Useful Knowledge

General Game Knowledge

A list of general information for new players.

Deities

The deity system here is robust with many options, however there are two deities which are super useful especially for new players: A'enari (good) and Vl'aresch (evil)

Deities require you to 'do stuff' to gain favor with them, mostly killing mobs and sacrificing corpses, but some other tasks for some deities. However, for A'enari and Vl'aresch it is much easier.

Simply visit the deity, and each time you walk into their room you gain favor. You can simply walk in/out/in/out of their room a bunch to reach "Praised" which is the favor level required to supplicate your corpse if you die (the deity brings you your corpse so you can get all your gear out of it). Upon dying, simply 'supplicate corpse' then run back to the deity in/out a bunch to refavor back to Praised and resume your gameplay.

I would advise new players to devote to A'enari or Vl'aresch basically immediately as soon as you know what you're doing.

Most new players find it easiest to level with Devout (good) align, so A'enari is your gal. Directions here:

https://rodpedia.realmsofdespair.info/wiki/A%27enari
https://rodpedia.realmsofdespair.info/wiki/Vl%27aresch

See 'help supplicate' for more information on what you can get from your deity besides corpse retrieval.

Game Fight Mechanics

Little is known about how things 'actually work'. Please closely read the help files for every character stat, hitroll/damroll/ac, saving throws (help saves), resistances/suceptabilities (help resist) for official information on how those work. Here are some theorized inner workings based on myth, rumor, and extremely old public SMAUG 1.8 code. Long story short... its like D&D so make some assumptions and it's basically the same type of system of rolls.

Hitroll: HR seems to impact melee damage. In SMAUG 1.8 code your hitroll was computed against a mobs AC, in a way that is basically straight out of D&D ala its "thac0" (To-Hit AC 0) system if you're familiar with that. For each X of HR you have, it negates Y mob AC. If your hitroll is sufficient to drop mob AC to 0 or less, then you will land a melee hit.

AC: Armor Class should theoretically work the same for players as it does for mobs, so this would roll against the mob's Hitroll. In the SMAUG 1.8 code, AC was also divided by 10 and rounded, so, there would be no difference between having 101 and 199 AC. Whether this is still how current game code works is unknown, but, its likely that AC and HR are still in some sense rolled against one another. High AC will prevent you from taking so much melee damage.

Damroll: DR is a theoretically a modifier of basic weapon/skill/spell damage. If your weapon hits for 10, your DR may get incorporated (somehow) onto that to determine how much damage you land on the mob. It is unknown if/how/when DR is used for offensive skill/spell damage modification, this likely is configured on a per-skill/spell basis. The quantity of damage landed on a mob impacts the XP you gain, so you do want to have high DR to maximize the XP you gain per hit where DR was a factor.

Saving Throws: Some equipment gives you "Saves". These are not visible in 'score' or anywhere in the game, you need to manually identify your items and add up your saving throws. These work just like in D&D as far as I can tell. When faced with incoming damage of a type for which you have some saving throw points, your character rolls a dice which is modified by your saving throw value. If you win the save, the damage you receive is reduced, likely by a percentage such as 1/4 or 1/2. Mobs also have saving throws. There did appear to be a 'cap' in the old code where above a certain value additional saving throw points did not have any further impact on the roll. I believe this was around -23, but I forget and suck at reading code, and that code is long outdated anyhow so who knows if that still applies at all. Long story short, 'the Ice Girth' is an item your AV characters will want if you are finding yourself stunned/paralyzed or your containers scrapping a lot.

Resistances/Susceptabilities: See 'aff by' for your list of current resistances/susceptibilities. The specific modification to damaged these result in is unknown, but see 'news 1168' for some additional information from Gonnil.

Practice Sessions

You will receive vastly more practice sessions than you need. You may find yourself short of sessions within the first 5 levels, but you'll quickly have way more than you need and will be able to practice EVERY skill/spell. Realms is not a game where you need to actually pick which skills/spells you want and miss out on other, you get them all. Feel free to blow all your practice session at every level to learn ever skill/spell.

Lowbie Attacks

As a lowbie, just use whatever you want (typically the highest level attack spell/skill you have access to). You get additional XP for learning the new thing, so that's nice. However, watch how much xp you gain as some skills/spells do get you more xp than others!

Current game code results in you getting far more xp from melee damage than any skills/spells. So, I suggest obtaining some EQ with good HR and DR to increase your chances of landing melee damage, and having it do as much damage as possible.

Alpha Attacks

At Avatar level, these will be your primary attacks.

I've included what is believed to be the primary modifier where known.

• Augurer: Spiral Blast = HP Based
• Mage: Quantum Spike / Paradox Flux
• Nephandi: Qlippothic Shift
• Cleric (dev): Virtue = CHA Based
• Fathomer: Vindur Gong
• Thief: Circle = DR Based
• Paladin: Shieldbash = WIS Based
• Ranger: Gash
• Warrior: Smash
• Barbarian: Rend
• Vampire: Grasp = DR Based
• Druid: Nadur Dorn = MANA Based

Smokable Mana

If you're on a lowbie mana-user class, blue (mana) potions from Darkhaven can pose 2 problems:

• They are heavier than other potions (weight 2)
• They are expensive

To address the weight issue, if you go to your race's hometown they sell their own mana pots that are weight 1. Also, if you get into a Guild all Guild's sell their own Mana Potions that are also weight 1.

The real issue is the cost. A good alternative is to smoke 'a nip of nooracht' instead. I suggest setting up an alias to pack your pipe, light it, and take some drags to replenish mana rather than quaffing mana pots at low levels. See https://rodpedia.realmsofdespair.info/wiki/A_nip_of_Nooracht

This is somewhat 'more annoying' than quaffing potions, but, it can save you a ton of money.

Navigation

Darkhaven Gates:

The Darkhaven Gates close overnight. If you are very low level this can pose a problem, and can even be an annoyance at higher levels when trying to speedwalk somewhere. There are a few ways to get out if you're unable to kill a guard for the key, and a master key you can obtain to always have your own key to the gates:

• Tagerte's Conveyances: For characters under Level 25 this store #3 s, #3 e, n from DH[] sells transportation tickets to 17 different areas, including a free recall scroll. Simply 'buy <area' to be sent to the area, and 'recite return' to recall back to DH.

• The Servant:

Along Justice Ave. typically between Vertic and Falcon is a Servant who will send you outside the north wall if you nod servant.

(Grey Aura) A short man dressed in ragged clothes stands against the north side of the wall.

This sends you along the trail outside of the DH in the NW corner of the city. Going #4 east would take you back to the North Gate of Darkhaven.

Sometimes they will prog when you enter their room. They do not need to prog to use their services however. They also give you a recall scroll.

The servant peers at you quizzically.
The servant wonders ''Ey you, what are you doing out here so late?"
The servant says 'Ohh, excuse me, I should have known from your ragged clothes, you must be a servant from the castle too! You looking for the
passage out? Give me a nod if you are.'

You nod in agreement to him.
The servant peers intently about the area, looking for thieves no doubt.
The servant says 'Right then, no one's looking. We kitchen servants use this passage to sneak out unused food to our families after dark.'
The servant turns his back to you, and moves his hand over the wall.
He appears to press down on a part of the wall, however as he is  blocking the wall, you cannot see where he presses.
As the servant steps away, several bricks suddenly move back behind the wall, creating a large passageway!
The servant says 'Right then, this here will take you just outside Darkhaven, and close to the Shadow Grove. Careful as you go through now...'
The servant grabs your arm and drags you with him through the passage!
The servant says 'Here we are, now you've got to find your way back in yourself. I can't be out of the castle during the daytime, and if the guards
catch me outside of Darkhaven I'm as good as dead.'
The servant exclaims 'Most of the other staff just use a recall scroll to get back in. Here, I've got a spare you can have. Take care now!'
The servant gives you a recall scroll.
The servant scrambles back through the passage, and it quickly closes behind him.

• The Skeleton Key:

There is a quest available inside Darkhaven Art Gallery which will get you a Skeleton Key to the Darkhaven Gates. It is tagged to your player specifically, and is a permanent key item that saves when you log out.

This quest has 4 stages that are available at level 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, and 40-50. Completing each stage gets you a key modification that unlocks 1 more gate. So, at level 10, you can get the key and it will open 1 gate for example. Every 10 levels you can do another task to modify that key so it unlocks another gate. Complete all 4 tasks and your key unlocks all DH gates.

To begin the quest, go #4 s;w;n;n;give 5k coin recep; un n; op n; n;open w;w to meet Damian

I won't spoil how to complete this quest here, but it's fairly easy to follow Damian's clues and is worth doing if you find the locked DH gates an annoyance.