Newb Q - Stealth Warrior

[deadite]

Hey everyone, I'm going to give this shard a serious try. Hoping to nail down a template to work toward.

I'd like a no-magic character to start with. Never been much into Magery and hauling around reagents. I'm also not a big PVPer, so I won't be looking for those kinds if fights. I would like some survivability, however.

So here's the template I've been thinking of. Basically a dexxer:

Fencing or Swords (can't decide)
Tactics
Anatomy
Healing
Resist
Hiding
Stealth

I figure that Hiding alone isn't going to save my ass when someone throws a pot at me, but if I can hide and then stealth away I might have a chance. I do wish I could fit Parrying in the template, but I figured Anat and Tactics were both more important. Same with Poisoning... not sure what to drop to make room for it.

Any input? Also, for a dexxer should I take up Fencing or Swords? Like I said... primarily a solo PVM template with the ability to at least stand up for myself in PVP or get away. I think a katana would be good enough, but I've always gone the swords route and am interested at least in trying fencing.

Thanks!

[Pops]

Well, in the 10 secs it took you to stealth, im pretty sure you would be potted already.

[Pirul]

Hmmm, interesting build, just keep in mind a couple of things:

1.- There is a 10 second delay between hiding and being able to stealth. Also, you will only be able to stealth 10 steps before having to re-stealth (another 10 seconds).
2.- 90% of the pk'ers you're bound to see in the field are hally mages. They will use reveal, and they will find you.
3.- The other 10% are dexxers that will most probably have some tracking, so again, stealthing away will most likely be difficult.

In conclusion, pk'ers are highly skilled, and not easily tricked. Having a bard with GM hiding and stealth, I can tell you, it is not the most effective way of getting away. You are much more likely to survive dropping hiding and stealth and adding parry and something else, and when you see a red name, drink a Grtr Strength, get the bandage going and just run away as fast as you can while chugging heal, refresh and cure pots when necesary, and always have a bandage going.

Between swds and fencing? Tough call, I see a ton of fencers in the field, but I have always been partial to swds. Katanas are not the end-all-be-all of swords, tho. I particularly like cutlasses and broadswds, they are not as fast but can deal considerably more damage than a Kat. The best idea is to go out and test it, see what you feel more comfortable with.

[deadite]

10 second delay? Ouch. Yeah, I think that tactic has just been tossed.

If I dropped Hiding and Stealth and took up Parrying and Poisoning, I wouldn't really have much of an escape route except for what you mentioned: chugging and hauling ass. But those two skills would probably make me a more effective fighter rather than devoting 200 points to escaping.

Another option that I have considered is going with Archery. Maybe even instead of Parrying? Something like this:

Swords
Archery
Tactics
Anat
Healing
Resist
Poisoning

I know you can't poison arrows, so I would have to switch up when my target closes in. But having a poisoned blade come out would be a nice surprise, right?

Anyway, thanks for the input!

[Pirul]

Keep in mind that store bought cure pots will cure deadly poison here, and most people carry a ton of them, so it is not as effective. I would go parry rather than poison, archery could be a nice switch up.

[Kelektra]

Would take some time but you could get hiding high enough to start stealthing.
Then Gm stealthing.
then turn down hiding and gain magery to 50.
Use Invis scrolls to hide, and then hit stealth instantly.
This would help because then you could use recall scrolls also without fail to get yourself out of a jam

Also leaves yourself 50 points to play around with

50magery/50 resist
then take up archery maybe

[Rammar]

If I dropped Hiding and Stealth and took up Parrying and Poisoning, I wouldn't really have much of an escape route except for what you mentioned: chugging and hauling ass. But those two skills would probably make me a more effective fighter rather than devoting 200 points to escaping.

Forget poisoning. The only benefit to having it on a dexer is to re-apply while in the field. Handy, but it burns 100 points and is the most expensive skill in the game -- not for a newbie.

Parrying and archer are both nice for pvm, neither are all that great for pvp (archery is slow, shields always being de-equiped for pots).

Hiding is useful for finishing a heal -- you'll likely get ~3secs reprieve -- but you won't get away with it. Stealth is pretty awesome if you carry invis jewelry, but again, you still won't get away from a decent tracker.

GM Wrestling + 30ish magery + recall scroll is a good bet, especially with healing and pots.

[marmalade]

if you want two weapon skills (bit of a waste of 100 skillpoints imo, because you're only every going to be able to use one of them at a time), then i'd go with fencing and archery instead of swords.

if you're stuck for an extra skill, getting 60-70 magery and 30-40 med is always useful. no point having magery any higher since you wont have the mana to cast anything above a 6th circle spell, and most 6th + circle spells are offensive anyway so you'd need eval int to make use of them.

[SighelmofWyrmgard]

I recently discovered this disappointment:

http://forum.uosecondage.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=20602

I'll say something further regarding this armor dilemma, but I'd like to address some aspects of your posted skill template first.

7x GM is not neccessary: you could drop Healing, Hiding and Stealth all to 80 (with virtually no loss of utility; 80 Healing is enough to res); adding-in 25 real points of Tracking, and 35 real points of Magery will make your UOSA life a great deal easier (and much easier to keep ...).

25 (real) Tracking will give you 35+ ability: good enough to allow you to "scan" your immediate surroundings for any hidden players waiting in ambush; 35 (real) Magery permits 2 useful things: guaranteed Recall scrolls, and a reliable Teleport to combine with Hiding & Stealth (you can't reliably Hide while under attack; using Teleport makes your attacker drop target, allowing you to Hide: Tport- Tport-Hide maybe gets you far enough away to launch a safe Recall); the Magery also allows you to reliably-enough use Magic Reflection scrolls.

As far as weapons are concerned, you are probably better off with Swords, since you are not using Parry: Swordsmanship is the only melee skill with "strong" 2handed weapons (no macing/fencing weapons even come close to the 1hit output of a bardiche or halberd); the "arm/disarm left" macro manipulates the bardiche/halberd, while the "arm/disarm right" macro manipulates the katana/broadsword. Archery is quite fine for PvM, but kills do take a little longer to achieve; since you intend to have Healing well-developed, anyway, and will not suffer any meditation-related armor restrictions, go for the faster-killing melee weapons.

You don't need Poisoning; you could make an alt Assassin with Alchemy & Poisoning, if you really want to.

The armor dilemma, and my partial solution: I had made my "stealth warrior" female, because I remembered that the "female" (body) armors can be worn underneath "normal" armors (at one time, pre-T2A, you didn't even have to be female, lol ...); she would wear heavy armor overtop "for regular duty" and, whenever Stealthing required, Hide, then strip off the heavy-torso piece to permit Stealthing (and still be wearing some significant armor on every part of the body) ...

Well, unfortunately, Hardening or better studded leather is "too noisy" (even only a single bodysuit, entirely on its own!), so now she's wearing a Guarding studded-leather bodysuit +bone arms +bone legs +bone gloves +Guarding studded gorget +Guarding closed helm; for "normal fighting" she wears a Hardening Chain Tunic over the bodysuit; when she wants to Stealth ... Hide, then strip off Chain Tunic and Helmet, and she's good to go.

I see you are already thinking about ditching the whole Stealth thing. Yes, I agree it's difficult to justify the expense of 160-200 skillpoints. One thing to keep in mind: Stealth need not be "exit-only"; you can use it to scout out your killfloor, while minimising your personal risk; you can also use it to scout-through or bypass dungeon zones that would otherwise be too tough for you (bottom of Hythloth, perhaps ...?); many guilds might find the services of a skilled Ranger-Scout highly useful ...

That's all I have to say on this matter. Good luck.

SS

[Rammar]

7x GM is not neccessary: you could drop Healing, Hiding and Stealth all to 80 (with virtually no loss of utility; 80 Healing is enough to res); adding-in 25 real points of Tracking, and 35 real points of Magery will make your UOSA life a great deal easier (and much easier to keep ...).

I would not drop healing below GM. While it isn't an issue when not being hit, that ~10hp difference is huge when you are. If you must drop something to 80, anat is the better choice anyhow -- only lose a negligable 4% of the damage bonus, but you gain +3hp on average per heal.

But yeah, a 7x has less utility than a slightly more diversified skillset. My dexer has 30 tracking (extremely useful) and 70 magery (magic trap, teleport, recall, semi-decent gheal -- rarely fail reflect). Nice not needing to rely on scrolls. Just need to keep a very close eye on the mana, its damn slow without med, and even worse with armor.