Sadistica wrote:Thanks for all the help guys, here is where I'm at after a bit of questioning and research:
Magery
Meditation
Musicianship
Provocation
I'm pretty sure I want my core to be built around this. I'm assuming this is going to be great running around in dungeons and for making money. Here is where I get a little hazy:
1) Wrestling - I've seen people mention that if I plan to take this guy anywhere outside of towns... I am going to need this to not be a speed bump for PKs. T/F?
2) Fishing - I never was a fisher, but it really does look interesting. Will I run into a lot of mobs? How do MIBs work? Will I be able to handle the spawn with provocation and EVs??
3) Eticement/Peacemaking - Are these worth having?
4) Lockpicking - I hear many make a fortune from this skill...? How?
5) Treasure Hunting - Exactly what skills are required to do this? I'm thinking just Cart/Lockpicking? Is that all? What else?
So for my remaining 3 skills I was planning:
Fishing
Cartography
Lockpicking
But I don't know if I'm trying to cram to much into one guy. PLUS, I'm not sure how important wrestling will be.... What do you all think?
I think I should be ok doing tmaps and out on a boat mostly....
Last questions first: I would recommend Wrestling on this character (not necessarily GM, but at least 50: 0 in any combat skills
guarantees that your opponent's attack will hit; 50 gives you a 25% chance of evasion; GM 50%).
I would also recommend at least 55, and preferably 75+ in Resisting Spells: you'll encounter Elementals at sea which cast spells (sure they can be evaded and sometimes Provoked away -- if you've anything handy to Provoke them onto ...), and fishing for MiBs can drag up sea serpents which also cast spells; furthermore, ALL Lvl2+ Treasure Maps will spawn spell-casting baddies (and the initial spawn is usually at least 4 monsters simultaneously: you can easily take 3+ Flame Strikes during the 10 secs that Provoke requires to cool down ...).
Your GM Magery + GM Meditation also lacks any Evaluate Intelligence, which is pretty much essential (PvM-only, 50-75 should be adequate: extra damage is just gravy;
avoiding the damage penalty is what is critical); you'll have great GHeals & Cures (if not constantly interrupted because of 0 Wrestling), and you'll be able to use Summons (EVs) to do some good damage-dealing, but GM Magery+Meditation w/ 0 Evaluate is a rather gimped combination, overall.
So, I would have to remark that what you are hoping for is, indeed, too much to expect from one guy ...
I do have some suggestions that might help make it work, but first I want to divert to your "1-5" questions; I promise I'll come back to this.
1) Wrestling: I've said my bit.
2) Fishing is fun and boring as hell and a pain in the ashcan to raise all at the same time: you will want to GM this; the only good thing about raising Fishing is that doing it will keep your entire account fed forever, and you'll even make a modest income. Mobs? Depends where you Fish ... I've been attacked by Sea Serpents fishing off the shore ... out at sea you will occasionally encounter elementals and sea serpents, and I think that's all (exceptin' pie-rats, yarr).
3) Enticement, no, Peacemaking, yes-and-no: when you start digging up level 3+ Treasure Chests, Peacemaking might be the only thing that keeps you alive when the spawn appears ... Excepting special situations like that, Peacemaking is not incredibly useful.
4) Lockpicking fortunes (without TMaps) are made in dungeons; like all dungeon-fortune-building schemes, you need to be prepared for the hazards. Many Rune Libraries, though, have Runes directly to the best dungeon LPicking hotspots.
5) TMap Hunting: once you actually
have GM in Cartography and Lockpicking, that's all you need (as long as you have enough Magery to fire off the 3rd Circle spell, Telekinesis, to spring the trap); to get your Lockpicking to GM, the easiest way is to raise Detect Hidden to at least 60, which will allow you to start cracking GM-Tinker chests at a much lower level, to get you to 95.0; then you drop Detect below 60 to use the same chests to help you approach GM (I think you need Lvl5 chests to actually make GM).*
*My UOSA THunter is only 97-98 Cartography and 95.0 (displayed) lockpicking, right now: what I am saying here is based on maybe-fuzzy recollections of what was true on OSI in-era (so the exact mechanics might be different here at UOSA; one of the vets can hopefully clarify this, as I am interested in this as well)
After all the crap I've said so far, take a look at nightshark's character (and potamus'), which he claims can solo any level of TMap: 0 Resist & 0 Peacemaking (also 0 Detect Hidden); so, this kind of build certainly seems to be workable, but I'm sure you've got to be very,
very good to make it work ... I'm wondering if these fellows are "sawlty-dawgs" only, and do not do (high-level) ground maps at all ...
Back to modifying your build, if you really insist on a MiB-TreasureHunter-Mage-Bard, this is the best I can recommend:
Stats: Str100/Dex25/Int100
100 Cartography
100 Fishing
100 Lockpicking
075 Magery
(EDIT: I can't condone this, after all; 90Magery)
050 Meditation
100 Musicianship
100 Provocation
075 Resisting Spells
(EDIT: to allow for 90Magery, this drops to 60; I don't like it)
This is a no-nonsense, super-specialized build that does nothing but recover MiB's and Hunt down Treasure Chests, and you'll need a supplier of scrolls to be able to cast your EVs (they will be just as good as GM-Magery EVs, except for reduced duration), and your buffs, GHeals & Cures will be a little weaker; on the water you can wear no (or next-to-no) armor, and thus have a great passive mana-regeneration rate, but whenever you actually need active Meditation, you will encounter big problems achieving it... 0 Wrestling means that you do not want to go anywhere near any place where anyone can even spell, "PK".
Personally, I think you should go with making 2 characters to fulfill two separate roles (if on separate accounts, a lockpicker can be idling Invisible on the deck of your boat, until you need to use him to crack open the chest your Fisher just dragged up ...).
I hope this artillery barrage is helpful.
SS
Regarding the template edits: you can't afford to fizzle your EV scrolls; a "Utility Mage" (75 Magery) can afford to fizzle Resurrection & Gate Travel scrolls, at least most of the time (remember that fizzling any scroll does NOT destroy it); so Magery has to be 85-90 to "guarantee" the EVs cast successfully.
Even for PvM-only, I really, really, really do not like 60 Resist, but you can't drop anything else, if you insist on one character wearing so many hats ...
SS
), and a complete pain in the butt for many PvM situations.