Failing necromancer, need advice.

Started by Seithes, April 20, 2011, 10:27:37 PM

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AllMYBudgies

While I wont argue with any of the suggestions above, I will say that mechanics do not make a wonderful character and to achieve the goals you highlight in your post you need play a wonderful character. Rolling along crushing quests and not acting on your goals before you reach level X will not be in your favour. I suggest going for your goals, and acting as your character would act from the get go. We are roleplaying after all and moving from Evil necromantic wizard with a penchant for animating the dead to redundant wizard buff bot just rings untrue, at least to me. Make allies, create rivalry and enemies and get moving to fulfil your goals.

Select your stats and spells as they fit your character, we aren't playing World of Warcraft here. Flavour beats function in all situations and roleplaying your stats is a great place to start. Is your character physically weak but with a keen mind and a knockout personality? Is he old, young? Would it be in character to provide buffs and wardings for your team mates, or would you be more concerned with blowing up enemies and stealing their souls?

Try not to get too involved in the mechanical side of your character and focus more on how and why you will be aiming for your goals. This will, at least in my opinion, allow for a lasting and influential character that provides something more to the server than simply Buff bot x necromancer that fails at the first hurdle.

Good luck!

Seithes

Thanks everyone :D I have a much better idea of it all now. Lots of great info ^_^

I can't wait to get him started. Only thing I can think to ask now is..
 You guys have mentioned worshiping necromantic gods. Can anyone point me to a guide about deities? What benefits I'd get, how to worship one.. how to find these gods or related stuff in game?
Do I just look for it in the list in the OOC area and get a desc there? I went faithless last time so its total unknown for me.  

Also, I like the idea of jumping on IRC and asking but I'd probably never stop asking questions lol It's good here though, all these big explanations and I can re-read them :) honestly, I have a 7 phase plan and a text file called necro cookbook full of my ideas. I'd ask about details for all of em xD Dont wanna spoil the surprise though ;)

Seithes

I am all for developing my character and I am dying to roleplay an awesome evil overlord. However, its hard to be evil and badass when you just got owned by a rat :-/

Had several run ins, some due to my own ignorance others due to me being so weak. Also I had done stuff like writting my history in my description. Dont know what I was thinking lol. I just want to make him right so I can be capable of what I am looking for.

Underbard

There is a section in the forums with Information for new players which include a section on deities.

Egon the Monkey

QuoteHowever, its hard to be evil and badass when you just got owned by a rat :-/
This, this, a thousand times this. anyone who says "Build isn't important" is either A: trolling you, B: not very good at the game or C: Good enough at the game to be able to do well with anything half way capable, and can't remember what it's like to be new and make a 10 Con Fighter with weapon finesse and a bastard sword or something. As for stats, you do not have to have a paragraph long justification for every point you invest.

If you take one thing away from this thread though, take this:
You Need Supplies Too. Don't let the goons have them all. Even a mage wants a couple of strength potions in case they have to move a body. Blurs in case they get dispelled. Insulation for defence, even if you are invised, you can get hit by the AoE. And of course, haste. Buy some hastes, they let you cast twice a round and have more AC. That saves your spells for Blow Someone's head Off. Also hoard Negative Energy devices to heal your zombies with.

If you like the wizard play style, but want to be a bit tougher, I'd recommend a Cleric of Velsharoon. Between Magic and Evil Domains, you can play the PC with more offensive spells than "clobber him" attacks.

Generic Evil Wizard:
 14 CON and 16 INT are a good start. Buff Intelligence at L4 and 8.  Stick the rest of the points as you see fit, but DEX is quite useful for AC against shooters. Take GSF Necromancy for spell DCs and to make your zombies more powerful.  Take Extend Spell because it's really, really useful with Blur, flame wep etc. Maybe you'll want Spell Focus or GSF Conjuration if you like conjuring Spirits (mage summons) or Shadows (flank attack summons).

Invisibility is overrated, far better on many quests is to stay back, Blurred and be careful. As Drakill says, it is best to make sure you, personally have enough buffs and stun spells to survive spice or trouble.Plus, buffing and hiding in invis is boring. You can still heal visibly. A good mage has the right buffs and heals people. A REALLY good mage uses damage, Darkness, hastes at the right point, and stuns from loot or spells on top of that to make things easy.

If the enemy can't reach you through the fighters, it doesn't matter if they can see you. Just invis if something closes and locks on to you. Also, Blur and positioning leaves you able to cast offensive spells like Colour Spray, Burning Hands etc, which are very good if aimed well. Ray of Enfeeblement is also a good trick if you can hit a boss or tough monster with it.

Spell School: Necromancy means you can't cast Divinations so you want to hoard See Invisibility potions, wands, devices.

Drakill Tannan

A few spells i recomend:

Darkness is like mass improved invisibility + inmunity to ranged attacks for a few rounds. You can cast it in your tanks to give them a BIG edge over the monsters if they have ultravision, or you can use it to save them. Even if cast form a wand, 3 rounds of 50% conealment and no ranged attackers tends to save them. It also looks dark and evil- good for a necromancer. All that is aplicable to your mage. Darkness is 2x better with mass ultravision.

Color spray is another good one. If you cast protection vs your alignment your firends are inmune to it, and you can cast it over them, that is, from the safety of their backs, not having to risk yourself. If you are evil just cast magic circle vs evil as you would anyway because all enemies in quests are evil anyway, and you're good.

Thouse two are among my favorites.

I think i already mentioned it, but you want wands of invisibility, dakrness and hold person.
 
The first one can save you if things get very tough, allow you to walk near your buddies and heal them even if it's far too dangerous with blur alone, and also can save a tank who is getting raped in the frontline or that is running away from a mob. Egon, it's not overated.

Darkness is usefull as hell, as it can save your whole party, or give them a big, big edge even if only for 3 rounds. If you've got ppl with sneak attack in your party, they'll destroy everything.

Hold person is very usefull against many bosses. A few of them land criticals arround 50 damage, so 3 rounds of them not attacking is a huge relief. Even more, it's 3 rounds of your tanks attacking them, with sneak-attackers it can be enough to kill them. This is aplicable to any strong humanoid enemy, though. Ogres come in mind. It really, REALLY helps out. On PvP it might, the DC is low and the round duration low as well, so they are good, just not wonderfull, especially since you need to dispell PfE before using them.

You might want to get wands of hold monster if you get the chance. Very expensive, but can save you in a DM event if there is something big and nasty comming at you or your buddies.

I'm also fan of resist elements wands (or however the level 1 spell is called) They are cheap enough and save you and your friends from elemental attacks.

Avoid magic missile, negative energy and most ofensive low level spell wands. The DMs won't listen when i tell them they are worthless and useless, but they are. A cantrip wand or two MIGHT come in handy. I've heard players tell me they've killed DM event bosses with them, but honestly i've never found them usefull.

When it comes to alchemy

Many reagents can be usefull. If you manage to make alchemists fire, the ditto flame weapon can come in handy, just make sure you hand them out to the tanks, and tell them how and when to use them. chocking powder can also be usefull. Laughing gas and more advanced granede-likes are VERY usefull, should you get the recipie for them.

There are also ways of making summoning reagents that go +1 or even +2. I know there was one that allows you to summon undead +2 (so casting summon creature 3 would instead summon what summon creature 5 would) probably gone now, it was changed with the new alchemy sistem. But if something similar exists, you totally want to go for it. Howland says there are up to +3 summoning reagents. Get to level 11, summon creature 9. Shit yeah.

And then there are thouse items that let you cast unlimited cantrips. They come in handy.

etc.

PlayaCharacter

Quote from: Seithes;234789You guys have mentioned worshiping necromantic gods. Can anyone point me to a guide about deities? What benefits I'd get, how to worship one.. how to find these gods or related stuff in game?
What you are looking for is here.

Drakill Tannan

I think he means what IC action he should take to worship them IG.

If so, it depends on the god. But something you can do with all is to SPEAK. speeches atop the ziggurat or in the docks or whatever. But you can also follow the dogma. Jergal? DEATH TO ALL UNAUTHROISED NECROMANCERS, Velsharoon? Look down upon everything alive and speak about how undead is paradise, order, perfection, etc.

Ancient Mystery

In terms of survivability, you can't go wrong with downloading a character creator module and testing your builds out on monsters. EFU mechanics will be slightly different but you can get a good sense of what kind of feats/spells/skills work well together. This is the one I use. http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=3704 There is also a CEP version if you know what that means.

As a general rule I would say good RP > good Build (but you def want both if possible). The better you become communicating your character the more likely you are to find a minion who will kill rats for you or a DM that will give you the ultra-rat-slayer-10,000.

Remember you begin this game -very- weak and it will take a long time for you to become strong enough to go out on your own. Make friends with people who know what they are doing. Play an interesting personality and be a survivor above all else. If that means fleeing from even common dangers at times, swallow your pride. Someday I promise, you will make all the rats pay.