Some points to note: There are generally 3 different paths you can take concerning the equipment and playing style of your character. These are defense, combo or abs (short for absorption, aka armor or full abs). To make the most of the equipment in these classes, you really need the stats to back them up. Newbies should really try and play an abs character first, as this kind of equipment is generally easier to come by, and is much easier to play earlier on. However, the situation is changing somewhat, with more and more defense players, and there is often a lot more spare def equipment hanging about than there used to be. :)
The path you will take depends in part on your class, because your class determines where you get practise sessions cheapest. Warriors and rangers are nice to start with because they get the most important skills cheap -- weapon skills, ride and survival.
Finally, remember to get your weapons and defense skills as high as possible (for anything other than a channeler, this means 99%), or you won't get the most from your character. Other skills aren't as useful if you can't survive long enough to use them effectively. (This is a common problem with thieves, who often skimp on shield parry so they can get backstab earlier. While this isn't wrong as such, it isn't really worth getting backstab working until level 30+ as level partly determines the damage you'll do. Again, some people will probably disagree with this. :)
Recommended minimum stats for a warrior: (- indicates that this attribute really isn't important to this kind of character.)
16 10 - - 16
Warriors live off killing stuff in the classic hack-and-slash style. Because warriors don't generally stat high dex, there aren't many defensive warriors about, though it's just as viable for a warrior to be defense as it is a thief -- shield parry and weapon skill are 1 prac each, dodge is 3 pracs each. A warrior really does need decent strength and constitution most of all though -- strength determines your ob (offensive bonus, or how well you hit) and damage, constitution how many more hitpoints you'll get with each new level. Intelligence isn't too important for any class other than a channeler, but a higher int isn't to be frowned at, as you'll be able to learn skills with a few less practises.
Recommended minimum stats for an abs ranger: see warrior.
Recommended minimum stats for a defense ranger:
16 10 - 16 15
A defensive ranger is great fun to play and not too hard to stat as rangers don't get a dex penalty like warriors do. As with a warrior/abs ranger, strength is still important, in fact more so as your parry bonus is calculated based on your strength. Dexterity is now important also, as dex determines your dodge bonus. You'll also need to practise dodge to make use of your dex. Together, your dodge and parry bonus make up your defense, and each reduce the chances that something will hit you. As a ranger, weapon skill, shield parry and dodge will all cost you 2 pracs per session, so whereas a defensive ranger isn't too hard to stat, it will take you a few more levels to reach optimum bonuses compared to a defensive thief or warrior.
Recommended minimum stats for a thief:
13 10 - 17 15
By far the most important stat for a thief is dexterity. Not only does dex determine how good your dodge bonus will be, many other thief skills depend on dex also, such as hide, sneak, steal, attack etc. As thieves will usually make use of backstab, strength is not as important to a thief -- backstab does not depend on strength. Attack allows them to hit their opponent twice in one round sometimes instead of once, up to doubling their damage done. Finally, warded short blades can still do pretty good damage without needing much strength behind them. Probably the most use for strength a thief has is the shield parry factor (see above). Higher-than-average intelligence is also nice for thieves, as to be able to perform backstab effectively quite a lot of practise sessions will be needed. An average constitution is good to give you a half-decent buffer of hitpoints should your opponents manage to hit you, something that will happen, especially in pk.
Recommended minimum stats for a channeler:
- 15 17 16 -
Intelligence and will are vital to a channeler, and will usually be your best attributes as channelers get statting bonuses here. Will determines how many saidar/saidin points you will have while channeling (i.e. how many weaves you can channel before having to rest), among other things. Intelligence determines how much you can learn in one practise session. Because channelers are very much challenged with normal pracs and also have to worry about learning those important weaves (spell pracs), it is good to have a high an int as possible. Finally, dex is vital if you want to be able to solo anything and still be able to channel: If you are hit while channeling, the weave will most likely fail and you'll have to try again. Male channelers who are worried about being defense for identity issues can still wear abs equipment at lower levels when having half the MUD chasing you isn't really what you want, but if you ever want to shine, you'll need that dex.
There are also some considerations you should make depending on whether you want to stat a male or female channeler -- two of the biggest are the taint experienced by male channelers if they can't figure out a way to hold it at bay, and the fact that warrior prac (where weapon skills other than short blades and dodge are learned) are cheaper for a male channeler (3 for male, 4 for female). There are other issues but that's beyond the scope of this document.
Trollocs are the elite killers of the Shadow, pk machines. As such, many people will recommend you get as good stats as you possibly can, as playing on the trolloc side is a lot more hardcore in some ways than on the human side. Trollocs are for EXPERIENCED PLAYERS -- learn the MUD before you try to play trolloc, or at the very least, take the time to learn the basics.
Because trollocs are a pk race, most people prefer to play either ranger or thief, as they have class-specific pk bonuses -- rangers get autotrack, thieves backstab.
18 - - (17) 17
Defense rangers are possible but because of the severe practise limitations compared to humans, it'll probably take many levels before you can get your bonuses to near their maximums. Bashing abs rangers can pretty much get all the required skills by around level 30; of course this is a rough guide.
Have never played a trolloc thief really. Trolloc thieves are the most practise challenged class in the game, and will not be able to go defense until in their 40's probably. This is second-hand information from what I've heard though, so if you really want to know what you're doing, ask someone like Gruarth or Mendoze. :P
Notes:
Some people will choose the homeland that complements their class -- for example,
a thief from Tarabon, because thieves need high dex foremost. However, other people
will choose a homeland to boost their classes normally weakest attributes -- for
example, a thief from the Borderlands to boost str and con. There is a lot of mix
and matching, and most of it works if you keep trying.
Concerning the new homelands... as you can see, I haven't included most as I simply
don't have the time or inclination to stat a few characters from each just to see what
bonuses they give. Other people are very much welcome to submit their own experiences
of the new homelands. A very rough general guide to homeland/class mixes in general
from what I've seen of other players' homelands is...
My warrior is from Borderlands, ranger from Tarabon, male channeler from Tarabon, female channeler from Illian and thief from Borderlands... oh and my trolloc's from Shayol Ghul :)
Introduction
And now, no doubt the most controversial of my WOTMUD webpages... the statting guide!! :) Many people ask every hour of the day for opinions from other, (supposedly) more experienced players regarding their newly gained stats. To try and ease the spam, I've written a rough guide to what kind of stats you need for different classes, and more importantly, WHY. Before I start, a general disclaimer -- this is a VERY SUBJECTIVE SUBJECT -- many people have differing opinions on what you need those 5 little numbers to be. Please keep this in mind when you start thinking about writing flames. Constructive criticism of course is, as always, welcome. :) (hoshirei@mailcity.com)
Humans
Warrior class
Ranger class
Thief class
Channeler class
Trollocs
Ranger
Thief
Tables
Warrior prac Ranger prac Thief prac Warrior 1 2 3 Ranger 2 1 2 Thief 3 2 1 Female channeler 4 2 3 Male channeler 3 2 3
Pracs per level
Human Trolloc Channeler spell pracs Levels 1-5 5 5 5? Levels 5-10 5 3 5? Levels 10-20 5 3 12 Levels 20-30 5 3 2 Levels 30-51 2 2? 2
Class bonuses
(these are an educated guess)
str int wil dex con Warrior + - + Ranger Thief - + Channeler - + + -
Homeland bonuses
(even more an educated guess than above :P)
str int wil dex con Andor Two Rivers + Borderlands + - + Tarabon + Illian + + Cairhien + + -