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The Zealot
Joined: 07 Sep 2005
Posts: 124
Location: London
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 Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 1:56 pm Post subject: A few questions about the game |
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I'm fairly new to the realms, having only been playing for about a month. Even so, I'm really enjoying my time here but there are a few things that are confusing me.
1) What's a condeath? - Having read the forums, I don't quite understand what this particuar tag signifies.
2) What height are elves in AR? This sounds like a really stupid question, but I'm having troubled writing a physical description for a character. Are they tall, Tolkeinesque elves, or the small frail ones from D&D?
3) Why are there never any illithids around? In my (albeit brief) time here, the only illithid I saw was another newbie, and that was only one time. Is it because of the vulnerability to slashing weapons? Do they get any compensation for this in the form of higher resistance to blunt or piercing? If not, why are they left in, when they are so obviously unbalanced?
If anyone could help me, I'd be most grateful.
Oh, and one more thing: What's meant by Niche/Niche trash and so on? |
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E-ant
Joined: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 434
Location: Estonia
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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* Condeath is your final death(You have a total of 61 lives)
* Elves are generally tall not santa style
* Illithids can only be illusionists and thats not a popular class right now. They are by no means gimps because of slash vuln. |
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marsd
Joined: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 832
Location: Magewares
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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Niche -> A rank where a race/class can best take advantage of his PK range. AR's PK range should best be explained by an Imm or someone in that line of field, but I'll give an example:
Level 37 necromancers can be able to kill level 31-3 almost anything except humans. That's one of the niche levels for necromancers. That insane advantage.... 5 levels at least would pwn anyone in that necromancer's pk range. |
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Sebryn
Joined: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 1185
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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They've pretty much covered it; I just wanted to flesh out some explanations with a bit more detail.
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| What's a condeath? |
As E-ant said, it's your "final death." Your character has 61 lives to begin with, and each time you die this number obviously gets smaller. Also, every five deaths will result in your losing one point of CON (constitution) which will affect all sorts of things (hp regeneration, for example).
Assuming you're not keeping a "death counter" for your character, you can read the 'condition' in your score (condition = "con"death... go figure). This will worsen as you die more and more often, ranging from 'You are in the prime of your health' to 'The next death will send you beyond the Abyss.' They're generally more graphic in describing how badly beat to hell your character is, based on the number of deaths you've attained.
Read the helpfile on 'conquest' if you're interested; that's an opportunity to do some task (or tasks) for the immortals in an attempt to gain more lives, should your character be viewed worthy. They're not given out often, so take a good hard look before trying to apply for one.
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| What height are elves in AR? |
I think it's pretty much generally accepted that they're tall in AR's scope of 'how things are,' though I'm sure someone could RP a "runt" and describe a shorter one if they wanted.
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| Why are there never any illithids around? |
Only allowed class: illusionists (difficult class for new players to play effectively).
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| Is it because of the vulnerability to slashing weapons? |
No, I think it has more to do with the high maintenance/upkeep associated with the illusionist class.
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| Do they get any compensation for this in the form of higher resistance to blunt or piercing? |
Well, they get 'cone' and 'leech' (race-specific skills); apparently they have resistance to blunt damage types as well.
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| If not, why are they left in, when they are so obviously unbalanced? |
Every other race has its share of balance between vulnerabilities and resistances. Illithids just have to deal with theirs as well. Obviously you've never seen a group-gating illusionist with a full accompaniment of hasted/enlarged rank-50 illusions tearing someone a new a-hole.
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| What's meant by Niche/Niche trash and so on? |
Marsd pretty much summed that up. When people sit at an advantageous rank due to their skills/spells in relation to others' skills/spells at that rank and attempt to go on a 'pk-fest,' that's usually considered "niche pk."
Your PK range is determined by your relative experience total compared to others. A race/class combo with high experience penalties (those numbers you see when creating a new character next to 'race' and 'class') has to grind through a lot more ranking to get to a specific rank (say mid-30s) than one with low XP penalties. When that happens, you've got a high-penalty race/class character who has the same amount of "total experience" as someone of a higher rank.
Luckily for the victims of niche PKers, it's now been changed so that PKs don't count on a person's record (for when they delete/condie, etc.) unless both they and the victim are at rank 36+ (I think I've got that right). Meanwhile, ANY PK death still remains, so it's a bit more risky for the old PK niche trashers to attempt to pad their respective records, with nothing to gain and a permanent death to lose.
Last edited by Sebryn on Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:08 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bucky
Joined: 20 Jan 2004
Posts: 25
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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| illithids have resistances to bash.. or atleast they did back in the day |
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E-ant
Joined: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 434
Location: Estonia
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Illithids are resistant to blunt attacks and probably have the best mage hp/mana combo you can possibly get. |
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Baer
 
Joined: 22 Jan 2004
Posts: 618
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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Illithids are also immune to lightening type attacks, as I recall...
I could be wrong. |
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The Zealot
Joined: 07 Sep 2005
Posts: 124
Location: London
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| Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 2:43 pm Post subject: |
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One more question:
Does the basic physical attack of an illithid ever improve (I.e. without items) or does it stay at 3 hitroll, 3 damroll?
Thanks. |
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divsky
Emissary
Joined: 13 Mar 2004
Posts: 1054
Location: Iowa City, IA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 2:46 pm Post subject: |
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Illithids are my second favorite race, just behind humans.
If you could have an illithid necro, I'd make one.
However, an illithid illusionist is by far the worst choice you could make for a new player. |
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Hamp
Joined: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 212
Location: New York, USA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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| An elf can be any height you wish as long as you roleplay it that way. Doesn't have to fit in just because that's the standard. Wouldn't mind seeing a two foot tall elf. |
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Davairus
Implementor
Joined: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 10368
Location: 0x0000
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| Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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| The Zealot wrote: |
One more question:
Does the basic physical attack of an illithid ever improve (I.e. without items) or does it stay at 3 hitroll, 3 damroll?
Thanks. |
That hit/dam is based off dex/strength but the damage of the hand to hand skill is level based - the higher the better. It wont go up diddly until you practice hand to hand. |
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The Zealot
Joined: 07 Sep 2005
Posts: 124
Location: London
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| Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 1:04 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the help everyone.
And you're probably right, Divsky. I'm beginning to realise that there's far too much I don't know about the game to effectively play an Illithid Illusionist, but I suppose it will serve as a baptism of fire.
I'm quite fond of the character now, and I imagine getting righteously smacked down by everyone for miles around will be an accelerated learning experience.
Admittedly the only thing it's likely to teach me is not be such a damn fool next time, and play a newbie-friendly race and class.
*sigh*. |
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divsky
Emissary
Joined: 13 Mar 2004
Posts: 1054
Location: Iowa City, IA
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| Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 1:20 pm Post subject: |
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| I'd do a Half-elf warrior. They're uber-leet now |
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Louis
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 823
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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| good attitude, The Zealot. But you say it like how it really is. You'll get better.. |
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The Zealot
Joined: 07 Sep 2005
Posts: 124
Location: London
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Sebryn wrote: |
Obviously you've never seen a group-gating illusionist with a full accompaniment of hasted/enlarged rank-50 illusions tearing someone a new a-hole.
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The illusions (as I understand it: Phantasmal Griffon, Illusionary spectre, Phantom Dragon...or something similar), can they be cast before a fight, in the manner of a necromancer's golems? Or do they just work within a fight, and disperse upon fleeing or death?
I realise they can disappear if the victim makes an intelligence saving throw, but is there anyway to prepare these illusions before a fight, or must the illusionist just cast frantically when attacking?
Thanks for the help. |
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Sebryn
Joined: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 1185
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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Those illusions are spells that can only be cast once combat has begun. They're pretty convenient to use while fighting mobs (where you're going to be sitting there for several rounds, as opposed to a pk situation where you'll probably have to flee), but they can't be "prepared."
The illusions I was referring to are the 'duplicated' ones. |
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