Urak: Adventure and Magic - The LOM MMORPG

[thandu]

Urak: Adventure and Magic is an MMO taking place in the land of Urak, during the start of a Renaissance of ideas, magic and treaties, yet at a time when traditions and faith are still being clung to very strongly. In this age of Urak, conflicts are skirmishes and all out wars are few and far between unless you’re into PvP.

Like most MMORPGs, U:A&M features many races and many classes. There are Eight faiths, with 30 races split amongst them and 17 classes split further amongst them. You play the part of a young up and coming adventurer who wants to venture into the perilous world of Urak to discover glory, expand your influence, or just have a fun time questing.

[thandu]

Classes:
All classes have different stat spreads. Some classes have -5 to some stats so they can place more stats in others. All classes have 80 total points gained.




Fighter:
Stat Spread: +40 Strength, +10 Dexterity, +30 Stamina, -5 Intellect, +5 Charisma

Overview – When there’s a battle on hand, a Fighter is reliable in one way or another. Fighters are excellent close combatants with access to every kind of melee weapon and almost every ranged. They can wield them in every which way as well. Fighters have no magic, and poor magical resistances. They also struggle against fears unless using special abilities. Against physical combatants, there is no match at going toe to toe and coming out alive. Fighters are a premier choice tank clad in the heaviest of platemails and with the largest of shields.





Berserker:
Stat Spread: +45 Strength, +10 Agility, +35 Stamina, -5 Intellect, -5 Charisma

Overview – When it comes to ripping foes to shreds with little regards to your own safety, Berserkers are topnotch! Berserkers lack in armor, not allowing themselves to ever deal with armor more cumbersome than Chainmail. This makes them frail as warriors, but they possess many tanking perks if used right. Berserkers are highly resistant to fear, and have decent magic resistance, even with reduced versions of the stats that support such growth. A berserker can use every type of melee weapon, but may only used ranged weapons that are boosted by strength: namely throwing weapons and slings. Berserkers can use lighter shields and can also dual wield just like fighters.





Paladin:
Stat Spread: +25 Strength, +15 Stamina, -5 Intellect, +5 Wisdom, +10 Spirit, +30 Charisma

Overview – The opposite of the Berserker, the Paladin is the warrior limited in power, but nearly unmatched in defenses and possesses viable healing and holy magic. Paladins can use almost all melee weapons and a select few ranged, but they cannot dual wield. Their shield and plate armor access is immense and make Paladins viable tanks. Paladins have high charisma to help resist fear magic, but it doesn’t grow as fast as Berserkers. Through some spells, Paladins can gain nice resistances and pass some on to their allies. In the end though, a Paladin still struggles to make fast, decisive kills and while they struggle to die, solo battles may take a while.





Templar:
Stat Spread: +30 Strength, +15 Stamina, +15 Intellect, +5 Wisdom, +15 Spirit

Overview – A middle ground between the Berserker and Paladin, a Templar is not fearless, will wear plate mail and can kill things. His shield capacity isn’t as heavy as fighters or Paladins, but he still can defend himself with elemental magic. Templars are fanatics of magic and thus can employ spells of all elements to aid them in their crusade. Templars also have access to dual wielding, and can use even a variety of weapons that are usually only limited to mage classes. A Templar lacks in natural resistances or heavy defensive skills, but can easily tank and kill things with his easy capacity to aggravate his foes.





Ranger:
Stat Spread: +20 Strength, +25 Dexterity, +10 Agility, +15 Stamina, +5 Wisdom, +5 Spirit

Overview – Rangers are crafty and diverse. On one hand, they're thieves, on another, they can tank in a pinch, and they can also use some natural druidic magic. Rangers have some weapon restrictions, even with dual wielding access, but are excellent with almost any ranged weapon they wish to master and have a heavy focus on dual wielding. Rangers can also use some surprisingly heavy shields, even if they’re limited to chain armor. A skilled ranger can track down foes, useful on kill quests. A Ranger’s ability to tank is moderate, his ability to heal is moderate and his sneaking skills are moderate. Above all else, his marksmanship is great!





Hunter:
Stat Spread: +40 Dexterity, +25 Agility, -5 Wisdom, +20 Charisma

Overview – Where a Ranger is great at ranged combat, a Hunter is godly! Do not try to snipe a hunter, for the hunter snipes better. The hunter has other problems, namely his lack of melee skills, his leather armor and complete lack of shield access beyond bucklers and parry weapons. In close quarters, he’s relatively doomed as his leveling curve goes up, but the Hunter has solutions. An animal companion! A Hunter can stand out from the crowd with the proper animal friend. Animals and beasts less natural can be befriended by his high charisma and be used to help keep the hunter as a ranged attacker. Creatures need to be fed however, but this actually tends to be easier than it sounds. Even though they rarely get that close, Hunters can dual wield if they’re in danger enough to be there, though many of their weapons befit a man of the wilds.





Rogue:
Stat Spread: +15 Strength, +25 Dexterity, +35 Agility, -5 Spirit, +10 Charisma

Overview – Rogues are thieves, charming, nimble, sharp. A Rogue is important for any adventuring party, for dungeons are always loaded with traps! A Rogue can ensure that these traps are stopped before they’re sprung, and are the best ways to open locked doors and chests which you lack keys for. Rogues are stealthy enough, though not the masters of it, because Rogues are somewhat foolish enough to wear light, yet clang making metal armor. Still, a Rogue can provide a swift backstab and several debuffing skills to their foes. Rogues can dual wield and enjoy swords, certain piercing weapons and a few select bludgeoners. They have a fair amount of light ranged weapons as well, but are limited defensively to shields just a step up from bucklers.





Assassin:
Stat Spread: +25 Strength, +30 Dexterity, +25 Agility, +10 Intellect, -5 Charisma

Overview – An assassin can kill almost any foe, and do so very quickly! Few will see through his excellent stealth skills and even fewer will survive the venom that courses their veins, let alone the deadly sneak attacks. On the other hand, a foe that does live or does spot them will not struggle to hinder or kill the assassin before he can restealth. Then again, Assassins are good ranged attackers, better than the likes of fighters. All throwing weapons, bows, crossbows and blowguns can be employed to great effect as both a source of damage, and an outlet for coating venoms. Assassins have horrible defenses, limited to leather armor, no shields whatsoever, and select sneaking weapons. On the other hand, Assassins can dual wield decently, and both weapons can be used for surprise attacks. Their skills as a dungeon thief are more limited than a Rogue, but Assassins can pull through in a pinch if they must.





Bard:
Stat Spread: +5 Strength, +10 Dexterity, +10 Agility, +5 Stamina, +15 Intellect, +10 Wisdom, +5 Spirit, +20 Charisma

Overview – A quick stat glimpse reveals a wide spread, bards are the only class that has + modifiers to every stat, let alone modifiers to every stat to begin with. As such, they are a jack of all trades, wielding almost every weapon type, ranged or melee, as well as musical instruments. Bards can sing for many unique effects that make them excellent for group play, but can also use some basic elemental and arcane magic as well as some decent thieving skills (mostly Pick Pocketing and Detecting Invisibility/Illusions.) A Bard suffers from needing to spread stats and medium defenses and a lack of tanking skills. Bards cannot use shields, though they can use Chainmail armors. They can dual wield and use a variety of One handed and two handed weapons.





Wizard:
Stat Spread: -5 Strength, +40 Intellect, +15 Wisdom, +20 Spirit, +10 Charisma

Overview – Also known as the Arcane Mage, the Wizard is a master of Order, Chaos, Death and Life Magic. Their ability to deal damage is great, not as potently prominent as Berserkers or Assassins, but they tend to have more fuel and can usually stay out of harm’s way. Wizards have some decent buffs and mind altering crowd controllers. A Wizard is limited to certain weapons, but unless ranged, he should avoid using them for more than stat buffs. Some wizard spells can utilize strength for damage bonus, but with lowly cloth for armor, their ability to take a hit cannot easily be rectified. Wizards, while not too adept at it, are decent healers, mostly if your real healer runs out of Piety/Balance/Mana. Wizards have some decent multi-target spells.





Elementalist:
Stat Spread: -5 Agility, +5 Stamina, +45 Intellect, +10 Wisdom, +15 Spirit, +10 Charisma

Overview – Less of a Wizard counterpart than you think, other than both needing lots of Caster stats, Elementalists have unique niches. First and foremost, they can summon elementals to protect them. Unlike Wizards who have lots of crowd controlling and debilitations, an Elementalist has fewer ones and they are more expensive. They do have good buffs though, but as attackers, they have little to defend from harm beyond their summons and brutal magic. Indeed, the Elementalist is a brutal assault of magic. Not only can he cast elemental magic, he can cast multi-elemental magic. What does that mean? Well, it means that some spells have two elements, or even some having Arcane properties. For instance: Hailstones are Ice/Earth and Fury Fire is Fire/Chaos. This mix of elements helps to ensure that an Elementalist has some strong foothold against many various foes. Elementalists have some different equipment setups than Wizards. For one thing, their ranged weapons are only throwing sticks, wands and slings, and melee is highly sparse. Like Wizards, cloth is their strongest defense, which as you know makes them wet tissues. If surrounded, Elemental magic offers several multi-target spells to whittle them all down before they finish you.





Sage:
Stat Spread: -5 Dexterity, -5 Agility, -5 Stamina, +35 Intellect, +35 Wisdom, +15 Spirit, +10 Charisma

Overview – A Sage is a burdening job of mastering many types of magic, and ONLY mastering magic. A Sage is highly diverse in crowd control, healing, and multi-property magic. The Sage suffers from stat distributions between intellect and wisdom needing to both be high and his extensive spellbook. Adaptability is their strength, overspreading is their downfall. Healer classes tend to heal more, damage classes tend to deal more. Being able to do both though and balancing out better healing skills than damage dealers and [potentially] better damage than healer classes is where a Sage finds their niche. Sages have a nice array of weapons that will likely never have kinds for casters, and can even dual wield them if one handed. They are also limited to cloth, another weakness of sorts.





Priest:
Stat Spread: -5 Dexterity, +15 Intellect, +40 Wisdom, +30 Spirit

Overview – Don’t be fooled by the name, a Priest is more of a Cleric in heavy plate with excellent shields and bludgeoning weapons. Ranged weapons break this rule with slings, though every other ranged weapon is blunt. Priests use their faith as an outlet for sacred healing, smiting, and control. Priests are usually the best healers and are also good at stopping or controlling undead and demons. Priests have low damage output, and while clad in heavy armor, make poor tanks. Many of their damage spells are easy to interrupt, so a priest being wailed upon struggles to solo much differently than a Paladin. Priests have actually good damage outputs from their holy spells, but tend to use up lots of Piety and their buffs aren’t as great as you’d expect. There’re some good buffs, but other classes tend to have more. Even still, no party is complete without the multi-targeting healing that only a priest can pull off.





Druid:
Stat Spread: +5 Strength, +5 Dexterity, +10 Agility, -5 Intellect, +45 Wisdom, +20 Charisma

Overview – Druids have good healing, they may not transform into or summon animals, but they can cast very fast, very balance efficient regeneration spells and fair heals. The problem is, when compared to priests, are that regen spells work slower even if they can last a while. Besides that, Druids are balanced with decent access to physical and magical skills of almost all elements and arcane aspects (Fire and Ice are a bit lacking,) even if their damage output is on the low side. Druids can use a very select niche of harvest or sacred forest and naturally made weapons usually formed of wood or built for nature’s harvest and will not go beyond the natural leathers of the forest, and will even refute cloth armors.





Shaman:
Stat Spread: +15 Strength, +10 Dexterity, -5 Agility, +15 Intellect, +20 Wisdom, +20 Spirit, +5 Charisma

Overview – The shaman communes with spirits and animals, utilizing a bit of physical power, some magic and healing. There’s one major flaw: its power is random! The spell is either very good, or very weak, you might accidentally cause yourself to heal instead when targeting someone else. Shamans rely on luck, and Spirit and all other stats (mostly spirit though) can offset the problem. As tribal people, Shaman are somewhat feral, and are resistant to fear and certain magic types and status ailments. For the most part, a Shaman is excellent at purge magic and dispelling harmful magic on allies, or buff magic on foes. Shamans have decent gear with access to chain armor, a variety of non-sword or dagger melee weapons, lighter shields, and relatively few ranged weapons. They rely more on their magic, which contains a lot of thunder and chaos elemental moves. Besides that, Shamans can transform into different animals depending on the Faiths that they pledge loyalty to. These creatures have many different abilities, even ranging to flight and some have magic and they are consistent, with versatile enough damage dealing and even some tanking roles. Very few have any form of restoration skills.


Warlock:
Stat Spread: +5 Dexterity, +40 Stamina, +35 Intellect, -5 Spirit, +5 Charisma

Overview – With the highest base stamina in the game, you’d think these necromancer/demonologist hybrids would be excellent tanks, but they’re not. Warlocks are high on health so they can use it to fuel their spells or directly turn it into mana if other options are unavailable. Willing to cruelly wear flayed animal hides and leathers, Warlocks are frowned upon in society for their blatant work with the undead and/or demons. They also employ fear, poison, and several fire, death and wind based magic attacks as well. Warlocks have a very pitiful amount of weaponry and no shields or dual wield. They also have naturally low spellpower and damage output. This is to be compensated by your capacity for two pets at a time: one Undead and one Demon, when your level is high enough. The variety of pets provides some good cover and extra power while Warlock’s poisons, burns and other plagues and sicknesses slowly inch away an enemy’s life and soul. Warlocks make odd fits in parties, mostly providing backup and with the pets as a few extra hands, no group can complain if their behaviors are controlled.





Monk:
Stat Spread: +20 Strength, +10 Dexterity, +15 Agility, +25 Stamina, +10 Spirit

Overview: Monks are the inexpensive warrior, they wear cloth at most, and fight mostly bare fisted. There are some martial weapons they will use, such as staves and flails and a few throwing weapons, but they are mostly in your face unarmed melee. When they learn to dual wield, they will hit with their other hand as well even if the other holds a weapon. Monks hit hard with debilitations and crippling moves and monks can apply their feet to great effect: some other classes can give swift kicks here or there, but a Monk’s foot can take him places. Their reliance is less on power and more of pinpointing, but good strength helps too. In a group, a Monk CAN tank evasively with his bare arms blocking axes and maybe a few odd spells.

[thandu]

Faith following:
When you create your character, you are not bound to your faith, but you are bound to your homeland, and thus will always minor in your faith’s specialties. You can minor in two other faiths, though if you go for a second, you cannot major in your first.

Each faith has a stat that they correspond with:

Fire +Strength, -Stamina, -Spirit
Death +Dexterity, -Agility, -Intelligence
Air +Agility, -Intelligence, -Spirit
Earth +Stamina, -Strength, -Wisdom
Water +Intelligence, -Charisma, -Dexterity
Life +Wisdom, -Agility, -Charisma
Chaos +Spirit, -Strength, -Dexterity
Order +Charisma, -Wisdom, -Stamina

I was tempted to have a Luck Stat, but I figured that other stats determined your luck. If I’d have had luck, it’d have been Chaos’ stat, death would’ve become Strength and Fire would’ve taken spirit and Dexterity and Agility would merge and still belong to air.


In any case, when you minor in your faith, you gain the stats above as such. Every level, stats with a + go up by 2, stats with a - go up by 1. Majoring in a faith doubles this number. You can major in another faith if you delve into it, and can remove it from major, minor or both at any time. You may never go below minor in your main faith that you started as. You’ll also gain other class abilities when you minor, and some have abilities for majoring. You may never major in your direct opposite: A centaur can never be a Chaos major, he can minor, but the task can be very difficult.

If you choose to forgo majoring yours or another faith, you may get a third minor. Keep in mind though, at any time you want to change majors or minors, it’s not that simple… sorta like College, except the hot girls aren’t real.


Each faith has from 3 to 5 races that start out under their wing. Based on your race, you will start in a town where others of your race converge.

The races are many…


Archons:
There is no race more global with trade and diplomacy than the Archons; they converge all over the world. Their ability to travel and trade are spread wide and far and there are few jobs that they cannot master without training. Unfortunately, as diverse as they are, Archons are somewhat clumsy, and suffer a bit in dexterity and agility. On the flipside, Archons are spirited and charismatic, often a brave paragon on any battlefield. 97% of all living Archons follow the path of Order. Those that don’t are rare breakaways that still hold some ties to its basic principles in some way shape or form.

Minotaurs:
The Minotaur is in a strange place. On one hand, they are creations of the Animal Spirit gods that Shamans and Barbarians, yet on the other, they are noble and organized. Any feral behavior tends to be under controlled circumstance. In any case, most Minotaurs defied their gods and went into hiding. Recent scriptures of history books by Archons helped to discover these fascinating creatures, whom willingly joined the people to help stop the chaos that threatens the world. Some practice animal magic, but they tend towards a more controlled version of Shamanism. Minotaurs are strong and sturdy, though they tend to disbelieve spirits and have poor agility.

Centaurs:
When those animal gods create creatures, they backfire! Centaurs were one of their first attempts at soldiers: mixing the might of barbarians with the speed and powerful legs of a horse, the Centaurs were given too much organizational skills. None enjoyed the badlands, and using their untiring legs, they traversed the world, often resorting to burglary to survive. It wasn’t until a large enough tribe stumbled upon the cities of Order that the Centaurs realized that there could possibly be a home for them. While many who have settled struggle to stay still, most are content to have a place that they can safely call their home. Centaurs are highly agile and spirited, but their physical might is actually less than most humans, mostly due to the awkward center-point and physics of their bodies (leg strength is another story!)




Barbarians:
As humans, Barbarians are natural expansionists with diversity in lively function and representation in many corners of the world, but those not of Chaos tend to live in fire. Why? It’s a test of courage. Any Barbarian of age may take a journey to the lava lands and partake of life there, where fire is beset by more troubles than those of Chaos. This agreement has led to VERY close ties and even a sharing of ideas, and a slight meld in magic. Barbarians lack social graces and charisma, but are stronger, tougher and more flexible than Archons are. There’s also, sometimes, more order amongst them, especially with the likes of gender equality being an actualization long, long ago.

Goblins:
Conniving and cannibalistic, Goblins are smart! They’re, with few even amongst the Chaos tribes knowing it, paving a new technological future. For now, it happens to be hand held and rapid fire crossbow prototypes, tomorrow, machines may be the reality of Urak! Goblins are more organized than Barbarians, but enjoy the fresh slaughter’s feast. Many are adept with magic and craftier trades that the larger races of the tribes cannot even fathom to handle. Goblins have many dangerous secrets, and are amongst the most diverse races of Urak when it comes to professions. They may just impact the world... of Urak.

Ogres:
With flavors of one or two heads, Ogres are one of the most illegible, incoherent races to ever walk Urak. Granted, most in their path fall to their massive strength and great stamina, but Ogres can barely write in common tongue. Ironic then, Ogres are some dangerous spell casters as well as brutal warriors, regardless of how many heads they have, because when all’s said and done, the enemy will likely have no head. Ogres are reclusive, not usually by choice, though they can communicate well with other chaos tribesmen.

Cyclopses:
One eyed monsters, the single eye is not a hindrance to their sight. The eye of these giant men and women is mystical in nature, providing great charm, both natural and unnatural, making Cyclopses one of the most Charismatic races on all of Urak. They are mighty too, discordant, and ironically very fixed focused. A Cyclops on the job will NOT quit! In spite of their lack of natural magic understanding, this nature allows for some to delve into Wizardry, though most prefer more physical professions.




Amazons/Vianthas:
The women (and men) of water are a strange breed. Possessing human diversity, the only reason that these humans are renown in Urak is because of what travels on the waves, and what travels on the waves are the finest boats in the world. Viantha are known for their matriarchal society where those who follow, are mostly women. Because of their great sailing skills, Viantha are almost always followers of water, and despise lava and sand that doesn’t form a beach of some sort. Viantha are considered beautiful and wise, but are lacking of spirit and book smarts. They are currently going through gender equality changes, and there is a major struggle within the governing body that stays afloat, but is starting to sink.

Lizardkin:
Also known as Lizard Men, said name is ridiculously confusing. After all, female Lizard ‘Men’ are physically a bit taller and leaner than males. Males are lighter and more elusive, but the Women are the fighters by far. Not to say that men cannot overcome weakness and still fight well, if not better than women. In the end, they have slightly different stats between genders, but they even out in the end. Lizards are excellent swimmers, and unlike most non-giants, their bodies are vulnerable to thunder effects, though in turn, they resist fire ice and water. Lizardkin have scaly hides and decent mobility, their biggest lack is spiritually for they are well rounded otherwise.

Lesser Water Giants:
Few know where they came from or why they began to build some towns along the beaches, but Lesser Water Giants (LWGs) are undoubtedly creations of the Great Goddess Synora and hold her in high regard. LWGs are taller than humans by about a head or so and have sea green skin with very pronounced body features. Their common attire includes what look like swimwear, making their females look like BBW aliens that are ready to hit the beach. Their hair looks a bit like seaweed, taking on commonly colors from brown to green. Lesser Water Giants worship the sea and their goddess above all else, but few have yet to travel deep into the world of Urak and see what else it has to offer them.




Fire Giants:
No race on Urak possesses the pure might that burns within their spirits and souls. Fire Giants are wild, powerful, and pyromaniacs through and through. Fire Giants are not very sturdy, though strong and built tough, they are somewhat flimsy defensively. They are the proud descendants of the Greater Fire Giants, almost too proud of their infernal element. Fire Giants make poor negotiators and many treat their willing followers like worthless slaves. Fire Giants aren’t too diverse, for many are stuck on olden traditions of how fire is best, though some may branch out…

Lesser Fire Giants:
While every bit fanatical about the might of the flame, Lesser Fire Giants (LFGs) are not too fond of their greater cousins. Many are actually quite honorable, if not still cruel and twisted. They have grown closer in kin to Red Dwarves and have branched out into fields of combat that most giants simply refuse. Lesser Fire Giants have better relation skills with the rest of the world than Fire Giants, meaning you’ll likely find them at foreign embassies representing the volcanic worshippers.

Red Dwarves:
A strange creation of Fire, Red Dwarves swear that they have some Earth shaped heritage somewhere in their genetics. Whatever it may be, Red Dwarves are, like all dwarves, stocky, sturdy and love a nice tall cold… erm, I mean HOT one. Red Dwarves are unmatched at forging with metals, especially with their natural fire resistances. Only other dwarf races can truly compare. Red Dwarves are almost always chaotic, even the law enforcers. Red Dwarves are very beardless, and those that do have facial hair grow usually as much as a small mustache or goatee. Red Dwarves are skilled gamblers and moneydealers, meaning that those not on the field of battle are the ones who manage the banks.

Imps:
As odd as it may seem, these semi-demons are very durable for their size. Imps are small, sneaky, and enjoy hurting things. What they lack in size, they make up for in craftiness. Many scouts who serve fire are Impish, some are Dwarven, but most are Imps. The Imps seem to live near an in ground volcano, a devastating phenomenon, our real Earth world hinges on the eruption of one such volcano erupting in the Midwestern United States. In Urak however, this is where Imps seem to converge from hellfire to stay amongst the surface. Few know why they’re here, though the Imp secret is to scout for greater demon masters that aren’t bound to Fire faith. With their good terms, the Imps willingly work with fire peoples. Imps are unnatural, and thusly are weak to Life and water magic, though they resist Death, Nature and Fire magic to small degrees. Most imps like the volcanic lands, truth be known.




Gnomes:
You’d never think that a humanoid so small could be so brilliant! Gnomish scholars and sorcerers are legendary! None can compare to their ability to fluently shape earth and metal (though not quite blacksmithing) and few can detect a tremor or quake quite as naturally. Gnomes, of course, are tiny. Gnomes tend to be haughty, and crude. Gnomes also like gold and cheese, which is why they love trading with Order farmers and their good supply of cow and goat based produce. They are, of course, insecure about their size, and if your neighbors could step on you and turn you as flat as paper, you’d try and make yourself seem larger too.

Rock Dwarves:
Champions of Earth, tradition, and alcohol, dwarves of the Earth love axes, stonemasonry and crafting. Dwarves can find their way around any cave with no light or source of infra-vision and will somehow pull out some shiny rock of value. Dwarves are good ambassadors with foreign lands due to their mostly neutral nature and many fine metals to trade. Archons and Golgothans are close trade partners, the Golgothans becoming close allies because of this. Dwarves are mostly laid back, mainly because they already know that they are extremely slow to move, but once moving, the boulder may pick up speed… maybe move a few feet faster.

Halflings:
Halflings are the different ones. Not born of Earth, Halflings, or hobbits perhaps, are descendants of some human origin; many claim Archon though with four human races, it’s difficult to be sure. Halflings are good farmers, though most of their produce isn’t highly demanded by foreigners. Halflings are nimble, perceptive and able to move if they’re not too hungry or lazy at the time. Indeed Halflings are important scouts for the lands of Earth, but tend to be playful and welcomed in other lands, though many get in trouble due to their mostly harmless curious nature… but be careful when they’re mad.

Stone Giants:
A fair cry different from the short folks, Stone Giants are gigantic, one of the, if not the tallest race of Giant in all of Urak. Stone Giants are mostly calm, though they hate the wind with a passion. Stone Giants tend to stay to themselves, for they are an endangered species as of now. Strangely, evolution has increased their gestation speed by a lot, and maturity is reached a bit sooner, but it’ll be a few centuries before these stone creatures fully roam as freely as storm or fire giants. Stone Giants are slow, sturdy and durable. They pack a mean punch or cudgel, and accuracy isn’t much a problem when the weapon is almost as big as you are.

Mites: Strangely respected in Earth lands, Mites are tiny, frail, and full of pep! This energy keeps them healthy, spirited, and well liked by the people. It gets many of these common scouts out of dangerous situations alive. Mites are non-warlike, and refuse heavy frontline jobs due to their stability being like that of sand rather than stone.




Storm Giants:
These blue skinned behemoths are slender and as durable as a gust, and gusts have no sturdiness at all. Storm Giants are strong, not as strong as other Giants, but still mighty with storm charged weapons. Storm Giants have other strengths, great agility and are almost as smart as gnomes. Storm Giants, fourth largest race in Urak (behind Stone Giants, Fire Giants and Cyclopses,) despise Gnomes, fourth smallest race (taller only than Brownies, Pixies and Mites)

Faeries:
Few races promote the natural power of flight that they possess. A faerie is a useful ally to have when some corridors or treasures are just too far out of reach for even giants to get. Faeries are frail, and are larger targets than they’d seem. Only a few inches shorter than elves, Faerie wingspan is a few feet across, and striking the wing is crippling. Faeries are despised by many for their overly chipper nature being so sickeningly happy and hyper. Unlike other hyper energized races, Fae folk take up space with wings. They also tend to make privacy difficult to maintain.

Pixies:
None are as concerned for their herd as pixies, rarely do they venture out alone. They are, after all, the smallest race on Urak. Their travels have taken them far, and the dust they shed (actually a wing produced dandruff secretion) is world renown. Though all Pixies tend to wander curiously, many tend to return to the blizzard heights that air calls home. Pixies are diverse based on the lands they’ve travelled to, and some enjoy utilizing magic for their very small size while others use their size as an advantage in combat. Regardless of the choice, Pixie Dust is a common component of any Pixie battle. When pixies flock together you should expect slight bonuses when you have more than one in your party or raid, and expect that number to increase a bit with each one.

Witcars:
Witcars are shunned abominations, unnatural Urak natives. Imps have the excuse of coming from Hell, Witcars only have a mongrel heritage that has bits of Goblin and Orc and lots of Viantha or Barbarian. Witcars are slender and decently built, but their skin is a sickly green, and their bodies react poorly and burn from water (less so if it’s frozen oddly enough) and Order magic which their chaotic body structure cannot handle. Witcars are often shunned and reside in towers alone, many of which have been about the borders of Air nations. Time has demanded change. Volcanic eruptions throughout the mountains have forced many Witcars to relocate, and on short notice as well. It was a stroke of luck that the Storm Giants had open doors at their capitols, much to their surprise. Witcars tend towards forbidden magic and dark sorcery, but are good with all kinds of magic. A Witcar, when killed, is said to melt, a side-effect of their strange genetics and rotten DNA.




Eldren:
Also known as High Elves, the Eldren almost exclusively venerate life, some of their offshoots follow air, but their numbers are few and far between ever since the lost need for Wind Riders. Eldren enjoy life, nature and healing, and are fond of preservation methods through longbows and defensive quarter-staves instead of lethal blades. Elves aren’t pacifists by any mean and will fight to preserve the balance of life above all else. Eldren homes are often carved into the trees and most foreigners trust elves with their lives to remain intact.

Dryads:
Dryads, both males and females, are exceedingly beautiful, they have a charm to them that even woos others of their kinds, making them one of the most charismatic races in Urak. Dryads are also one of the wisest races, being keepers of sacred lore that their tree homes whisper to them from the centuries that they’ve lived for. Dryads love nature, and animals and trees. Frail physically, Dryads are somewhat mythical, possessing some innate resistances to nature and most elemental magics. Only death and fire magic hurts them much. Dryads are elusive to most foreigners unless they choose to travel, these humanoids stand about half a head shorter than elves.

Brownies:
The third smallest race in all of Urak, Bownies have a knack for getting into and out of trouble. Their curiosity has served them well in the pursuit of new venues to follow, and their thirst for life helps their happy disposition, even for Brownies who’ve been awed by battle rage and dark conjurations. Brownies and their dark secret are still not yet known by much of the world, but many Dryads and Eldren are wary of those who have taken to lethal callings and urge their reconsiderations, only to realize how useful these skills may be on the battlefield if the Brownie folk remain loyal.

Rock Trolls:
Unlike regular trolls, most rock trolls were crazy for earth. Nowadays, Rock Trolls still see Earth as a potential friend, but enjoy the natural rock formations too much to consider leaving the Life nations. Rock Trolls aren’t very close to their Soil cousins, even if they are genetically very alike, many are jealous of the other for some reason or another. During Balkoth’s quest, Rock Trolls were mostly marauders, but found friends in the Dryads who shared their plight of being physically composed of elemental materials. The meadows were calm and peaceful, and many decided that this land deserved better than to be destroyed by a madman flying on a bat. Their help saved the meadowland and forests from much damnation. While a bit detached from the whole blessing of life holiness, Rock Trolls do have regenerative skin, which any Life Follower knows as having been a racial blessing from Llanwylen somewhere in the ancient past. Rock Trolls don’t have a fast regeneration the way Soil trolls do, but they are coming to terms with their roots (no pun intended.) Rock Trolls are susceptible to wind, and like all trolls, fire hinders regeneration, but earth and nature magic is something to laugh at.




Golgothans:
The mere mention of Dark Elf sends terror into the hearts of any Urakian, while the mere sight usually gets a javelin or knife jutting in the same location. That is, if you believe the rumors put out by the enemies of Death. Golgothans are not all evil, many have even fled when their common patron diety, Golgoth, became dangerously power hungry. Golgothans do enjoy the hunt and the kill and killing and undeath without any doubt, but they are not all obsessed with it. Some are law enforcing knights of a dark sort and others are roaming wanderers. Most would rather survive to see the next year, even if death is a common ‘reward.’ Golgothans have a bad reputation, especially with the recent wars and the dark messiah Balkoth reaping the world over. It is suffice to say, those that do know a typical Dark Elf will find how lowly they speak of Balkoth and how many wish to piss on the name of Golgoth as well. Only whispers of the dark god still pursue the minds of loyal acolytes, clerics and necromancers. The practice of undead controlling is still very strong, of course, and will remain so up until the day that Urak disappears.

Orcs:
Orcs are wild and murderous. Even Barbarians scorn at their revelry in the kill rather than the tumultuous thrill of wild battle. Whatever it is that has drawn Orcs to the swamps has managed to keep them living there as well. Orcs, like Goblins, enjoy feasting on fallen foes, a trait enjoyed by the Golgothans who have no use for corpse flesh seventy percent of the time. Orcs are strong and strangely wise with ancestral wisdom that seems unfounded for their ruffian ways. Whatever this hidden knowledge is, the orcs won’t even hint about it being there to even their closest allies. Orcs have little honor, but will agree to a fair fight, mostly as a way to grant their foe one last request.

Dirt Trolls:
Dirt Trolls (often just trolls for short) are well known for their unmatched regenerative bodies that renew themselves as they bleed. These creatures are tall and lanky with decent might and bodies built from soil. One must wonder why these creatures are hanging out with Orcs and Dark Elves. The story is an odd one. Many Trolls used to live in caves or in dirt fields. These lands were decent and food was good, but life was mundane. Several Trolls even followed Earth because it was the element with which their soil covered bodies were closest associated with. Then during the wars of Golgoth, Dark Elves from a Swampland appeared in the craggy lands of mushroom, rock and mold. Most trolls felt great appeal for this ‘swampland.’ Three decades after Balkoth’s defeat, almost every civilized troll (an Oxymoron of sorts) made home in these dark, murky swamp where dead bodies practically made themselves a buffet for these trolls. Trolls are wary of Golgoth’s power, for it coincides with the bodies they pride for its immense healing factor. Still, the Dark Elves cannot complain about extra muscle, and Orcs can understand these self-imposed outcasts as well. Soil Trolls are rather weak to fire as it stops their regeneration, but are resistant to earth and death magic.

So here’s the faith setup in recap.

Order:
Archon
Centaur
Minotaur

Chaos:
Barbarian
Goblin
Ogre
Cyclops

Water:
Amazon
Lizardkin
Lesser Water Giant

Fire:
Fire Giant
Lesser Fire Giant
Red Dwarf
Imp

Earth:
Gnome
Rock Dwarf
Halfling
Stone Giant
Mite

Air:
Storm Giant
Faerie
Pixie
Witcar

Life:
High Elf
Dryad
Brownie
Rock Troll

Death:
Dark Elf
Orc
Soil Troll



Racial Resistance(+)/Weaknesses(-):

Centaurs:
+3% Chaos
+2% Order
-4% Nature
-1% Air

Cyclops:
+3% Chaos
+2% Earth
-3% Order
-4% Life

Lizardkin:
+4% Water
+1% Ice
+1% Fire
-4% Thunder
-2% Death

LWGs:
+5% Water
+2% Ice
-4% Fire
-4% Thunder

Fire Giants:
+5% Fire
+1% Earth
+2% Air
-5% Water
-3% Ice

LFGs:
+4% Fire
+2% Thunder
-6% Water
-3% Ice

Imps:
+7% Fire
+5% Death
+7% Nature
-7% Ice
-7% Water
-4% Life


Stone Giants:
+7% Earth
+6% Nature
+2% Death
+4% Order
-5% Thunder
-7% Air

Storm Giants:
+5% Ice
+7% Air
-5% Earth
-3% Nature
-1% Fire


Witcars:
+7% Chaos
+2% Fire
+3% Air
+5% Death
-7% Water
-6% Order
-3% Nature
-4% Life

Dryads:
+5% Life
+3% Ice
+3% Water
+7% Nature
+6% Earth
+1% Thunder
-5% Chaos
-4% Death
-7% Fire

Rock Trolls
+7% Earth
+5% Order
-7% Death
-7% Air
-2% Fire

Soil Trolls:
+4% Life
+6% Nature
+2% Earth
-7% Fire
-6% Death
-1% Thunder

[thandu]

More Reserved (can never tell)

[thandu]

This thread is lonely. It needa family. Anyways, current Checklist of features posted:

Races:
Racial Backstory
Elemental Properties
Specific Racial advantages (to come someday)
Racial Base Stats (I have this on a Spreadsheet, but It'll be a nightmare to transfer)


Faith:
Stat boosts
Team assortment
Special Class Boosts (to be added someday)

Classes:
Racial access
Basic Overview
Stat Distribution
Greater Advancement Trees (to be done)
Spells/Skills (to be done way later)
Secondary Bar Explantion


Weapons/Armor:
Special Properties
All Weapon Categories (To be done)
Class availability (to be done)




Not like this is being read so much, but at least I'm keeping myself under checks.

[thandu]

It's like talking to brick walls, but I'm still making more stuff.

Some more things:

Spell Icons - A spell or skill's element is determined by its filled in color around its black picture.

Colors are:
White - Order
Brownish Orange - Chaos
Blue - Water
Red - Fire
Green - Earth
Pale Blue - Air
Yellow - Life
Purple - Death
Bright Green - Nature
Pink - Thunder
Bright Silver - Ice
Gray - Non-Elemental

If a skill has two elements, then it will split down the center the colors in a crossing line that goes from bottom left to top right, as though it were a No-Smoking sign.

Tri-Elemental skills are split into three even cuts going top to bottom with the colors in each one.

Quad Elementals is a small grid with four even halves in each corner holding each color.

Quint Elemental is just like tri elemental but with five cuts.

Hex Elementals are rare, but they are the highest amount that could possibly exist, and they cut through the skill icon like a nice pie.

What kinds of skills are multi-elemental?


Vortex: Chaos/Thunder

Fireheal: Life/Fire

Renewal: Nature/Water/Earth/Life

Fury Fire: Fire/Nature/Chaos

Whirlwind Strike: Air/Chaos

Tombstone: Earth/Death

Pure Water: Nature/Water

Hailstones: Ice/Earth/Air

Heat Lightning: Thunder/Fire




Elementalists can summon elemental creatures. The creatures summonable are of the seven elementish powers.

Fire Elementals are strong and burn things with good magic and might, but are somewhat flimsy and easy to douse or cool off.

Earth Elementals are slow but make good tanks and hit hard. They're just slow, even to move, but they burn and topple to the wind.

Water Elementals are debuffers and supportive with some light healing, but prove not too durable and can be evaporated, frozen or shocked hardcore

Air Elementals are fast, hit fast, and dodge well, it's just that what does hit will crush them into the earth or asphyxiate them.

Ice Elementals are built to slow and hit with ice shards but melt fast or get shattered by rocks.

Nature Elementals are Shamblers of a sort, they're built to crowd control, but they melt easily and don't like death.

Thunder Elementals are wild with stun and shock power, but they can be grounded or shorted out by water.





For your adventuring parties, dungeons and instances will get their fullest experience if you include at least one gigas and one mini race.


Mini Races include: Gnome, Pixie, Brownie, Mite and Imp

Small Races include: Halfling, Dwarf, Goblin, Faerie, Dryad

Medium Size Races include: Orc, Human, Dark Elf, High Elf, Lizard Man

Large Races: Lesser Fire Giant, Lesser Water Giant, Soil Troll, Ogre, Centaur

Gigas races include: Cyclops, Fire Giant, Stone Giant, Storm Giant, Minotaur and Rock Troll


Size will have certain effects on your hit rate, defenses, dodge, reach and weapon capacity. Size will never disallow any gear unless it's race/faith specific.

[frosty]

Charisma for animals? I don't like that. Actually Hunters should probably get a + to Strength and a - to Charisma... Actually, why not let people choose? xD They could let their Charisma die for a boost in strength(So bartering, selling stuff, persuading people etc.) will be a lot harder, or let their Strength die so they can have an easier time dealing with people but they'll be weak in melee and they'll have to enter towns more often.

A few things that are a must-
PACK ANIMALS. You have to buy them, obviously. They'd carry stuff for you.
The ability to trade with any person.
THE NEED TO EAT. Drinking is not really important(As you can assume that you can drink from puddles etc) You can either buy food from other players(Like hunters who well.. hunt things) or from towns. Or you can hunt your own food.
Also, the ability to play peacefully. Without having to kill anything . It would be awesome if I could just have a character that cuts wood and hunts things without going on some major quest killing things.

[thandu]

Charisma is used for all pet classes, it's used to help boost your pet's stats ever so slightly. After all, you're a bit of a commander. Hunters will have ill use for strength early on when they lack melee unless they're using throwing weapons, especially axes.


Food and even drink will be important. Heck, Ale will be an essential resource just like in the game... somehow.

Hmm, as for non-killing adventuring, I'm sure there COULD be ways, but it should be slower because you risk less death.

Pack animals could be used for carry, and as a mount, though Centaurs could probably buy these upgrades for themselves of mounted travel and cargo space extras.




Anyways, on to other things: weapons tend to be important, they provide important factors towards their use besides damage, swing speed and blunt/slash/pierce factors.


Battle Axe - All axes use strength stats for their power and even their crits and hit rates. Dexterity and agility help slightly, but Strength is most important. If you're overdoing strength gear, take an axe with you. Battle Axes are large enough to be used as a 2h with great bonuses, but can be used with an offhanded item just fine. They can never be an offhand weapon though.

Hand Axe - Single handed axes follow similar formulas to Battle Axes, Hand axes can easily be dual wielded.

Great Axe/Cleaver - Aside from the strength boost and likely high damage potential, these two handed weapons have a slightly larger striking distance, good for those fragile warriors that want to avoid the frontlines such as berserkers.


Short Sword - Short swords, asides from striking half the time as piercing or the other half the time as a slashing weapon, short swords tend to strike really fast and gain slightly extra damage from good agility. They can also deflect slightly better than most weapons. This is why thieves love them so.


Long Sword - Long Swords have a decent deflect bonus and a bonus from agility and dexterity. However, strength adds less power than most weapons, (even compared to shortswords)


Bastard Sword - Follows a similar property to Long Swords, except it has that 1h or 2h property also found in battle axes with the very same bonuses from lacking an offhander and cannot be used as offhanders therefore.


Hand Spear - Hand spears have a slight bonus to range while remaining one handed and striking fast. Of all 1h weapons with extra distance, only spears can be offhanded (and strike somewhat fast). Spears also do extra damage to horses, but Centaurs likely need not apply.


Large Spear - With the same 1h or 2h property as hand spears, Large Spears have a great striking range bonus and a cavalry slaying skill as well.

Great Spear - Like the other two, this one is a 2h variant. All spears use balanced amounts of strength and dexterity for their power but can take advantage of stamina due to their hardy wielding capacity. It can make a Hand or Large spear a decent tank weapon.


Broad Sword - Broad Swords have a higher damage average than long swords, but lack the deflection bonuses. Strong and dual wieldable.


Halberd - Each strike has a chance to be a slash, a pierce or a slash/pierce attack. Halberds enjoy strength and stamina based powers, some slight anti-cavalry, and a striking distance boost.


Flails - Somewhat wild to wield, Flails strike as a blunt/piercing hybrid at all times and due to their ball and chain nature, have excellent extra distance, they cannot be dual wielded and are sluggish though strong.


Whip - Slow and not too practical, whips are practically a ranged weapon in your melee slot and strike with a slash/blunt dual property. They are one handed, but cannot be dual wielded and cannot be used with any offhander asides from a shield.


Rapier - A tankish/defensive weapon, Rapiers barely depend on any strength, and use dexterity and agility for power almost exclusively and enjoy excellent defensive capacity. A warrior dual wielding rapiers can be a good tank, though a Rapier and shield will get you to tank nearly any dungeon. Being a weapon for the cunning and smart, intellect serves decently well.


Staff - These blunt weapons have low damage outputs for a 2her (though still greater than many 1hers) and lack extra distance, but they are used to parry and sometimes double strike with both ends of the staff. Staves are a good tanking weapon for the tank that wants to do a speed rush, but be aware that many staves are also built for magic users... and can still be used to parry. Being a weapon of strategy, wisdom will actually help a bit.


Club - Clubs can be spiked or non-spiked. Being almost always made of wood, clubs do a slight bit of nature damage, meaning they do blunt/nature or blunt/pierce/nature. As such, they're decent weapons, though many would seem rather underwhelming due to the fact that they're clubs. Clubs are strength based much like axes to a lesser degree.


Cudgel - They're much like Clubs, but they're of a two handed nature. Release the caveman within!



These are, of course, not all the weapons or weapon types you can use and gain proficiencies for.

[thandu]

More weapons.

Maces - Maces are rather normal, they have decent mixes of stats and styles with no extraneous benefits, but no detriments either. You can easily find a safe time with maces, but don't expect something amazing or harmful.

Cane - The cane tends to be a mage weapon almost exclusively, even if most fighters can equip. Besides their stats, canes can help you if your backside is heavy with extra items and help grant you extra weight capacity without granting strength.

2h Swords - Much like the broad sword, the difference here is that they have greater range than most swords.

Claws - This weapon requires both hands free, or that your offhand is holding a non-weapon/shield. They are a dual wield single weapon of sorts: when equipped, the claw item automatically covers both hands in sharp clawed gloves. Claws deal blunt/slash damage and let you pretend to be one of the most popular XMen... rookie!

Fist Weapons - Unlike claws, Fist weapons are singular, but can be dual wielded with minimal penalty. Fist weapons are mostly blunt, but some have added pierce features as spiked knuckles.

Dagger - Daggers can be used in offhand with no penalty, and can be used to help parry too. Daggers can strike as slash or pierce, and while weaker (though faster) than shortswords, the dagger lets you choose your damage type moreso than other weapons.

Cutlass/Scimitar - Not too special, these weapons have good damage and attack rate ratios with few drawbacks or added quirks. Above all else, they exist as druid usable swords, many will therefore befit druids statwise.

Trident - Tridents have three prongs, and attacks that hit have a chance to determine how many prongs strike. Damage can get very strong if all prongs hit. Unfortunately, they are 2h, get no extra striking range, and tend to be a bit unwieldy.

Warhammer - A weapon with similar concept to Bastard Swords, Warhammers can be 2h or 1h in very similar manners. Beyond that, they tend to do extra damage to skeletal undead, moreso than other bludgeoners.

Maul/Great Hammer - A large 2h Hammer, Mauls are perhaps the only damage heavy 2h Blunts in the game. Skeletons beware!

Mallets - Light and 1h, Mallets strike fast and hit decently hard, especially against the dead. The only hammer weapon that's dual wieldable.


If there are other weapons I've forgotten, I will get to them... eventually when I remember.

Ranged weapons - There are 2 slots for ranged weapons, if you equip a launcher in slot one, you may equip ammo in the second slot, if you equip a thrower in slot one, then you can either use your shield or sometimes equip another thrower in the offhand.

It's somewhat complicated to explain. Basically, you can switch your style between your melee and ranged weapons. Stats from melee weapons will be at much reduced value while your ranged weapons are equipped and unable to provide room for them. However, if your shield is equipped offhand on your main set, it can remain active with your ranged weapons in use IF the weapon isn't 2h.


Longbow - Longbows have practically the longest range of any weapon in the game, and fire with decent speed and power. They are two handed but their class access is somewhat restricted.

Shortbow - Shortbows sacrifice range and a smidge of power for slightly better accuracy and faster rate of fire over the longbow.


Crossbow - Crossbows have range comparable to shortbows and great accuracy and pack a good punch. However, they take time to load the next bolt. No there are no repeating crossbows.


Hand Crossbow - A Smaller, weaker version of the Crossbow that can be used with your shield or offhanded item remaining active if you have one (unless it's a weapon)


Sling - Slings are interesting in that while they're not too strong, they are available to many, the ammo is abundant and cheap, and it comes in more varieties of damage types than any other weapon: blunt, Earth, Pierce or Chaos... and those are only the common ammo types. Slings are one handed so your shield remains available. They take advantage of strength as well as dexterity.


Throwing Sticks - Throwing Sticks utilize dual wielding capacity but unlike other weapons, an offhanded Throwing Stick suffers no form of penalty. Dual sticks will hit often and usually launch fast. Their damage could be stronger though. They also are one of few weapons to be blunt/slash.


Throwing Axes - The only ranged weapon that is almost ENTIRELY strength based, just like melee axes. Throwing axes tend to be slow and clunky with low range, but they can slice and dice with power. Dual wielded they can strike faster, but with some penalties.

Javelin - The javelin has spear properties giving it a slight edge to its range over other throwers. Javelins do extra damage to mounted targets like all polearms but they cannot be used in the offhanded ranged slot.

Chakram - Chakrams are slashing weapons that return to the user upon use. They're somewhat slow therefore, but decently strong, even if they may need repairs commonly.

Throwing Knives - Throwing Knives launch fast and deadly, and for thieves, can be used for a ranged backstab. Throwing knives can strike as piercing or slashing weapons, and you can determine by how you throw it, whether you choose to launch it in a knife head forward, or let it spin about as it moves. I'll let you figure which is which.

Blowgun - A blowgun is a bit clunky to use, as it requires oral power. Being silenced or having your tongue tied or breath asphyxiated WILL hinder your Blowgun capacity. Beyond that, they're strong weapons with good range ands rate of fire, and some can even be used as flutes by bards. They launch darts. Since it requires breathing power, the Blowgun gets damage boosts from your stamina.

Dart - When not launched by blowgun, the dart is the fastest thrower in the game, even if very weak. Darts are good for envenoming because they'll cripple so good. They cannot be used with any offhanders except for shields however.


Throwing Stones - Big and powerful, the throwing stone is the only 2h throwing weapon in the game. They tend to launch slowly, but their size means they hit often. Stones tend to be blunt, earth or sometimes even fire or ice elemental in their damage properties.

[thandu]

More weapons!

Wands - Equipable in your main ranged slot, wands can only be used with defensive or stat providing offhanders. Wands unleash damage from one of the 11 elements, rarely being dual elemental, and are never triple. Their range is low and their ammo is your mana or faith bar. Thusly, only mana or faith classes can use them and only if the mana or faith is currently active. Not all classes of these varieties are viable though.


Lances - Besides being decent at cavalry repeling, Lances are good for mounted situations... if mounted combat is allowed. Lances can be used one handed or two handed like Bastard Swords, but only with a shield in the offhand.




Kicks - Kicks are not weapons, but some melee classes, namely Rogues, Berserkers, Templars and of course, the grand-daddies, Monks! Kicking uses your stats to determine its power, and launches pretty much an extra attack seperate from your arm's that can be used to further your DPS. Kicks are used by abilities, but some boots do have damage modifiers for kicks. Usually, heavier footgear is worse, lighter armor types add less armor but may add good elemental properties!





Thieving - It is no secret that thieves are important whether or not used in dungeons. Here are some of the thieving skills you can level up.


Detect Traps - Simple enough, the detecting happens instantly every second, but until you activate the trap finding skill, you will detect at a tenth of your score. Detecting Traps skill allows you movement and stealth, but attacking and casting is unallowed.

Stealth - Stealth lets you hide, moving unseen as though invisible. Enemies that use scent or hearing will (technically) 'see through' your invisibility.

Move Silently - Relatively minimal of value unstealthed unless against foes like Bats and blind hearing foes. Mixed with Stealth, you can gain better concealment.

Detect Illusions/Hidden - Allows you detect stealthed and illusionary forces. This can be used well against thieves and Wizards who specialize in illusionary magics and a bit against Shamans.

Remove Traps - Removing traps lets you remove traps from floors, walls, doors, chests... you name it; well, unless it has a quest or battle required key that is!

Pick Pockets - You can't pick pocket those of your faith or close ally faith, but others are free game, if caught, you'll go hostile with the enemy able to kill with little reprocussion. You can't get too much, but money is money, and hey, ya never know what Items you'll find.

Pick Locks - Lets you open locks that don't have quest specific keys. This icludes and is very important for the many locked chests throughout instances and dungeons just WAITING to be pilfered... unless trapped.

Set Traps - Hunters use this one a bit more than most rogues. Set Traps lets you set a trap. They can be disarmed by thieves/hunters with disarm traps. They usually cause damage or some unwanted status effect to the unfortunate triggering enemy. If you are caught within a certain radius setting the trap, the enemy will be able to see it with perfect accuracy.

Back Attack - Limited to Rogues and Assassins, you don't train this skill with % chance points, this is just an attack from the backside. It tends to hurt alot, and can be a stab, a blackjacking super stun, or a surprise throat slicing. Both give a BIG upper hand. These are best done stealthed or the enemy will likely turn around to spot you.

[thandu]

So, I've mentioned that in my vision, all 8 stats will have some use on all classes, yet my ideas for weapons and gear stats seem to imply otherwise. To an extent, yes, your Fighters will enjoy some intellect and Wisdom to deal with magic, but don't forgoe your strength or you'll be burdened by your platemail.

So here's a basic rundown of stat provisions.


Strength - Boosts your attack damage and other aspects of some weapons, and effects certain spells that would work on power (Burning Hands, Stone Fist, Hand of Fate, Rock Sling.) It also increases your carry capacity for the long haul back to merchants.


Dexterity - Effects your hand eye coordination, meaning your weapons, especially missile weapons, will hit more often and may deal more damage. Also helps you parry better and works with certain thief skills. Also helps with some hand based castings making it useful for mages.

Agility - Determines your nimbleness and responsiveness. Your critical hit chance goes up with all spells and weapons,k as does your dodge chance.

Stamina - Determines your ability to handle poison, disease and breathing debuffs, and of course, increases your health points.

Intellect - Increases mana for those that have it and increase the damage dealt with fire, water, earth, ice, air and thunder magic as well as your resistance to these spells and to confusion magic.

Wisdom - Increases mana a bit and highly effects piety. Wisdom increases Arcane and natural magic types (Order, Chaos, Death, Life, Nature) the way Intellect effects elementals. Wisdom increases mind control and illusion resistances.

Spirit - Highly important for Piety casters, Spirit helps regen your secondary bar and your hit points, adds a base magic resistance, and increases your heal amount and amount that you receive from heals.

Charisma - Higher values help you sell good for more at vendors and pay less for purchasing. Charisma also effects your control over summoned creatures and creatures under your control. It also helps your buff spells last longer and do better and helps you resist fear. In a group, when close enough to one another, Charisma becomes collective and somewhat averaged out.

[thandu]

It seems the craze of sequel/MMOs has died out a bit, but I'm not done yet.


Experimental concept!

New faiths!


Behold 8 new faiths! They are grouped by opposites: In parenthesis are the stat boosts, same formula as posted much earlier in this thread: + means 2 stats bonus per level, - means 1.
Elemental:
Ice: +Wisdom, -Charisma, -Stamina
Thunder +Agility, -Dexterity, -Strength

Nature +Spirit, -Wisdom, -Charisma
Metal(Technology) +Strength, -Intellect, -Dexterity

Arcane:
Time +Intelligence, -Agility, -Wisdom
Space +Dexterity, -Intellect, -Stamina

Light +Stamina, -Strength , -Dexterity
Darkness +Charisma, -Agility, -Strength



Only a concept, the races that follow these races will be explained in more detail later... if I follow through.



Anyways, more information.


Upon the character creation screen, your character will be able to allocate an extra 30 points to any stats it wants to on top of its starting stats. There are ways to restore these points, though not cheap, but choose wisely!

[thandu]

Does race matter more than faith? The way I speak faith so vitally, you'd think it matters not, but it does.


Not that anyone is paying attention, but your chosen race has different features of their own. For instance, Centaurs can move somewhat faster than most land player races, but swim slower. Likewise, Lizardkins swim fastest of all but tend to have some penalties on land.

Then there are abilities: not all races have them though. Pixies have the fabled Pixie Dust for instance and Trolls of all kinds have heightened regen, Lizardkin also have somewhat better regen as well, as do Dryads, who possess a free innate charm if used on an opposite gender humanoid.

[thandu]

Available Classes for races are as follows


Archons:
Fighter, Paladin, Templar, Ranger, Rogue, Bard, Wizard, Elementalist, Sage, Priest, Warlock, Monk

Minotaurs:
Fighter, Berserker, Paladin, Ranger, Bard, Wizard, Sage, Priest, Druid, Shaman

Centaurs:
Fighter, Ranger, Hunter, Assassin, Wizard, Elementalist, Sage, Priest, Druid



Barbarians:
Berserker, Templar, Ranger, Hunter, Rogue, Assassin, Bard, Wizard, Elementalist, Sage, Druid, Shaman

Goblins:
Fighter, Berserker, Ranger, Hunter, Rogue, Assassin, Elementalist, Sage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock, Monk

Ogres:
Berserker, Templar, Hunter, Wizard, Elementalist, Sage, Priest, Druid, Shaman, Warlock

Cyclopses:
Fighter, Berserker, Hunter, Assassin, Bard, Wizard, Sage, Priest, Druid, Shaman, Warlock



Amazons:
Fighter, Berserker, Paladin, Hunter, Rogue, Assassin, Wizard, Sage, Priest, Druid, Shaman, Monk

Lizardkin:
Berserker, Templar, Ranger, Rogue, Wizard, Elementalist, Sage, Shaman, Monk

Lesser Water Giants:
Fighter, Paladin, Templar, Hunter, Bard, Elementalist, Sage, Druid, Shaman, Monk



Fire Giants:
Fighter, Berserker, Templar, Ranger, Wizard, Elementalist, Sage, Priest, Warlock

Lesser Fire Giants:
Fighter, Paladin, Templar, Hunter, Rogue, Bard, Elementalist, Sage, Warlock, Monk

Red Dwarves:
Fighter, Berserker, Paladin, Templar, Rogue, Assassin, Bard, Elementalist, Priest, Warlock, Monk

Imps:
Templar, Rogue, Assassin, Bard, Wizard, Elementalist, Sage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock



The other 4 faiths to come at a later time.

[thandu]

It was a fun time when people discussed MMO prospects, but that seems so distant now.

Anyway, in this game, players have different currencies for different purposes.

Gold: Used to make purchases of items.
Ale: Used to help gauge how fast, much and often you give into bodily needs for food and drink and can help keep your morale high.
Crystals: Used to buy magics, and magical spells, and items.
Fame: Used for different factions, higher fame with factions can open up new quests, shops and lower prices.

Hope to see more activity return here.

[Boaster]

May 9, 2009 19:05:34 GMT -6 thandu said:

It was a fun time when people discussed MMO prospects, but that seems so distant now.

Anyway, in this game, players have different currencies for different purposes.

Gold: Used to make purchases of items.
Ale: Used to help gauge how fast, much and often you give into bodily needs for food and drink and can help keep your morale high.
Crystals: Used to buy magics, and magical spells, and items.
Fame: Used for different factions, higher fame with factions can open up new quests, shops and lower prices.

Hope to see more activity return here.

You may have buried every one with making things a little complicated. No need to make everything intricate and/or complicated. My thoughts into an LOM MMO-RPG were to set a structure and let the minds of the reader fill in the games. I on the other hand have been either too busy or too lazy to continue anything further.

More people will come around. A lot of forum viewers are like the wind, they blow by in light breezes or heavy gusts.

[thandu]

It may seem complex, but the algorithims are hopefully meant to be simple.

Eh, Pokemon has somewhat complex damage algorithims and nobody complains (then again, most people don't know them.)


While the idea of freedom is nice, lore must be remembered! Water and Air Dwarves just seem... odd, no? And Fire Worshipping Lizardmen would shrivel up and die, they are amphibious, practically.

That's why each race belongs to a faith, and why each race has certain classes.

You get plenty of variety, but there has to be some limits if it's an MMO or certain classes will just become too forgettable.


Partly why I set it up so 'complex.' Int warrior? Great, he can tank elemental magic! Wisdom Berserker? Run amok and slay wizards and Warlocks! Strength Mage? Spells like Burning Hands, Rock Sling, Hand of Fate and Stone Fist reap extra power from strength.


All in all, every stat has value that cannot be denied and every class has at least one feature that cannot be overlapped and size will matter!

[Boaster]

May 13, 2009 8:28:28 GMT -6 thandu said:

While the idea of freedom is nice, lore must be remembered! Water and Air Dwarves just seem... odd, no? And Fire Worshipping Lizardmen would shrivel up and die, they are amphibious, practically.

One might be able to say the same about a Black President 100 years ago, right? Maybe even 50.

Time, itself, is a difference maker. Time, adaptation, evolution (which is to change over time).

[thandu]

You're comparing a social evolution to a physical one. It seems that Urak creatures are not immune to natural physical evolution, but the story to me indicates that there has been little need for adaptation, besides which, when in the future would be a good time anyway? I'm only jumping a few decades ahead, so the likes of evolutionary offshoots of Aqua Dwarves and Thunderlizards seem a bit out of the question just yet.

You can still gain patronage to another element, even worshipping it for further bonuses, but you will hold some grasp with your main dieties for now. Not that Storm Giants will see your Halfling as any more tolerable just because she's does the rites of passage to become an air follower, they still distrust your intentions and will not be afraid to end your life.


I suppose it's a good time as any to tell the story of Urak thus far.


The evil Balkoth had many enemies all over Urak, few dared to call him an ally, save perhaps the secret pact between them and the people of Fire which was more of a truce than anything. Beyond that, few enjoyed Balkoth's wanton sense of destruction: even many Dark Elves did not enjoy their practically enslaved fate as his servant. With the races of the world banding together though, Balkoth found himself outnumbered with many of Golgoth's followers even starting to feel that this was not their god's will.

His remains were burned and his scythe was disenchanted.


The world... was free... yet the fighting didn't end outright, old rivalries resparked and fueding resumed with only a few decades to have passed.

Dwarves and Sky peoples resumed their timeless hatred, and the two opposing human forces were back at it.

For the most part, these were simple squabbles, as even then, many had lived through Balkoth's rampant doomfest and knew not to fall offguard.

Time tends to wash away stories, and now it's been over 60 more years and war threatens to erupt!

Spark it, prevent it, or don't even bother with it. You have free reign of a more connected world where new ideas and theories are being developed daily and discoveries are unfolding all the time!

It's time to grow from a young <Race/Class> and venture out from your homelands into the vast wotld of Urak!

[gunther]

i have some spacial passive skills for each race ;D

Dwarf-Is able to craft and repair armor extremely and is also good at seeing if a metal is fake or real(to avoid swindling merchants)

Gnome-has an eye for Valuable rocks and gems although greedy at times the gnome also can see in the dark see that there home where underground

Faeries-quick and nimble on foot and even quicker in flight the fairies are quick to evade and enemy's attack and lash back out in a blink of an eye

Storm Giants-with a long stride and large size the giants of air are surprisingly quick and powerful although they hold a long born hatred for there fire brethren for the thought of there betrayal in ages long forgotten

Barbarians-Extremely Strong an tough the barbarians can take a punch and deliver one even more powerful the barbarian fight crazed in battle and have extreme durability a well armed barbarian is the fear of the battle field

Archons-believing in a greater balance the archons are well rounded in war believing the fact that attack is nothing without defense the archon will always balance his armor with his weapon

Fire Giants-large powerful but much slower than there air brother the fire giants are unmatched in strength and but there life in the brightness of fire has made the completely blind in the dark

Amazons-the warrior women are quick and lethal and the woman take up the title of war while the man take care of the home and children the amazons likeness to water has made them unmatched swimmers and deadly in the water

Elves-the Eldren of life are unmatched archers and are keen of hearing and sight they usually hear you before you hear them there only weakness is the Eldren usually pack it light in armor never wearing more than a good shirt of chain mail

Dark Elves-the Eldren of death are murderous killers who believe all who live is an enemy the wield cruel weapons and where the darkest armor they have one weakness the light there life in the dark has caused them to completely adapt to the darkness a bright light would blind them until there eyes adjust that is