Shattered Kingdoms

Hi all,

Just figured I'd ask around for tips for my Deep-elf necro, before I messed up to much

At the moment I ~belive~ my int and wis is maxed, but I'm not sure how the stat system works. If I train stat them enough, a stat will increase, right? Is there a max int per level too? Like amatuer can only have "Genius"?

Also I figured int, wis, cha, maxed and rest in art; but I'm worried that my con is to low (Unhealthy) to have a long life

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Next, what's with this language thing? I've found a place to learn a new language, and unstand that speak *language* is needed to speak to another player if they don't understand your 1st language, but is there other benefits? Like some spells can only be learnt iff you know said language or such (don't need a spoiler, just a yes or no sort of thing)?

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And finally, how do I manage to get my animated dead to last longer? They keep crumbling after about 5-10 minutes... I can't raise an army in that time with the current spell level, unless I got way to lucky

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Toss out any other tips you have for a mud/sk newb too; I've flipped through the help files and such, but every extra bit help, right? Ohh, and anyone find a really good mud client on *nix? Using gnome-mud atm, but it's a litle flaky.

First welcome, we love new players!

Second, if you see a 'spirit steed,' run the other direction.

As for your questions:

1) once a stat is maxed it's maxed. Should you lose a level do to fleeing or energy drain or curses from imms, a random att point will return if the last level gained a stat point, which may make a stat that was just maxed go down one.

2) Con doesn't affect life length, but it is CRUCIAL to a necro. Your hp determines the hp of your animated undead, so if your con sucks, your wraiths (when you get them) will die to NPCs. You really ought to max your con as well as your hp trains--you can train hp, pe, and mana just like stats. If you already have two maxed and your con is unhealthy, it may be more prudent to max hp next, then put some into con before starting art. You wont have many points (6 hp is your max and 14 art = 20 trains, which you may not have) so you may need to max con using items. Cha is used for ordering as well as xp bonus when fighting NPCs so I hope it is already naturally high, if not you may need to look into items because I strongly recommend hp first, then some con, then a messload of art (10 should be fine).

3) Animate life grows with level I guess, since my wraiths seem to last a longass time.

4) There are no other benefits to languages.

As for my tips, from one necro to a new necro:

1) If you see any of the following run immediately until you are more confident in your sk skills; spirit steed, elves, griffons, anyone wearing symbols of nature or lots of 'woodsy' or 'wilderness' looking crap.

2) Don't worry too much about the stat stuff, worry more about your character as a whole. You will most likely not become a pk machine with your first char, but hey, you never know.

3) Use proper punctuation and capitalization when speaking in the mud... I know it sounds dumb but you can be taken as either childish or any number of other things you don't want to be considered. It takes a bit more time and focus but it is worth it: remember, mud's are text based so you are judged by your text.

4) If you have questions feel free to use the mentor command from your home country's inn/training area. Also use the titles in the who list to find people that may be able to answer questions and such. For example.



These two are obviously priests which you will need to know at some point(when arsilan kills you). Type 'help immortals' and 'help <immortal name>' to learn more about what religions and priests would aid you willingly and who you would have to lie to. In this case, the Eye is the dark side of Ain, who would probably help you, while the Cycle is Nashira, mother nature, who--if they knew you were a 'defiler of nature'--would skewer you.



Anything with 'Speaker,' 'serpent,' 'spirits,' etc is most likely a shaman who can help you gain life if there are no dark priests (or light ones that you havent already tricked into a res) around.


That about does it, good luck and thanks for joining us!

ps, you can never leave.

Or otherwise tell a friend where you are and we'll take care of it.

Got it, 'spirit steed, elf, griffon, goodie two shoes' run, tell friend, die, try to find evil priest, fail and then lie to good priest, run

Thanks for the welcome and help, by the by

Humm and if there is potions to increase my stats, then I really should just focus on hp, art, and if possible mana at least for the my Nteenth charactuer, once I figure out how to find them potions

Forget your HP trains, forget your Mana. Max your Inteligence, then your Art asap. Then max you Constitution. If you have anything left, then go for HP, Wisdom or Mana or whatever. You want as many HP as you can get for a necromancer, but concentration (ie. Int) is critical as is Art, which essentially nerfs your target's saving throws, making it far more likely that your maledictions (blindness, for example) will do their thing.

Your animates' HP are relative to your own, so you want your Con maxed as soon as you've done your Art. But do your Art first. You can find attribute buffs, but not Art buffs, and your levelling is going to be off NPCs; with high Art, your blindness spell will be an instant win with any NPC spellcasters.

Essentially, the key to a necro is to stay behind something (ANYTHING - another player, your pet, or when you get them, your zombie) and spam cause light (bloody quick spell, no savingthrow for the victim, minimal mana cost) at whatever you want to kill, blinding it first (ie. train your Art to max as a priority) if its a spellcaster so that it doesn't target you with its own spells in return.

All that said, if you're new to the Mud, I really would recomend playing some other race than elf or delf, and some other class than necromancer. If you like spellcasters, try a sorceror to get the hang of the spell system, and a half-elf because you get the benefits of infravision without the vulnerability of everybody immediately knowing your aura and using "help emnity" as an excuse to PK you no questions asked

But if your heart's set on it, do whatever it is that's your thing. Just don't judge us by the sort of reaction your initial choice of class and race will tend to provoke in-character amongst all manner of people Countless years ago, my first choice on initially finding this Mud was an elven paladin. Not the best newbie choice of race and class, and certainly not in that day and age (eve of the Blood Wars) but it was my thing, I stuck with it and it worked out okayish in the end. I'm still here, at any rate

Welcome aboard, Deadram.

I really disagree with tat, even though he/she made the tas school and rocks in my book...

You should want as much hp as you can get period. You live only as long as your animates do. Hp trains at an early stage gives you more than con trains at any stage. In other words, you get a set number of hp per con train no matter what the level, but hp trains give you more at lower levels... Dulrik said basically that hp is better trained early and con later.

Also, I disagree about art. You really don't need it maxed since your wraiths will do a lot of your work for you. About 10 trains is fine, and you definitly do not need art early on.

Finally, do not... NOT.... train mana. Just do not do it no matter what anyone says. You do not need more than you already have, especially since your wis is already (near) max.

I doubt if it's the best way to go, but I maxed int, wis, and con, trained charisma to 16, and trained art 11 times.

Necros are really fun so don't let people put you off just because you get picked on.

You will get attacked if Mr Elf Paladin spots you with undead, but necromancers don't really rely on gear that much - so suck up the deaths and enjoy a really cool class.

There seem to be quite a lot of priests around at the moment so deaths are a good way of meeting people.

Alot of priest for necro's?

When did he say that?