Index
chapter 1 "Introduction"
If you are unfamiliar with LPC based muds in general or Dead Souls
mudlib in particular, you will find this handbook valuable in
orienting you around what you can do and how you can do it.
Keep in mind that this handbook describes the features of a mud
running an unmodifed version of the lib. The mud you are on may
differ somewhat, though probably not extremely so.
To advance a page in a chapter, just hit "return".
Let's start with just navigating this book. Once you are done
reading this chapter, you can read the next chapter by typing:
read chapter 2 in handbook
Make sure you wait until you are done reading this chapter,
though. The reason you should wait is that you are now in "reading
mode", which means that anything you type and send to the mud
is actually a command to the editing system that is displaying this
text.
To leave reading mode (or more accurately, pager, or ed mode)
you can hit "return" a bunch of times to complete the chapter, thus
automatically exiting the pager. Another way is to enter the
letter "q" (without the quotes) and then "return". That will also
make you stop reading.
When you are not in reading mode, you can find out the chapter
titles by typing:
read index in handbook
You really should read the whole thing, but in case you don't, the
chapter titles will help as a reference to find the information you
need.
Something to watch out for is that if you or your environment
contain another handbook, the mud may not know which one you are
trying to read. If you get a message like "Which of the two handbooks
would you like to read?", you can try one or more of the following:
read index in first handbook
read index in my handbook
read index in my first player handbook
Index
chapter 2 "Command Syntax: Doing Stuff"
Section 1: Manipulating Objects
----------
You've already noticed that Dead Souls, like most modern LP muds,
uses natural-like command syntax, like:
read first handbook
rather than:
read handbook 1
This is because Dead Souls uses a natural language parser. It isn't
perfect, of course. If you try to "put all apples from box in my bag after
opening them" you won't see much success, but this will work:
open box
open bag
get apples from box
put apples in bag
The parser will understand "the first box" or "my second bag",
assuming those objects exist in your inventory or in your environment.
If you want to know what is in the box, the command is:
look in box
The command "look at box" or "examine box" will usually *not* show
you the contents of that box. This is because normally, boxes are
opaque, and in the real world, just looking at a box is rarely enough
to see what it contains as well.
An exception to this rule are transparent containers (a glass
trophy case, perhaps) whose interior is always visible from the
outside.
Sometimes looking at an object reveals its contents because of
the nature of the object. A table, for example, can have things on it,
and typing:
look at table
...will usually let you know what is on it. It is also possible to
see what other players are carrying by just looking at them,
unless what they have is inside a container.
You'll want to remember that while you can "put apple in bag",
if you want to put that apple on a surface like a table, you'll
need to:
put apple on table
You can give things to people, and they will automatically
accept them. However, you may not "take" or "get" things from living
beings. It's theirs, and it's up to them if they want to share.
You can try to "steal sword from fighter" if you dare, but unless
you have trained a lot, this is unlikely to succeed. We'll talk
more about training and skills in a later chapter.
Naturally you may also drop things you no longer need, though
it's nicer to your fellow mudders (and the mud's memory) to put
them in recycling bins so the bits can be reused.
Some other common object manipulation commands are:
close, donate, attack, eat, drink, listen, smell, search,
shoot, touch, turn.
There are many others you may find useful, but these will be
the ones you use most often to handle simple objects.
* A note about articles:
The game understands both definite and indefinite articles.
This means that you can refer to a specific apple, like so:
get the apple
But you can also be unspecific. If there are a dozen
apples in a crate and you don't care which one you pick up:
get an apple from the crate
Section 2: Navigation
---------
Moving around here is probably much like any other mud. You
can expect to move mostly in cardinal directions (like north and
northwest), but you may sometimes need to go up, down, or out.
Strictly speaking, the way to do this is:
go south
go out
...and so on, but this can get tedious after a while. Instead
of having to type in "go" plus the entire direction, the mud allows
you to enter shortcuts like "sw" for "go southwest" or "u" for
"go up".
When you enter a room, very often you will see letters in
brackets above the room description, like this: [n, u, out]
These are the "obvious exits" of that room, and help you
quickly find your way around without having to go through each
description. But remember! Just because a room has obvious exits
doesn't mean those are the only exits. Sometimes a room must
be searched to discover an exit, or there may be an exit available
that just doesn't happen to be very obvious.
If a room is dark, obvious exits may not be visible at all.
Aside from those ordinary means of travel, there are situations
that require more specific locomotion than just "go". These are
examples of the use of some other commands to get around:
jump onto road
enter window
climb ladder
crawl east (if you are lying down and can't get up)
fly up
follow thief
evade hunter
Section 3: Armor
-------
Now that you can manipulate objects and move around, you'll want
to be able to defend yourself, should the need arise. The special
object categories of "weapons" and "armor" should help.
Armor is an item that can be worn. That means that a pair of
blue jeans is considered armor, and a suit of chainmail is considered
armor as well. Basically, if you can wear it, it's "armor", because
whether it's a lot or a little, it protects you.
Assuming you are humanoid, you have the following limbs:
head, neck, torso, right arm, right hand, left arm,
left hand, right leg, right foot, left leg, left foot.
Properly coded armor must be worn on the corect limbs. Usually
a command like:
wear chainmail
or
wear all
...will cause you to automatically wear armor where it makes
most sense. However, it is possible to find armor that,
for example, can be worn either on your neck or your torso, like
an amulet. If this is so, you'll need to specify where you want it.
There are various types of armor, like cloak, pants, glove,
etc. Many of them overlap. You can wear a shirt on your torso as
well as a cloak and combat armor, but you may not wear two of
the same type. If you have a robe and a cape that are both cloaks,
you'll have to decide which one is going on.
You will find that shoes and gloves are often for one of your
hands but not the other. Sometimes you will find shoes, or gloves
that don't care which appendage they occupy, but usually these
are simply incorrectly coded.
If you are of some exotic or non-humanoid race, you may have
additional limbs to consider, and humanoid armor may not work for you.
Section 4: Weapons
---------
You may be surprised to learn that almost any manipulable object
can be wielded as a weapon, or thrown as a missile. You can wield
a can of Spam and try to kill an orc with it...and you may even succeed,
if you are strong and tough enough. Don't count on it, though,
and instead go for items that are made specifically with personal
security in mind.
There are four main types of weapons:
knife: knives, daggers
blade: like swords, and spears
blunt: like clubs, staves, and shillelaghs
projectile: things designed to be thrown, like darts or grenades
Unless it is a special device or magical item, weapons
must be wielded in order to be of use in combat. Some weapons,
like staves or pikes, may require the use of both hands. If this
is the case, wearing a shield may not be possible at the same time.
Like armor, weapons differ in quality and effectiveness. A
"well-crafted sword" is probably a better choice than a "small
rusty knife", but then again, you never know. Maybe rusty knives
are exactly what some monster is most vulnerable to.
Note also that, like armor, weapons wear down with use.
Examples of commands that involve weapons or fighting:
wield sword
wield hammer in left hand
wield staff in left hand and right hand
unwield dagger
shoot gun at otik
throw dart at beggar
kill all (this makes an enemy of everyone in the room)
ignore first orc (lets you concentrate on the other orcs)
ignore all (don't fight anyone in the room, even if they are attacking you)
target boss orc (this makes you ignore attacks from anyone else)
wimpy 30 (this makes you run away if your health points drop below 30%)
Section 5: Miscellaneous Things to to with Things
---------
turn on flashlight
turn off flashlight
strike match
light torch with match
extinguish match
dig hole with shovel
move bed
search (by default searches the room)
search rocks
unlock east door with silver key
bait pole with worm
fish with pole
stop fishing
drop all
donate 2 silver
get all
get all from corpse
sell first right glove to otik
sell all to otik
buy sword from otik
buy 8 from otik (get Otik to sell you item number 8)
Index
chapter 3 "Your Health and Abilities"
In the previous chapter you learned the basics of getting
around and taking care of yourself. It's important also to care
*for* yourself, and this chapter describes the various aspects of
your body's state and what abilities you may have.
The command that tells you almost everything you need to
know is "stat". This diplays a whole lot of stuff, perhaps some of
it completely unfamiliar. Let's start at the top, using my output
as an example.
First line:
----------
Cratylus aka Cratylus the unaccomplished, level 10 male human Explorer
Here you see my short name, my name with title, my level, my
gender, my race, and my class. Let's go over each.
* short name: What a person would use to address you. "look at cratylus",
for example.
* name with title: This displays my title. Creators can have whatever title
they want. Players can only have the titles they earn. As a player, a
title is usually earned when you are promoted a level or complete a
quest, though it is not always so on every mud.
* level: This is a measure of your overall experience, expertise, and
all-around game status. Being promoted a level means your skills,
health, and vital statistics increase. This often means you can handle
tougher monsters, for example, or tackle more challenging quests, learn
new spells, and so on.
* gender: This has no effect on your status. It is a cosmetic feature
of your body that is only useful to you in the social context of your
fellow mud players.
* race: In the game, race has nothing to do with your local genetic
makeup on planet Earth. In the mud, "race" refers to what one typically
would call "species" in real-life. An example of a race other than human
might be "orc" or "feline". Not all races are available for players. Once
you have chosen a race to play, it is in theory possible to change it, but
there is a nonzero chance you'll hose up your player file and lose your
character forever. Besides, it's up to your local admins whether race
changing is permitted on your mud. Different races have different
abilities. Elves see better in darkness, for example. Orcs are stronger
than some other humanoids, but dumber, too (which does affect gameplay).
* class: This can be considered an occupational specialty. In the real
world you have plumbers, doctors, soldiers, etc. In the mud world,
we can have explorers, fighters, mages, and the like. Each class brings
its own unique advantages and disadvantages to your gameplay. A fighter
can really kick more butt in melee combat than a mage, but a mage
gets to cast powerful spells. Explorers are a middle of the road class
that gives you a bit of everything without specializing in anything.
Next line:
----------
Alive / Awake
It is indeed possible for your virtual body to cease life functions.
When this happens your spirit speeds off to the land of the dead,
where you drift until you decide to "regenerate" and regain your
physical form. Except for some special magical items, anything you
were carrying when you died is with that dead body, so it's a good
idea to rush your new body back to the scene of the fatality and get
your stuff back before someone else grabs it. Death is not only
inconvenient, it also incurs major penalties on your statistics, so it
should be avoided.
It is also possible to sleep. If you are drunk and asleep, your
injuries will heal more quickly. It's magic, don't worry about the
logic behind it.
If you are attacked while sleeping, you will wake up. You can
force yourself awake, too, but it's a bit tedious.
Next line:
---------
Health: 350/350 Magic: 560/560 Stamina: 400/400 Carry: 1184/1300
In each case, the number on the left of the slash indicates the
current level, and the number on the right indicates what the maximum is.
health: When I am 100% healthy, I have a total of 350 hp. If my hp ever
reach 0 or less (!), I die. Poison and illness can cause hp's to
gradually decrease, and although with time my hp's will normally
return to 350 as I heal, poison and illness can slow down that healing
or even cause me to die. Injury in combat is the most common source
of hp loss, though spells, falls, and other adverse events can cause
you injury or death.
magic: I cast magic missile! Spell casting takes a toll on your magical
abilities, and mp measure how much magic you've got left in you at
any given point. Like hp, mp gradually grow back to your max if you
avoid spellcasting for a while.
stamina: Fighting is tough work, and swinging around swords while
getting bashed with hammers really takes a lot out of a guy. Therefore
keep an eye on this stat while you're fighting, because if it gets too
low you will collapse and be unable to do anything for a while.
carry: Objects have mass, and your body is of limited size and strength.
My carry capacity is 0 when I carry nothing, and 1300 when I can
carry no more. Creators are allowed to exceed their bodies' carry
capacity, but players cannot.
Next line:
---------
Food: 0 Drink: 0 Alcohol: 0 Caffeine: 0 Poison: 0
These are pretty self-explanatory. Alcohol is good for healing,
bad for fighting. Food and drink also help speed healing. Poison
has the opposite effect. Caffeine can speed up your combat slightly,
but tends to prevent full rest.
You will not die from lack of food or lack of drink, but you
will do better with a body not starved for nutrients.
Your maximum load for any of these is not fixed, and varies
depending on many factors, such as level, endurance, etc.
Next line:
---------
Training Points: 0 Quest Points: 0 Experience Points: 50
Training points can be cashed in with special NPC's called
trainers, who can help you improve some skills. A trainer that
specializes in fighting might be able to raise your "blade attack"
skill, for example. you earn training points when you are
promoted a level.
Quest points are awarded when you complete a quest. They can
be used to up certain stats and at some point allow you to perform
a second soul modification.
Experience points can be awarded for various reasons: completing
a quest, solving a puzzle, winning a contest. Most often you
will receive xp after killing an NPC. The amount of xp awarded
will depend on the level of the NPC. Like qp, xp are needed to
qualify for level advancement.
Limb section:
------------
Remember how wearing armor requires the right body parts?
Well here they are, and this is their health. You can issue the
"body" command for a quicker self-check.
Let's look at what the numbers mean with an example:
left leg (2) 160/160
Obviously the first item identifies the limb in question.
The (2) is a kind of "importance score", indicating how critical
a body part is. If this number is (1), like the head, it means that
losing that limb causes immediate death.
The number on the right side of the slash indicates the hit point
damage you may receive on that limb before it is severed. The number
on the left is how many of those hits you have left.
It doesn't mean my leg has 160 of my hitpoints. If that were true,
my hit points would add up to a heck of a lot more than 350.
This means that if I've lost, say, 200hp fighting a troll, and
159hp of those hits were on my left leg, getting hit there again means I
lose my left leg.
I would then collapse and have to crawl away to seek medical attention.
Wearing armor on your limbs is a great way to minimize the danger of
this happening.
Skills section:
--------------
Let's review skills by examining one of mine:
blade attack (1) 00% - 20/24
This measures how likely I am to hit an opponent when I
use a blade, and how good a hit it was. The number (1) means
that this is a skill critical to my class. If an explorer can't
swing a sword, he oughta think about another line
of work.
The 00% means I have thus far earned no blade attack
experience toward achieving the next level of this skill.
The 20 is my current proficiency level.
The 24 is the maximum level I can reach at my current
player level and with my current stats.
What's all this mean? Well, if I practice a lot of blade
attacking, that 00% will gradually climb up to 99, and one more
point causes me to go from a level 20 slicer of things to a
level 21 slicer of things. This increases my likelihood of
hitting my target in the future.
Meaning, in short, practice a skill, and you'll get
better at it.
Of course, if my blade attack level reaches 24, I can advance
my blade attack skills no further until my player level rises.
Stats section:
-------------
These vital statistics measure your general giftedness in
that feature of your body. Let's look at one of mine:
coordination (2) 42/42
Coordination is one of those important stats for fighting and
such. The more coordinated you are, the more likely you are to hit your
target. The (2) indicates that this stat is important to my class,
but not critical. This influences its effect on my skills.
42/42 means that my coordination is not currently impaired. If
someone cast a "stumble" spell on me, for example, this might look more
like 30/42, and if I were drunk, it would look very shabby indeed.
New characters should avail themselves of the "customize" command.
When you create a character, you are assigned stats based on
random numbers modified by the race you choose. For example, humans
are physically weaker than other races, so you might have a
strength of 15 as a human, whereas a dwarf might expect something
like 42. On the other hand, humans tend to be quite smart, and so
your human character might have a high intelligence stat, and
the dwarf a substantially lower one. To balance out stats that
are grossly unfair, new characters are given 15 points to spend
to add to their stats. As a human with 15 strength, you might
choose to throw all your customization points into strength, adding
up to a whopping 30. Or you might choose to distribute points
among your stats in a manner most suited to your playing style.
For syntax and details, type:
help customize
Last section:
------------
"Cratylus has amassed a net worth of 11 credit." means that when you
add up the money in my bank accounts and the money I'm carrying,
converted to credit, I have 11 credit to my name.
"Money on hand: 5 credit" means that this is the amount of money I'm
carrying. Don't forget that the amount of money you are carrying
affects your overall carry capacity. Different currencies weigh different
amounts. Credits are very light so you shouldn't have trouble carrying
them.
Final notes:
-----------
"stat" is a great command to get thorough information about
yourself. It is, however, quite a screenful. Briefer reports can be
viewed with the following commands:
body
skills
stats
score
status
Index
chapter 4 "Soulboy"
The SoulBoy v7.204.4 is a personal data pad that displays pertinent
information about your status, current personal data and provides
access to mail and global networks. This wearable computer is given
to you as a new character and provides the ability to also modify
your soul.
The Soulboy has the ability to apply modifications to your soul and
change the way you behave in difference scenarios. The modifications
are written to your base DNA pairs and modify your soul which consists
of your memory engrams, and physical brain structure and cellular
makeup. After these changes have been made they will persist for the
rest of your life.
There are two types of changes that can be made:
Stats
-------------
Changes to your stats will make DNA and physical changes to your body.
For this you get a number of points you may apply to different areas
of your physical appearance and structure. Over time your stats will
increase naturally as you engage in combat or activities that affect
your use of each stat.
Peculiarities
-------------
There are many positive and negative peculiarities that you may apply.
Each peculiarity can either give you points or take away points. You
can use these creation points to boost your abilities. There is no
need to choose any peculiarities but depending on how much of a
disadvantage they are they will give you back points which can be used
to improve yourself. Initially you get 500 creation points to spend
on peculiarities. By choosing advantageous pecs you will deduct from
these points and by choosing disadvantageous pecs you will add to these
points.
The pecs are broken down into different categories and can be used
to perform modifications such as mutations (Perhaps Armored Hide) which
can help during combat. Other pecs will allow you to become a better
craftsman or chef. Through these pecs you can avoid having to visit
a trainer and in some situations you will be better at a task than
someone without it.
You may complete choosing pecs without spending all of your creation
points and they will be awarded back to you as credits so you can buy
something nice. You may not have a negative balance of creation points
when finished or you will not be able to perform the change. Doing so
would result in death which the Soulboy will not allow.
Index
chapter 5 "Quests"
Quests give you a chance to problems-solve by performing some
series of actions that satisfies a pre-determined requirement.
For example, the first pair of quests that are available to solve
are "Escape from Royal Oak" and/or "Savior of Royal Oak". These quests
allow you access to the broader mud and let you learn a bit more about
a few characters and find a way to help the town or escape from it by
dealing with a wraith who is terrorizing the town.
**SPOILER** If you want a hint speak to Sue, Walt, and Rusty like:
say Hi Rusty, can you tell me more about the wraith?
Nearby the Wraith there are quite a few rats and other nasties who may
attack you unprovoked. Because of this you should stop by Walt's shop and
buy a flashlight and a weapon (or a torch and match.) *HINT: Strike Match
By solving the quest you will get both quest points and experience points.
These quests both award you with quite a bit so you should try to solve them.
Also, save your money. Drinking and sleeping help you heal,
but not fast enough. By the time those natural processes finish
and you're ready for combat again, the rats may have gotten reinforcements.
So if you can afford it, buy healing potions and use them at the medical
center. His treatment is expensive, but you will heal much more quickly.
In the tragic event of the loss of a limb, Sue can also magically
regenerate a new limb...but obviously at some great cost.
Normally, spoiling quests like this is a bannable offense on
a mud, so if you solve a quest, keep it to yourself if possible.
Index
chapter 6 "Communication"
There are many ways to communicate with other players. If
you're in the same room as your intended listener, you can just
use the "say" command, like this:
say hi, crat
If the message is secret, you can "whisper":
whisper to cratylus are you idle?
If you want to say something that everyone in the mud can
hear, use the "shout" command (at the cost of a lot of stamina):
shout hey crat, wheredya go?
Or, if it's an important secret and the target is not in the
same room as you, you can use the magical "tell" command:
tell cratylus are you mad at me or something?
There are also special communication lines on the mud that are
class or role-specific. For example, if you type:
newbie does anyone know what's up with cratylus?
All people who are tuned into the newbie line will get
your message. To see what lines are available to you, type:
lines
To see who is listening to the newbie channel:
list newbie
To see who is listening to some other channel on some other mud:
list otherchannel@othermud
To enable or disable a line, just type the name of it with no message.
To see a brief history of the past few messages on a line (in
this case, the newbie line), type:
hist newbie
Spamming lines is rude and probably dangerous to your character, so
be sure you comply with your mud's rules on lines.
Your mud may be on the intermud network. To find out, type the
command:
mudlist
If a list of muds comes up, you know your mud is probably
on the intermud3 communication network. Dead Souls by default restricts
players from access to intermud channels, but you can "tell" to
players on other muds, if you want. If you think your friend Xyzzy
is online on a mud on intermud3, you can issue this command:
locate xyzzy
If he's logged into a mud on i3, you will get something like:
Xyzzy was just located on Frontiers. (idle 00:03:17) [status: inactive]
You can then tell to him:
tell xyzzy@frontiers dude, what's the deal with crat lately?
Sometimes a player or NPC does not understand your character's
native tongue. For example, if you are en elf, your native tongue is
not English, it is Edhellen. If someone talks to you in English, you
might see something like this:
Xyzzy says in English, "leka mifahmam, potong-hwa."
Since your character doesn't speak English, what you see is gibberish.
If you find a language teacher, your proficiency in the language they
teach you will allow you to understand more of the words you hear.
Suppose that your elf character is now 100% fluent in English.
If you greet a human player named Xyzzy by typing:
say hello there, xyzzy
Xyzzy will probably see something like:
Noobie says in Edhellen, "pericolo temak, forshtor."
Instead, if you want to speak to a human, you'll have to type:
speak in english hello there, xyzzy
To find out what languages you speak, type:
language
Index
chapter 7 "Note to New Creators"
The Creator FAQ and Coder Manual are extremely helpful. If you're
new to coding, or are only a builder, start with chapter 31. It'll
get you started with the Quick Creation System, or QCS.
The QCS is a simple way to create content without understanding LPC
code or if you just want to do simple updates.
Index
chapter 8 "Hints and tips"
* The "wimpy" command helps you avoid death due to inattention or
network lag. If you "wimpy 20", you will automatically try to escape
combat if your health goes below 20% of your maximum.
* "target" and "ignore" are extremely useful when fighting more than
one enemy. You should always target the toughest npc first, and
always ignore any npc who can't get up because their foot or leg
is severed.
But if they collapse due to exhaustion, it's a good idea to keep
beating on them, otherwise they may get back up and get healthy sooner
than you expect.
* Different races speak different languages. If someone says something
to you and you see no words in the same language as the rest of the
mud, it means they are speaking a language you do not understand.
For example, if you are an Morlock, and you ask Sue about Walt,
you might get something like this:
Sue Rodgers says in English, "embleer con boltehe oota goota nehi auch"
Even though in the real world you may speak English fluently, in
the mud world, you do not speak English fluently. As an Morlock, your
native tongue is Morlese, and you may find human speech incomprehensible.
If you find a trainer to teach you English, your skills in that
language will need time to improve. As you get better at a language,
you will see fewer gibberish words.
If you are a "newbie", this does not apply to you. A newbie is a
player at level 4 or below.
Newbies need all the help they can get just to survive, so they
are magically granted understanding of all languages, until they outgrow
their naivete.
If you are a student of languages in the Real World, you may
recognize many of the "gibberish" words used to represent a foreign
tongue. Your understanding of these words is not useful in the context
of the game, however, because they are not intended to convey meaning
other than "non-comprehensible words".
* Your ability to see is affected by various things:
- A room's ambient light level
- Time of day
- Local light sources (flashlights, torches, etc)
- Your race's light sensitivity
- Magical effects
- Exposure to an excessive-light event
It's important to remember that a room may be too dark for
you to see everything in it. You might be able to see the description
of a room with no problem, but it may be necessary for you to
light a torch in order to see the treasure chest there.
In the same way that darkness can impair vision, brightness
can do the same. An outdoor area in bright sunlight that contains
additional light sources can be just as hostile to vision as a dark
cave with no torch would be for a human.
Regardless of race, a sufficiently adverse event, such as
a bright flash or special spell, can render you temporarily blind.
As with languages, newbies have some exemption to light-level
limitations.
* Mages can wield knives but are pretty much helpless with any other
kind of edged weapon.
Index
chapter 9 "Stats details"
Stats are very important! Depending on the style of
play you prefer, different stats can be of more value
to you. Fighters may prefer strength, mages
may favor intelligence.
IMPORTANT TIP: Players start off with 15 stat points
they can add to their stats...so that if you find your
strength is abysmally low, you can raise it to where
your character is playable at lower levels. Don't
forget to type: help customize
About "stat classes": Depending on the race you choose at
character creation, your stat class will be something
in the range of 1 to 5. This is a measure of the stat's
typical priority for that race. For example, orcs are very
strong, and so not only do they usually start with a
high strength stat, their strength class is 1, meaning
that every time an orc has a level promotion, their strength
stat is also raised by 1. Humans, however, have a strength
stat class of 3, meaning a human player's strength stat
is increased by 1 only every third level promotion.
Deviation:Starting in Dead Souls 2.9a18, a player can choose to
"deviate" from her race's default stat classes. For example,
you *can* have an orc mage with a high-priority intelligence
stat. To do so, you use the deviate command to set your
stat deviation...meaning you're going to devote a certain
percent of the XP you earn to making yourself better at
some stats you choose. Naturally, the more you want to
change a stat class, the more expensive this will be in
terms of your XP deviance cost. For more information,
see: help deviate
Some notes on individual stats:
High strength means you hit hard when you're in combat,
but it also means you might be strong enough to perform some
tasks others cannot, like open very heavy metal doors.
High intelligence means you're able to learn things
better, quicker, like skill training and languages. It
means your training points do you more good.
High charisma means it's easier to befriend animals,
which is important if you want to, for example, mount
a horse:
befriend horse
mount horse
Agility and coordination are important for avoiding being
hit, and for certain special abilities like stealth,
lock picking, shooting, etc.
Wisdom is important for some types of spells.
Durability helps determine how much stamina you have...
this is vital to lasting through long combat or moving
quickly through terrain on foot.
Finally, luck is an all-around general good thing to have
lots of...some random situations may call for it, and just
like in real life, it's hard to know when it'll come in handy,
but boy can it mean the difference between win and fail!
Index
chapter 10 "Skills, teachers, and trainers"
General stuff
Stats are the physical attributes that let you do things.
Skills are those things you do. "blunt attack", for example,
is the skill that determines how good you are at using
blunt weapons in combat...while "blunt defense" is how
good you are at *avoiding* damage from such weapons.
"melee attack" and "melee defense" determine your proficiency
at unarmed combat, etc. It is very rare for players who
are not fighters to be able to physically fight without weapons,
by the way.
If the "skills" command does not list a particular skill
that means you don't have it at all, and whatever it is, you
are very, very bad at it. Mages, for example, usually lack
"blade attack" and "blade defense" entirely...meaning they
are utterly awful at fighting with swords and avoiding
swords in combat.
Some skills seem useless but are actually quite important.
For example, mages can cast a spell called "whip" which
summons up an energy weapon whose power can be devastating
if the mage is high-level. However, if the mage's conjuring
skill is low, the whip does not last long...meaning she will
have to keep casting this expensive spell frequently.
Skill levels, like stat levels, increase when a player's
player level is promoted, depending on the skill class. For
a fighter, "blunt attack" is a major priority, and so their
skill class for this is 1. For another class, it may differ.
If the skill class is a high priority, then the skill
improves more often when your player level increases.
There is no "deviation" command to manipulate skill class.
Emphasis on skill classes is what player classes (like
"fighter", "cleric", etc) are for.
Trainers
Trainers are folks that can help you improve your skills.
When your player level goes up, you are awarded "training
points". You use these training points by asking trainers to
train you on some specific skill. For example, a mage can
go to Radagast (east, south, up, from the town clocktower)
and: ask radagast to train magic attack
If you're a fighter, Radagast will not be able to help you,
since you do not already posess that skill. Trainers can
only train you in skills you already have some knowledge of.
Instead, a fighter might go to Roshd Burlyneck (down,
south, west, north, of the Ylsrim tower top) and:
ask roshd to train knife defense
At this point, a human player might run into a problem. Roshd
is an orc, you see, and speaks Tangetto. He can't train
you if you don't understand that language. This is where
a different kind of instruction comes in...
Teachers
Teachers are a special kind of trainer than can also teach
you things you did not already know. Typically this would be
a language teacher (like Bugg: east, east, east, north, of
the village clocktower), or a spell teacher (Herkimer: south,
west, south, of the village clocktower).
PROTIP: You don't have to be a mage in order to have
Herkimer teach you a spell. As long as you have some magical
ability, and have the money, he will teach you some simple
spells whether you are a mage or not. Mages get to learn them
free, however, and Herkimer saves some spells for mages only.
Trainers and teachers are where having a high intelligence stat
can really pay off. It takes fewer lessons to improve your language
or your skills if you have high intelligence.