Shattered Kingdoms

Thanks guys, Not even I knew some of that.
Keep em coming this is workin out to be a good thread I see!

And Forsooths idea of how classes play is great aswell!

Thanks,

TBM

Sorcs:

Pros:

* Most "utility" class in the mud. continual light/resizing/enchanting/scribing/recharging/locating/flying/hasting/giant strenghtening/invising/gating/etc...
* The ability to have any racial skill/immunity you can think of via polymorph.
* The ability to go anywhere randomly - teleport = instant adventure/death.
* The ability to survive almost anywhere - fly + airy water + all detects + invis + ethereal form
* The ability to find most NPCs when you need them - Summon.
* The ability to control a GM Merc or a GM Rogue or a GM Barb for fights - Charm + extra lewt to equip them with.
* A short casting way out of nearly any situation - teleport.
* A long casting way out of any physical damage - etherealness.
* I win # 1 - petrify
* I win # 2 - final strike
* I win # 3 - sleep + charm + order all remove all + order all drop all + get all + teleport or quaff or petrify
* I win # 4 - summon + brand
* I win # 5 - summon + zap
* I win # 6 - summon + recite
* Scrolls, wands, and staves.
* Aside from a priest or maybe a bard, the best addition to any party.
* Instant RP, see bullet #1.
* Art
* Given time to prepare, can survive *ANY* situation, within reason.
* Without a doubt, the best explorers.

Cons:

* 100% reliant on pets/charms/buddies
* Concentrate + bash = dead
* Dirt kicking renders you useless, less you prepare for it
* At times very equip dependant.
* At times not the easiest class to play. Much like a necro I would not suggest to one for their first or second character.
* No melee skills, like you need them.
* Not too many "damaging" spells... Magic Missile, color spray, acid blast, and final strike. Petrification is a malidiction and can easily be cured.
* Difficult to clad yourself in all energy/flame/water at times.
* Taunt can own you.
* Dispell magic while you have two GM hastened GS charms fully clad in adamantite w/ Champ/GM weapons really really hurts.
* Crap for HPs because you wasted, I mean expended all your trains on Art.
* Being asked if you are clergy every 20 minutes because you have something "magickal" in your title.
* Backstab
* Bows and Arrows
* So reliant on concentration so you decide to make a d-elf to get the max int of all the races only to find out that a combination of low HPs + an acute aversion to BoG makes you a crispy critter often. Advice! If you can, poly into something else before going toe to toe with a pally!

A wise mage will have a store bought pet positioned behind them to avoid a backstab while thier charmed pet is in front of them, circle stab is the only thing a rogue can hurt ya with at this time.

A rogue cannot circle, hamstring or backstab if the rear flank of the target is covered.

IMO...

Shaman
Pros:
-Decent tank with SA+shield block (many shamans are capable of tanking guardians or mercs 1v1)
-Good healing/defensive powers with heal/sanc. Only thing a priest has over them in most pks is mass heal.
-maledictions: with the addition of art these are the real deciding forces of battles ("i win" spells are still too risky and difficult to pull off, while maledictions are fast casting and can take a target out immediately with blind/sleep or prevent escape with curse)
-Stave usage makes up for any of the magical defense weakness the class has.
-Voodoo. Unless you're built for mana you aren't going to drop even low end hp warriors in one hit, but you'll still take out most casters. And if you're a gnome shaman with max wis and trained mana to the max... well... watch out. And god help them if you get a doll.
-Brew (spirit aura/heal)
-Surprisingly versatile and tough. Maledictions, especially sleep + tanking ability + ok damage output + other spells like water breathing/spirit horde make shamans able to overcome various obstacles. I've seen Cyquoan win more fights and get out of so many difficult situations (drowning in blood would be one of them, one on one with a demon with almost no mana left is another) by using the full spell/skill set of the class.

Cons:
-Relatively low melee damage
-You might survive 30 rounds with a merc but you sure won't against three of them. Their reliance on concentration to keep their spells up (sanc, sa, etc.) makes them less feasible to tank in large group pk. That and the fac that they'll almost certainly be bashed
-Vulnerability to dirt kick and to some extent, blindness. Unlike priests/necros/warlocks/sorcs who can zap/recite/casts mirror image, you only get staves- and there are precious few MI staves out there. You can cure your own blindness or eat herbs, but dirt takes you out of the battle.
-No transport spells. Sorry, have to walk/fly.
-No locate object. Bah.

Rogue
Pros:
-Dual backstab with 25 str (GS) and a good dagger will instantly kill quite a few of the characters in the game and drop most others to very low health
-Scrolls give the class a whole new dimension, especially with the addition of art that makes rogues with weak spells of petrify potentially very dangerous.
-Hide/sneak+ high dex/dirt kick make rogues very quick and hard to catch. Their usually high dex (its main attribute when it comes to human and helf racial bonuses) allows them to hit most guys with dirt easily. Once blinded, backstab.
-Fleeing doesn't cost XP. And you'll flee a lot.
-Don't underestimate disguise... not only to get away with kills in teron, but to mess up targetting. You never know when this might backfire, though. You might get hit with more or less spells/attacks, depending.
-hamstring is very useful if they don't have flight, but it takes out trip/bash ability anyways which most people forget about and can definetly be a deciding factor.
-Not as frail as you might think. They may have light armor and medium range hp, but they have HIGH dex with shield block and parry (though most rogues use two handed daggers).
-Peek/Steal. God how i hate these skills. Make sure you can carry enough weight, and sometimes this is just as good as pk for getting lewt. Aim for containers. Also a great way to make money fast.
-Pick lock: If it can't be bashed, try this.
-Trip: not as good as bash, but why the hell would rogues want to bash anyone?
-ethereal scrolls+rogue= anti-caster. Fear Fernie. (<3 salak)

Cons:
-If they have a pet behind them, they're immune to circle/backstab. Take out the pet fast, recite a scroll, or just fight another day.
-Mirror image can seriously delay your attacks.
-This is an opinion statement, but IMO rogues are only a mediocre class without scrolls, meaning to get most of the "good stuff" you're reliant on other people scribing (though there are some decent scrolls out there, especially utility ones. Normally hoarded by all those damn sorcs/necros though).
-You might be able to tank a little bit, but you're sure not going to deal any damage in the front row. Always be behind a pet. You can't even circle stab if you're being hit by anything- even reaching weapons. Rogues have to flee and use sneak/hide a lot to gain advantages. No straight up wins here.

Scout
Pros:
-herbalism: gs/flight/armor/protection/cure blindness/healing/haste consumables for free.
-Undispellable pet. In general, scouts pets are more suitable at dealing damage then they are at receiving it (in contrast to, say, elementals, who are the exact opposite) but there is a large amount of variety in pet choice leading to different advantages/disadvantages to each. There's a lot more security IMO in having a pet that has no mana drain and no timer, that will only drop you in the front row if killed.
-Rapid shot/ambush/fletch/skirmish: essentially as good as most mercs with a bow, and ambush does good damage against caster classes. Fletch allows them to get plenty of practice with their bows and create good and plentiful ammunition.
-Track: always a great way to find PK

Cons:
-Not so great against heavy armor classes, especially with their bows. Even battle spears won't get past adamantine+a shield. There's a lot of surprise involved- you want you and your pet spelled up but your target not.
-herbs are level based. no hasting till GM, for instance.
-Limited in combat options. Being in the second row 24/7, all i've seen scouts really do is "o all bash", quaff XXX, or dirt kick. And if they're flying, not even that. If you're using a bow and they have casters, you can at least amuse yourself by picking them off first.


Bard
Haven't played one yet and relatively little experience with them.

Sorceror
Pros:
-Best transport/exploration spells in the game (gate/teleport/etherealform/invis/polymorph).
-By far the most versatile class in the game. The best sorcs can duplicate almost any class ability with enough effort.
-Best exploring class. Invis/etherealform will get you past 95% of the enemies in the game. polymorphing into a halfling lets you hide/sneak, giants let you bash, numerous races are invulnerable to numerous things including elemental attacks, blunt weapons, summons, acid, gas, poison, etc. etc. etc.
-Charmies are the best pets in the game. Champion level mercs with full adamantite equipped with good weapons, followed by haste/gs/armor/bless/frenzy/sanc are disgusting. Just watch out for cancellation.
-locate object: probably the most useful utility spell in the game (followed by identify)
-Enchant armor: Leads to the legendary suits of super enchanted armor ppl always talk about. Persistent sorcs with resist EVERYTHING.
-access to all items: staves, wands and scrolls.

Cons:
-no melee ability
-low hp
-forced to keep many spell effects up at all times to stay alive
-reliant on charms

Bard: (from the little experience I have so far)

Pros:
- Very good combat skills for an adventuring class. Trip, dirt, disarm, parry etc
- A collection of songs that can rock almost every other class.
- A collection of songs making you needed in many groups.
- The art of loring items, the only class that can reveal the secrets of scripted items.
- A class that gives you potential for RP by definition.
- The use of scrolls can give you a variety of spells to use.
- The persuade skill can rock people, too.

Cons:
- Extremely low HPs. That is the main con of bards.
- Either that, or they don't have shield block to counter the lack of HPs.
- You have to keep a collection of scrolls to be handy or safe at all times.
- In general terms, due to the lack of HP/Shield block mainly, they suck at solo PK. They are good only for group PK.
- Even in group PK you have to be REALLY careful what songs you use.

Even if it seems that cons are equal to pros, I like bards, and would gladly play more of them, afterall.

Immortal:

Pros:
- You can set your own hp, stats, and mana
- Ability to create rooms and areas
- You can make, get, or duplicate any eq you want
- You can kill any mortal player instantly
- Instant transportation to anywhere in the mud
- Ability to listen in on any player’s conversations
- NPCs can be created or controlled at your whim
- Ability to send annoying “beeps” to players
- You can rename or re-adjective any player
- Can send players to hell or to any other place you want

Cons:
- You have to deal with either the guilt of not logging on enough or the hemorrhage of all your free time
- You have to deal with players
- You have to read long-winded e-mails from people like Dalamar, Tat, and Werttrew
- You have to deal with players
- You discover how much mudsex there really is on SK
- You have to deal with players
- You discover that your tolerance for whining is much lower than you had anticipated


About an even trade, really…

Warlock
Summary: straight damaging elemental magic for the win.

Pros:
-Best selection of damage spells
-Access to all elements (and quite a few races have elemental weaknesses)
-Uncancellable (but dispellable) HIGH hp tanks
-wand/stave skills
-SS+ironguard make them great city attackers
-Best HQ defenders
-healing rays is a relatively effective healing spell over long periods of time
-mid range hp/armor- they have light as opposed to cloth armor.
-brew: not too useful for you, but your friends will love you.

Cons:
-No transport spells
-no locate object
-No store-bought pets (either an elemental or a pet at any time, and elemental > pets). Watch out for warriors with reaching weapons, especially those with elemental bites (bad idea since you have RE) or deadly wrath (very good idea)
-resist elements owns your spells pretty hardcore
-MP > your spells, high dex and reflex will also completely rape them as well. Tanks will usually just eat your magma and keep plowing through.


Necromancer
Summary: The class of extreme weaknesses and extreme power.

Pros:
-You can raise an army. Like, AN ARMY. The sort of thing that can destroy whole groups, raze cities, take out 4 relic guadians, etc. The sort of thing where you can do "o all k xxx" and XXX is dead in one round. With enough undead, you can take out several GM chars while ethereal in complete safety. not to mention that 40 wights doing headbutt are probably going to knock somebody out.
-high art cap+summon. I don't think this needs to be explained any more.
-great selection of maledictions
-Rift and teleport. Rifts are better than gates for necros because they frequently need to hop from place to place animating undead
-Scroll/wand/stave usage: only other class is sorcs that get to use all three items.
-Fear: underused and underestimated.
-Edrain: the only way to permanently "damage" another character.
-Finger of Death: Petrify, but better. Even if it fails it'll usually cut out a good chunk of HP. Elves run in terror from this spell.
-Scribe: "a small tome of finger of death, finger of death, finger of death"

Cons:
-Holy word. It only takes one priest/pally + a tank who resists a feeblemind to drop your whole army.
-Bolt of Glory. Nimbus sux. No recall, no teleport, nothing. Only hope is to go ethereal before you die and pray you can somehow get away. And if you're a delf necro... gg
-Rogues+Backstab. Necros are usually in the third row, and if they're in the second row reaching weapons will drop them fast. Going ethereal only means the rogue is going to come after you after reciting a scroll.
-Low hp. Arrows drop you fast, circle stab drops you fast, stabbing you drops you fast... don't get hit.
-Requires a lot of preparation to do anything. Other classes may be able to go off and fight half-cocked, but necros just get killed that way (against good opponents, at least). Animating and EQUIPPING undead takes time and knowledge of the game.
-Everyone wants to kill you. All right, maybe not everyone. All lighties, five religions, three of the cabals, usually two tribunals... and their allies, of course. Not to mention any enemies you make besides them. Prepare to get attacked a lot as a noob.
-People keep bothering you. A lot. Especially overzealous priests and paladins who seem to show up everywhere.
-Your performance is completely dependent on you. When you get your hordes of the undead moving, its nothing but you and a bunch of GM tanso equipped NPCs against whole waves of lighties groups spamming HW. You'll be outnumbered most pitched battles PC wise.

Alright, Might aswell add one aswell,

Swashbuckler

Pros:
Two swords (Twice as many attacks)
Riposte (Uber parry attack -Very Awesome!-)
Very Good at Parry and Dodge
Good at fending off many eniemies (Riposte, Dodgin and Parry!)
Finesse! Great skill, Easy to master, Makes theSwashbuckler even more deadly by making it harder to block them!

Cons:
No shields
Have fairly weak armor
Therefore get hurt easily



All I could think of so far, May be more