Questions from another noob(ish)

[Drayln]

Hi everyone. I am new to UOSA but i have been playing UO off and on since 1997. I can vaguely remember the event when the undead overrun Brit and the creation of Trammel happened. I was a very new player at that time. Most of my exp is with UO-R. So if i may I would like to ask a few noob questions.
This is my current template.
Str 85
Dex 85
Int 55

Taming
Animal Lore
Vet
Archery
Tactics
Anatomy
Magery

I am hoping this is a decent PVE build for this time peroid. I know I am lacking MR and eval and med and such but hoping the use of pets will offset this. Please Let me know what you think. Now for questions.
1. Where there power scrolls or champs in this era? (or was 700 and 225 the perm caps?)
2. How many pets could you use at once in this era?
3. Was this the stop to shoot an arrow era or could you run and shoot?
4. What is the best source to find guides for this time peroid?
5. Does anatomy give melee/ranged dmg bonus in this era?
6. Did the rats in brit sewers not drop gold during this era? (i know it was small amount, no more than 20 but i used it quite a bit working my fighter toons when i first started)
That is all the ones i can think of just now. I am sorry if these have been answered before and I thank you guys for your patience and direction.

[OneEyedJack]

Couple pieces of advice before I answer your questions... Never sacrifice strength. 100 strength means 15 more hitpoints, and you'll need them. It'll be difficult being a tamer without med/resist, but it can be done. Keep in mind though... 55 mana with no med makes for one gate and long waiting period.

1. No
2. As many you like
3. Not sure?
4. There is a guide section in our forums. Krats made a great compilation of links to most good guides viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11890
5. Anatomy does affect melee damage and possibly archery, but not sure about archery
6. I do believe the rats drop gold, at least the large ones do.

[Metalliman]

Archery right now is stop to shoot, wait to move until arrow hits and hope your target didn't run out of range.

[Drayln]

Thank you guys very much. I was hoping this would be a good PVE toon just for exploring again. I wanted to get the balance right to be able to gate the pets. I am not sure how much Int i need to gate. I was hoping that basically I could put my pets on a mob and just add a little DPS to the fray with archery. I know that this is not a good PVP template though. I suck at PVP so will have to read a lot here and die alot there to learn. Thank you guys again and always open to tips.

[Mikel123]

My tip would be to drop the Archery skills and focus purely on magic and taming.

Magery
Animal Lore
Animal Taming
Vet

We agree on those. I'd remove Archery, Tactics, and Anatomy in favor of:

Wrestling (so you take less hits and your spells get disrupted less)
Meditation

and one of either Magic Resist or Eval Int. Personally I choose MR, but if you're just getting into the shard and don't have the funds, Eval would suffice.

Going this route, you're better at gating your pets around and casting spells, and you can add DPS to the fray with your magic rather than using 3 skill slots to do it with Archery. I'd also strongly suggest 100 Strength and probably 100 Intelligence.

[Drayln]

Thank you. That is the build i used to have for my tamer/mage back when i played OSI. That makes sense to round out the skills the way you suggest instead of using 3 skills to achieve DPS. I prob switch him up today. Is the template of music, peace, magery, med, taming , lore, vet still a good one? I used this a little for soloing the harder tameables but I cant remember if it was good in this era or if the normal mage/tamer was a better template. Thanks again for the info.

[OneEyedJack]

Peace can be useful, but not necessary. Tamers need so many different skills that wasting points in music/peace would realy hinder you. The good thing about this shard is you can run 3 accounts together. So if you want to, have a bard running a peace macro on loop while you use your tamer. It's kind of overkill though, I usually just let the creature I'm taming get caught on something while I tame.

[Drayln]

Thanks. I have recreated him as a straight tamer/mage now.
this is going to be the template
Str 100
Dex 25
Int 100

Magery
Eval
Med
Taming
Lore
Vet
MR
This is how I had my old toon on OSI set up as well but he got owned in PVP (again that is notably cause I am not good at it).
My warrior toon was
Str 100
Dex 100
Int 25
Fencing
Anatomy
Tactics
healing
parry
MR
Macing or Archery
Is this still a decent template?

[OneEyedJack]

Yes, both templates are fairly solid. Personally I'd switch wrestling for eval on the tamer, since your pets will be doing the majority of the damage.

Either macing or archery would be fine for the dexer, but perhaps throw in a mix of some magery and tracking so he can recall? Depends on what you'll be using him for... and if you plan on having someone gate him around or not.

[Drayln]

I will have a few crafter toons so I will be making recalls for the warrior. I switched eval out as well for wrestling. I will prob to a treasure hunter toon and a bard as well as soon as i can find a good template for them. I cant remember what mine where now. I did create 3 accounts now so i can spread my crafters around the accounts as well as the main toons. Thanks for all the great info. Is there a thanks system on this board?

[OneEyedJack]

I don't believe so. But you're welcome =)

[Drayln]

Just thought to ask this as well. Is eating/drinking activated on this shard? I think on OSI you had to eat and drink to increase your skill gains but aI can't remember for sure. Thanks again.

[Mikel123]

That was only ever a rumor; there was no real effect. Eating only refreshes stamina here. (and, I think it might impact regen rate of stamina and health).

[Drayln]

Hey guys one other question. Do pets bond here? If so it is just tame then feed then wait 7 days? Thanks again.

[Pirul]

Nope, no bonding.