Ghost: Is this how it is?

[smart86]

Ghostly Pranks

Going into War mode while in a ghostly state causes you to "manifest" as a gray figure in the mortal world. Trying to manifest oneself is quite a tiring task for a ghost, so it is no surprise that fatigue sets in very shortly. Once fatigue points are exhausted, your manifestation automatically ends.

Manifestation has been known to strike fear in the hearts of NPCs. No one besides other ghosts and someone using the Spirit Speak skill can understand your speech while you're dead. While manifesting, anything you say is automatically translated into ghostspeak as "Oooooh." Ghosts are immune to traps! For some fun, lure a gullible human into a trap. Ghosts can call guards in town. This can come in handy if you're murdered by a one-shot surprise attack. Ghosts can also ask Town Criers for news. Ghosts of criminals or murderers still highlight gray or red. This can be handy knowledge when deciding whether to raise a passing ghost.

Death & Resurrection

When you die, you are immediately presented with a choice. You can wander as a spirit in search of resurrection, or you can resurrect yourself instantly. The second option seems more attractive on the face of it, but it comes at a cost-you can lose up to twenty-five percent of your skill and attribute values. A single quickie resurrection can literally undo months of hard role-playing.

Newbies have an advantage in that instant resurrection cannot lower attributes or skills below the point the character started with. The loss of whatever trivial experience you have earned is not nearly as crippling as the loss of your equipment would be. Just be sure that whatever killed you has moved on before you raise yourself and start to recover your belongings. Sometimes, particularly in heavily overgrown terrain, a monster or creature will linger over your corpse for minutes that can seem like hours, bouncing off the surrounding scenery. In this case a rather extreme tactic that sometimes works is to resurrect yourself and immediately make a dash for an open area. Just remember that you have a finite maximum number of instant resurrections per day.

For more experienced characters, instant resurrection is a crippling experience. It should be avoided except when you have an item you absolutely cannot lose, or a schedule you absolutely must keep. This assumes, however, that appropriate precautions are taken.

http://guidesarchive.ign.com/guides/10597/pg5.html

[the bazookas]

Ahh the instant res; was always hilarious on OSI when you PKed somebody and they kept insta-ressing (almost certainly not knowing how they were ripping their character apart)... when I think back on it, it was probably the worst possible thing that you could do to yourself.

People have asked about it; I don't actually know what the current resolution on it is (whether you can turn on the option or not)
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3233&view=next

Also, people have brought up the ghost manifestation wearing off part (I don't know about the NPC's being frightened by ghosts part). I also am not aware of whether there are plans to make it the way you described (I remember manifestation wearing off too in-era)

I'm rambling... basically to sum up: it has been brought up, and I don't know what the current resolution is. If you care to search the forums, you can probably find out.

[LKP]

If no one can understand ghosts, and NPC's are afraid of ghosts, how can they call guards, hmm? Also, ghosts can't say the letter "h." That part is patently false.

But seriously folks, I remember insta-res had an option in the menu as to whether to even show that gump. I think most people who knew what it did turned it off immediately. It should say, "would you like to lose a bunch of skill points and then die again immediately?"

I'm against adding insta-res, even if it is era-accurate. Veterans won't use it as intended. Newbies will use it and then be pissed when they figure out they just lost all their skills. Someone will figure out a way to break into houses with it. It has the potential to complicate IDOCs and likely some other things I haven't thought of yet.

Ghosts scaring NPC's and "manifestation points" seems harmless enough.

[Faust]

Ghost mechanics can be stripped from the demo.

[smart86]

Demo != All answers

[Faust]

Demo is the foundation to all answers.

The code is an exact replica of the way UO was in mid '98. There is no resolution to any problem or construct without a foundation to build from for it. Demo is actually a perfect source for ghosting due to the fact there were very little changes to the ghost mechanics in the history of UO as a whole.

[rwuser]

Oh man! I totaly forgot about this choice/ability! Thanks for bringing up memories of being a newbie

Was it era accurate on Oct/Nov 99?

AFYI: and yes the demo is the foundation of future era accuracy attempts, because if you note the obvious discepancies (Which im pretty sure Derrick is aware of) from things at the time and then build up a list of all the patch changes/notes since the exact date of *that* server build you can basically get T2a within a 99.99% accuracy range.

The rest is up to the person programming it to try and replicate the timings.