Stats: First thing you want to do when you
start playing as a wizard, is pick your stats. Now, there are 10 of them
so let me give a brief explanation of what everyone does:
CS/TD: CS and TD are almost the same as AS and TD except in how they get higher and what they are. AS is a physical attack. CS is a mental attack. TD is how you defend against those attacks.
Mind Magic: Spells that come from the mind or within. When focusing on a target. Mind Magic uses the CS/TD System. More on this later.
Bolt Spells: These don’t necessarily mean lightning bolts. They could mean any one of the elements that you shoot out at a target. Fire, water, etc.
Physical Attacks: Any attack that uses the AS/DS system and uses a sword or a weapon of some sort.
Stat and Bonus: The number that you put into a stat is one thing, and the bonus you get from it is another. This is a bit confusing so let me show an example. Say you put a roll of 100 into the stat Intellegence. The bonus would then be 25. It changes depending on the stat and race. The highest bonus you can achieve is 40.
HP: Your health, how many points of health you have. If this goes to 0, you’re dead.
Spirit Points: Your spirit; maximum is 10. If this gets to 0 you suffer a spirit death which is 10 times more severe than a normal death.
RT: Round time; how long it takes you to do something. Usually you can’t do anything during a RT except talk and a couple of other commands. You usually get RT from doing something, like attacking, or casting a spell. When you are casting a spell you get a different type of RT, called Spell RT. This "Spell RT" only involves your hands, so you can do other things like hide, smile, jump, etc.
Critting: A crit happens when you either slice off a limb (leg crit, arm crit) or kill something outright (head crit, neck crit).
Prep Time: If you are the same training as a spell, you will have to wait 10 seconds for a spell to get ready. If you are 3 levels above the spell (example, you are level 4 and the spell you’re trying to cast is 901) the spell takes 5 seconds to prepare. If you are 6 levels above a spell, the spell takes no time at all to prepare.
If you want to have a really good character, you should spend an hour or two getting a really good roll. There are 10 rolls and for a really good roll, they should add up to more then 620. You should also try to have the first 3 numbers being at least 80 (the best being 90) and the last number also at least 80. Try also not have any numbers below 40. I know it takes time, but for a truly good character you want something like this.
I will not say how to place stats, but I will give some pointers on placing them. It would be recommended to put Aura and Discipline high up there. Why? Because they determine both Mental and Physical Points and Aura not only determines Mana but spirit points, too. Don’t put Intelligence and Logic too high, they grow extremely fast over trainings. Strength grows extremely slow, putting it high or low is a matter of choice. I put mine low, and have always regretted it. We use more mental training points (MTP) then physical training points(PTP), so always put Charisma above Constitution Constitution and Charisma shouldn’t be over 60. Intellegence and Aura get an automatic +10 bonus the moment we enter the lands. Considering Dexterity determines our Bolt AS, it should go pretty high. But, also consider that it grows fast. You might want to sacrifice a higher dexterity for another stat such as a strength. Put reflexes high if you want a better defense. Don’t put strength low if you plan on swinging a sword or being a war mage. Putting wisdom high or low is up to you. I put wisdom low and don’t have that high of a TD, but being a halfling I get a bonus to TD anyway. There are stats and there are bonuses. Stats can reach up to 100, but the bonus changes depending on what race you chose.
Humans: They are pretty mediocre at
everything not being too good or too bad at any one thing. They are extremely logical and
intellegent.
Giant Men: They are strong, very strong, in fact
the strongest race in Elanthia. Fact is, they sacrifice intelligence and movement for their
strength. They are slow, and kind of stupid (but you didn’t hear that from me). They are
the worst bolt casters.
Half-Elf: These make pretty good wizards, being
fast and dextrous.
Sylvan Folk: Are just are about on the same
wave-length as humans. I haven’t seen too many wizards that are sylvan.
Dark Elves: These make up most up Elanthia’s
wizards and sorcerers. They have the best mind casting abilities and are second best at
bolts. Their only downside is their slow spirit recovery.
Elves: These are the fastest race, but are
extremely undisciplined.
Dwarves: These are a sturdy race, and would
make pretty good war mages. I don’t see why many people don’t pick them. I guess its
their females with their beards.
Halflings (commonly called Hobbits): These are
fast, small people. They throw the best bolts out of any race but are definitely the
weakest. They are the shortest of any proffesion too. They are uncharismatic, but then
again, who believes a halfling?
| 0 25/20 (1) Two Weapon Combat 0 14/1 (1) Armor Use 0 8/1 (1) Shield Use 0 15/8 (1) Combat Maneuvers 0 9/1 (1) Edged Weapons 0 9/1 (1) Blunt Weapons 0 20/3 (1) Two-Handed Weapons 0 20/3 (1) Ranged Weapons 0 20/3 (1) Thrown Weapons 0 20/3 (1) Pole Arm Weapons 0 6/2 (1) Climbing 0 3/1 (1) Swimming 0 20/25 (1) Multi-Opponent Combat 0 2/7 (1) Disarming Traps |
0 2/8 (1) Picking Locks 0 5/3 (1) Stalking & Hiding 0 0/3 (1) Perception 0 0/10 (3) Spell Research 0 0/1 (3) Scroll Reading 0 0/2 (3) Magic Item Use 0 0/7 (1) Mana Sharing 0 2/1 (2) Spell Aiming 0 15/10 (1) Ambush 0 8/0 (1) Physical Training 0 3/3 (1) First Aid 0 0/3 (1) Trading 0 3/3 (1) Picking Pockets 0 20/3 (1) Brawling |
Ok, here we have all the skills that a wizard can train in.
All the 0’s are the bonus you have to it already. Every time you train in a skill, it adds 5 to it. When you’ve trained 10 times in that skill, it goes to 4, another 10 times the bonus is 3 etc till its 1 every time. The first number after that is how many physical training points it costs to get the skill. The second number is how many mental training points it costs to get the skill. The number in parenthesis is how many times left you can train in this skill. *Note, every time you train in a skill, its cost doubles so if you trained twice in Spell Aiming it will be 2/1 for the first one and then 4/2 for the second one.
Also, a good number to have for Physical and Mental Training Points Left (Not shown) is 40 for each. Having lower then that won’t kill you, but its helpful.
Lets see what they all do:
Two-Weapon Combat: I would never suggest training in this. It costs too much to ever be useful. If you have two weapons in both of your hands, you can attack with both. This adds to RT significantly and the second attack will be much weaker. Training in this removes that weakness.
Armor Use: Every 4 times you train in this skill, you get 1 point of RT taken off but only if it was gotten because of the armor. The heavier the armor the more RT it gives. The most a wizard would ever want to train in this is 4 times, if hes going to wear full leather.
Shield Use: I suggest training in this every level at least till 20. It adds to your DS.
Combat Manuevers: Every two trainings in this adds 1 point to your AS. This also helps with dodging attacks. I suggest at least 1 or 2 trainings by level 20.
Edged Weapons: Every wizard I know except for maybe 4 or 5 trains in this. I am one of them. I follow a different path of wizardry but I will explain later. Basically, the bonus from the skill adds to your AS and if you are in a different stance (more defensive, etc) it adds to your defenses. If you are at stance defensive, it will add directly to your DS.
Blunt Weapons: Different kind of weapons but same idea.
Two-Handed Weapons: You lose defensive abilities with this but the attacks are powerful, capable of one strike kill shots. I know of only 2 wizards that train in this with regularity and swing a two-hander with incredible force. Spiralt and Tedra, one of them is one of the oldest wizards in the lands.
Ranged Weapons Recently implemented, these are bows and arrows and the like. The difference between them and normal swords is they get a bonus from dexterity not strength.
Thrown Weapons Not implemented, but axes and stones and the like.
Pole Arms: Right now, having pole arms is no different then a sword. If a new system ever gets implemented, pole arms will let you attack from far.
Climbing: You’ll be amazed at how much this comes up later. To get to a town you need climbing as an example. I’d suggest 5 trainings by Title and more as you go on.
Swimming: Same here, but you need less of it and the only important place I can think of that you need it is to swim to the Monastery.
Multi-Opponent Training Useless for us and costs too much to ever be used.
Disarming Traps: More important then at first seems, our disarming spell is not that good. Plus there are traps that we can’t see with our spells that could outright kill you. Of mild importance, train if you’d like, but I can never see wizards seeing traps as much as say, a rogue.
Picking Locks: Their are rogues that can do that, and they can train in it much cheaper then us. We could always use spell 407. Train if you’d like.
Stalking/Hiding: Hiding is fun but not of real importance unless you are ambushing. If you attack/ambush from hiding you can do much more damage and maybe cut off a limb or even kill the thing outright.
Perception: How well you can see things. Works for finding secret openings, and helps find traps.
Spell Research Always, always, always train twice in this. If you’re like me and have extra Training points from not training in weapons you can even get 3 spells.
Scroll Reading: Train once a level., even skipping sometimes. If you want to be able to invoke scrolls without ever missing, you need 130 points in this.
Magic Item Use: Mainly used for wands, how well you can wave them. Nowadays wands are important to wizards, so train in this. Unless you’re talking about a special item, the most you need is 130 - your aura bonus.
Mana Share: Determines how well you can send mana to others. You need 100 to be able to send to someone else with 100 without missing any. I suggest getting 100 by 30.
Spell Aiming: Always train twice in this. This stat determines your bolt AS which is your main attack form.
Ambush: Train only if you’re going to be a warrior mage and even then its hard to train much.
Physical Training: Gives you more health points. At early levels, train in it religiously. Stop after you have maxed out in Health Points.
First Aid: Helps patch up your wounds, and helps skin monsters' pelts for money.
Trading: Lowers the cost of items, but only if merchants are selling them.
Picking Pockets: Er, no comment.
Brawling: I’ve heard of brawling wizards. Brawling helps if you join the Voln society.
Warrior Mages are more common now than before. These train once a level every level on edged or their main attack form. They use their magic to augment their skills. For example, a warrior mage casts Haste can kill a monster fast, because he has no Round Time. Other professions don’t have this spell. The problem is, a warrior mage can train only once in any sword-like attack form. Our spells give us some catch-up to the other professions that can train twice in any attack form. These are more common, because our bolts have been downsized so to say, and we lost a key spell that helped it. Warrior Mages also train in Combat Maneuvers a lot which, every 2 trainings, adds to their AS attack.
Mages train in swords, but not every training and only for defense. They cast bolts, normally but usually immediately afterwards go into defensive mode where their weapon protects them. Casters have a unique ability: their RT is only for spells, its called Cast RT. While in Cast RT you can do many other things except for wave a wand and prepare another spell.
Pure Mages have no affiliation with swords. I am one of these. They don’t carry around weapons and don’t train in them. Thus they have many extra training points which are usually spent in secondary skills or are used to get third spells. Pure Mages are usually halflings who can barely hold a sword anyway.
There are other types of wizards of course, but these are the main types.
The biggest part of the game, is the attack. Killing creatures. This explains how all this works.
What is AS/DS? AS is how hard your attack is, and DS is how well your defenses are. When you attack something, your AS is taken vs their DS. This is then added to the advantage (Your attack vs there armor) which is at the end added to a die roll of 100.
AS with weapons is calculated with your Strength Bonus added to your weapon skill spells, and one or two other things. Your weapon skill is the bonus of the skill. For example, if you train 4 times in weapons, the skill is +20 (see the above section).
DS is calculated depending on your shield skill, spells, and parry. More on this in a second.
|
Attack rat You swing a broadsword at a giant rat: AS: +15 vs DS: -10 with AvD: +35 + d100 roll: 45 = +105 ........and hits for 3 points of damage! Slashing blow to rat chest knocks foe back a few paces! |
Now lets see what happened here.
Emeraldwand has 2 ranks in Edged Weapons, so that’s +10 to AS. Emeraldwand is also a halfling, so that gives him a -20 to AS. That’s -10 AS. Emeraldwand has 100 in strength, and the bonus from that is 25. That comes out to 15. A giant rat has no shield skill, no sword or anything of the nature and his DS is -10 to start out with. The advantage was how well Emeraldwand’s sword hit verse the rats armor (which has none). It would have been higher had he had a better weapon or lower if the rat had better armor. The die roll is out of 100, and is completely random. So the end roll was over 100. If he had rolled less then 100, it would have resulted in a miss. But in the end he got over 100, but barely though. Considering it was barely, he barely hit the rat. 3 damage is not a lot in gemstone, though a rat has only 20 Damage Points or HP’s, some creatures have 200, some have around 1000 (on those creatures, you rely on slashing off there head, in which case they are dead). Also about the rats DS, if it was stunned (you hit him hard enough so all he does is stare) his DS would have been 20 points lower. If it had been knocked down, it would have been 50 points lower. Also note, that if it was stunned and knocked down, it would still only be 50 points lower, not 70.
Now lets get an example of elemental spells, often called bolts be they fire, water, lightning and whatnot.
Spell 901 is minor shock, not very powerful at all.
|
Prep 901 You concentrate on a Minor Shock spell.... [Spell preparation time 10 seconds] Cast rat You gesture at a giant rat. You hurl a small surge of electricity at a giant rat! AS: +60 vs DS -10 with AvD: +45 + d100 roll: +100 = +215 ........ and hits for 20 points of damage! Heavy spark to the left leg. The giant rat cringes in surprise. The giant rat falls back into a heap and dies. |
What happened here? Same thing as a sword except for a couple of things.
First, you have to prepare the spell. This means calling it up. The older you are the shorter the preparation time takes. If you are 3 trainings older then spell, the prep time is 5 seconds. 6 trainings over the spell, you have no prep time. So for 901, minor shock, when you are 7 years old, you get the spell at no prep time.
Next you cast at the rat. You get the same AS and DS. AS this time is calculated by Spell Aim Bonus, dexterity bonus and spells. Emeraldwand is a halfling that is 1 training old. That’s + 15 from being a halfling. Hes trained 4 times in spell aim (Twice every training, you train at 0 too), so that’s + 20. He also has 100 in Dexterity so that’s +25. That’s 60. The rat’s DS is -10, as explained in the previous sections. The advantage for spells is a lot higher then for swords, even for a terrible bolt like minor shock. He got the best possible Die Roll, 100. That came out to 215. 215 is 115 over 100, so you figure you should have a very hard hit. With minor shock, no matter how hard it hits, it won’t do much damage. If that was done with a weapon, you could expect 60-100. If it was done with an extremely strong weapon, like a claidimore, it could do well over 100. With Major Shock, the most powerful bolt, it would also have done more then 100. What can you expect from a level 1 spell anyway?
Stances are how much of your sword skill you are using to add to your defenses. The more sword skill you are diverting to your defenses, the worse your attack is.
Think of it as a valve: Attack Strength | Defensive Strength. The more you direct to AS the less is directed to DS.
Stance Offensive is where you direct all your attention to throwing the best bolt or swinging the sword as hard as you can. This goes in 20% increments (warriors can do it in 5, if they’re in the guild) At Stance defensive, your bolts and sword AS will most likely be 0. Your DS will be high. Your sword skill bonus is taken and multiplied by the stance (1 for Defensive, 0 for offensive, .2 for guarded etc) and is then added to DS.
CS and TD attacks are the main attacks for sorcerers and are secondary attacks for wizards, clerics and empaths (when they hunt).
What is CS made out of?
Your level * 3 + Aura Bonus + Spell List Bonus.
Spell List Bonus is different depending on the spell circle you’re casting from.
For wizards:
If you’re casting a spell from the 400’s the spell list bonus is
(amount of spells known in 400’s * 1 + amount of spells known in 500’s *.5 + amount of
spells known in 900’s * .5).
If you’re casting a spell from the 900’s the spell list bonus is (amount of spells known in 900’s * 1 + amount of spells known in 500’s *.5 + amount of spells known in 400’s * .5) There are no CS spells in the 900’s list currently.
If you’re casting a spell from the 500’s the spell list bonus is (amount of spells known in 500’s * 1 + amount of spells known in 500’s *.5 + amount of spells known in 900’s * .5).
|
CS: +114 - TD: +105 + CvA: +8 + d100: +88 == +105 Warding failed! ... 10 points of damage! Blow raises a welt on the frost giant's left arm. |
This is spell 409
My Aura Bonus is 20, the most for a halfling
I am level 21, so total right now that gives me 83
I know spells 401 to 414 so add 14-97
I also know spells 901 to 920 add 10-107
Last, I know spells 501 to 513 add 6.5, round up-114
TD used to be calculated 3 * critters level but Aephir, critter GM, is giving critters TD’s 4 and even 5 * critters level. That in addition to spells.
The advantage of CS Spells are that they can be cast at Guarded or any other stance for that matter and get no reduction in CS Strength. This might get changed, eventually.
Our attack spells, the bolts:
We have 7 bolt spells, and their are two more in wands. They are, listed in order of
strength by my observations:
|
901-Minor Shock 903-Minor Water 907-Major Cold 908-Major Fire ?28-Spell found in Blue Wands, sends ice at opponent 906-Minor Fire ?26-Spell found in Crystal Wands, is an acid type attack 910-Major Shock 518-Cone of Lightning-Same as Major Shock except it casts one major shock at ever critter in the room |
901 is a terrible bolt spell. I have heard that once, it was a powerful spell when used on armor. The documentation is wrong, it is not inversely affected by armor anymore, and its very useless. Past ghoul masters and rats, I have never used this spell. Expect to do around 1 damage point for every 10 points over 100 on the end roll.
903 when cast in guarded spews water and cleans them off (no damage, mini shower so to speak). This has varying efficiency on critters. Don’t expect to use this very often. Sure its good early on and very mana efficient, but it starts to dwindle past level 25.
907 Don’t let the word "major" fool you. Right now, this is not a good spell at all. It sends a frozen ball of ice at the opponent. This should do lots of damage, but it really doesn’t. The AvD on it is high, around 65 but on the same end roll as minor fire, minor fire will do a lot more damage.
908 See 907, pretty much the same thing, though fire hurts a bit more.
?28 In slender blue wands; this is a spell that is unnamed. Most call it ice though. The blue wand sends ice shards at the opponent. Its a pretty good wand, and not a bad spell at all, though I think Minor Fire is better.
906 Minor fire would sound like it wasn’t as good as major fire, but it is, and a lot better. Minor fire is the main attack spell from levels 20 to around 40. It usually burns whatever it hits (be it head, leg, arm whatever) right off, if you hit hard enough. Very good spell.
?26 Crystal wand spell. This is an acid attack, and can melt better then minor fire in my opinion.
910 Major Shock is very, very powerful. Unlike the ball spells (907 and 908) this sends a powerful bolt at the target. Expect to do over 100 damage almost every time and almost always take the arm, leg, head with it.
518 Cone of Lightning is a very effective spell. It throws major shocks at every critter in the room. Think about it, when there are two critters in the room, it becomes more efficient then two major shocks. When there are 3 critters in a room, its as efficient as minor fire. 3 critters and up I would use this all the time. Probably the best reason to go up the major elemental list.
Many wizards rely on wands to hunt. Wands have certain charges of a spell (they can be recharged using the spell charge item, and can be duplicated if they’ve never been used before or charged or anything). The first thing you do is wave the wand at the critter. You then attempt to wave it. The attempt is your Aura Bonus + Magic Item Skill + a die 100 roll. If you are successful, (an end roll of over 100) then the wand will fire off and will act like any other bolt spell or sorcerer spell.
The table that follows lists spells in wands and the amount expected to be charged if you are buying them:
| Iron Wand-Minor Shock, 300 silvers Silver Wand-Minor Shock, 300 silvers Aqua Wand-Minor Water, 1500 silvers Golden Wand-Minor Fire, 2000 silvers Metal Wand-Major Cold, 1000 silvers Slender Blue Wand-No name, hurls chunks of ice, 2000 silvers Crystal Wand-No name, an acid spell, 2000 silvers Twisted Wand-Mana Disrupt, a sorcerer spell that uses CS/TD, 1500 silvers Slate Wand-Disintegration, another sorcerer spell, these really don’t get sold, unless to pawnshop |
You can find many of these wands off critters and if you make friends, they will most likely give you their wands.
Ok, you’ve read through the guide and now you’re wondering what the heck to do. I explained all the technical stuff but here goes. When you start out you should have some basic armor and weapons and maybe a wand. The first thing I would do, would be to go straight to Tsoran’s site. Get the map of whichever town you’re in (Icemule or Whenimer's, could be different depending on if they ever build a starting inn at the town River's Rest). You should first listen to the whispers and don’t move when you start out. They tell you some important information. Don’t forget to type Advice when you need advice. To get to level 1, you need to go to every place on the DIR list (Type Dir to get the list, dir _________ to tell you how to get somewhere). When you’re done with this, go to the Inn and find the place where you can check in. Do so, and you should advance to level 1. To get to level 2 you will need to hunt or send messages. Talk to the clerk in the townhall about that. To hunt, get your sword out or prepare minor shock and start flinging it at the rats in the catacombs. This isn’t much, but there are plenty of newcomer guides that you should consider. Don’t forget to get a verb list.
I can only give limited advice on this. I am only 22 trainings as of this writing. From levels 1 to 4, hunt rats. 4 and up, hunt gremlins (especially good if you’re short, like a halfling or a dwarf). At around 6, hunt dirges, after that start minor shocking ghoul masters. Real boring, I know. If you can get your defenses high enough, hunt war cats and fire cats at around 15. From 20 and up, try liches at the monastery, they are very crittable to minor fire. After that, check out the critters on pinefar trail like wolverines.
There are certain spells you really shouldn’t cast while hunting. Spells such as fire cloud and meteor storm, are dangerous to all the people in the surrounding area. Anyone walking through might get caught and then you have a death on your hands. People have been banned for casting these spells. Their are other things that are courteous about hunting. Don’t stay in one room, move around constantly. Staying in one room will annoy everyone else. Casting spells 904 and 913 are frowned upon, but only if you are casting them consistently. Their is no harm in casting them to save yourself. Talk to Thrak behind the curtain in the Inn or that other guy in Icemule. They will give you 3000 experience if you listen to them and answer all their questions.
You will most likely be using the Wizard FE. If you do, you will notice a little experience bar to the left. When this gets full, and turns red (commonly called fried) you do not need to hunt anymore. Also, know that you don’t have to kill a critter to gain experience from it. The fastest way to get experience is to hunt with groups. When that experience meter hits red or even pink, you should go back and rest for a while until its down to the bottom or nearly the bottom.
If you ever have any questions, feel free to look me up in the game or ask me a question on the message boards.
