New Player: questions on char concepts and technical stuff

[Ankh Seeker]

Hi! I'm a new player on Avlis. My wife and I are very much enjoying the depth of the world. (yes, I did manage to ger my spouse hooked. It has pros and cons, friends. But it's fun) I have a couple of questions about character concepts, server culture, and technical stuff.

- My character is a half-orc shaman from a distant pseudo-aboriginal Orc tribe. The best way to realize this, in my mind, is to multiclass him between ranger and cleric levels, allowing him access to wood-craft skills and some simple cleric spells.

There is a catch here, though. His clan totem is the Raven. It is rather important to the concept that this be so. He recieves guidance and power from the spirits, and in particular from ravens. Raven is not a possible choice of animal companion, forcing me to take on at least one level of arcane spellcaster. Because I concieve this shaman as illiterate (of reasonable intellect, but from an illiterate culture) I plan to make is a sorcerer level, because wizards come with the scribe scroll feat, which is the ability to read and write.

This means that my shaman is almost certain to operate under an XP penalty most of his life. This does not bother me- the raven will be worth the penalty. Now, the simple spells he would get from that one level will be pretty insignificant, and the ability of the raven to aid in combat will be quite low. The sorcerer level is for the familiar, no other reason. It makes sense to me on other levels as well- I see his religion as a mixture of sacred ritual and folk magic. So that suits.

Now, is taking one level of another class considered unsophisticated? I understand that many find it annoying when someone takes one level (a SD, for instance, or Rogue) in another class just for a power or some other kind of edge. There would be no advantage in the sorcerer level that I can see, but for this one significant factor. Access to arcane scrolls.

Now, as I said, my shaman is illiterate. He cannot read scrolls, signs, or anything else. But he is also of average intellect. As I understand it, though people who learn to read late in life are often at a disadvantage (because reading demands a special kind of thinking not easily learned after the brain has developed far enough- is this essentially correct?) there is nothing stopping him from eventually learning to read. Eventually he could have access to scrolls of both arcane and divine magic. This may be percieved as a decision made to maximize his power, rather than an attempt to translate a character concept onto a character sheet.

Would it be better to never allow him to learn to read, making the access to any kind of scroll at all a moot point?

Or would it be better to develop the sorcerer class at least a little beyond the first level, so that it is evident he did not just take one class for powermongering reasons? I consider this the least attractive option, since all I want from the arcane caster class is the familiar.

Or should I just run with the concept as is, let him learn to read eventually, and not worry about the details?


- I've made a couple of tentative characters while trying to figure out how best to realize the concept in my head. As a result, now that I have what I want, my account is a little cluttered. Is there an autopurge period, or should I request a purge? (I may feel safer relying on a purge of unused characters- they had very similar names, hate to get the final one wiped after all that tinkering. )

- I came here from another RP focused server, so I feel I have a pretty good grasp on staying IC. I do have one quick question, though. I have noticed that ooc tells are not much used (or so I judge, from that fact that usually I do not get a reply. Maybe I just have poor hygeine or summat, keeps them all away ). Is this a coincidence of my experience here, or are OOC tells frowned upon and little used? Every server has their own culture of what's acceptable and what's not, I'm hoping to quickly get a feel for the culture here.

- We've had quite a bit of trouble with lag. Looking through the threads I can see that I am not alone in this. Now, I understand that a certain amount is server side, especially at peak times, and I can do nothing about that. What sort of things can I do on my side? Is simplifying the graphics likely to help- turning off shadows, changing the resolution settings from 80 to 75 hz (whatever that means- i am VERY reluctant to go to 800x600) and so forth? MY current setting have worked fine on other servers, but those other servers have not carried the same load as the Mikona server.

Thanks muchly for your thoughts on all this!

-Ankh Seeker

[Melindha]

Around here the team asks that people have RP reasons for taking the classes that they do. It sounds like your reason for taking the sorceror class is more of an OOC thing than an IC thing. Why would your shaman have the ability to innately cast level one spells but never go further? As long as you have a good IC, RP reason for it, you'll be alright with the team (I'm guessing). You might run across people who give you crap for it, but people have opinions on everything. I took one level of wizard with my main and don't plan to take anymore. I have yet to have anyone question me on it.

Something to consider if you haven't come across this information yet: Orcs are very different on Avlis than in FR. They are political, manipulative creatures. They get +1 intelligence at character creation (if I remember correctly), so they're not meant to be the brutes we see in the FR setting. Also, because of an event in their history, Orc mages are feared and slaughtered in Orc society. If you do choose to take that level of sorcerer, keep that in mind.

[Fire Monkey]

I was surprised you are thinking of making a shamanistic type character using cleric and ranger levels. Is there no reason why you are not taking levels in Druid? I am unsure if they get a raven as animal companion option but as a class Druid would seem to best fit your character description.

As Melindha suggests it is also possible to play full-blood orc's in Avlis so that may fit your ideas better as well.

[Ankh Seeker]

The Druid class has, if I recall correctly, the very same list of possible companions as the Rangers do. They have access to, say, an eagle (or was it a hawk?) but unless I can reskin it black, not a possibility, it would not work.

I have actually considered and rejected the Druid class because of the details of how I concieve this shaman. Rangers represent a collection of practical skills- hunting, slipping through the woods unnoticed, etc. They have a connection with nature, but their emphasis is on the mastery of mundane woodlore skills. This suits my vision of a semi-aboriginal tribe. Druids emphasize the spiritual connection with nature more than the practical skills, and their abilities with respect to nature come from that connection.

The shamans of the Raven clan, as I envisioned them, do not so much emphasize a spiritual connection with nature as with spirits. Their world is full of spirits. Some help, some harm, and the role of the shaman is to be the intermediary between the spirits and the tribe. This seemed to be better approximated by the cleric class, with the right domains, than by the druid class.

I am interested to hear about the orcs of Avlis being intelligent and political, and I like that idea. My shaman himself is in fact a half orc, but the tribe itself is orcish and he identifies with them despite his taint. The tribe is very far to the north, with little contact with the cities and outside world. I can see them as being compatible with the ruthless orcs you describe, but culturally and geographically isolated. This isolation was intentional- since I am as yet unfamiliar with the Avlis world, I hoped to have a background unrelated to local circumstances, and thereby to avoid conflict with the world's story.

Given that this shaman's background is nevertheless a little closer to a more standard view of orcs, is it likely the DMs will take exception to his backstory? And as far as orcs disliking magic... this will have to be accounted for. Even if his own tribe was separate from the disasters that made orcs dislike wizards and sorcerers, (which the DMs may or may not permit- I do not know the full scope of the disasters, yet. It's all on the site, I will look it over) at the very least he will have to account for the fact that he is among orcs who intensely distrust magic.

[Ankh Seeker]

*double post*

[Melindha]

I misread your post before, Ankh. The Orcs on Avlis are smart, politcal, and whatnot. The half-orcs are the standard bioware race. I think they take a hit to intelligence, but I don't remember for sure.

As far as dealing with coming from a group who intesnely dislikes arcane spellcasters, that could be a very good reason for him to be down in southern Avlis (where all the current servers are located). If you haven't found it yet, there's a forum called World Information that has a lot of good background information in it. You might want to find a thread on Orcs in there and read up. The fairy war might also be a good topic to read up on.

[GreyLynx]

The History section on the homepage gives something a really crude summary of the two orc nations and the reasons orcs hate arcane spell-casters (clerics, druids and rangers are fine in their eyes). I'd also suggest reading the World Information threads that cover the two orc nations (Brekon and Dubunat) as well as the nation of Tyedu, which is known for its many tribes (most being human, but you could discuss with DMs the idea of an orc tribe) and for its worship of spirits. In particularly, I think Tyedu might be the best palce for your character to originate from. I think Orl even suggested that players could submit proposals for new spirit-gods of Tyedu (you'd probably need to do a search to find the thread).

As for 1 lvl sorcerer, you simply want it as a reflection of a tangible magical connection between your character and the spiritual guide of his tribe? I think it's a perfectly fine idea, whether it happens to be a connection he's felt all his life (starts at lvl 1), or one that arrises later in life.

[modigliani]

I'm with Lynx. And let me further say that anyone who puts this much thought into their character's conception, and plots it out to some reasonable distance, is okay in my book.

Look, we all metagame to some degree when we come up with our characters. I cheer you on for having a vision, and say take the damn Sorc level(s) (1 or 20), add Ranger and Cleric levels, whatever you think is going to make you enthusiastic about roleplaying your character. We all have a point in mind where our character's attributes and abilities will begin to approximate our conception of him or her. Work toward that in whatever way suits you, bearing in mind the few simple and fair rules established by law and precedent.

Lastly, I'd much rather interact with an interesting, lively, and distinct character with a somewhat dodgy background than a straightforward, tried and true one without any sense of originality or style. Oh, and if you run across an appallingly handsome and charming half-nymph named Madrigal in-game, tug on his sleeve and say hello.

Cheers.

[Tangleroot]

An interesting character with one level of sorc is 3x better than an inoriginal concept with only one class for 'purity reasons'.

[storminj]

Avlissian Druids are differant than FR ones also. You could be a druid of a particular tribe spirit and RP that out for it is no more metagaming than taking sorceror for the raven.

Another possibility is Animal Empathy. Druids and Rangers get a wonderful skill that can be used to befreind animals including ravens. You could just seek out ravens to befreind and rp it as the spirits being finicky or some such. When a raven leaves because it is no longer befreinded you could cry to the spirits on how they have forsaken you.

Both rangers and druids get their spells from a deity or perhaps a spirit but the team would have to comment on that one.

[storminj]

I guess I would wonder what the classification of a 'shaman' was also. Isn't it a mixture of archane and divine? Perhaps if someone could clarify I could get a better picture of your character concept.

I would like to say that it is great to see people come up with original characters and agree with tangleroot 100%.

[Ankh Seeker]

I just looked up the information about Tyedu, it is an absolutely ideal location for a nomadic orc tribe to blend in. The focus of the worship of spirits is perfect, and it is far enough north to match my conception, and has other tribes of non-orcs to... umm... coexist with in the Raven way.

I will need to adjust some of the tribal mythology slightly to match the location, but the adjustments are small and pleasing. Every tribe tells stories to explain their world. The official Avlissian mythology need not mesh with their own mythology if their spirits whispered different things to them. This can only add to his culture shock, when he encounters the other major religions.

As far as the shaman being a blend of arcane and divine, that is essentially what I'm aiming for, though in this case much less on the arcane side. I have chosen two clerical domains that will fit very very well with the focus on spirits rather than nature oriented dieties, and that will mesh with the needs of a nomadic tribe. (I am highly tempted to state what I have chosen, because the idea feels fun to me, but what would be the fun for the players of characters he meets IC if they already know OOC?) In this case, though I like the druid class, the druid class does not give the capacities I am looking for.

I've already been using animal empathy on the ravens at Mikona, but the advantage of using a familiar is that I can possess it to emote through it, so my shaman can interact with it. (I have heard of a possession bug, but I do not know much of it. Is possession potentially dangerous?)

Because reading is an essential skill in a civilized area, I expect that he will eventually learn to read, though this will likely never be easy.

The character name is Vrugoth of the Raven. You may have seen a number of slight variations on that name on the server lately- this is the final one. Hope the other ones don't drive me nuts before 90 days pass. If he bumps into Madrigal, I'm sure they'll have interesting interactions. However, he won't be around very much save on weekends- RL weeks are crowded.

Thanks very muchly for your thoughts here...

as to my other questions, do any of you know how I can reduce lag on my end? I'm not an extremely technical sort.

And are OOC tells discouraged?

*goes back to studying, so he can justify playing later*

[Vichan Lyonsen]

The only real flaw I can see is there are a limited number of Deities that can have Rangers (i.e. same as druids) thus I dont believe any of the spirits of Tyedu can technically grant Ranger status.

However you can get Jordi to rule on that. The same would of course hold true for druids...so this would leave you with cleric and fighter, however you could select appropriate domains for your cleric.. possibilities being "Plant", "Animal", "Earth" and more I imagine.

As for the Sorc level...I could see it...you will certainly not be reaping any major benefits from it, plus there is the xp penalty.

V

[Melindha]

OOC tells are discouraged only so far as they communicate IC things. Sometimes they can be used to arrange meetings, and people tend to treat this as if they had previously exchanged messages like the PMs here on the boards. You should never use a tell to say "There's some dwarf mercs ahead" or anything like that. You specifically mentioned OOC tells, so I am assuming that is not what you meant, just trying to clarify.

As far as getting people to respond to tells, that just depends on the player. I think there's a good number of players out there who dislike chatting in an OOC way. There's also plenty of us that enjoy chatting through tells now and then.

As far as reducing lag on your end, the team has made many statements that the lag we experience is server side. It takes a while for the sever to process all the information and send it out to all the players. The settings on your computer don't affect that at all. What can you do? Join the fanfic site! http://fanfic.avlis.org/

[Ankh Seeker]

Vichan, thanks for pointing out the issue with the ranger class... I think I can make a case for it being nevertheless compatible, given the situation.

As I see it, a character class is not synonymous with a profession. Some people take fighter classes, but their character is in fact a pirate, and so forth. The trick is to find the best approximation of talents and abilities to describe the profession you intend. That's why the flexibility of multiclassing is so great, you can create a character who is outside the box.

The character I hope to develop is not a ranger, but a shaman of a forest tribe. Since there is no class that exactly fits this, I have to cobble together other classes until I get a reasonable approximation. The rangers are at their most effective in a natural environment, and are effective hunters, and have a strong understanding of nature, and to a lesser degree, a spiritual connection to it. This is exactly what I hope to create- a stealthy hunter, but one who communes with the spirits of the tribe. Ranger levels are perfect for my purpose.

A pure ranger eventually gains some pretty significant divine powers. In that situation, I think that the issue of what specific god is lending that power becomes important. It seems to me that the sweeping powers of a cleric of a major deity, or even of a high level ranger, would be totally beyond the capacity of a collection of tribal spirits. I can imagine, maybe, hitting cleric spell level five and ranger spell level two- as the greatest feat the tribal spirits can attain, bringing someone from just beyond death's door (cleric, raise dead) in a badly weakened state. That would be about, if I recall rightly, a total of level 20. If 20 is not the server limit, I think that is nevertheless where he would hit the limit of what the tribal spirits could do for him, and future progression would have to be turned within, carried out in more sorcerer levels and such (though, being primarily a weekend player, it is most unlikely I will ever bring him that far. By level 6 this shaman will have all the essential characteristics I am trying to build- the rest is just growth)

As a blend of three classes, this shaman character will never attain significant ranger powers like the ability to polymorph himself. (Especially if this server has a level 20 cap like so many others do. Does it? I've not heard one way or the other) It seems to me that the smaller ranger abilities he could attain, like calling up tangling vines and asking the spirits to obscure him (through a camoflage (sp?) spell) are quite credible.

There are three ways I can develop him-

1) I can treat the limited ranger magic he attains as within the limited domain of the tribal spirits. It sounds like I will need to get an official ruling from Jordi to do that.

2) I can completely abstain from use of the ranger's magical powers, making him purely a woodsman and therefore not a devotee of one of the gods that has Rangers.

3) I can redesign him, replacing the ranger class with either the fighter or rogue class- effectively deciding whether he is able to fight or move stealthily, rather than the blend of both the Ranger class represents. Although I find this last option least attractive, if the first two are rejected I can at least consider them.

How does one go about asking Jordi to make a ruling here? I am not certain how to reach him.

[Ankh Seeker]

Grrrr! Double post!

[MondoPotato]

The character sounds great, and taking a half orc from a region outside of normal orc society would make the character keep out of the typical images surrounding orcs.

The only problem I see coming up aside from what has bee mentioned above is the fact that you are gaining your limited divine spells through nature spirits rather than through a specifc diety on the list of dieties. As far as I recall from the world information these nature spirits or mini dieties in the northern regions of Tyedu are tied to a specific region or tribe, so the spirits could not power your divine spellcasting as far away as southern avlis. The only diety from Tyedu that could is Ra-Ghul and he would not match the character at all.

If you are planning to abstain from using your ranger powers perhaps making a rogue class would fit better, and ignore the skills you wouldnt use like pick locks and pickpocket? Then you lose out on the animal empathy which is way to much fun to lose in my opinion.

Also as far as a level cap goes, you can get up to 40th level with your overall character level, whether all 40 be in one or up to three is up to you.

either way if you want to contact the team send an email to staff@avlis.org and explain your plight, I'm sure you'll get a ruling in no time

[Ankh Seeker]

Level 40 is pretty high... I don't expect to ever have a character that reaches that level. At least, not while passing my university classes at the same time.

As far as the problem that separation from the home tribe would curtail the shaman's power goes... this has actually already been accounted for in the back-story, though I would prefer to voice how IC. If it is relevant to the DM's decision I will explain, but I do not see this as a problem.

I would hope to be allowed to use all the limited powers of the ranger class my shaman could attain. My suggestion of declining to use the more supernatural ranger powers is a possible compromise if those who decide this stuff feel the ranger class is not to be so used. I think the simple nature spells and ability to temporarily charm animals are pretty consistent with the shaman concept. The possibility of using a different class than a ranger is also a possible compromise, but not for me a desirable one.

Anyhow, I am really excited to build this character up. I have sent my questions to the address you provided, and hopefully they will see no problems.

Thanks again for all your help!