Alweon's Versatile Caster Newbie Guide

From MUME

Alweon’s Versatile Caster Newbie Guide

Can't decide between playing a Mage or Cleric? This guide shows you how to make just one character that can be a Mage, a Cleric, or a combination of both depending on how you adjust your stats and spells through training. By choosing a set of versatile stats right away, you can swap back and forth with very little time and effort. This guide also covers some basic leveling advice and caster tips. The target audience for this guide is newer players.

Easiest way to chat with me is on Discord (Snafzg#9135) if you have questions or comments.

Race and Base Stats

Play around with Jahara’s Stat Generator to get an understanding about how base stats affect different spells and skills. The generator is close but not perfect since we still don’t know all the math even after all these years. Base stats are the ones you choose at character creation and are not influenced by age or effect (spell, potion, wound, etc.).

The best races to pick for a caster are Elf, Half-Elf, and Man based on stats and racial bonuses. Elves have the best mana regeneration, disease immunity, and the ability to walk on snow. They also age the slowest, which means you can stay at optimal ages for longer periods of time (type ‘help age’ in game). Elves are recommended due to racial bonuses, but don’t let that stop you from playing Half-elf or Man. I don’t recommend Hobbit or Dwarven casters for newbies.

Here are the recommended base stats for each race:

Str:12 Int:19 Wis:18 Dex:11 Con:11 Wil:15 Per:10. (Elf)
Str:13 Int:18 Wis:19 Dex:12 Con:12 Wil:14 Per:10. (Half-Elf)
Str:13 Int:18 Wis:18 Dex:11 Con:12 Wil:15 Per:11. (Man)

We have chosen these base stats for several reasons:

13 strength allows us to wield an Engraved Broadsword (excellent all-around weapon) at 1st through 4th age without needing to rely on the strength spell (Cleric), which we may not want to learn in Mage builds (at least not until higher level). With a high Cleric level, the strength spell can get you up to 17-18 strength, which is great for wearing heavier gear, wielding bigger weapons, hitting harder in melee, and having better overall encumbrance. As an Elf, you can only wield the Engraved Broadsword at 2nd and 3rd age unless you pick up the strength spell or improve your strength stat through training (see below).

Max intelligence/wisdom were chosen as they are the most important stats for our spells, especially armour and shield (Mage) which boost our defense. These stats also help our offensive spells do higher damage, although many factors influence spell damage.

11-12 dexterity is not the most important stat for casters but it helps us flee combat more reliably and slightly raises our defense. Being able to flee before getting bashed and/or nuked can save us from taking a LOT of damage in PvP especially if spell armour drops. This is also important while fighting mobs, including supermobs (aka bosses).

11-12 constitution gives us a fair amount of hit points and movement points to work with. Hit points are important but being able to flee reliably and having a strong armour spell (Mage) that we keep refreshed is even more important. We also have access to cure spells, which allow us to quickly recover health at the cost of some mana.

14-15 willpower gives us pretty good mental spells and boosts our offensive Cleric spells allowing us to be versatile. It also helps with mana regeneration, reducing incoming spell damage, and resisting incoming mental spells. As a base stat, willpower improves many spells and skills we’ll utilize. Our mental spells can also be improved by special items that buff our spellpower (see Tips and Tricks section).

10-11 perception mainly allows us to hit at least 100% tracking skill (Ranger), which is important in both PvE and PvP. It also slightly boosts our Mage nukes, and is said to affect line of sight while trying to land spells on enemies in PvP. The sense life spell (Cleric) is recommended in a few builds below as it slightly helps with PvP line of sight in small skirmishes.

Build Ideas (Spells and Skills)

You specialize your character by training combinations of spells and skills at guild masters. Casters focus mostly on Mage and Cleric spells with a variety of basic Ranger skills. We also practice a few key Warrior and Thief skills, but not too many because it will lower the effectiveness of our spells. Some players choose to make melee-combo casters (e.g., Warmage), but that’s not the focus of this guide.

Depending on the build, we can improve or neglect our base stats through the train command to achieve maximum efficiency. For example, if we play a Mage that does not concern itself with mental spells like sleep, charm, or silence, then we can ‘train neglect willpower’ to ‘train improve constitution/dexterity’ to improve overall survivability. This is a more advanced strategy and isn’t totally necessary to have a viable character, so don’t feel like you need to do this. Training stats can take approximately a month real time but happens in the background while you play/rent.

These builds are what you want to achieve by level 26+ (referred to as Legend Level). We will look at how to train as you level up in the Leveling Guide section.

As mentioned above, every caster wants some basic Ranger, Warrior, and Thief skills. Here are the rough minimums to achieve by Legend Level. You don’t need to be exact and may prefer higher or lower depending on your playstyle. Experiment to your liking!

Ranger Skills
  • Climb - 66%
  • Command - *** only train if you want to charm pets (described in more detail below)
  • Ride - 85%
  • Swim - 66%
  • Track - 85% (if you aren’t into player-killing) or 96%+ (if you are)
  • Wilderness - 33%
Warrior Skills
  • Endurance - 1 practice
  • Parry - 1 practice
  • Slashing - 1 practice
Thief Skills
  • Attack - 1 practice (this helps us flee a bit better)
  • Picking - 25% (find some lockpicks and try to upgrade them a bit for improved picking)
  • Missile - 35% (optional for Cleric builds with blind spell)

Now let’s take a look at four newbie-friendly builds you might want to try.

Basic Mage

This build delves deeply into Mage spells and picks up the bare minimum of Cleric spells. It relies on stored earthquakes for solo XP and PvP and brings a lot of firepower to groups who like to hunt supermobs or explore the deepest, darkest corners of Arda. You can spy on your enemies, portal to move your allies across vast distances, and possibly surprise/trap your enemies in PvP. While this build has solo-play viability, it truly shines for the player who spends most of their time grouping..

Stat training recommendation (compare to your base stats by typing ‘inf %b’ in game):

Str:13 Int:19 Wis:18 Dex:12 Con:12 Wil:13 Per:10. (Elf) [-2 Wil, +1 Str/Dex/Con]
Str:13 Int:18 Wis:19 Dex:12 Con:12 Wil:14 Per:10. (Half-Elf) [No change]
Str:13 Int:18 Wis:18 Dex:12 Con:13 Wil:14 Per:10. (Man) [-1 Wil, +1 Dex/Con]

Mage Spells
  • Max - Armour, Block Door, Burning Hands, Colour Spray, Earthquake, Enchant (optional - see Focus Staff section), Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Portal, Shield, Sleep (optional), Store, Teleport (optional)
  • Around 80% - Locate Life, Scry (optional), Watch Room (optional)
  • Around 40% - Detect Magic, Shroud
Cleric Spells
  • Max - Sanctuary/Break Door (optional level 45+)
  • Around 85% - Breath of Briskness
  • Around 75% - Cure Serious
  • Around 40% - Bless, Create Food, Create Water, Cure Critic, Remove Poison, Sense Life (optional)

Charming Mage

Do you enjoy taking on challenges by yourself? Maybe you just prefer the company of beasts over people? If so, then this is the build for you! To make use of our pets, we must learn the command skill (Ranger). The more pets you have, the higher you will need the command skill to successfully command them (~90% for one pet, ~105% for two, etc.). Your command success rate is also determined by the level of your pets. Further advice on charm/command is in the Tips and Tricks section. This build focuses mostly on Mage spells, while getting the bare minimum Cleric spells.

Stat training recommendation:

I would lean toward leaving your base stats unchanged first to see how successful you are at sleep, charm, and command because lowering willpower could lead to issues. If you aren’t having trouble, you can try the Basic Mage recommended stats. Just train back to your baseline if things become a problem. Because this build is more solo-oriented, you will rely on the sleep spell to help split up enemy groups while leveling up or supermobbing so willpower is important.

Mage Spells
  • Max - Armour, Block Door, Burning Hands, Charm, Colour Spray, Earthquake, Enchant (optional), Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Shield, Silence (optional), Sleep, Store, Teleport (optional)
  • Around 75% - Locate Life (optional), Scry (optional), Watch Room (optional)
  • Around 40% - Detect Magic, Shroud
Cleric Spells

Same as the Basic Mage.

Basic Cleric

This build focuses on high level Cleric spells and brings tons of utility to groups through strong heals, buffs, and crowd control. Every supermob group will want you to join them! You can use bows to put out consistent damage against blind targets while leveling up (feel free to practice some missile skill - Thief). Team up with a tanky warrior and you have a fantastic leveling duo!

Stat training recommendations:

I suggest leaving your base stats unchanged for this build. You have the strength spell, so even an Elf won’t have issues wielding an Engraved Broadsword at any age. Plus your heals and buffs will make up for any lacking defensive issues. You also have the word of recall spell should the evil minions of Sauron gain the upper hand.

Cleric Spells
  • Max - Blind, Break Door, Breath of Briskness, Cure Serious (optional), Dispel Evil, Fear (optional), Harm (optional), Heal, Sanctuary, Strength
  • Around 75% - Cure Critic, Protection from Evil (optional), Sense Life (optional), Summon (optional), Word of Recall
  • Around 50% - Bless, Create Food, Create Water, Cure Blindness (optional), Remove Poison
Mage Spells
  • Max - Armour, Shield
  • Around 80% - Block Door, Enchant (only for focus staff then train off)
  • Around 50% - Detect Magic, Shroud (optional)

Charming Cleric

This build leans a bit more into the Mage guild and the result is a solo-powerhouse capable of taking on foes even in the depths of Moria. You still have plenty of group utility as well, so you aren’t limited to playing solo. You can pull off some fun things by casting sanctuary on your beefy pets, having them tank big monsters, then dropping earthquakes. You can also blind and shoot your foes while your pet tanks. There are lots of options with this build. Don’t forget to pick up the command skill to around 105% (Ranger).

Recommended training for stats:

I would again leave your base stats unchanged. I told you they were versatile...

Cleric Spells
  • Max - Blind, Break Door, Breath of Briskness, Cure Serious (optional), Dispel Evil, Heal, Sanctuary, Strength
  • Around 75% - Cure Critic, Protection from Evil, Sense Life (optional), Word of Recall
  • Around 50% - Bless, Create Food, Create Water, Cure Blindness (optional), Remove Poison
Mage Spells
  • Max - Armour, Shield, Charm, Store (optional), Earthquake (optional)
  • Around 80% - Block Door, Enchant (only needed to make a focus staff, can train off after)
  • Around 50% - Detect Magic, Shroud (optional)

Focus Staff

Please refer to the Staff, Gem and Focus guide for more details. To make a staff, we need the enchant spell (Mage) even if we are a Cleric. This can be trained off after we’re done with it to practice other things. There are two embedding combinations I would recommend for the builds listed above:

Rubellite, opal, chunk/bracer/bar - Basic Mage and Basic Cleric
Opal, corberyl, chunk/bracer/bar - Charming Mage and Charming Cleric

Making a focus staff can be challenging and time consuming, so don’t feel the need to remake a staff if you decide to swap to another build. At the time of writing this guide, the ability to dismantle staves is in the game. Type ‘help dismantle’ in MUME to learn more.

Leveling Guide

There are many ways to level up in MUME, so I won’t go into a crazy amount of detail here. Feel free to ask specific questions in game such as where to XP for your current level. Don’t be afraid to group with other people whenever you can because that’s the best way to gain knowledge about the game.

The nice part about our versatile build is that because a Mage is harder to XP at lower levels, we can level up as a Cleric with blind, heals, buffs, and a bow. Once we achieve level 18-20 we can swap to a Mage with charm and earthquake until we hit Legend Level. Once we’re level 26+, we can swap again and again to whatever we want! Using charm and/or earthquake is by far the easiest way to level up when playing solo, but there are many Legends who love to group, and it can be just as fast or faster with the right leader.

Levels 1-11

PRAY FOR A NEWBIE KIT! ;) Pick up the ride, swim, and climb skills (Ranger) to gather as many travel points as you can before focusing too much on gaining experience. I would then grab the missile skill (thief) and train more like a melee character in the early levels. Find a light shield with a decent parry bonus. Focus on small creatures for the early levels. Don’t forget to narrate and ask for help if you need it! Grouping will also be a huge benefit as you can chat and learn more about the game while you gain experience. Special tips: Aldereon’s Quest is a great one to start at early levels (check out Faine’s Guide) as you will gain some travel points along the way. Also use MMapper to look for areas off the beaten path or behind secret doors for bonus travel points.

Levels 11-20

Start training off your warrior and thief skills a bit but keep the missile skill. I would begin training Cleric spells, especially blind. You can solo more efficiently now, but group XP groups are also great as they love your blinds! Just pluck your bow string over and over on blind mobs for the win. You want to max your armour spell and shield too around the later levels.

Levels 20-26

Continue to group as a Cleric with your core mage spells or if you prefer to solo then train off most of your Cleric spells to pick up charm and command. You can still keep workable blind (depending on willpower and spellpower), breath of briskness, and cure serious spells, which speeds things up even more. At level 21 make your focus staff. You will need help with Old Man Willow so I hope you’ve been a nice little caster so far...

Levels 26+

Pick any of the core builds and have fun! I personally enjoy using a build with charm because it allows me to solo when I want and group when groups are available but it’s totally up to you. Good luck!

Equipment Progression Guide

As you will soon find out, there are many pieces of equipment that can be worn in MUME. I will offer some suggestions on how to progress from a basic set to a full set in this section. Equipment impacts our offensive bonus, defensive bonus, parry bonus, physical armour absorption, movement regeneration, mana regeneration, health regeneration, spell power, spell save, spell speed, spell cost, etc. That might seem like a lot to worry about as a newbie -- because it is! But worry not, you will slowly learn about these things as you play the game, ask questions, and do research on the Wiki or resources like Faine's guide. By the time you are Legend Level, you will understand many of these concepts. Even if it takes longer, gaining knowledge about the deep complexities of MUME is half the fun in my opinion!

Levels 1-10

Pray for your newbie kit and start saving gold for the following items (there are lots of things you can sell at shops, including equipment, herbs, furs and pelts, and even boats):

I would aim to wear a fine rigid leather armour set (just upgrade one piece at a time). Try to find a broadsword (defensive) or beorning sword (offensive) and ask someone to enchant it for you (while we must enchant our own staff, others can enchant our swords, bows, and arrows). Enchanting increases the damage and offensive bonus of a weapon. An enchanted longbow is a great basic bow (upgrade to yew, elven, or embellished as you level up to Legend as a Cleric) and aim for war arrows or ash arrows (normal arrows are fine until you find better ones). Silver-tipped arrows are the best, but you won't get those at low levels unless someone is feeling generous. A plain cloak (less dodge bonus) or forest green cloak (better dodge bonus and offers movement regeneration) are suggested. FYI - the russet cloak and blackened, ragged cloak offer the same bonuses as a forest green cloak. The progression for shields at this level would be large wooden < full wooden < full metal < cardolan < arthedain < gilded. Upgrade shields as you can afford them.

Basic Set

This is the basic set you want to work toward from levels 21-26+. If you die with better gear and are unable to recover it, this would be a good set to use to start earning the better gear again.

  • Sword - broadsword or beorning sword (enchanted)
  • Bow (if you blind) - longbow (enchanted) or yew
  • Arrows (if you blind) - ash/war arrows and a basic quiver
  • Shield - focus staff with parry embeds or cardolan/arthedain/gilded shield until you make a staff
  • Armour (option 1) - fine chain set, fine metal/black, padded boots/fine rigid boots
  • Armour (option 2) - fine metal set, great helm
  • Cloak - forest green/russet/ragged blackened or roughly stitched
  • Belt - plain
  • Other - basic lockpicks

Full Set

This is what I would consider to be a full set - the best of the best you can strive for.

  • Sword - engraved broadsword or one of the artifact swords from Wight Captain, Bill Bert and Tom, or Dragon
  • Bow - elven or embellished longbow
  • Arrows - silver-tipped and laced quiver
  • Shield - focus staff with recommended embeds
  • Armour (option 1) - shining mail mixed with fine mail, mithril circlet, fine metal/black, padded boots
  • Armour (option 2) - shining plate mixed with fine metal, mithril circlet/great helm
  • Armour (option 3) - coarse, dusky robe (from Magus for Clerics trying to maximize fear/blind)
  • Cloak - fine grey cloak
  • Belt - gleaming or broad silver belt
  • Ring - golden ruby or copper and icy or root
  • Wrist - archaic copper (if armour option 1), archer's (if using bow - must remove chain sleeves)
  • Neck - necklace and pale blue stone (from Guardian)
  • Other - upgraded lockpicks

In addition to gear you wear, you can also collect herbs for herblores, scrolls, rocks, and other items that can be used in various scenarios while you play.

Tips and Tricks

  • Check here for a detailed list of skills and spells
  • Get your focus staff at level 21 because it’s a total game changer. Even if you don’t have the gems yet, embed your metal items to buff the parry bonus. You can dismantle and embed the gems later (assuming dismantle is still an option).
  • Items with spellpower boost your chance to charm, blind, sleep, silence, etc. It boosts spell damage as well, but not by much. It also reduces backfire chance.
  • Use metal armour for quake-xping, fine/shining mail for PvP (gives you some absorb when your armour spell drops), and plain clothes if you want to be quick and agile (be warned you will take a lot of melee damage when your armour spell drops).
  • You can save lots of gold at low levels by using cheaper armour that is lower condition (e.g., well-maintained, aged) because as long as your armour spell is up, your physical armour will not absorb the attack damage.
  • Look for swords with a good defensive bonus (Faine has a great list of weapons) until you can get an Engraved Broadsword. You will spend most of your life on wimpy (help mood in game) and using as much defensive gear as possible. Unless you choose to play a max strength Cleric, then perhaps you can grab a warhammer or other such offensive item…
  • The vast majority of charmed pets will be aggressive to your allies. As long as you are the first person in the room (e.g., leading), your pets will not hit your friends. If you flee the room (leaving your pets behind) or enter a room with a player standing in it, your pets will attack the other player. This is a blessing when hunting down evil players.
  • You can not bring most pets into cities or friendly towers without the guards attacking them. This could get you wanted by the justice system. Instead, rest or sleep the pets outside.
  • LEGEND TIP - The Magus (supermob) in Dol Goldur loads a fancy robe that offers +20 spellpower for blind/fear, which is amazing for Clerics, especially those who want to reliably blind in PvP. You can keep it in your backpack and swap when needed.
  • LEGEND TIP - If you really want a reliable PK blind, you may also want to boost willpower by +1 through training in addition to acquiring the Magus robe.

Player Feedback

Please place any feedback below this line and include your character name if you want to help improve the guide. Additional Tips and Tricks are also welcome. Thanks for reading!

Retrieved from "https://mume.org/wiki/index.php?title=Alweon%27s_Versatile_Caster_Newbie_Guide&oldid=7236"