Message 1023 : A Guide for Newbie Warriors (Haity) Written on Sat Sep 25 00:11:44 1999 Two comments before I start: 1) I am using a lot of abbreviations; sometimes i will comment them, but not always. So if you are a real newbie in MUME, see "help abbreviations" before reading. 2) If you are a roleplayer in MUME, stop reading this text IMMEDIATELY! Contents: I. Stats II. Skills III. Equipment IIIa. Weapons IIIb. Armours IIIc. Misc IV. Exping V. Good Advices I. Stats -------- Good races for playing whitie warrior are Man and Dwarf. Dwarves have bonuses in main warrior's stats: STR and CON. But men grow up two times faster (that means that you will wait less time before your char reaches "max-strength-age" - 28 years for men, 54 for dwarves, and so on ...), and also they can ride such tall mounts as horses. The last thing is very important in PK fights. So I will speak about men stats. As I've already said, the main stats are STR and CON, and they should be maxed. The next important stat is PER - for defence from sneaking thiefs and for fast tracking. The next is DEX - to dodge and to flee from fights. The next WIL - the strong will can save you in battle vs a mage or a cleric. Average INT helps in tracking too. And at last, WIS is completely useless for a warrior. An example (man warrior without age modifier): STR 18, DEX 13, CON 18, PER 15, INT 11, WIS 9, WIL 13 II. Skills ---------- A warrior MUST prac max of following skills: bash, endurance, parry, weaponry skill (concussion/slashing/two-handed), ride and wilderness. Warrior also CAN have max awareness and tracking. Living in the world filled with powerful mages, and especially such evil as Black Numenoreans, fighter must spend 1 practice point for ONE spell he really needs, called 'detect invisibility'. And it will be good also to put some pracs into rescue, pick, swim, climb, leadership (3 pracs per each will be enough) and into the first aid (4-5 pracs). The 'search' skill is not really needed for experienced player, but it is good for a newbie. It will help you to discover secret doors (3-5 pracs enough). IIIa. Equipment: Weapons ------------------------ There are dozens, if not hundreds types of weapon in MUME, as well as 6 weaponry skills - so what is better to choose? The answer is here: leave piercing weapons and missiles for thieves, stabbing - for roleplayers. Two-handed weapons were perfect for bloodthirsty warriors before the world was changed (read: in MUME6), but as now weapons have such stat as delay, you can forget about it too. So, slashing and concussion weapons are for you. Slashing weapons have higher PB and lesser damage compared to concussion ones. High range of PB allows you to have weapon for defence (high PB/low damage, such as enchanted longsword or Dunadan blade) and for offence (low PB/high damage - chanted battle axe or MDA). But concussion weapons have two advantages: these never can be dented (dented sword has less damage than brand new one) and - main! - they are efficient vs metal. It means that if your opponent is dressed in metal armour, you will make 33% more damage to him. It really helps in fights vs orcs, especially vs players. Good concussion weapons are large warhammers (don't confuse them with heavy ones - heavy are 2H) (very often available at Bree/Fornost weaponsmith), heavy morningstars, engraved warhammers and ornate hammers (two last ones are non-enchantable). IIIb. Equipment: Armours ------------------------ A fighter MUST wear metal armour. It consists of six parts: breastplate, vambraces, gauntlets (those three are always available at Fornost), greaves, helmet/helm and boots. Of course thick ones are better than ordinary, and ordinary are better than thin. Good helmets are full metal and spiked, but the best is great helm. If you can't buy metal eq (not available in the shop/short of money), buy thick hard leather. [ I'm intentionally silent about as much better and lighter armours as fine and shining ones - they are REALLY rare, so don't check shop trying to buy them ] IIIc. Equipment: Misc --------------------- First, find a good shield. It is necessary for successeful bash and it will greately increase your PB. Good shields are "named" (Cardolan, Arthedain, ...) Even better are the wall shields. If you can't find them, buy large metal full one (it is available at Bree/Fornost almost always). Then find a good thing you can wear about body. Cave-bear fur and black warg fur (+5 OB) are really good for warrior, if not available in shops - buy FGC (forest green cloak, +5 DB, increases MP regeneration). Buy backpack in Fornost traveller shop - you can find in your travels much more items than can contain your inventory. And of course you will almost always fill up your inv looted player's corpse. You can hang on your belt max five items. On low levels, while you don't have a red ruby, first of them will be hooded brass lantern (larger than plain lantern, always available in Harlond's grocery). Also a good idea is to buy a large skin for water/wine/etc - at Bree bazaar. Third and fourth must be knife and pan - it isn't good idea for a whitie to eat raw meat: cook it. Hehe, a standart sequence: kill boar/butcher corpse/burn corpse/cook meat. The fifth place on your belt can occupy moneybag/whetstone/belt pouch (for small things such as receipts), on higher levels - sable pouch. When on high levels you will start exp in places where are many closed doors that need keys - buy keyring in Fornost traveller shop, lockpicks in Tharbad thieves shop and put picks and all keys on your keyring. IV. Exping. Citizenship in non-elven cities costs money. But after you pray to any city the first time, it will become your hometown - you will be automatically citizen of this town. So the first time you must pray to the city of Fornost. It is also the best place to prac for warrior. The first thing you must do on the first level is a map way from Fornost to Grey Havens - from the south Fnost gate to the place called OER/MG (Old East Road Meets Greenway), and then west to the city which lies on the eastern side of the Gulf of Lhun (Harlond). Prac some ride and wilderness, find a mount and go! Map road only, not surroundings (in the meanwhile). You will die a lot, but it isn't a real tragedy for the first level char. Harlond is the best place where newbie can exp without trouble. Citizenship in Grey Havens is free for well-meaning persons - just ask the Secretary. Pray about newbie kit and start exping. First 3-4 levels you can gain inside GH and in one zone north from Forlond (western part of GH). Don't forget that the ferry between Harlond and Forlond is free for newbies. Map area east of Forlond (4 zones) for next levels. Kill goats, cows, oxes, boars, wolves etc - there are enough exp for 4-5 more levels. But always keep in mind this rule: never kill mobs that have the same level as your or higherone solo. Anyway you will kill them later - having the same exp. The command "consider" will show you the level of a mob. If a mob has the same level as yours - you will see message "The perfect match!", if higher one - something like "you need luck", if much higher - message "Are you mad?". For making money you can butcher corpses and sell furs/pelts, and also you can sell items that loads sometimes in hidden places. The good idea is to collect information about herbs from other players, find them and sell to herbalist. Exp for levels up to 12-15 is available some south-eastern: brigands, elks, bears, funguses and slugs in the hidden cavern, werewolfs, living vines. But beware! Such clever mobs as werewolfs can track and hunt you down if you don't have/lost your horse. If you are wounded and don't have a horse - your only salvation will be to run as quickly as you can to any room that has door, and to close yourself in! (The nearest place to werewolfs is Greenholm village). The area north from GH - near Blue Mountains is good for exping up to 18-21 level: lions/grizzly bears/others (such as spirits/living roots/company of robbers/the rattlesnake), if you find secret places where they live. Last levels (and also a very good alignment) you can gain in the ruined city some west from Fornost (that called Old Fornost) and also by killing evil assassins/thiefs/bandits in the city of Tharbad. V. Good Advices. 1) When you prac max necessary skills in GH, go prac to Fornost after each level gained. Do it quickly and in the day-time if it's possible. 2) If your knowledge about mobile becomes higher that 30-40%, stop killing this kind of mobs. It's better to find another (maybe in the another zone). You will have same exp for the first killed wolf and for the 40th big lion. 3) Bash door success depends on your OB. That is why experienced fighters have two sets of armour: metal and leather (thin soft jerkin/sleeves/trousers/ boots, thin (not SOFT) gloves and soft cap). Metal eq decreases your OB, but thin soft leather - increases. So before bashing doors put off your metal set and wear leather one (make aliases for it: remove/wear all.metal/all.leather). But keep in mind that the plain belt is leather too - that is why warrior must have broad girdle/silken sash/snakeskin belt. 4) Never use a weapon if you don't have enough strength to wield it (if you see something like "you have some trouble lifting ..."). At example: if you have STR 17 (first age) - use enchanted large warhammer, not heavy morningstar (min 18 STR). Star has higher damage, but if you are not strong enough, you will do even less damage wielding it than wielding hammer. 5) The good idea is to be permanently drunk - you will have extra HPs/MPs, but less INT and WIS (that not really needed for warrior). But don't say/tell/ narrate while you are drunk - use "emote" (do you understand, why?) 6) Protection from thieves. There are some evil players that play only to put in trouble others by stealing their money and things (or maybe it is an idiotish roleplay?) There are some advices that may save you from these guys. Keep your money in moneybag (except 1 gold - SEE BELOW). Keep your things equipped or in backpack. It's easy to steal small item from your inventory, some harder to steal sack with items, but completely impossible to steal smth from the closed backpack or backpack from your back! Keep your backpack/pouch closed. If you will notice that someone "has hands in your wallet", remember this player. Don't kill him inside a city, don't complain about it to the Secretary. Simply try to catch him outside the city and slay him down - they always have A LOT OF money. 7) Always have 1-2 gold coins in your wallet (not in the moneybag). You can lose link, but renting in the open place is much expensive than in the inn. If you have not enough money for "linklessrenting", you will lose ALL your equipment (including money in moneybag). 8) Never enter into town where you are not citizen with unsheathed weapon (you can also simply "remove" it and keep in your inventory), never cast any spells inside. If you did this, follow any guard that orders you to do it (one exception - SEE BELOW) AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN. You will be put in jail for a short time, but you will be alive. Unfortunately this rule applies to ALL Shire area (from Mishel Delving zone to some rooms east from Brandywine bridge). 9) You can enter Tharbad (via gates, or inside coach) with unsheathed weapon and can cast inside even if you're not citizen. So don't buy citizenship (it costs 100 gold for all good-aligned players). But if you have attacked Tbad citizen by chance and guard orders you to follow him, DON'T DO THAT! It is mobdeath dt - you will be slain in jail and will lose level. Narrate for any player-citizen opens Tbad gates, bash gates down, narrate about transfer, jump into death trap, but don't follow guards. 10) During exping in areas where you can meet darkies, never enter any place that has door without making alias "open " (maybe also "unlock " and "bash "). Especially it applies to caves/ legendhomes/other places where *Trolls* can wait till night. Good luck! Haity, the Battlemistress from Lorien.