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You
will have 6 skills to choose from,
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each
having its own benefits and difficulty
(or lack there of) for
completion.
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They
are each listed here by order of
difficulty:
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WAR
CRY
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TACKLE
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DISARM
WEAPON
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BERSERK
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BATTER
BARRIERS
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WARRIOR
TRICKS
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To
Start
When
you first arrive in the Guild, you will have to
choose a skill to work in. You can pick ANY
skill you like, provided you have enough
available RANKS to do so. You get (4) Ranks to
use for training, for every level of experience
you have achieved. Thus if you're 15th level,
you will have a total of 60 ranks available to
you for training. You are allowed (1) free train
in every skill, which you MUST use, before you
can focus on any single Skill. When you DO
choose a skill for pursuit, you will have to ask
Mistress Klidel the Taskmaster, for an
assignment. Each Rank you attempt will require a
total of 100 points to complete. Each assignment
you complete will have a certain number of
repetitious tasks, or REPS that will each count
towards the completion of Klidel's assignment.
When the Assignment is completed, you will be
rewarded with points based on how long it took
you to complete, and where you completed them.
Your assignments can have tasks that range from
simple chores and jobs about the Fortress
compound to lessons from your elders or even the
Guild's Master Instructors.
The
most difficult jobs to complete involve Field
Reps. Field Reps will require you to go out into
the Lands and practice the Skill you are
attempting to gain a Rank in on a suitable
creature. You can ONLY gain a successful REP
from a creature that is up to 10 years younger
then you, and the younger a creature is that you
gained your REPS from, the less points Klidel is
likely to award you with when you return to her.
When you have achieved 100 points you will be
told to find a Master for a Promotion. Try to
have actual players provide you with a promotion
rather then going to Guild Master Bertrandt.
Also try to spread out your promotions rather
then always giving them to the same person
(unless they be family), as your promoter gets
experience as well. Try to spread the
wealth.
Here
is how I recommend you train:
(10)
RANKS IN BATTER BARRIERS
(63)
RANKS IN WARCRY
(63)
RANKS IN TACKLE
(63)
BERSERK
(53)
MORE RANKS IN BATTER BARRIERS
After
you have completed the above, the remaining are
basically personal choice, as each has unique
abilities and offer opportunities for
Role-Playing. I personally don't feel DISARM to
be a worthy skill, as Ambush will allow you to
do essentially the same thing, and is MUCH more
devastating in effect. Warrior Tricks would be
my next choice, saving Disarm for
last.
Many
Warriors make the common mistake of training in
an easy skill first, to satisfy the urge to
become a Master. Unfortunately the older you
are, the more difficult & frustratingly time
consuming it becomes to complete ranks in the
more difficult Skills. Thus, if you blow all
your ranks on Warrior Tricks, the simplest of
all the skills, you will end up facing Legend
level monsters by the time you get around to
Reps for Skills like Warcry or
Tackle.
BATTER
BARRIERS
Batter
Barriers is the skill that will allow you to
bash open the Graveyard gate so you can hunt
undead easier, or smash open fused, lock-less,
or just plain disarmed treasure boxes. You don't
need a lot of ranks for it to work, though the
better you are, the less likely you are to break
its delicate contents. Note that you WILL have
to put the box on the ground to bash it, so make
sure your bashing in an area where no-one is
going to walk by and pick it up while your
working. Keep in mind not to be so isolated that
if it DOES have a trap you didn't know about and
you blow yer dumb arse up, no one can come to
your aid. This is where your Disarm Trap
training will finally get some use. Batter
Barriers will also allow you to bash boxes
without putting them down as you achieve higher
Ranks by using your own head instead of a
weapon. Having a thick skull is starting to pay
off no?
WAR
CRY
Follow
this schedule and you can Master Warcry by your
19th year of training. There are 6 Warcries,
each with a specific ability or
effect.
Bertrandt's
Bellow
Startles the target enough to lose initiative
for several seconds, allowing you to attack
1st
Yertie's
Yowlp*
Grants a small boost to your hunting party's AS
for a limited time
Gerrelle's
Growl
Enrages the target, forcing them into Full
Offensive stance
Seanette's
Shout*
Grants a medium boost to your hunting party's AS
for a slightly longer period
Carn's
Cry
Will frighten the target so badly they will be
frozen in terror or forced to flee
Horland's
Holler* Grants
a large boost to your hunting party's AS for
several minutes
*
Must be in a hunting party to work, will not
work if alone
Warcries
are the hardest Skill you will ever face. The
ONLY saving grace about pursuing Warcries is
that your Offensive or Defensive Stance is
irrelevant. They can be done in Full Defensive
at no penalty. Instead a random number is
generated to determine a successful ATTEMPT. If
the attempt fails, you will make some kind of
disappointing sound, and will need to try again.
Each failure will slowly drain your voice until
you will have no choice but to rest. Patience is
not only important to your success, but to your
sanity as well. This is why Warcry is the MOST
difficult of all Skills to Master, and should be
eliminated early in your career. The more
difficult the type of Cry you are attempting,
the less chances you have to attempt it. In the
Final stages, you will only get 4 or 5 tries at
a time, and can actually spend an entire day or
more on a single Job (some Jobs will have as
many as 20 Reps to complete, YOW!).
Should
your random number indicate a successful
attempt, ANOTHER random roll is made to see if
you overcome the creatures Warding. If the
number is high enough, adjusted by the CS
(Casting Strength) of your Warcry, to overcome
the targets Warding then you will achieve the
desired result and you will receive a Rep. If
not then the creature will basically be
unaffected and you will have to try
again.
The
problem with waiting on this skill is that as
you age, the creatures you must face to achieve
a successful Rep become steadily more powerful
and capable of warding against your fledgling
skills. Also, you cannot Warcry the undead. Do
yourself a favor and get it over with as quickly
as possible. I know MANY Legends who did not
have the patience to see Warcry thru when they
were younger, and moved on to easier Skills. Now
they have run out of easy skills to work on, and
have been forced to re-attempt the tuffies, only
to find getting Reps a living
nightmare.
TACKLE
Tackle
is a Maneuver based Skill, and is HEAVILY
affected by both the armor YOU are wearing as
well as your intended targets. I believe good
Combat Maneuver training will help you, as will
Dexterity and Reflexes. Tackling will allow you
to drop someone to the ground, and if done
properly, will leave you standing and your
target prone and stunned for several seconds.
Tackle can also do additional damage to your
target when they get 'Hammered' to the ground.
While a target is prone it suffers a -50 to its
AS and DS, giving you ample time and opportunity
to hack them up into bite sized bits. Wearing
light armors will greatly aid your quest for
Reps, as will your targets wearing heavier
armor. Just remember to avoid areas that swarm
with critters, as a failure will leave you prone
and defenseless for several seconds.
Practice
Reps are aided when done with a partner in the
Guild by your partner wearing Heavy Training
Plate which the Guild sells quite cheaply at the
Pavilion in the SW corner of the Fortress
grounds. Take your armor off, and have at it,
just watch for accumulated damage, as you
probably don't want to kill your
partner.
BERSERK
This
skill forces you into a bloodlust-induced rage
that will grant you a short period of increased
AS, as well as a reduced RT. You will continue
till every living creature (Player Characters
not included) is dead, or the period of effect
has worn off. If a critter runs or flees, you
will chase it down until it has been
slaughtered, or till your rage has passed. This
Skill is enjoyable mostly for its RP potential,
as it will reveal the TRUE potential a Warrior
possesses. As an efficient, monstrous, killing
machine you will truly shine while using this
skill, though it does come with a cost. After
the effect passes, it will leave you exhausted,
leaving you unable to effectively attack or
defend yourself for several minutes. The
exhaustion results in a significant hit to both
your AS and DS. Many Warriors like it as a 'Gag'
attack, using it empty handed to pummel the
living SNOT out of someone or
something.
The
gods are still tinkering with this Skill, and
when it is fully implemented, will allow you to
shake off stuns, webs, hold & silence
spells, or leap to your feet if knocked to the
ground. Berserk will be truly devastating if
this happens, and will make Warriors one of the
most powerful forces in the Lands.
WARRIOR
TRICKS
This
is the simplest and easiest Skill the Guild has
to offer, and the least rewarding. Though some
of its tricks will afford you SOME offensive or
attack advantage, a Warrior has other inherent
and trained skills, which do the same thing much
more efficiently. Warrior Tricks is basically an
RP specific Skill. The ONLY possible exception
is Spitting. A Trick as disgusting as it is
worthless, has been surrounded by persistent
rumors to be a candidate for replacement by a
Shield Bash Skill, which would possibly be
similar to both Batter Barriers and
Tackle.
Warrior
Tricks, when trained sufficiently, DOES allow
you to adjust your stance to a greater degree
then possible for other classes, allowing you
greater control over your defensive and
offensive capabilities. It will also allow you
to assess your opponents skill and power in
comparison to your own (a nice thing when
considering slapping some loud-mouthed lout
upside the head 'cause he or she is pushing all
your buttons).
Up
until a few years ago, this skill was HEAVILY
pursued for reasons of simple greed. A Master in
this skill can make a Custom Sheath if they
supply the proper materials. The Sheaths, though
woefully limited in what they can hold and where
they may be worn, can be made to look like just
about anything. Warriors would make sheaths to
order, at an unreal price, for anyone willing to
pay. Unfortunately, many WERE willing to pay,
and did so, DEARLY. Thankfully, most of the
Warriors who learned this skill for that purpose
have been properly rewarded with the difficulty
they faced in pursuing other Skills.
DISARM
This
skill's advantages and effects are more easily
and efficiently applied thru the Core Skill
Ambush and Combat Maneuvers. Disarm allows you
to knock the weapon from your opponents hands,
provided they actually use one. If successful,
it will also force the target to lose initiative
for several seconds, allowing you to attack
them. There are 3 drawbacks however. If you fail
you get a nice RT in which the critter gets a
free swing. If you succeed the critter can
always pick the weapon back up (provided you
have been unable to dispatch it with due speed).
Finally, most critters of any age this would
help you with, also cast spells, and couldn't
care less if they have lost their weapon. I
would much rather lop of the offending arm or
limb, or better yet, the critter's
head.
This
Skill has a dark splotch on its history, as many
truly foul individuals used it to steal weapons
from folks who were otherwise unprepared for the
situation.
A
LITTLE ADVICE ON CHASING REPS
On
your quest for Reps in various Skills, you will
find that different critters will have different
vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Just because you
are working on the absolute YOUNGEST creature in
the lands you can get a successful Rep from,
doesn't mean it has the WEAKEST defenses against
your attempts. If you're having a LOT of
difficulty, and are seeing that you have a VERY
small window for success, try another critter. I
actually found that 21 year old Arachne Servants
at the Spider Temple to be MUCH harder to warcry
then the 22 year old Trolls in Stone Valley
(just watch out for those Quakes
[grins]). Remember that the keys to a
successful Warrior are persistence and
adaptability.
It
is important to remember that Rep quests are
VERY time consuming, frustrating, and just plain
boring. If you need a break, then by all means
DO SO. You don't want to suffer burn-out. Go
hunt, chat with pals about Helga and the color
she dyed her back hair. ANYTHING. When you feel
up to it, try again. Just make sure you complete
ALL the Ranks available to you for THAT
particular level, before going to the Inn and
training, as the available critter age will go
up 1 year and you may have to look elsewhere for
a new Rep supply. You will be glad you didn't
quit when it's all over with.
SKILL
MASTERS AND GUILD MASTERS
Mastering
When
you have achieved 63 Ranks in any particular
skill, you become a MASTER in that Skill. You
can no longer train in it, and the only way your
abilities IN that Skill will improve, is with
Training and Age. I know several VERY old
individuals who, though have less training in
many of the Skills I have worked on, are
actually just as strong if not MORE so simply by
fact of their age. Many folks will be in need of
instruction for Skills by their fellow Warriors.
Any Warrior with equal or greater ability in the
skill the individual is training in can instruct
that individual. The individual will receive (1)
Rep for each successful attempt. Attempts for
Reps w/ an Instructor (or Master Instructor,
such as Olaff) are FAR easier then any Field
Rep, and generally go by very quickly. However,
if the Instructor is a Master in the skill, you
will receive (2) Reps for every successful
attempt! Master Instructors tend to be a heavily
sought after commodity. You can Master a Skill
by your 19th training if your are prudent in
your selections.
Guild
Mastering
When
you have Mastered a Skill, and have acquired a
TOTAL of 120 Ranks, you become eligible for A
Guild Mastership. Though the process of becoming
a Guildmaster is involved and often difficult to
pull together, it will allow you to not only
instruct individuals, but to Promote them as
well. You will receive the same amount of
experience (200) and fame (500) for a promotion
that the individual getting promoted gets. The
only problem with promotions is that some
individuals lurk about like vultures and do
nothing but chase promotions rather then hunt or
adventure. Try not to be a hog. You cannot
achieve a Guild Mastership until your 36th year
of training.
NOW
bACK TO THE hUNT!
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