| Mercenary's Pkill Seminar | 
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| Mercenary's Pkill Seminar |
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This lecture took place on October 4th, 1996.
The LegendMUD Lecture Series is about to begin! Join us tonight with Mercenary in the Auditorium in the OOC.
Valad drinks whisky from a scotch on the rocks.
Mercenary says, 'Please, no socials or emotes.'
Parrilyn gives a big hug to everyone in the room.
Nhoj will try.
'I'm going to move as fast as most of you can read,' Mercenary says.
Linda drinks whisky from a scotch on the rocks.
Dragonseye sits down on a chair.
Nhoj giggles.
Mercenary says, 'Once we get started.'
Mercenary says, 'I've got this all pre-entered.'
Nhoj says, 'How long will this be, outta curiosity?'
Mercenary says, 'And so I'll be using macros to give the speech.'
Gerry says, 'I'm capturing it..'
Mitra says, 'And then we practice!'
'So once more, no emotes or socials,' Mercenary says. 'We'll start now.'
'On merc himself!' Nhoj says.
Xyn laughs an evil yet despairing little laugh.
'Rather than just talking about pkill strategy, I'm going to talk about the game system as a whole,' Mercenary says.
'Then we'll move on to discuss making characters in general, and the specifics of making a pkiller,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'Next I'll give general advice about pkilling and keeping from being pkilled.'
'After we've covered the basics, I'll discuss particulars of fighting singly and in groups,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'Finally, we'll open things up to question and answer.'
'Legend is, above all else, a game,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'It's a game where we get very attached to our characters because of the time we invest in them.'
'A game in which we compete with the other players, fostering emotional stakes in victory or defeat,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'If you can treat it like a game, remember that the person wiping your character out is doing it as a character, it makes things a lot more pleasant.'
'One thing which has always helped me is meeting with a person I've just fought in the OOC afterwards to talk about strategy and whatnot,' Mercenary says.
'I recommend this as a way to enforce this mental distance between character and player,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'Now, since Legend is a game, it has rules, and rules can be followed to their spirit, or to the letter.'
Mercenary says, 'Most people choose the latter on legend, motivated as they are by inter-character competition.'
Mercenary says, 'I won't go into that, but there's some implementation details you should be aware of.'
'These details may be changed by the gods in the future, but for now they're wide open to abuse,' Mercenary says.
'Many people are familiar with the kick-and-flee strategy,' Mercenary says.
'This is where you set wimpy to max HP, and use a special attack each time you re-engage,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'It's quite effective if you retain initiative, and your opponent does not have comperable special attacks.'
Mercenary says, 'However, this same strategy can get you killed.'
'Legend evaluates combat in a rigid manner,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'It has an ordered list of all mobs and players.'
Mercenary says, 'If a person has max wimpy set and is attacking someone higher up on that list than themselves, they will never hit.'
Mercenary says, 'So for instance, if I attack Kiera, but she rented most recently, she's higher on the list than I am.'
'When combat is evaluated, she gets her attacks, my auto-wimpy makes me flee, and I don't get to attack,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'Now if I had rented most recently, my attacks would occur, then her attacks, and auto-wimpy would make me flee.'
'It was just pointed out: this is not necessarily reflected in the 'who' list,' Mercenary says.
'Since you can rent out and back in without losing your position on that list,' Mercenary says.
'Anyways, to get back to the thread...' Mercenary says.
'Getting this wrong can kill you,' Mercenary says. 'Getting it right means you can slaughter certain mobs.'
Mercenary says, 'I've filed a bug against this behaviour, so hopefully it'll be changing soon.'
Mercenary says, 'Dodge is more powerful than anyone realizes, and all mobs have the dodge skill.'
'When a mob or player with dodge is attacked, the attacker's perception is compared against a number of other factors,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'If the attacker has a low perception, most likely a comparable level mob will dodge.'
Mercenary says, 'If the attacker has high perception, a comperable level mob will be unable to dodge.'
Mercenary says, 'You don't get to see when someone dodges, but its affect can be astonishing.'
Mercenary says, 'A 50th level character attacking a mob without dodge with -100 AC should hit about 90% of the time.'
Mercenary says, 'If the mob has dodge (and all do), things change dramatically:'
'A 50th level character with 100 perception will do this,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'A 50th level character with 20 perception will hit perhaps 20%-30% of the time.'
Mercenary says, 'While the one with 100 perception will still hit 90%.'
'I've filed a bug against this as well,' Mercenary says.
'Moral?' Mercenary says. 'Perception is a very important stat for fighters.'
Mercenary says, 'Yes, Nhoj?'
'Is this a special attack?' Nhoj says. 'Of just normal hit?'
'Or..' Nhoj says.
One says, 'Both.'
Mercenary says, 'We're talking strictly normal attacks.'
'Special attacks are evaluated different ways, depending on the attack,' you say.
Nhoj nods solemnly.
Mercenary says, 'Some are affected similarly, most are not.'
Mercenary says, 'Now, let's discuss making characters and levelling them.'
Mercenary says, 'This is important because a poorly constructed character won't be able to keep up no matter how good their strategy.'
One says, 'Lecture, not discuss.'
Mercenary says, 'Plan your character well.'
Mercenary says, 'Think carefully about the skills you want to use, brewing, spells, backstab, shooting...'
Mercenary says, 'Think about what equipment you would use.'
'I actually have a spreadsheet with all the equipment I know stats for that I can use to assemble a character,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'Once you've figured out the stats you want and the equipment you can apply to it, make your character.'
Mercenary says, 'Choose your stats in an order which meshes well with the equipment to meet your needs.'
'Also bear in mind that it takes time to advance far enough to rent equipment,' Mercenary says.
'When you're bringing your character up, you should try and roleplay since that's the direction most pkilling is going,' Mercenary says.
One raises his hand.
Mercenary says, 'Yes, one?'
'You can raise any stat to 100 with a bse of 15,' One says.
One says, '15 is the lowest possible stat roll.'
'Are you certain that's true for all stats?' Mercenary says.
One says, 'Dex is easiest to do.'
'It is,' Charity says.
'More than, in fact,' Charity says.
Someone says, 'With the stat quests used wisely it is.'
One nods his agreement with Charity.
Gerry says, 'Perc is possible?'
Mercenary says, 'The thing to bear in mind is that you pay a penalty on other stats when you do this.'
Rufus nods his agreement with Gerry.
'You can hit 140 dex with base 15,' One says.
'Thats only cuz there's 18 billion +dex items,' Gerry says.
'We can talk more about the equipment after we're done with this discussion - I don't want to get too far sidetracked,' Mercenary says.
One says to Mercenary, 'You can maintain over 45 in every stat with base 30 in fight stat.'
Xyn raises his hand.
Mercenary says, 'Yes, xyn?'
'So whats the max for any stat?' Xyn says. '100?'
Dragonseye nods solemnly.
Mercenary says to Xyn, 'Yes, 100.'
'If you have more than 100, it is rounded down to 100,' Mercenary says to Xyn.
Xyn says, 'Then what does he mean 140.'
'Math,' One says.
Mercenary says, 'It means you could be clumsied with -40 penalty and still have 100 dex.'
'Ahh,' Xyn says.
'And now, back to our previously scheduled program...' Mercenary says.
'One thing I would discourage you from doing is moving silently to 35th level, then suddenly being a bastard,' Mercenary says.
Xyn hangs his head.
'If you're going to be a bastard, you should do it consistently, to be fair to others and to earn respect,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'General advice: move slowly, do the work yourself.'
One raises his hand.
'Yes, one?' Mercenary says.
One says, 'Is this on char gen or playing ethics?'
Mercenary says, 'A bit of everything.'
One says, 'Okay.'
'It's *supposed* to be pkill,' Mercenary says. 'That's near the end.'
One was unclear.
Mercenary says, 'A lot of stuff got added when it became apparent character gen should be included.'
Mercenary says, 'OK. on with the rest :).'
'If you're a completely manufactured character who rode on the coat-tails of a more powerful character all 50 levels, people won't like that,' Mercenary says.
'It's also important to know the mud well if you want to be a successful pkiller,' Mercenary says.
'More about that later,' Mercenary says.
Mitra raises her hand.
Mercenary says, 'Yes, mitra?'
Mitra says, 'That includes the SOCIAL dynamcis of the mud too.'
'You should know who the major players are,' Mitra says.
'Thank you,' Mercenary says.
Mitra nods solemnly.
One raises his hand.
Mitra says, 'And clans.'
Mercenary says, 'One?'
Valad raises his hand.
'Major Characters thank you,' One says.
One pokes Mitra in the ribs.
'Valad?' Mercenary says.
Mitra giggles.
'I meant the major clans,' Mitra says to One.
'Does that include the restarted majors of old time past?' Valad says.
'The players in the pk scene,' Mitra says to One.
Mercenary says, 'OK, I'd like to ask that we hold the remainder of questions and comments until I finish my prepared statement.'
Mercenary says, 'Some of us are interested in these side issues, but I'm sure others aren't.'
Mercenary says, 'I will be happy to stay and talk after we're done.'
Xyn nods solemnly.
Kheldar nods solemnly.
Mercenary says, 'Now, if you've got making a pkiller in mind, you want to do several things.'
Mercenary says, 'First, you need to make sure your HP and Move, and Mana are high.'
'You do this by keeping constitution and mind high respectively as you level,' Mercenary says.
'Second, you want to maximize your combat potential and minimize your vulnerability to others,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'The most effective attacks are headbutt, bash, stun, entrance, and blind.'
'Any stats you can raise or skills you can learn to diffuse these will be to your advantage,' Mercenary says.
'Which is to say, diffuse the effect when they are used against you,' Mercenary says.
'If you're a spellcaster, Figure out which combinations of words are the most important, and learn them at the earliest possible level,' Mercenary says.
'There's a set of skills which can be considered the most valuable for inter-player conflict,' Mercenary says.
'Peek and steal are useful, because they allow you to take things from someone's inventory, such as their boat,' Mercenary says.
'There's a bug right now where if you steal someone's boat, they drown,' you say. 'That'll go away, but it can still be a rude surprise to someone to be trapped on land and blind.'
'Sneak is eminently useful: as long as the person your interested doesn't have ridiculously high perception, you can come right up on them and get the first attack,' Mercenary says.
'Hide is useful if you're patient,' Mercenary says. 'If, for instance, someone is after you, you can hide and slowly regenerate HP or hope they get bored.'
'Hide can also be used to ambush people, though you could be standing there for hours - while you're hiding you can't hit return, or you stop hiding,' Mercenary says.
'Hunt is indispensible: it allows you to quickly locate people who you want to kill,' Mercenary says. 'Otherwise finding them is hit or miss.'
Mercenary says, 'Climb, balance, and sustained breath all give you access to rooms few people can enter: good to hide in, or to get someone who thinks they're safe.'
Mercenary says, 'Root and Meditate can save your life, by allowing you to quickly heal if you've been attacked and are only temporarily safe.'
Mercenary says, 'Augment is exceptionally useful for healing, but few people can use it *and* be adequate fighters.'
Mercenary says, 'Finally, the combat skills.'
'As you may have guessed, Dodge is a very useful skill to have,' Mercenary says. 'Even though its power will probably be downgraded, it still equates to free armor.'
'Heabutt and bash are both useful for strength/con fighters,' Mercenary says.
'Headbutt, if successful, can stun your opponent, and will make all of your attacks for that round hit and do double damage,' Mercenary says.
'Bash does a modicum of damage, and also prevents your opponent from fleeing or using skills or spells until they stand,' Mercenary says.
'Both headbutt and bash are dangerous to use: they can make you fall down, in which case YOU can't flee, and take extra damage for sitting,' Mercenary says.
'Kick and warcry are good compromise combat skills,' Mercenary says. 'Kick can do 40 HP of damage, and warcry can paralyze and/or do damage.'
Mercenary says, 'Neither kick nor warcry make you fall if you miss.'
Mercenary says, 'There's some spells you should concentrate on if you're a mage.'
'For defense, magic sink, blinding flash, cure blindness, recall, cure serious, barkskin, and the spells which enhance stats are quite useful,' Mercenary says.
'For offense, stun is a mages best friend, and weaken, clumsy, and idiocy aren't bad,' Mercenary says. 'There's a number of other offensive spells that are worthwhile as well, either for pure offense or as part of a larger strategy.'
'I won't go into those - trade secrets,' Mercenary says.
Mitra smiles sweetly.
'General utility spells include fly/flight, locate person, create homunculus, and doppelganger,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'Now that we've covered basic skills an spells, I'd like to talk about the kinds of characters who wind up getting made with them.'
'I lump pkillers into general categories, based on their focus:' Mercenary says.
'CON fighters: these fellows concentrate on sheer damage, but aren't too effective against a skilled opponent,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'PERC fighters: by using backstab, and nullifying dodge, these fighters can do a great deal of damage.'
'BARDIC fighters: entrancers fall into this category,' Mercenary says. 'I haven't seen them have much luck in pkill.'
'CAUSE mages: Cause magic is probably the single most effective pkill tool,' Mercenary says.
One raises his hand.
'After, One,' Mercenary says.
'Cheyenne is Bardic,' One says.
Mercenary says, 'These are my opinions, and are open to debate after we finish.'
Mercenary says, 'CREATE mages: deadly against anyone except a cause mage.'
Mitra giggles.
'The most powerful pkillers right now are cause mages, but only because the pure fighters aren't doing things quite right,' Mercenary says.
'Before we get into specific pkill strategies, I'd like to make a plug for mud clients,' Mercenary says.
'If you don't have a mud client, such as TinTin, GET ONE,' Mercenary says. 'They make an immeasurable difference.'
Mercenary says, 'Mud clients let you type shorthand for difficult commands, which makes a difference in tight situations or if you get flustered.'
'And everyone gets flustered, at least at first,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'They allow you to set triggers, so that you can, for instance, auto-hunt someone.'
Mercenary says, 'Clients are easy to use, and make a huge difference in your ability to play.'
'I put off using one myself for a half year, and then after I tried it I refuse to play without one,' Mercenary says. 'You should do the same.'
'And fall into the forge in Beowulf,' Mitra says.
Nhoj giggles at Mitra.
Gerry nods his agreement with Mitra.
'And now, on to general pkill and one on one fighting,' Mercenary says.
'Trade Secrets!' One says to Mitra.
One shushes Mitra.
Mitra rolls around on the ground with laughter.
'Before you start a fight, KNOW your opponent,' Mercenary says. 'If they're a mage, you need.'
Mercenary says, 'To know it so you don't do anything they can un-do right away, or so you won't do something that backfires on you.'
Mercenary says, 'If they have barely enough strength to hold their weapon, or barely enough mind to cast their spells, that's a tremendous weakness.'
Mercenary says, 'Make sure you know how far they are from inns and their trans mobs.'
'By initiating combat you get a tremendous advantage: don't squander it,' you say.
'Also have a contingency plan,' Mercenary says. 'Know everything your opponent is capable of,.'
'And assume that miraculously they'll be able to do everything just right,' you say.
Mercenary says, 'If you're prepared, you're less likely to get flustered and killed.'
Mercenary says, 'The two most important elements of pkill are surprise and vision.'
Mercenary says, 'Surprise is important because you can catch your opponent while they are in the wrong configuration, or you can blind them.'
'Vision is important because you can do almost NOTHING if you're blind: you're at the mercy of your opponents,' Mercenary says.
'If you're blind, you get lost easily,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'When you flee, unless you know the area well, you're lost without hope of finding an inn.'
Mercenary says, 'If you can't find an inn, you have to wait for the blindness to wear off unless you're a cause mage.'
'If you're blind, you can't re-equip,' Mercenary says.
'If you're blind, your armor class and some other stats become substantially worse,' Mercenary says.
'If you're blind, you can't initiate attacks,' Mercenary says. 'If someone's kick-and-fleeing against you, you're as good as dead.'
'Cause mages blind a single individual and enrage them,' Mercenary says. 'Create mages blind an entire room with blinding flash.'
'Non-mages can blind using potions or other items,' Mercenary says. 'If you don't know what these items are, ask around.'
'If you're a pkiller, the ability to blind is worth a large rent charge,' you say.
Mercenary says, 'The only defense aginst blindness: know your way around by heart, or be a cause mage.'
'Also, if you're fighting a create mage, you can wait in a score with powerful mobs who can see while blinded,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, '(room with powerful mobs).'
'If the create mage blinding flashes there, they wind up having to fight the powerful mob in addition to Mercenaryrself,' Mercenary says.
'If you're on the attack and have your opponent blinded, take your time,' you say.
Mercenary says, 'If you're a create mage, create mobs and have them take the lumps while you beat on your opponent.'
Mercenary says, 'If you're a cause mage, weaken and clumsy your oppoent at your leisure.'
Mercenary says, 'If you're a straight fighter, use potions or scrolls to do the same.'
Mercenary says, 'Some other strategies that work especially well:'
Mercenary says, 'Mages can stun opponents who have low mind: this gives them automatic hit on a full round's attacks with double damage.'
Mercenary says, 'If a mage tries to stun someone who has mind equal or greater to their own, like as not they stun themself.'
'Fighters, if you're fighting a mage, BASH,' Mercenary says. 'This knocks down your opponent and keeps them from casting spells and using skills.'
'Most mages, for instance, have sacrificed fighting ability and hit points for high mana and mind,' Mercenary says.
Mitra raises an eyebrow inquiringly.
Mitra gives a quick polish to The Oar of Charon. It now shines brightly.
Mercenary says, 'You can beat them in a straight fight.'
Gerry says, 'Ahem.'
Mercenary says, 'If you're fighting a long battle, make sure your enemy is poisoned.'
'Every tick the battle continues you heal some, while they don't,' Mercenary says. 'It makes a difference.'
One gives a quick polish to the simple truth. It now shines brightly.
'We're almost done,' Mercenary says. 'Please keep down on the spams.'
Mercenary says, 'Walls are tremendously useful for high-level create mages.'
'Wall your opponent into a room, then take them apart at your liesure,' you say.
'If you're walled into a place, there's a bug right now that lets you DASH past the wall,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'You can't dash if you're engaged, though, so if you're stuck in a walled area with a superior fighter, you're dead.'
'Going back to clients: they're incredibly useful, but they can also get you killed,' Mercenary says.
'If your opponent is using a client and triggers, figure out what they are and abuse them,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'If they use auto-hunt, make illusions or yell things that will set their triggers off.'
Mercenary says, 'If they have triggers to cast spells on certain occasions, yell them and make them waste mana and ticks.'
Mercenary says, 'One form of pkill that gets neglected a great deal is the group kill.'
Mercenary says, 'As pkillers become more powerful, we're all but assured that groups will be needed to get a kill.'
Mercenary says, 'If you all have clients, you can trigger off of each others actions to decimate an opponent.'
Mercenary says, 'General group hints:'
Mercenary says, 'Again, have your strategy thought out ahead of time.'
'If there is a lynchpin player in the other group, try blinding everyone and then having all your members take that one out,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'So, if you're fighting a group with one cause mage, kill the mage first, even if they're not the real target of the attack.'
'Keep group communications open,' Mercenary says. 'Avoid renting because it will splinter the group.'
'Have a strategy thought out and agreed on for contingencies,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'Use 'group' a lot to see how the rest of your group is doing.'
'Have some agreed on mechanism for instigating different portions of the attack,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'So, we've talked about making a character, choosing their skills and spells, and general attack strategies.'
'What if the tables are turned?' Mercenary says. 'What if YOU'RE the victim of an attack.'
Mercenary says, 'First, don't make yourself an easy target.'
Mercenary says, 'Never go AFK, or if you do, rent, go to a hall, or go to OOC.'
'Don't sit in one place too long,' Mercenary says. 'It makes you too easy a target for someone who notices you there and decides to do something about it.'
'Keep an eye on the innkeepers,' Mercenary says. 'You can 'tell' to them occasionally if you don't have one in sight, just to make sure you can rent if you need to.'
Mercenary says, 'Don't run yourself all the way out of movement, mana, or HP: most pkillers are 'honorable', but a smart pkiller will attack a monster when they're at their weakest.'
Mercenary says, 'By monster, I mean supercharacter.'
'Don't just wander aimlessly,' Mercenary says. 'Keep a good general idea of where you are in relation to the nearest inns.'
'If you're attacked and caught by surprise, DON'T PANIC,' Mercenary says. 'Or rather, DO panic. Flee!'
'One good way to make this happen is to set wimpy to maximum hit points if you're not fighting anything,' Mercenary says.
'Naturally, you should be careful where you wander to if you do this, so you're not next to deathtraps and the like,' Mercenary says.
'Once you get away from your opponent, run like hell,' Mercenary says. 'If they want to kill you, make them work for it.'
'Make sure you have whatever it takes to do the major time trans's on you at all times,' Mercenary says. 'It's worth the hassle to be able to throw an enemy off the scent.'
'As soon as you can, rent out,' Mercenary says. 'If you're badly damaged, don't come back. If you're not, come back and hit the ground running as soon as you rent in.'
Mercenary says, 'Make sure you have a plan before you come back.'
Mercenary says, 'If whoever attacked you went to the trouble to do it right, killing innkeepers and shopkeepers and trans mobs, stay away for a LONG time.'
Mercenary says, 'If someone kills you, and kills you repeatedly when you come back for your stuff, leave it.'
'Take it from me,' Mercenary says. 'Even if it's old equipment, it's better to have the chance to come to power later and MAKE THEM PAY.'
Mercenary says, 'Remember, he who fights and runs away...'
'I guess that's all I have,' Mercenary says. 'Any questions?'
Mercenary says, 'Thanks for your patience.'
'I have a couple comments,' Gerry says.
Nhoj says, 'One question about blinding?'
Mitra giggles at you.
One raises his hand.
'Can i add 2 bits of advice before you do questions?' Charity says.
Mercenary says, 'Charity.'
'(I'd still like to moderate the questions and comments to minimize spam),' you say.
'Ok, 1) to re-emphasize what Merc said... if you know the map of areas backwards and forwards, it will get you out of a lot of jams,' Charity says.
'By that i mean if you are blind you should be able to figure out where you are by how far you can go in a given direction, your space limitations before you run into walls, etc,' Charity says.
'2) 'old' characters that were'nt necessarily designed for pkill can still be very useful in support roles, esp as someone to keep track with 'group' command and triggering your groupmates triggers,' Charity says.
One raises his hand high.
'That's it from me,' Charity says.
'Gerry's next, then one,' Mercenary says.
'Gerry?' Mercenary says.
Gerry says, 'I have a couple things.'
Nhoj raised his hand after gerry
Valad raises his hand.
Mercenary says, 'We'll do more people after gerry and one.'
One thinks we should go in order of who started playing here first.
'First: Headbutt is very dangerous to use in pkill, it usually backfires,' Gerry says. 'I have 100con..and its best to avoid it, imho.'
'Second, I would offer the inverse of what Charity said..' Gerry says.
'Learn an area that is not used much,' Gerry says.
'If you are familiar with an area and your opponent is not, even if you are the chased one, you have the advantage,' Gerry says.
Gerry says, 'Clients are good in that, I have a scripting program that sets a mark at the inns..'
Gerry says, 'If I ever hit #return, it backtracks me all the way to the last inn.'
'Blind or not,' Gerry says.
'Um,' someone says. Someone says, 'That is rather misinformative.'
'Thats all,' Gerry says.
'Let him finish, please,' Mercenary says.
'One?' Mercenary says.
'Misinformative?' Gerry says.
'First, I'm speaking OOC here,' One says.
One says, 'I have several issues to raise.'
Mercenary says, 'I hope so :).'
Xyn stands up.
Xyn returns to being In Character.
'I have been one of the better pkillers here,' One says.
One says, 'And speaking from experience, i completely disagree with most of what merc said about char generation.'
One says, 'It is the player who is behind the char that makes an effective pkiller.'
'If you make a char with inverse stats of what you intend to use, you're a stronger char if you can figure out how to use it to Mercenary advantage,' One says.
One says, 'Also, if you think up some NEW combination of skills and stats, you will be more effective.'
One says, 'Also, on general principals, by having this talk to tell everyone interested how to better pkill, or make better players, the game becomes less interesting.'
One says, 'You delineate what you can and cannot do into categories.'
'I had a lot of fun making new categories of character and playing htem effectively,' One says.
One says, 'Now this is a mud that is working its way to being a multiclass diku type system.'
'Mage/fighter/druid/bard/surgeon,' One says.
'The gods are doing that with skill trees going in anyway (excuse the interruption),' Gerry says.
One says, 'The best players are ones who are able to make unusual compromized between skills, and stats.'
One says to Gerry, 'You don't understand skill trees then.'
Gerry will wait for One to finish.
One says, 'I guess what i'm trying to say is that, merc called effective pkillers 'monster's in his speech.'
One says, 'He's also telling us how to become monsters.'
One says, 'I would rather not play a game populated by monsters.'
'Your turn,' One says to Nhoj.
Nhoj smiles happily.
Mercenary says, 'Thanks One.'
'Um, two things...' Nhoj says.
'One, i was never clear on whether you could do fight skills while blind because i can cure blind... and second..' Nhoj says.
'Um... actually, i don't remember the second...*ponder*,' Nhoj says.
Nhoj bonks himself on the head and looks sheepish.
Gerry comforts Nhoj.
Mercenary says, 'Many fight skills allow you to default to the person you're fighting.'
Nhoj blushes bright red.
Mercenary says, 'If they've fled, you can't use your special attack.'
Mitra whispers test'em!
One says, 'Yes you can.'
One chuckles politely.
'If you're curently engaged, you can just type 'headbutt' and it works,' you say.
'Thanks... i'll pass on the second question until i remember,' Nhoj says.
''course I'm not going to say how,' One says.
Kheldar raises his hand.
Mercenary says, 'Valad?'
'You can also type one headbutt and then a zillion ! in a row until you get them,' Charity says.
One chuckles politely at Charity's feeble witticism.
Nhoj giggles.
One pups his own link!
'Er pops,' One says.
Valad says, 'What about people without clients.'
Gerry says, 'Get one.'
Mitra nudges Valad.
'A client is a tool,' Mercenary says.
'That was my question!!!' Nhoj says.
Someone says, 'Sylia didn't use one.'
Nhoj jumps in the air and slams a thunderous high-5 with Valad!
'You don't need a client to type !' Charity says.
One says to Valad, 'Get a T1 and type fast.'
'It can help you, but there are excellent pkillers who have no client as well,' Mercenary says.
'So I don't want to hear you have to have one,' someone says.
'What is !?' Tad says.
Tad says, 'What is !?'
'Read help abbreviations,' someone says to Tad.
'!' Gerry says. 'Repeats commands.'
'Any other questions, valad?' Mercenary says.
Valad shakes his head.
'Kiera has a term program that runs multiple scripts,' One says. 'It emulates a client.'
Mercenary says, 'Anyone else have comments?'
Nhoj is computer illiterate :(
Mitra raises her hand to speak whenever everyone else in line has spoken.
'One, in group combat it would be very useful to have a surgeon, 2) having calm/recall potions are important, I think also,' Kheldar says.
Nhoj jumps in the air and slams a thunderous high-5 with Valad!
'Mitra?' Mercenary says.
One laughs at Mitra.
Nhoj returns to being In Character.
Mitra says, 'I would like to say that a mage needn't sacrifice hp.'
Gerry has another quick comment.
Mitra reports: 271/286 hp 103/480 mana 361/386 mv.
Gerry reports: 123/407 hp 121/357 mana 439/484 mv.
Gerry is a mage.
Mitra says, 'I had 100 mind before level 10.'
Mercenary says, 'Gerry is what I affectionately refer to as a monster.'
'A supercharacter,' Mercenary says.
One says to Gerry, 'You're not clanned now, are you?'
'I'm *almost* a monster,' Mercenary says.
Gerry says, 'No I'm not.'
Mitra says, 'I am a con fighter.'
Gerry says, 'I'm a con fighter.'
Mitra says, 'Maybe someday I'll be a dex fighter too.'
'I levelled from 5-48 in a day, am i a monster?' One says.
Mitra says to Gerry, 'I was first tho.'
One peers at himself myopically.
Gerry nods his agreement with Mitra.
Mercenary says, ''report' One :).'
One brandishes a simple plastic kazoo menacingly.
Tad wonders if he's the only strength fighter in existance.
One reports: 317/317 hp 403/403 mana 360/360 mv.
Ecstasy raises a hand.
Mercenary says, 'No.'
One says to Mercenary, 'You don't need hps to do well.'
'Ecstasy?' Mercenary says.
Gerry says, 'Ecs is a monster too.'
Rufus nods his agreement with One.
'Str fighters can be good,' Mitra says to Tad.
Gerry says, 'Look at Ecs' mana.'
One says, 'Pandora is a bigger monster.'
'After skill trees go in, you can go to bashing,' Mitra says to Tad.
Gerry nods solemnly.
'So what is the ethics on character generation,' Ecstasy says.
'That's up to individuals,' Mercenary says.
'There are no hard rules,' Mercenary says.
Rufus says to Mercenary, 'Can I answer that.'
'Having a superchar /monster is fun but you lose out somewhat on general gameplay,' Ecstasy says.
Mitra says, 'Basically be real.'
'Let's hear from our resident immort :),' Mercenary says.
Mercenary points at Rufus.
'If you play a created char, i can guarantee you'll be bored to hell fast,' One says.
Rufus says to Ecstasy, 'There are two aspects you need take in to consideration when generating characters: 1) they are a function of the game, and 2) they are a function of of the society on legend.'
'Specially if she doens't get what she wants!' Mitra says to One.
Rufus says to Ecstasy, 'If you want to "play against the programmer" per se, you really need to "build" your character to do so... if you are in it for the social aspect, don't worry about it, but do the best you can.'
Gerry says, 'I have a quick comment about pkill strategy whenever I can get it in..'
Rufus shrugs helplessly.
Rufus says, 'I'm done.'
Charity thought of another one too.
'Gerry?' Mercenary says.
Gerry says, 'If you are attacked by a group..'
Gerry says, 'Well, lets make it the other way..'
Gerry says, 'If you're attacking someone..'
'I have a comment I'm going to steal from Merc,' One says.
'And they're in a group...' Gerry says.
Gerry says, 'You don't need to fight all of them.'
Gerry says, 'Augustus recently attacked a 5 person group.'
Gerry says, 'And was very successful.'
'He recalled the 4 other members,' Gerry says.
Mercenary hadn't thought of that one.
Gerry says, 'If you see this happening, get out..'
Gerry says, 'Its rough.'
'By the same token..' Gerry says.
Gerry says, 'You can use that in the inverse.'
'I saw him trigger it..' Gerry says.
'So that whenever 'has arrived from the' was displayed to his screen it chant meue dyn ex ,' Gerry says.
Gerry says, 'He was left alone to fight his subject.'
'It's very effective,' Gerry says.
'Mercenary just shot a tell at me " even an idiot with 500 hps 500 mana 500 mv " can be dangerous,' One says. 'I would suggest NOT creating one, even if you are the one created.'
Gerry says, 'Make sure to hit first and hit hard.'
One says, 'A mud populated by idiot monsters would be a bad thing.'
Mitra giggles.
Gerry says, 'Weak people who hit first win lots.'
Mitra nods her agreement with One.
'I'm done,' Gerry says.
''til I think of something else,' Gerry says.
'Charity had a comment?' Mercenary says.
'Much more fun to have smart people like me who don't hit a lot but try to deduce everyone,' Mitra says.
Mitra giggles.
Charity says, 'Two other group ideas.'
'Seduce,' Mitra says.
Mitra giggles.
'Hp/mana doesn't matter as much as your actual fighting ststs,' Ecstasy says.
'A good-aligned char with an amethyst is the best tank around - and i don't care how many hps they started with,' Charity says.
Charity says, 'Also.'
Tad says, 'Whats an amethyst?'
Gerry thinks a char with 100hp with an amethyst ring is fairly useless.
'A pretty purple stone,' someone says to Tad.
Mitra says to Tad, 'A pretty ring that girls like.'
Charity says, 'If you have lots of fighter types, let the tank take damage, and have a DIFFERENT fighter headbutt and bash... that way if they miss they're not taking extra damange, cause they're not the tank.'
Tad giggles.
Mercenary says, 'Please hold on, let charity finish.'
Gerry nods his agreement with Charity.
Charity says, 'That assumes a group against one nasty person who you've decided deserves to be ganged up on.'
Charity chuckles politely.
Gerry says, 'Oh, I have another comment.'
One says, 'It would be better that people discover these strategies themselves so they KNOW how to use them, and so that the IDIOTS don't.'
An aura of heavenly light appears above One's head.
'OK, we'll wrap up with Gerry's comment,' Mercenary says.
'They're idiots in part because they've never been exposed to these kind of ideas,' Charity says to One.
'If you're fighting 3 people with a group of 3,' Gerry says. 'Its better to all kill one person at a time than do half damage to all 3 of them.'
Gerry says, 'Eliminating people who hurt at the start is of paramount importance.'
'I don't have any other comments,' Gerry says.
'Thank you everyone, for coming,' Mercenary says.
Mercenary says, 'And thanks to One for the alternative perspective.'
'Good talk, even if i disagree on general principals,' One says to Mercenary.