Intro

Things you should know

• Hit points are AD&D-like, not Diku-like.
• There are 150+ spells, more than 40 skills, more on the way. Many monsters have special routines.
• Most monsters that might have poison do, and poison is very dangerous. Some poisonous monsters have instantly fatal poison: take care!
• Equipment can be damaged, by spells and combat, and can be repaired.
• Dragons (and others) breathe, doing lots of damage to people and equipment.
• Non-PC followers only get 1/2 the exp they would get if they weren't charmed; the other 1/2 is lost.
• Some monsters are too big to bash: in general, dragons, most 'huge' things, purple worms, etc. Giants or Half-Giants may bash huge things.
• Sneak allows you to avoid aggressive monsters.
• Monsters develop hatreds very quickly, and will try to hunt you down and kill you for hurting them.
• Most monsters that should see in the dark do.
• Some monsters are immune, resistant, or susceptible to the things you might expect them to be (resist = 1/2 damage, susc = 2 × damage).
• Monsters HELP each other out, usually if they are of the same race. They don't sit by and watch.
• Player characters are very powerful: many spells, attacks, etc. Monsters are weaker individually, most of the time. However, the monsters here are not as stupid as they are on other muds, and they tend to be tougher, because of that, and because they help each other.

Rule of thumb: Grouping is a good idea.

It is easier to play mages and thieves if you are patient. You don't have to be as patient, if you are more willing to group. Rangers and Paladins have alignment restrictions, making them somewhat difficult. Druids must remain neutral, making them the most difficult to play, especially in groups.

My goals for the classes:

• Fighters: powerful at lower levels, much less useful at higher.
• Clerics: reasonably powerful and useful all along.
• Mages: weak at lower levels, more powerful at higher levels.
• Thieves: good for scouting, very nice when grouped.
• Monks: weak at lower levels, more powerful at higher levels.
• Druids: medium at all levels, like Clerics.

Spell casting is harder to do in combat. Generally, the more powerful the spell, the harder to cast in combat. Magic missile, acid blast, shocking grasp, cause light, serious, critical, are all fairly easy to cast in combat.

While your equipment can be damaged by spells and such, there are some things you can do minimize the damage. #1, if you are fighting something that does fire damage, being immune or resistant to fire yourself will help your equipment out as well. Good saves will also in general reduce the amount of damage.

See also: NEWBIE, RULES