granted the following enhancements:
Adds (Paragon) as the creature's job title
Hues the creature gold
Removes the ability to tame the creature
Adds daemon target switching AI to creature
Increases poison hit strength by one if it has a poison attack (no greater than 5)
Multiplies creature's maximum hit points by 5
Increases strength by 5%, intelligence and dexterity by 20%
Increases all skills by 20%
Modifies hit point, mana, and stamina base regeneration scaled based on the difficulty of the creature
Modifies speed of creature
Slightly increases the creature's natural weapon class
Bumps up - or decreases if negative - fame and karma of creature by 40% (doesn't bump up karma if karma is 0)
Will possess extra loot scaled based on its fame level
10% chance that a paragon will spawn with a treasure chest equal to the treasure map level that it can possibly possess
If it doesn't have a chance to possess a treasure map, then it doesn't spawn a treasure chest
There are no guardians with these paragon treasure chests
Each chest will come in four different chest types, 11 different hues including the default hue, 8 colored ingot hues, Luna bank chest hue, and Umbra bank chest hue, and will possess the description of 'recovered from (paragon)'. For example: recovered from a dragon (paragon)
These chests will contain about 20% of the loot normally found in current treasure chests of the appropriate difficulty level and will always possess a treasure map one level higher than the difficulty level of the chest
Unless otherwise stated, these treasure chests will function as current treasure chests (i.e., they'll be appropriately locked and trapped)
Level 6 treasure chests spawn ancient wyrms, balrons, blood elementals, poison elementals, and titans. Level 6 treasure chests will always possess one minor artifact
Minor Artifacts
A lesser artifact is basically an item where its theme is visible through its name, hue, and properties, but isn't necessarily the best of the best. Therefore, these items should very rarely exceed the maximum intensities and should very rarely have multiple maximum intensities.
Minor Artifacts will have a chance of spawning in each attacker's backpack after a paragon creature or a leviathan is slain. This chance is computed and scaled based upon its fame level. Furthermore, the luck value of each attacker will also influence his/her chance to acquire a minor artifact.
Here are the minor artifacts that will appear for Publish 27.
Polar Bear Mask
Bear Mask
Cold Resist 21
Physical Resist 15
Night Sight
Hit Point Regeneration 2
Self Repair 3
Luna Lance
Lance
Chivalry 10
Damage Increase 35%
Strength 5
Swing Speed Increase 20%
Use Best Weapon Skill
Captain Quacklebush's Cutlass
Cutlass
Use Best Weapon
Damage Increase 50%
Hit Chance Increase 10%
Swing Speed Increase 20%
Dexterity Bonus 5
Night's Kiss
Dagger
Hit Slayer: Repond
Hit Life Leech 40%
Damage Increase 35%
Swing Speed Increase 30%
Ship Model of the H.M.S. Cape
A Minature Ship Model
The Admiral's Hearty Rum
A Bottle of Rum
Candelabra of Souls
A Candelabra
Iolo's Lute
Lute
Undead Slayer
Demon Slayer
Charges (1600)
Gwenno's Harp
Harp
Repond Slayer
Reptile Slayer
Charges (1600)
Arctic Death Dealer
War Mace
Hit Harm 33%
Hit Lower Attack 40%
Damage Increase 40%
Cold Resist 10%
Swing Speed Increase 20%
50% Physical / 50% Cold
Enchanted Titan Leg Bone
Short Spear
Hit Lightning 40%
Hit Lower Defense 40%
Damage Increase 20%
Hit Chance Increase 10%
Physical Resist 10%
Nox Ranger's Heavy Crossbow
Heavy Crossbow
Damage Increase 20%
Spell Channeling (no fast cast penalty)
Hit Stamina Leech 40%
Swing Speed Increase 30%
Poison Resist 10%
50% Physical / 50% Poison
Blaze of Death
Halberd
Hit Fireball 50%
Hit Fire Area 50%
Damage Increase 35%
Swing Speed Increase 25%
Fire Resist 10%
50% Physical / 50% Fire
Lower Requirements 100%
Violet Courage
Female Plate Armor
Luck 95
Defense Chance Increase 15%
Physical Resist 14%
Fire Resist 12%
Cold Resist 12%
Poison Resist 8%
Energy Resist 9%
Mage Armor
Lower Requirements 100%
Cavorting Club
Club
Self Repair 3
Damage Increase 35%
Swing Speed Increase 35%
Poison Resist 8
Energy Resist 8
Fire Resist 8
Cold Resist 8
Burglar's Bandana
Bandana
Stealing 10
Stealth 10
Snooping 10
Dexterity Bonus 5
Physical Resist 10
Fire Resist 5
Cold Resist 7
Poison Resist 10
Energy Resist 10
Dread Pirate Hat
Tricorne Hat
Fencing 5
Archery 10
Dexterity Bonus 8
Luck 80
All resists default
Phillip's Wooden Steed
Wooden Horse
Acts as statuette with sound effects when locked down in house
Gold Bricks
Stack of Gold Bricks
Alchemist's Bauble
Bracelet
Magery 10
Enhance Potions 30%
Lower Reagent Cost 20%
Poison Resist 10%
Bow of the Juka King
Bow
Reptile Slayer
Hit Chance Increase 15%
Hit Magic Arrow 25%
Damage Increase 40%
Gloves of the Pugilist
Leather Gloves
Wrestling 10
Damage Increase 15%
Dexterity Bonus 8
Physical Resist 18
All other resists default
Orcish Visage
Orc Helm
Strength 10
Stamina Increase 5
Self Repair 3
Physical Resist 8
Fire Resist 5
All other resists default
Staff of Power
Blackstaff
Mage Weapon -15
Spell Channeling (no fast cast penalty)
Spell Damage Increase 5%
Faster Casting Recovery 2
Lower Mana Cost 5
Shield of Invulnerability
Order Shield
Defense Chance Increase 15%
Spell Channeling (no fast cast penalty)
Reflect Physical Damage 10%
Physical Resist +8%
Lower Requirements 100%
Related to Minor Artifacts (Ancient SOS and Fabled Fishing Nets)
There is a 1 in 40 chance that any message in a bottle becomes 'an ancient SOS' instead of 'a waterstained sos' when opened. Essentially, 'an ancient SOS' is a level 4 treasure chest that will always contain a new type of special fishing net called 'a fabled fishing net'. When 'a fabled fishing net' is used deep in the sea, it will spawn a new sea creature called a leviathan. Like other special fishing nets, various sea creatures will also spawn, but in greater number. For comparative purposes, leviathans are equivalent to a paragon blood elemental in difficulty. Like with paragon creatures, possible minor artifact items may be rewarded to player characters who battle and defeat these legendary creatures. Along with typical loot, a leviathan always carries two kinds of ropes and a message in a bottle. It also has a 25% chance to carry a level 5 treasure map.
Here is the list of available artifacts for paragon creatures
// luna lance 0
// violet courage 1
// cavorting club 2
// night's kiss 3
// iolo's lute 4
// gwenno's harp 5
// arctic death dealer 6
// enchanted titan leg bone 7
// nox ranger's heavy crossbow 8
// blaze of death 9
// burglar's bandana 10
// gold bricks 11
// alchemist's bauble 12
// phillip's wooden steed 13
// polar bear mask 14
// bow of the juka king 15
// gloves of the pugilist 16
// orcish visage 17
// staff of power 18
// shield of invulnerability 19
Here is the list of available minor artifacts for level 6 treasure chests and leviathan creatures
// luna lance 0
// violet courage 1
// cavorting club 2
// captain quacklebush's cutlass 3
// night's kiss 4
// ship model of the h.m.s. cape 5
// the admiral's hearty rum 6
// candelabra of souls 7
// iolo's lute 8
// gwenno's harp 9
// arctic death dealer 10
// enchanted titan leg bone 11
// nox ranger's heavy crossbow 12
// blaze of death 13
// dread pirate hat 14
// burglar's bandana 15
// gold bricks 16
// alchemist's bauble 17
// phillip's wooden steed 18
// polar bear mask 19