LegendMUD Newbie Guide Chapter Two: Your Character

"Much to my horror, when I looked at myself in the mirror, there was nothing there I recognized.... I was changed, changed! My clothing was foreign, the very tone of my skin had altered, and even worse--I was not the gender to which I had been born...!"

An English anatomical illustration from the late 13th century

Your choice of hometown will greatly affect the sort of abilities you have and the sort of career you can plan for yourself in the game. Generally speaking, ancient and legendary areas have more of a magical flavor and more talents (legendary more so), and areas where the people lived close to nature would be likely to produce good healers. People born in industrial times would be best suited to the use of technologically advanced weapons and healing skills. More hometown choices will be added as new areas are created.

ANCIENT ARABIA is a complex land of wonder, mystery and enchantment. Mages of great renown have studied here for centuries. Warriors and explorers who follow in the footsteps of Sinbad have been bred and trained in their time-honed skills there. Those from here who choose to devote themselves to music and oration have been able to achieve some stature amongst their peers, but they still fall short of the true masters in their skills. It should be also noted that many thieves populate the streets. One should be sure to hold one's possessions closely to avoid the nimble fingers of a nearby footpad. Technology has yet to develop in this era; swords and daggers still prove to be the weapons of choice for most Arabians. Although some herbs are imported to some of the shops of Agrabah, the locals have never attained the knack of herbal-type skills.

CELTIC IRELAND is a verdant land, home to master druids, enchanted creatures, and legendary warriors. A wide variety of herbs can be obtained in the area, and many of Ireland's inhabitants have the potential to become expert herbalists. Many a fine balladeer and poet have hailed from the Emerald Isle, yet they still have not attained the full skills reserved for master bards. Thieves of some note have made their start here, generally multi-talented as many from here are. Mages, although not as expert as those from Arabia, can become quite skilled if they apply themselves to their studies. Slow to embrace change, technical skills are unknown here. The mighty warriors from here rely on their brute force, fighting skills and enchanted blades in their epic battles with foes.

KLEINSTADT, in medieval Germany, is a busy hamlet and a mecca for those of knightly character. Warriors hailing from here are capable of learning how to repair their heavy weapons and armor, in addition to acquiring basic fighting skills. While not as expert in magic as those from Arabia, mages from Klein are capable of learning a great deal of the art. Mages from here may want to consider making their stay short and explore the world to better further their studies. Poets and composers of note are from here, but certainly not considered experts of their skills. Herbal skills are virtually unknown here along with skills of a technical nature.

VICEROYAL LIMA is home to many expert orators, poets and musicians and doctors. Although provincial, Limans have learned the use of basic guns in addition to the traditional warrior skills. Skilled herbalists come from here as well, although not quite the masters as those from Ancient Ireland. Thieves find Lima as welcome as any place in which to live, with a good cross-section of skills available to them. Mages from here are only capable of the most rudimentary spells.

PORT OF LONDON 1841 is crowded and exciting. Many expert marksmen, doctors, orators and musicians make this place their home. Several notable warriors and thieves have also started here, although the number from here is not as large as those from Ireland or Germany. Mages are non-existent here, nor are druids and herbalists.

All attributes (stats) are based on a percentile system -- the highest value you can roll when your character is created is a 50, and the lowest is a 16. Your roll will be placed in the precedence you select. Below are brief descriptions of each stat. You will not be able to see these listed when you type SCORE until your character is level 10. However, they will fluctuate with some quests and equipment and will always affect what you can learn, use, do for the entire career of your character.

STRENGTH is your brute strength. It affects how hard you hit, how much you can carry, and how heavy a weapon you can wield.

MIND is your mental ability. It enables you to learn complex abilities such as spellcasting, and is also a secondary requirement for many skills that require a degree of intelligence to use.

DEXTERITY is your physical agility. This affects how quickly and efficiently you can move around, and how well you can perform skills requiring coordination.

CONSTITUTION is your overall physical condition. It determines how quickly you heal, and how well you are able to perform skills that require whole-body effort, such as weapons proficiencies.

PERCEPTION is your ability to notice things around you. This determines whether you would see a backstabber coming, or notice hidden exits and also affects your ability to perform your skills when you are in eras other than the one in which you were born.

SPIRIT is your personal spirituality. It controls the degree to which you are in harmony with the world around you, hence controls many healing abilities. Spiritual people with good or evil alignments have somewhat different skills at their disposal.

When you type the SCORE command, you'll get something back like this:

You are Whitley the Newbie, level 1, 17 years old (0 hours)
HP: [20/20] Mana: [100/100] Movement: [100/100]
Experience: [0] Gold: [500] Experience to level: [750]
Alignment: [0] Items carried: [5] Weight carried: [8 kg]
You have 4 practices.
Wimpy set to 5 hit points.
You are standing.

The first line gives your name, your title (which you can change at any time by typing TITLE new title), current level, and age and how many hours you have played.

The second line gives your Hit Points(HP) or health. Current/Maximum as well as Mana(MA) or spell points and movement(MV).

The next line shows how much experience you've acquired, how much gold you have in hand, and how much experience you need to reach the next level.

After that comes Alignment which is on a -1000 to 1000 scale, with -1000 to -350 being evil, -350 to 350 being neutral, and 350 to 1000 being good. Alignment affects how others treat your character and limits your use of some equipment and skills and spells. Alignment is followed by the number of items you are carrying, and the weight of those items.

The next line tells how many practice sessions you have. You start the game with 4 and gain one for every level (See HELP PRACTICE for info on learning skills). Each skill you learn costs one practice session. Some spell words cost two.

Wimpy is the point at which you will automatically attempt to flee if your hit points fall below that point. You can change the point at which you will automatically flee by typing WIMPY #.

The last line is simply your current position.

EXPERIENCE AND LEVEL
Your level is a general overall ranking in the game. You advance in levels by gaining in experience earned by killing NPCs or perhaps other players if you are PLAYERKILL enabled, doing quests and exploring. You gain a new level by reaching the set minimum experience points required for that level. Your 'Experience to level' is calculated by subtracting your total xp from that needed for the next level. When you die on LegendMUD you lose experience and prestige. Some ways of dying are more costly in terms of experience than others.. You will not lose levels, or permanent stat points by dying. You may lose stat points because you are no longer wearing the same equipment, however.

ARMOR CLASS RATING
Armor class is reported in your score from level 6 on. The range is between -100/10 and 100/10. To get your true armor class, just divide those numbers. So 80/10 would be Armor Class 8. The lower your AC is the better protected you are, meaning a -10 Armor Class is the absolute best protection you can have. AC is affected by items you wear, some spells you can cast, and also your dexterity.

OTHER CHARACTERISTICS
In addition to the six attributes you pick when you create a character and become visible in score at level 10, everyone also has PRESTIGE, +HITROLL and +DAMROLL associated with their character.

PRESTIGE is a bit different as it begins at zero and can reach a maximum of 100 during your character's career. Prestige is an indication of your character's ability at what they have chosen to pursue. You gain prestige by leveling, completing certain quests, wearing certain items, or killing something with a higher prestige than you have. You can lose it by dying, fleeing or performing the wrong tasks in certain quests. It affects the amount of equipment you can rent and also some skills you can learn.

The modifiers +HITROLL and +DAMROLL affect your attacks. The higher they are the better you will hit your opponent and the harder you will hit your opponent. You don't get to see these when you type score until level 15.

A NOTE ABOUT EQ AND CHANGING STATS
When you first wear a piece of equipment, your body's attributes will not immediately adjust to your new abilities and qualities. They will change over time, with the progress viewable with the 'attributes' command. Attributes will show your naked, unequipped stats, your current condition, and where you will be after all of your equipment has taken effect. While you are under level 10, the attributes command will not give you numbers, it will only say whether that particular stat is steady or in flux.