Newbie Guide NPCs and Mobs

Newbie Guide NPCs and Mobs

This guide written and published by p(Baca/Endo)

“It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would rather have stayed there in peace.”

JRRT, The Two Towers

This guide is about NPCs and types of mobs and how to interact with them or their common tatics.

Many parts of this guild reference to the MUME help pages which can be found at: https://mume.org/help/help_index

Bold words can be looked up in the games help files. Like help mobile.

NPCs (Non-Player Characters) are game controlled mobs you can sometimes interact with or are just there as part of the games setting. Mobs (mobile) is the word commonly applied to any animal, creature, plant, or monster that is a potential target of combat.

Types of NPCs

Non-player characters is the general term for game controlled characters as opposed to player characters controlled by other players. A majority of NPCs are there to fill out the games setting, like citizens in a town: an elf, a child, a dwarf, a drunk hobbit.

Do not attack or steal from any of these NPCs if they are in a town. You might get arrested and lose your citizenship, and be ordered to go to jail.

Many NPCs in MUME are racist, and only help players of certain races. For example the dwarves of Blue Mountains or a Dunland shop. But many of them can be used by most players or those with a citizenship in their town.

Named NPCs

Several NPCs in the game are important or based off the books and have a name with them. Several of these NPCs can provide a service as well.

• Examples are: Barliman, Cirdan, Elrond, Beorn, King Thrain, Celeborn, Farmer Maggot

Service NPCs

Many of the NPCs in the game can provide a service to you as a player. Some of these NPCs have hours that they are open, and could be closed when you show up. They will let you know what their hours are if you try to interact with them. Other NPCs are open 24 hours a day.

A few uncommon NPCs might offer MORE then one service... say they are a shopkeeper AND a quest giver. Or they are a guild master AND a quest giver.

Innkeepers

These mobs help you rent and save your character. If you do not use one, you will be in linkless rent which is MUCH more expensive and you will run out of money much faster.

Commands at Innkeepers: offer, rent

Stablehands

These mobs help you rent your mounts and pets. And you can get your mounts and pets back out of rent by trading a ticket in. There is a small fee to get a mount or pet back out of rent.

Commands at Stablehands: rent <mount>, trade ticket

Tour Guides

These mobs will help to show you around some of the major towns in the game. They will tell you about the shops and guilds in the town if you take a short tour. Here's some tour guides to look out for:

• Grey Havens (Harlond) = Curiful
• Bree = Janice
• Fornost = Fardur
• Lorien = Randir
• Blue Mountains basement = Thurn

Commands at Tour Guides: follow

Guild Masters

These mobs help you check on your skills and practice making your skills better. You can also ask them about help with any skills that they offer.

Commands at Guild Masters: practice, practice <skill>, ask <ranger> help

Secretary

These mobs will let you know your citizenship status in a particular town, or help you get a citizenship in that town. Like if you need to do a quest, or if you need to spend some money. You can also turn in wolf furs and warg furs at them for a little bit of silver.

Commands at a Secretary: citizenship, pay secretary, give secretary fur

Gateguards

These mobs can let you into a closed city IF you are a citizen in most cases. Some gatekeepers might let people in even if they are not a citizen. If you are inside the gates, you need to 'say open' and if you are outside the gates you need to call. Maybe some gateguards will even take a bribe. The following cities have gateguards: Bree, Fornost, Buckland in the Shire, Tharbad, Blue Mountains, Ingrove. Even some smaller villages and outposts can have gateguards as well, like Aldereon's Village.

Some fortresses and towers that are often involved in the War also have gateguards. If you call outside, they will let you know if it is controlled by your side or not.

Commands at Gateguards: inside 'say open', outside call, bribe

Young Rangers

These mobs help low level players out in several ways. If you are thirsty or hungry, they will give you food and drink. They wander the roads between major cities. Say on the road from Grey Havens to Tower Hills, or from Fornost to Bree. You can join them on the road for the journey just by following them. They will often explain a crossroads, or directions to near by towns.

There are other Rangers you might see around, like hardened rangers or patrolling rangers. They are there to help look out to see if there are any trolls or orcs about. All rangers will yell to let you know if there are any orcs or trolls in the area.

Commands at Young Rangers: just show up hungry or thirsty, follow

Quest Givers

These mobs can offer a quest. Quests often come with various rewards such as: citizenship, herblore recipie, gold or silver coins, equipment, experience points (xp), travel points (tps), increased language knowledge, and more. For a majority of quest givers you need to agree to do the quest. This is often done by saying yes or nodding, or nod at them. Some quest givers might require you to say something else, use an emote, or even have an item for them that they want. Some quest givers have multi-stage quests that you need to visit them more then once. Each time you complete a step, they might offer a new one.

Commands with Quest Givers: 'say yes', nod, give, and use the quest log

Shopkeepers

Some shops only sell items, many of them also buy items. Some shops in the game you will use very frequently, some almost never. They are extremely common in any towns and villages, and may even be found outside of them as well. They can help you purchase some gear you might need like a lantern, rope, saddle, or flask of oil. Or you can earn alot of silver and gold coins by selling to them.

Examples of shopkeepers are:

grocers, general shops, weaponsmiths, armoursmiths, bakers, butchers, fishmongers, tailors, jewelers, herbalists, boat captains, and many more!

There are also specialized shops called Pet Shops where you can buy pets to assist you or mounts to ride.

Commands with Shopkeepers: list, value, mend, buy, sell, compare, show

Cooks

The 3 main elf towns (Grey Havens, Rivendell, Lorien) have cooks in them that can provide you with food and drink. Just enter the cooks room hungry OR if you are in the room say 'hungry'. They will get you some food and drink in a sack to help out. Very handy at lower levels for help.

Commands with Cooks: 'say hungry', enter while hungry

Transports

Several NPCs in the game are there to help you with using the games transport options. These include ships, boats, ferrys, and coaches. They can help take your tickets or money for a ride, or operate the boat for you. For the coach simply enter with a ticket. Some of the ships and ferrys are free and don't require any payment.

Commands with Transports: board, enter, leave

Guards

These mobs defend a village, city, or town from attack. If you are an enemy and enter they might attack you. If you are a citizen, they can assist you if you are attacked. If you break any laws in the town, they will take away your citizenship and they warn you about being arrested. They can even take you to jail. Guards will often also yell if a town is under attack to let anyone in the town know danger is about.

Commands with Guards: follow (if they are trying to arrest you)

Citizen Mercenary

These mobs are looking for work... of the violent type. They will follow you and assist you in combat if you pay them, and pay them often. Citizen mercenaries are for hire in Fornost, Bree, and Tharbad. Be careful not to attack them because you will not be able to hire any of them for a while if you do.

Commands with Citizen Mercenary: many commands, please see the help file Mercenary

Types of Mobs

Mobs or mobiles represent all of the computer controlled animals, creatures, monsters, and others. Mostly you will be interacting with attacking and fighting these mobs in combat. The few you do not attack are talked about in the NPCs section of this guide.

The mobs will be broken down and described by their level, types, tactics and strategies. This guide will also strive to include a few examples of the types of mobs being explained.

Critters

These mobs are mostly there to help out the setting of the game. They are often used for very low level players to gain some small, but quick and safe xp. The vast majority of them are not aggressive and often flee from combat. Almost all of them are between levels 1 and 3.

• Examples: rabbits, sparrows, cockroaches, tiny spiders, frogs, and many more birds and bugs

Mounts

These are mobs you can ride and lead around. If you have some ride skill, you will be more efficient at doing so, and fall off less. Shorter player races such as hobbits and dwarves should focus on shorter mounts. These mobs tend to have decent moves and can carry alot of weight.

Check out help mount

• Examples: ponies, docile horses, pack horses, mules, trained horses

Pets

These are mobs you can purchase from a pet shop. Once you purchase a mob as a pet, it has a 'shop charm effect' letting you interact with it as if you had cast the charm spell upon it. This charm effect is broken if you ever attack them or ride the mob. You also need to group them to benefit from the charm effect. Practices in the Command skill will help as well.

Check out help pet

• Examples: little dogs, falcons, pigeons, cats, several mounts

Alignment of Mobs

Mobs all have an alignment, just like players do. You can see you alignment when you type info. Mobs tend to show up along the following lines of alignment, and I'll strive to give examples of each. You can actually see SOME mobs alignment with the spell Detect Evil. The man subrace of DÚNEDAIN actually have a permanent Detect Evil spell effect active. But anyone can learn this low level cleric spell.

If a mob is good alignment or neutral alignment you will get no information. If the mob is slightly evil or very evil, you will get a (red aura) after the mob's name.

Here is a general scale of alignment of mobs:

• Very Good = many elves, hobbits and free men
• Slightly Good = some men, hobbits and dwarves
• Neutral = the majority of animals, plants, and crazed dwarves
• Slightly Evil = several aggressive animals like cavebears, and some thieving men like ruffians and bandits
• Very Evil = orcs, trolls, and most undead

Slightly evil mobs and very evil mobs both show up the same way with the Detect Evil spell. (red aura)

• If you kill mobs that are slightly evil or very evil, your alignment will generally become more good.
• If you kill mobs that are slightly good or very good, your alignment will drop QUICKLY.
• Neutral mobs really don't have much of an effect either way.

Aggressive vs Passive Mobs

Some mobs just let you pass by, some mobs aggressively attack you. The majority of aggressive mobs are slightly evil, very evil, or some are neutral.

Some mobs are aggressive to everyone. They attack all players. Boars attack dwarves, hobbits, elves, men, orcs, and trolls. They are very aggressive.

But some mobs are selectively aggressive. They only attack players of some races. We'll use troll mobs as an example. A majority of troll mobs will not attack troll players, but DO attack any other player races. A few troll mobs also do not attack orcs. Another example is that most bear mobs do not attack player Bears, but often do attack other player races.

So aggressive is fairly heavily dependent on which race you are playing.

Unique or Very Rare Mobs

Mobs that are unique or extremely rare deserve a mention because they are very good for your trophy. Type trophy to see a list of the record of all the mobs you have defeated. Mobs that are unique, where there is only one of them in the entire game are great for your trophy. They will tend to give you more XP per kill. Very rare mobs only have a few of them in the game, very similar. Almost every mob in the game that is named, is a unique mob.

• Examples are: Bill Ferny, Eoggha, Big John, Mrak orkish shaman, Hillman chief, Barbaras, Halamor's ghost

Common mobs on the other hand, tend to quickly pile up numbers in your trophy. Maybe boars, grey wolves, large bats, or slithering snakes. You very quickly get less and less and less XP per kill. As you knowledge of the mob grows, the XP decreases. Check out help trophy for more information.

• Examples are: large bats, giant rats, grey wolves, vines, boars, black fungus, slithering snake

Supermobs

Supermobs are difficult, and a serious challenge to attempt to solo them. Most supermob mobs are not even close to soloable at all. Supermobs are often much easier with groups. Some supermobs are themselves solo, but many often come with a few guards. In the game there is some what of a ranking of what makes a mob "super" or not. I will split them up in to a few different categories here.

If someone is asking to group, it is often because they are wanting to take on some of the lower tier or upper tier supermobs. These mobs tend to give very good xp, and many of them have good loot, coins, gear, items, keys, or could be for a difficult quest.

Not Quite Supermobs

These are just challenging mobs that have a trick or two, but anyone well equipped or higher level should be able to handle them. For the most part, most players do not consider them super mobs. But these mobs can be difficult at lower levels, or even kill a newbie player.

• Examples are: chief of smugglers, Big John, Bill Ferny, spine-bushes, grey spider, Witch, gilded ghost, experienced trapper, bandit leader, Outcast, Cinard

Low tier Supermobs

Some of these many players would say are not full supermobs. They possibly soloed by different classes. Or are not much of a challenge for group of 3 level 21's, with good gear.

• Examples are: Nagrorh, Morthan, Spirit Knight, BM spiders, Tall Orc, Overseer, ancient warg, Mystic Ring, bandit ringleader, Maladril, Ohurk Chief

High Tier Supermobs

These supermobs are extremely difficult or impossible to solo. They could be done with a group of 3 level 26's with good gear that know what they are doing, but that would still be a challenge.

• Examples are: Old Man Willow, Kraken, Chief of Tharbad, Master Assassin, Death Knight, Sage, Wightlord, Dragon, gnarled oak, Beorn, Bloodwight

Categories of Mobs

These are general categories of mobs in MUME. You will notice some patterns while you play. Some groups of mobs share keywords, so you can use that to attack or interact with them.

Some categories of mobs are affected by spells differently, I'll try to describe some of that for each group. So you could get a message like this when trying tactics against them:

• A giant spine-bush is unaffected by your spell.

Mounts and Ride-able

This is a grouping of all mobs in the game that allow you to ride/lead them and use the Ride Skill.

• Example of good mounts: donkey, pony, mule, pack horse, docile horse, trained horse, warhorse, dales pony, Rohirrim

• Example of evil mounts: hungry warg, brown wolf, slavering warg, dark steed

Animals

This is a huge list of mobs in the game, from a level 1 butterfly all the way up to a level 11 pack leader of wolves, and more! You can use the keyword: kill animal Or even set an alias for it, it can save alot of typing.

All the following skills or spells work on animals:

• backstab, charm, blind, smother, fear, sleep, and many others

• Example of animals: wolf, bear, boar, snake, lizard, badger, rat, lion (kill animal)

• Example of birds: sparrow, falcon, eagle, vulture, crow, raven (kill bird) (kill animal)

• Example of fish: trout, bass, sturgeon, eel, pike (kill fish) (kill animal)

Plants

Plant mobs include fungi as well. For the most part, most plants do not move very much. But some vines are able to move around in a forest. And root plants will try to grab you and pull you back into their room as a type of ensnare. Trees tend to be tougher or higher level mobs then some other plants. Some of them take more damage from fire spells.

Plants are immune to some spells:

• blind, smother

• Example of plant mobs: roots, vines, fungi, weeds, bushes, shrubs, meancing tree (kill plant)

Insects and Spiders

Spiders were featured in several of Tolkien's books, and abound in MUME. Most spiders in the game can bite and poison you as a 'bonus' attack. Some other insects can poison you as well. Some high level spiders resist blind spell.

• Example of insects: swarm of hornets, hummerhorn, queen bee, giant termite (kill insect)

• Example of spiders: tarantula, water spider, black widow, grey spider, huge spider (kill spider)

Undead

This is a large group of mobs that are somehow the dead alive again. They can have a body or be corporeal like a skeleton or a wight. Or they can be a hazy spirit, ghost, or wraith. The are often more challenging then most mobs, and sometimes have higher defenses. They tend to take more damage from the spells colour spray and dispel evil.

Undead are immune to some spells or effects:

• smother, bash (spirits/ghosts), wounds

• Example of undead mobs: skeletons, spirits, ghosts, shadows, wights, haunts, shades, wisps, wraiths

Humanoid

This is a large group of anything with 2 legs and 2 arms and a head. One very annoying thing humanoid mobs can do is after around level 15 or so, the mob can start leaving a guardian shadow when they die. This will prevent you from being able to loot their corpse.

All the following skills or spells work on humanoids:

• backstab, charm, blind, smother, fear, sleep, and many others

• Example of humanoid mobs: elves, dwarves, hobbits, men, orcs, trolls, goblins

Locomotion and Movement

Mobs can be described by their different types of movement and locomotion. Some mobs swim, climb, fly, or ride. Other mobs are notable because of how they wander in areas or do not wander. It can really effect some strategies you will have in trying to over come them. Or the terrain where you will have to battle them.

Climbing

Very few mobs in the game can climb up or down exits. This is sometimes a useful strategy since most mobs cannot follow you past climbable exits.

• Examples are: spiders, slavering wargs

Swimming

Most of the swimming mobs are fish, other aquatic creatures, or scary monsters of the deep. Swimming mobs can only move in water rooms, underwater rooms, and occasionally marsh rooms. Most mobs cannot swim, so it could be useful with some escapes.

• Examples are: many common fish, eels, sharks, watersnakes, water spiders, water serpent

Flying

Flying mobs tend to have very good moves, can fly over any difficult terrain, such as mountains, fly over water, such as rivers, and fly up and down climbing exits. This over all makes them some of the best movement mobs in the game. Many flying mobs also flee alot, such as little birds like sparrows and finches.

• Examples are: eagle, falcon, bats, vulture, ravens, crow, sparrow, finch, hornets

Stationary

These mobs stay in one room, and do not wander around. One benefit is it makes them easy to find. Some of them also do not flee from combat, making it easy to come back to if you fled from them. Stationary mobs over all are somewhat easier to defeat in combat simply because of logistics. It is easier to plan the combat out, and opens up some of your options.

• Examples are: fungi, roots, bushes, some giants and trolls, few humanoids, rattlesnakes

Wandering

Some mobs walk about, somewhat randomly, but in a certain area. Like a bat flying around a cave or a wolf hunting in a grove of forest. They often do not wander far from this set area. But there movement withing that area can often seem random. Some mobs only become wandering mobs after the mob they are following is killed.

• Examples are: boars, bats, slithering snakes, grey wolves, sleuthing orcs, black bears, vines

Following

Many mobs in the game follow a leader mob. This leader mob directs where the group or pack go. Once they leader mob is dead, the following mobs often either become stationary mobs OR can become wandering mobs. A couple of bandits could be following a thug. A few wolves could be following a pack leader wolf or a great werewolf. Some orc soldiers or orc scouts could be following an orkish patrol-leader and so on.

• Examples are: boar cub, elk cow, wolf cub, orc soldier, mare, sheep, and occasionally many other mobs

Sneaking

Sneaking mobs are more difficult to see, and you can often not even know they are there. You might might notice something, not see them at all, or maybe even see them. Several things in the game affect how well a mob sneaks. The terrain affects it, such as dense forest are easier to sneak in. Having a high Per score, pracs in Awareness skill, or the spell Sense Life can all help.

• Examples are: moles, thieves, vipers, goblin scouts, robbers, hardened rangers

Mounted

Only a few mobs in the game are mounted. Mounted mobs don't have any real advantages and take extra damage from anyone wielding a spear (spears are effective vs mounted opponents).

• Examples are: Dunland outriders, warg riders, wolf riders

Sleeping

Sleeping mobs have several disadvantages. Sleeping mobs can't see you. They are often easier to bash. They are generally easier to backstab and have lowered spell resistance. They also have -50% DB for the first attack against them. And the first hit vs a sleeping mob does a little bit of bonus damage.

• Examples are: brown bear, tawny bear, cavebear, and a few others

How to Deal with Dead Mobs

So you are alive, but now they are defeated, dead, or some type of corpse... now what? Here are some options for what happens next. For a majority if mobs, you'll probably just move on and try to survive against the next one. Or just grab some quick coins, if there is any to be had. But some mobs can mean dinner time!

Looting Mobs

Once a mob has been defeated, you now have access to it's equipment and inventory. You can loot whatever you'd like from the corpse, such as coins, shields, cloaks, weapons, even boots!

If you loot a mob and try to wear some gear, there is a very good chance it might not fit you, because you are a different size. This can be fixed by taking it to a tailor or armourer and typing resize.

Try some of the following commands:

get all.coins all.corpse, get shield 2.corpse, get sword all.corpse, get bow 4.corpse, get belt corpse

Butcherable

This is not so much a type of mob... as it is a type of corpse. Many corpses in the game can be butchered. Most commonly for meat, and after that pelts and furs. Some mobs can be butchered for other items.

• Examples are: many animals and fish (meat, pelts, furs), vines (rope), bushes (sharp thorn), some snakes and spiders for venom sacks, briars (?), some mobs may butcher for quest items or even gems!

Quests and Keys

Varied different mobs might have a key that loads on them. The key is often for an exit or door or chest that is near by. Some of the keys are no-rent, you can't save them for another play session later. A few keys decay after a time, and turn to dust in your inventory. Rare keys are one shot use only, and break upon use. They may even load very odd items that do not seem like keys at first, such as a branch, root, gem, or rod.

They may also load a quest item that you need to turn in to a quest giver somewhere. It could be a book or tome, ancient dagger, or a special herb.

• Examples are: varied, it's much more zone or quest specific then a general type of mob

Actions of Mobs

These are commands, actions, tactics that mobs might try to use against you. They can range from scary to just annoying.

Fleeing/Escaping

There are different versions of fleeing mobs in MUME. Some of them are always scared of everything, and flee at the first sign of combat or aggression. Some even flee if you enter the room. Many more flee after they have been reduced in hit points to 'wounded' or 'bad'. Some mobs might start fleeing when they have 50% of their hit points left.

Other mobs flee as a combat tactic so they can come back in the room and shoot you with missile weapons or swing at you from a sneaking hidden attack.

Very few mobs use the Escape skill to get out of a fight.

• Examples are: rabbits, sparrows, thieves, crow, orkish archers, dunlend huntsmen, cockroach, finch

Assisting

Some mobs act as group members or teammates. They will assist their allies in a fight. Some of these are pack animals like wolves. Or soldiers and guards assisting their commanders. So you may start out fighting one mob... but it could quickly turn into two or more. Assist is an issue because the more mobs assisting each other, the more YOUR parry (PB) is split and divided among them. Meaning you will be hit more often.

• Examples are: black wolves, raiders, bodyguards, orc soldiers, and many more

Switching Targets

There are 2 main ways that some mobs can switch targets. Some will be fighting your tank, and then randomly switch to anyone that has assisted your tank. So basically now there is a NEW tank (maybe you!). They can even switch several times randomly to anyone fighting them, often fighting someone new.

The second method of switching targets is mobs casting spells. They can sometimes cast randomly at anyone assisting and hitting them. So the witch may be fighting you as a tank, but casts a burning hands spell at group mate that assisted you.

• Examples are: crazed dwarf, great werewolf, witch, dark wraith

Yelling

Many mobs in the game are very loud! They yell for all sorts of reasons. A yell can be heard by anyone in the entire zone you are in. So if a ranger yells about an *orc*, anyone on where command will be able to hear it.

Some mobs yell just from seeing certain types of players. Some mobs yell to advertise a story. Some mobs yell to notify their mob allies in the area to come and help them out. Other mobs yell after they have been attacked. You may want to be cautious about attacking some mobs that will yell... just in case someone from the other side is near and listening.

• Examples are: young ranger, raiders, outcasts, brigand, scrawny goblin, black raven, Witch, bandit leader

Parrysplit

This is more of mob teamwork. Some little assistant mobs are even often referred to as parryspliters. When more then one mob attacks you, your parry or PB is split between them. So if you have 60% PB, and 2 mobs attack you, you now only have 30% PB against each mob. If 3 mobs attack you, you now only have 20% PB against each mob.

Some mobs are much safe to defeat if you take out their parry splitters first. In some cases the parry splitter mobs are fairly low level or weaker.

• Examples are: drone bee, angry bee, newborn spider, dirty bandit, orc soldier, small termite

Stealing

Some mobs are after your hard earned coins. They have the Steal skill, and will use it on you if you remain in their rooms for any amount of time. If you have Awareness skill or high Per, you are much more likely to notice someone attempting or successfully stealing from you, but anyone can notice it. Mobs cannot steal from you while you are in combat. And if you have a moneybag and put your coins into it, mobs cannot steal from out of a moneybag. Mobs do not steal items from you, just copper, silver, and maybe gold coins.

• Examples are: brigands, thieves

Looting

Few mobs can also loot corpses, either yours, or any other corpses in the room. They often loot coins, but can also loot weapons, shields, cloaks, belts, and other items. Some of them even wear the items after they've looted. Some mobs will also pick up items from off the floor and take them. So you might want to be careful dropping your items on the ground in some towns... Finders keepers.

• Examples are: brigands, thieves, old man, great owl, memlant

Tracking

There is some variety in how mobs perform this task. Some mobs track faster then others, some mobs are slower trackers then others. A few mobs in the game only track within their 'domain', such as in a tower or keep. Or only within a small patch of forest. And if you get out they stop tracking you. Some mobs give up tracking after a few rooms, while other mobs will track you for an entire zone.

After doing a few areas or mobs in the game, you'll start to get a feel for which mobs have limits to their tracking, and which mobs are a serious tracking threat. But in any case, be worried if you are at bad or awful hit points or slow moves against a tracking mob... you might not get away.

• Examples are: wolves, witch, harden rangers, orc patrol leaders, demon wolf, Nagrorh, some shooting mobs

Rescuing

Very few mobs in the game can rescue another mob. And even fewer mobs can use the protect feature of rescue. These mobs will rescue one of their allies and then tank for them.

• Examples are: tusky boar, wild mare

Open/Close doors

The vast majority of mobs do not really interact with doors (except gateguards). But there are a few mobs in the game that can open or close doors, or both. These mobs tend to be somewhat more intelligent with better game AI (artificial intelligence). And a few even more rare mobs can lock or unlock some doors as well.

• Examples are: experienced trapper, Necromancer, Master Assassin

Blocking Exits/Looting

Some mobs can block actions that you try to do. Like going East, North, or get shield skeleton. You can attempt the action, but it will auto fail as the mob blocks your attempt to do it. There are not very many ways to by pass this, other then killing or casting sleep on the mob. It prevents access to certain rooms or looting some items easily.

• Examples are: shadows (corpse guardian shadows), and various other mobs

Special Attacks of Mobs

These are attacks that can potentially finish you off, or deal out a great amount of damage to you. Or they can 'debuff' or reduce your effectiveness to continue the fight.

Poisonous and Venomous

Spores, bites, stingers can often deliver a poison to your system. There are several different poisons in MUME, and various snakes, spiders, plants, and insects that can poison you. Most of these poisons lower some or all of your regens and lower your abilities. Some even do some hit point, mana, or movement point damage. You can recover from poison with time, antidote herblore, or the spell Remove Poison.

• Examples are: swarm of hornets, green snake, black widow, green fungus, queen bee, rattlesnake

Bashing

This works identical to the Bash skill that warriors can use. You are knocked on the ground for a brief time and you cannot issue any commands as it is a type of stun. It also lowers your DB some for the first hit aimed at you, and does a very small amount of damage.

Some mobs are worse at bashing then others. Elk for example, are honestly pretty poor bashers and with any Dex or Dodge skill, you have a better then average chance of their bashes failing to land on you.

You will stand back up after a short duration of being bashed... if you are still alive. If you are already Bashed, no other Bashers can try to "double" bash you. Only one bash at a time.

• Examples are: boar, elk, wisent, goblin warrior, hillman warrior, orkish bodyguard, stone beast

Kicking

Kick is a skill in the warrior guild. It does small to medium damage if it successfully lands. Some mobs in the game have the Kick skill, and will try to kick you a few times in combat. Sometimes a kick will miss, and therefore does zero damage. Over all kicking mobs are not a huge threat and are overcome with standard combat techniques.

• Examples are: Thena, troll mother, skeleton warriors, crazed dwarf

Shooting

A few mobs in the game shoot missile weapons at you, with arrows being the most common. This really is not much scarier then a normal attack, and one benefit a missile attack can never leave a wound. You can interrupt the mobs shooting attack by successfully hitting them with any damage at all. Very similar to interrupting spell casters.

• Examples are: orkish archers, dunlend huntsmen, grim smugglers, highwaymen, Durbuk-hai slingers

Backstabbing

Most mobs that Backstab also have some Sneak skill as well. They will attempt to backstab you, if you do not try and stop them first. The backstabs that mobs have are generally weaker then backstabs from players. They tend to fail occasionally, and do some what less damage. But still, a backstab from some mobs can easily do 40 to 75 damage in one hit! And they usually give a deep wound or worse as well. That can easily take out someone lower level or wounded. No mobs can backstab anyone that is in currently in combat.

• Examples are: goblin scout, robber, assassin, footpad, brushmen, Master Assassin, experienced trapper

Casting

Mobs in MUME have mana, and can even run out of mana if they cast alot, just like players can. Most mobs only cast 1 or 2 spells. Some spirits will try and hit you with 'chill touch' as many times as they can for example. You can interrupt mobs casting by hitting them; any successful attack will do this: bash, kick, weapon hit, spell attack, shooting, etc... A very few mobs in the game have some special casting abilities, such as casting even while being hit or casting the spell very quickly.

The big threat from casting mobs comes if they ever get the spell off successfully... a surprise 'lightning bolt' can quickly drop you 40-50 hits... that's a serious problem if you are already 'wounded'. Other then hitting the mobs often, you can somewhat protect yourself by wearing spell saving gear (some items in the game give you small protections against magic).

There are even a few mobs that have a 'spell-like' ability. It could be an eel that shocks you with electricity or a great lion that has a fear effect roar.

• Examples are: arcane spirit, witch, spirit slave, evil priest, Halamor's Ghost, orc shamans

Summoning

There are several different ways that mobs can summon in the game. Some mobs simply yell, and any of their allies in the area will run in to help and assist them. Other mobs have a special message that they squawk, scream, or beat some drums, and their allies come running in to help. A few mobs summon help or parry splitters if attacked.

Then there are some mobs that actually summon help magically with a spell. They will eventually run low or out of mana so they cannot summon any more help. You can often interrupt this effect with alot of hits or bashing to prevent them from getting the summon spell off.

• Examples are: black ravens, bandit leader, raiders, brushmen, Necromancer, Nagrorh, scrawny goblins

Unique/Special Attacks

Several mobs have a special attack not already covered. Some mobs can grapple or squeeze you in combat. Some mobs can throw or spin webs around you and trap you in a cocoon. Some mobs have a special ability that can make you flee from combat. A few mobs can simply negate spells with a gesture. Or a super bash that can hold an opponent in a very long, stunning bash.

Beware these special attacks if you are soloing, some mobs in the game are not really intended to be defeated by your self.

• Examples are: great dark spiders, water serpents, cave lion, roots, massive lion, rattlesnake

Special Defenses

Many mobs in the game have defenses that can be a challenge to over come. Or require some planning or strategies to find a trick that can bring them down. Sometimes certain class skills or spells can help with this, or taking them on with a group.

Underwater or Surface Water

Fighting mobs on the water's surface is safer then under water. But it still comes with the risk of running out of moves, or maybe failing a Swim check and choking on some water. If you have a boat, you can battle surface swimming mobs with a bit lower Dodge Bonus. Or if you have Swim skill between 40% - 70% you are probably going to make it, but lose some moves while swimming during the fight.

Fighting mobs underwater is very dangerous. Mostly due to the risk from drowning. For the most part the only way to take on a mob under water is by having very high Swim skill. At least 75% (barely enough) or higher, 90% or more. Also casting or backstabbing vs mobs underwater isn't possible.

• Examples are: shark, eel, pike, water snake, water serpent, moccasin snake, water spider

Silent Rooms

Some mobs are in rooms that are "silent" rooms. Where you cannot speak, say, narrate, command, or cast. Some trying to use charm spell in those rooms does not work well because you cannot command. Or trying to nuke a mob with spells, when no speaking (casting) is allowed.

No-bash

Several mobs in the game are not bashable. They are either too tiny to bash effectively, way to large to try to bash them, or insubstantial spirits that do not have a body to bash. You CAN bash spirits, wraiths, and ghosts that are wearing alot of armour or a shield.

• Examples are: some birds, water serpent, most spirits/ghosts, Old Man Willow

Armoured mobs

These mobs are wearing scale mail, chain mail, metal or plate. The more or better armour they are wearing, the better they are absorb a portion of your blows. Mobs with a full suit absorb the blows more often, since they are wearing it in more locations. One result of this is attacks that do low damage some what negated. An example is piercing against a mob wearing alot of metal plate armour, you will notice you do not do very much damage against them.

• Examples are: orc bodyguard, old wight, skeleton warrior, orkish warg rider

Some mobs have natural armour which is in every armour slot location (arms, feet, head, body, etc.) and is treated pretty much just like worn armour. It absorbs or reduces a little bit of damage from melee attacks.

• Examples are: most bears, most trolls, stone statues

Sanctuary Mobs

Sanctuary is a high level cleric spell that places a cap on the amount of damage you can take from any attacks. So if there is a Sanctuary spell that caps at 20 damage, and you get hit by a fireball for 100 damage, you only take 20 damage. But that same spell will not protect you at all from any damage that is 20 or lower. So against mobs that have Sanctuary spell up, large, high damage attacks are NOT the best strategy, but many, fast, lower damage attacks will perform better.

If you see a mob with Sanctuary spell in game, also called just Sanct, it will appear as if the spell effect is visible with the message (glowing).

Examples are: arcane spirit, Nagrorh, evil priest, BN guildmasters