Vet's Newbie Help
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[OOC Laithde] Although I enjoy being primarily known as laithde to the noobs. If they know I'm vet they don't stop bugging me
The purpose of this document... is to give you all the information you will ever need to effectively play Lost Souls without needing any other form of help.
(Note from Benerius: Relying on a single source for all of your information on anything is a poor choice. While this is a good guide overall, it is not perfect, and I highly suggest that you read other guides for starting out to supplement the information provided in this one.)
(Note from Starhound: Editing this wiki page in it's entirety should be avoided, as it's length can exceed some browser limits.)
Starting out
Lost Souls is considerably complex and some can find it to have a sharp learning curve. You might not understand all of this information, but it will make more sense as you learn and play more. It will take a little while for you to be able to play with ease. Hopefully after you read this, it will help you to play and have a fun experience here :)
I feel as if this page has turned more from a guide, into a large collection of condensed information. All of which would be invaluable to a new player in Lost Souls. Enjoy!
Also note, I use brackets around some commands, like this
[Example] 'Example' "Example"
I may also just italicize commands.
Example
Don't type those in, they are only there to show you where your input goes.
So, you start out with a human, pre-made character. There is nothing wrong with it to start out with - it gives you a quick and easy way to get started in the game - but we'll deal with that later. The first thing you should learn to do is how to look at stuff, walk, talk, send tells, and use the newbie channel.
Movement
LS (LostSouls) has 4 basic movement commands:
north, south, east, and west.
To move, just type them. (note - you can also abbreviate them, for example n = north, e = east ect.)
You can also move nw = northwest, se = southeast, ne = northeast, and sw = south west (when the movement is allowed.)
All of those commands can have a Up or Down direction added to them, this is because the map of LS functions in three dimensions.
For example: typing 'seu' will make you go southeast, and upward.
Viewing/Sight
The "l" command, or look, will most likely be the one you use the most. It shows you the current room you are in, and your surroundings.
Just simply type a lowercase L to see your room.
You can also use this as a targeted command, to look at something specific.
ex - l at ashe
This will bring up Ashe's description, and some info about him. Ashe is an NPC in the room you start in.
You can remove the "at" part and just enter:
l ashe
And finally, you can look at items on targets...
ex - l at robe on ashe
Will bring up a description about the robe that Ashe is wearing.
Talking
So now that you're able to move, maybe talking is a good thing to learn next. To talk, use the command 'say'
e.g. say hi <- will result in You say, "hi"
Keep in mind that not all NPCs/Players will speak your language.
Using the say command is important when interacting with NPCs, and other players in game.
Language Barrier
Lost Souls has a multitude of different languages.
You have to be mindful that not everyone will speak your language, and that you might not speak theirs.
If you don't understand a language, it will turn out all garbled, as if someone is just mashing keys at you.
How well you can speak a language is based on your skill with it, which I will talk about later.
The most common language is "Anglic".
Quote Styles
You may encounter some players or npcs who have decorative symbols around their text when they speak, these are known as quote styles.
Quote styles are gained from being in guilds (which will be discussed later in this guide) or having knowledge of various cultures.
To see the list of quote styles available to you:
show quote styles
To change your quote style:
set quote style to X
Channels
Channels are forms of communication that have no distance limit and no language barrier. There are multiple channels, for multiple reasons.
The Neophyte channel is the channel designated for new players.
To use the Neophyte channel, simply type...
newbie [Hi everyone]
This will result in something like -
#Neophyte Vetallas# Hi everyone
Use that channel if you have any questions about anything, and someone will help you. "Neophyte" is simply a title the game gives you to indicate that you are the person seeking help when talking on the channel.
There are also many other channels you can talk over, the 'OOC' channel is the most used one.
To show the channels you can use simply type "show channels" which will bring up a box looking somewhat like this
/---------------------------- Channels of Simaos -----------------------------\ | Channel Type # Info | >-----------------------------------------------------------------------------< | announce other 20 OOC | | balance other 9 | | devhelp support 20 OOC | | emergency support 20 priority, OOC | | ooc other 20 OOC | | shapeshifter guild 3 | \-----------------------------------------------------------------------------/
You can also block channels from appearing if they cause to much spam, for example during a tricky scene or when you simply want to explore.
e.g. - OOC -
To block the channel, simply type in the name of the channel with a '-' after it.
To un-block the channel, do the same, but with a '+'
e.g. - OOC +
You can get a limited channel history by just typing in the channel name followed by a ^
e.g. - OOC ^
Tells
The tell command is a commonly used method of communication between two players. Tells are a OOC form of communication and thus do not use the language systems.
Tells can be sent to another player regardless of player situations or distance.
tell player message
The reply command can be used to send a tell to the last player who sent you one.
reply message
Help command
The "help" command will be a fairly used one. You can get help on various topics I do and do not cover in this guide. Simply typing "help" will bring up a short and relatively incomplete list of some of these topics. Most commands can also be used with help. Such as:
help set - will bring up all the set commands available help show help perform help look
Aliases
Making aliases are key to survival in Lost Souls.
They are commands you set, to save you having to type longer commands, or to enable you to execute lengthy commands in a hurry.
Think of them as short cuts. Throughout this page, I will give you many helpful aliases.
To set an alias:
set alias [shortened command] to [longer command]
Type 'help alias' to get more information on them, but for the basics you will only need to know how to make simple ones.
Global Movement
Determine Location - this command will show you where you are on the map
e.g. - You determine that you are at the coordinates 4, 12, 0 in Avalon, and so at global coordinates 166, 93, 0.
To get accurate co-ordinates, you need about 30 orienteering skill, or a compass.
set alias dl to determine location
Think of the LS world like a grid.
There is one huge grid, (the global map), which is broken down into smaller grids (regions).
Cimbra is a region in the main grid.
Every region is made of a box of 81x81 rooms arranged around a central point. This means the values of rooms can be from -40, to +40.
We'll talk about the grid as if it's 2D for now
So LostHaven (the main town of LS) is at -21, -24 Cimbra.
This means it is 21 rooms west and 24 rooms south of the central point of the region.
Every room on the grid has a X, Y, and Z value (ignore Z for now)
e.g. - You determine that you are at the coordinates -21, -24, 0 in Cimbra...
To move up on the X-axis, move east, to move down on the X-axis, move west
e.g. - If I'm at -21, -24. moving 1 west, will put me at -22, -24.
To move up on the Y-axis, go north. To move down on the Y-axis, go south.
e.g. - If I'm at -21, -24. moving 1 north will put me at -21, -23
Test yourself by moving to Stillwater from Lost Haven
Stillwater, is at -11, -27. Thus meaning you must move 10e, and 3s.
-21 + X = -11, X must = +10, so you must move up on the X axis.
-24 + Y = -27, Y must = -3, thus meaning you must move down on the Y axis.
Or, using multiple direction commands, you could move 3se, and 7e, as I mentioned at the start of the page.
'The Z axis is used for areas such as mountains, oceans, inside the earth, and air (if you can fly), so be mindful of your surroundings.'
You can alias 'go' commands to something often referred to as quick walks.
This is nice because you don't really have to calculate all the math when moving from town to town.
set alias lhstillwater to go 3se and 7e
Now to get to Stillwater from Lost Haven, just type lhstillwater, or whatever you have aliased it to (avoid using commands that exist in-game as your alias won't work!).
Levels
You gain levels by acquiring the amount of experience needed to advance, each level takes slightly more experience than the last.
Advancing in level is instantaneous unless your guild has a alignment requirement.
Specific races will be unlocked for play when a player develops a character to levels 50 (Hero), 100 (Legend), and 125.
These races may have better advantages than the ones you start with, but typically gain experience at a slower pace.
For every level you'll also gain 5 attribute development points, which can be used to increase your attributes. However we aware that there is a diminishing return on each development point you invest into a attribute. Meaning these points count less the more you develop each individual attribute.
show attribute development
Limbs and Vitals
Your limbs will vary upon the race you play. Some races have wings, some may not have legs, or may be anthropic (human like).
You can view your general well being via the hp command. And you may see detailed information on your limbs via the show limbs command.
Limbs will become disabled before amputation, the disabling of a limb makes it unusable until it has been fully restored. If your chest or vital limbs become disabled, one will slowly bleed to death unless healed quickly.
If a limb has been amputated, it will not regenerate unless one has the regrowth trait or has it regenerated through other means.
After being injured, you may use the treat command in a attempt to heal yourself slightly. Ones effectiveness at this is based upon a handful of skills, which are listed in the link.
Methods of Limb Regeneration
the Mage Curan in Camille carries a stock of Scrolls of Limb Regeneration which will regenerate one limb each.
The Imp city Imptropolis contains a shrine which will exchange gold for limb regeneration. It is unwise to wield any form of weaponry if one enters the city however, as they do not take well to any signs of aggression.
The Temple of Aeda can bless you with the regrowth trait for a short period of time if you bring the required supplies and a amount of gold to the cleric there.
Kurd the Vivisectionist located in the town of Sanctuary is able to reattach limbs if they are brought to him before the amputated limb hasn't decayed enough, or could possibly attach someone else's limb that is similar. However there is a chance that you will permanently lose attribute points.
Death will restore all limbs upon resurrection.
Skills and Specialty Points
Skills effect everything you do.
In LS, we have a specialty point system, which determines how many points you can have in any one skill.
A skill without a specialty point in it will only be able to go as high as 40, which is fairly low, But with 1 specialty point added, the new cap becomes 80.
3 points = 120, 4 points = 150 and so on.
For every 10 points you have in a attribute, you will have 1 specialty point to put into a skill for that attribute.
ex - Your Strength is 80, therefore, you have 8 specialty points for strength.
Use the command show specialty points to view how many you have, have assigned, and can use.
set alias spec to show specialty points
To view your current rating in a skill, use the command show skill [skill name]
set alias ssk to show skill $*
A few commands you might want to play around with...
show specialties [skill name, or attribute name] set alias ss to show specialties
show specialty access [skill name, or attribute name] set alias sss to show specialty access
Understanding this system is important, because skills are the main factor for most of what you are able to do in-game.
For more information and detailed explanation on the specialty system, please ask for assistance in the newbie channel.
Adding and Removing Specialties
Just as you can increase a skill's specialty points, you can also decrease them, using the same command
set specialty degree in [skill] to [number]
Skill Decay
Once you lower the cap of a skill by removing a specialty point, the skill will slowly lower until it is under its new cap.
You will not be able to use said specialty point until the skill is under its new cap.
This process can take up to a few days, depending upon how high your skill is, and how low your new cap is.
Skills will also decay while you're logged offline. So you can log out for a day or so, come back. And the process will be rapidly sped up.
The speed at which a skill decays is roughly 1 point per 6 minutes. If you log out this process seems to be sped up by how long it's been since you've last logged in.
Basic Traits
Traits are special properties that affect various things about your character. Examples of traits would include; Diet, Light Sensitivity, Speech Patterns, Respiration and many other things not listed here.
show traits
You can get help files on all of the traits listed so it would be wise to read some of them.
Traits can change, such as if you have a Omnivore diet and your character becomes Undead and no longer has the need to eat, your diet would change to Ametabolic.
Assimilativity
This is the trait that affects how much experience your character will earn upon any event that bestows experience points.
Zero means no effect will be taken upon your experience gaining ratio, and if you have zero it will not show up under 'show traits'.
Some races will have higher Assimilativity than others, and thus they would gain more experience from the same event. While others will have lower, gaining less experience.
Typically, races that have lower Assimilativity start with more desirable traits or higher attributes.
Handedness
Wither or not your character is left handed, right handed, or ambidextrous. If you have a primary hand you can receive penalties for wielding weapons in your off-hand.
Luck
Exactly what it sounds like. How lucky you are.
For every 1 point of Luck your character has, a random amount of 0 to 100 will be added to your attack rating, and 0 to 10 to damage/dodge ratings. So if you have 5 luck, you'll have a random amount between 0 and 500 added.
It is possible to have negative luck and would then add a negative random modifier to your ratings.
Regrowth
This trait determines whether or not your character can regenerate lost limbs automatically. Most races do not have this trait, but there are various things in the game which can grant it for a period of time.
Light Sensitivity
How sensitive you are to light, if one is highly light sensitive and in a bright room, negative penalties will occur to your ratings.
Like Luck it is possible to have negative light sensitivity which would negate such modifiers from being in bright areas.
Combat
You have a few stats that determine how well you perform in combat, and almost everything affects these ratings. Skills, attributes, how dark it is, where you are, how big you are, the list goes on
The most important combat ratings to consider are attack, damage, dodge, and deflection.
Each of these ratings can be shown using a command...lets look at some examples.
show attack rating with [weapon] set alias sar to show attack rating with
Let's use a sword for now...this rating will show you how well you attack with your sword.
If you have a different weapon, substitute sword, for whatever your weapon is.
show attack rating with sword
/---------------------------------------- Attack Rating for Laithde with Midnight-Blue-Moon-Inscribed Steel Katana ----------------------------------------\ | Factor Value Effect Total | >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------< | Dexterity 211 +283.75 284 | | Perception 469 +140.7 424 | | Intelligence 403 +110.825 535 | | Streetwise 329 +494 1029 | | Martial Arts 232 +58 1087 | | Precision Strike 186 +56 1143 | | Combat Reflexes 212 +53 1196 | | Sword 39 +39 1235 | | Killer Instinct 146 +37 1272 | | Tactics 77 +21 1293 | | Flight 40 -10 1283 | | Luck 13 0 to +130 1348 | | Situational Awareness Yes +25 1373 | | Estimated Strike Location Penalty Head -9.1% : -125 1248 | | Effort 120% +20% : +275 1523 | | Encumbrance None +10% : +137 1660 | | Weapon Performance +10.4% : +143 1804 | \----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
This will bring up a simple chart (as shown above), showing you all your -current- factors affecting your attack rating.
Notice how all of the factors add up and are totaled at the bottom right of the chart. This is your total rating.
Be mindful of the value of each factor, some can be negative, and some can add a lot to your total. You want your total as high as possible.
Mainly dexterity, fieldcraft skills, the skill used for the weapon, and other attributes will add the most
Now look at your damage rating with the same weapon, this is how much damage you will do from using it.
show damage rating with sword set alias sdr to show damage rating with
/---------------------------------------- Damage Rating for Laithde with Midnight-Blue-Moon-Inscribed Steel Katana ----------------------------------------\ | Factor Value Effect Total | >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------< | Strength 118 +118 118 | | Streetwise 329 +329 447 | | Massive Blow 171 +171 618 | | Killer Instinct 146 +146 764 | | Dirty Fighting 26 +7 771 | | Luck 13 0 to +130 836 | | Usable Physical Bulk -9 827 | | Potential Contact Area Size +12 839 | | Leverage One Limb, Flight -100 739 | | Effort 120% +20% : +148 887 | | Total Effect on Damage +22.6 | \----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
This one will convert your total to a point, this point is the total damage added - the higher the better.
Realize that these charts may look nothing like yours, and are only examples. Your ratings, especially at the very start of the game, will be totally different and have different factors involved as you will be using different equipment and will not have trained your skills yet.
Strength, fieldcraft skills, and massive blow skill, are mostly the main ones to buff this rating.
Depending on whaich race you picked and how you set your attributes, your rating might be somewhere from +3 to +10.
Whatever you have is fine for now, just remember to get that rating up! :)
Next we will take a look at dodge/deflection ratings. Dodge is obviously how well you can evade attacks, and deflection is how well you can parry them using a weapon or shield.
show dodge rating show deflection rating with sword
Sometimes its better to dodge then deflect, and vice versa depending on the situation, just try to get both ratings up.
Combat Modes
There are many different combat modes which will determine your behavior in combat.
Each mode has its own effect on activity costs of your attacks; attack rating, damage ratings, and pretty much all other ratings.
Some combat modes are more useful in specific situations then others.
For the beginning it might be best to use Patient combat mode, because it takes 40% of your attack rating, and adds it to your total. But, it makes your attacks cost more activity points.
set combat mode to patient set alias scm to set combat mode
Use the command...
help combat mode
To get a list off all the combat modes, and a description of what they do.
Speed/Activity Cost
Every attack, defection, and dodge, has a cost, or activity cost.
Your total Activity points, are based off of a few factors, such as Dexterity, Combat Reflexes skill, and Quickness skill.
Type 'hp' to see your speed, this is how many activity points you will gain a round in combat.
It is possible, to run out of activity points in a round, then for that round, you cannot dodge, attack, or deflect...
Use the following commands to show what you are currently attacking/defending with.
show attacks set alias sa to show attacks
show defenses
This will show you the name of the attack/defense, and its cost.
So, what if you're a better swordsman than a unarmed fighter? You wouldn't want to throw punches all day when you could chop the enemy up with a sword.
You can suspend attacks/defenses with simple commands, I do not advise changing your defenses though.
stop attack with [attack] set alias saw to stop attack with
stop defending with [defense]
Personally, I do not suspend any attacks. But at lower level, it's nice to focus on your better attacks.
Use the command 'help activity' to get more info on how Activity points are calculated.
Resolve
set resolve to X show resolve show maximum resolve
This setting determines when you will flee from combat. When you lose more health on any of your vital limbs than your resolve percentage, you will try to leave the fight, generally preferring to go back the direction you came from. This is far from a sure thing, but it can help you survive. Your courage, discipline, and tenacity skills normally determine how high your resolve can go; the more courageous, disciplined, and tenacious you are, the longer you can stay in combat. However, if you have or acquire the fearlessness trait, you can set your resolve level to whatever you like, though it becomes somewhat less reliable since you have to think about fleeing instead of it being an emotional response. If you are both fearless and analgetic (without pain), however, you will stay in combat regardless of your resolve. Some combat modes may also have a minimum resolve level that you will automatically use while in those modes.
Attack Preference
You can alter how often you would like to use your current attacks.
Use the "show attacks" command as talked about above, and it will display a list of your attacks, their activity costs and their preference.
Next to Activity, there is a column named "Preference", as mentioned.
Here is a typical list of attacks for a Aisenshi:
/--------- Attacks of Voni ----------\ | Attack Activity Preference | >------------------------------------< | Dyad 11 Very High | | Chi Strike 14 Somewhat Low | | Chi Kick 16 Somewhat Low | \------------------------------------/
This decides how often you use a attack in combat, over others.
You can have a wide range of importance for each attack, as listed in the chart below:
very high high somewhat high moderate somewhat low low very low extremely low
It's a good idea to set the preference for your best attacks (decided by a high attack rating and a lower activity cost) to Somewhat High, High, or Very High.
Check your attacks, see which of your ratings are higher and cost the least activity, then pick the order of importance you wish to use them in.
The table of attacks above shows that I will attack with the "Dyad" attack more often then Chi Strike, and Chi Kick.
So, I would set my main and favorite attack, which is Chi Strike, to Very High:
set attack preference for chi strike to very high
But I dislike attacking with Chi Kick, so I will disable it altogether, like so:
stop attacking with Chi Kick
Brief Combat Mode
This is a handy feature that hides all those pesky misses or dodges you see in combat.
This mode will only show you combat messages that do damage to you, or a enemy.
While this cleans up spam, higher leveled players tend to dislike it at times, this is because with this mode on you cannot see if your attacks are actually healing your target.
Now, this is not likely to happen when your fighting low leveled creatures, so for now it is safe to assume that you can use it without any fear.
Lost souls now offers a wide range of filtering for insignificant messages. To switch Brief Combat on or off the command is as follows:
switch filtering insigcmb
To find out more information of the various filters type:
help filter
Guilds
It is important for you to pick a guild for your character.
Think of a guild as a class, guilds will give you access to skills, that you may not be able to get outside of them.
Guilds can also give your character magical powers, that can be just as useful as a weapon in combat.
Some guilds, are more focused on using a weapon, and others are more revolved around using magic and casting spells. But some can have both.
You can only be in 1 guild at once. And some of them do not let you leave after joining.
The important thing to remember is, PLAY THE GUILD YOU WANT TO PLAY. No one likes being stuck with a character they don't like, and a guild they're not interested in playing.
There are many guilds for you to choose from, goto Category:Guilds to get a list of all the guilds.
Click on each link to bring up more info for the guild.
From experience, you don't want your first guild to be incredibly hard to play.
Brutes, Knights, The Verynvelyrae, and The Aisenshi are all easy guilds to play, and can be powerful once you get them going.
If your not interested in any of those, continue looking at the Guild page until you find one you wish to play, but remember if you pick a tough/hard guild to play, and get confused, it wont be much fun.
Once you have determined what guild you wish to try, ask about it in the Neophyte channel, and read the wiki page about the guild.
Joining a Guild
Each guild has a different way of being joined. For some, there is a guild master, whom you go to, and ask to join.
Others have requirements to join, or might require you to do a specific task to join.
Some guilds require specific races.
The wiki page for the guild you wish to join should have the info on how to enter the guild.
If you're still lost on how to join it after reading the page, ask for help.
All guilds will require a amount of specialty points to join them, all you have to do is have these points free and available. Upon joining the guild they will be automatically invested into the required skills.
Being in a Guild
Once you've joined a guild, you will want to specialize in the skills important to your guild, or guild powers, depending on what your in, and start using your powers/guild features.
Most guilds also have a guild trainer, who will train your important skills, for a price.
If you're able to get to your own guild master/trainer by yourself, do it. But if you feel like you need help, don't be afraid to ask, there's no shame in getting lost here.
Associations
Think of associations as 'mini-guilds'
You can be in any number of them as possible, or that fit with your guild.
They work just like guilds; they can give access to skills, trainers, and possibly powers.
Find a list of associations here... Category:Associations
Alignment and Ethics
Depending on what you kill, your outlook on life will change, this is important because some guilds require you to have a specific Alignment.
To display your outlook/alignment:
show outlook report outlook - to speak it out-loud.
set alias ro to report outlook
Some guilds may not let you use powers they grant, not allow you to level up, or cause penalties until your alignment is fixed.
Some guilds only allow certain races with specific alignments to join.
Killing things oppoisite to your outlook will shift it back into the right position.
So, if you're good, you want to kill evil things eventually, and vice versa.
Ethics
Ethics are much more rooted then your Alignment.
Alignment is like, your current balance of your activities recently, while Ethics show your true beliefs.
Alignment shifts much easier then Ethics, and it can take a lot of work to move your Ethics.
Almost all guilds that have Alignment restrictions are based of your Alignment and not your Ethics.
Some guilds can require you to change your ethics before leaving, which takes much time and effort.
Your alignment will be the same as your ethics you pick when you start a new character.
Advanced Character Creation
Some races might be better for some guilds, and specific guilds might rely on specific attributes over others.
Lost Souls grants you tons of was to custom tailor your character to fit your guilds needs, or your desired player.
Simply start a new character, and switch to Expert Mode from the creation menu.
Select your race after, you will realize you now have over triple the options of races to play opened to you now.
You can read up on them here - Races
You will also be able to select much other things such as; physical features, your culture, attributes... pretty much everything.
Mess around with this at your own free will, worst case you just make a mistake and start over.
Advanced Creation Tips and Techniques
It would be best to plan ahead of which race, guild, and associations you'd want to join before creating said character.
This will give you a idea of how you should divest your attribute points at creation. You'd want to set all unused or lesser used stats to their minimum, and set the more important ones to their maximum. This is your first chance to undergo a process known as min/max-ing your character.
Note that some guilds will only accept specific sets of races, so it would be best to choose the best available race fitted to the guild you wish to join. Or make sure your attributes are in accordance with the attribute requirements.
Memory
As you may find out, you don't instantly know everyone's name. Or what every item is.
You may be unfamiliar with people from distant lands, or odd races. Some weapons have specific names/histories/characteristics behind them of which you must learn.
Most players come from a specific starting area, which might not always be Lost Haven. So, if you learn about their area (or "culture"), then you will also know most things relating to that culture, except the language which is skill based.
First off, there is a preset limit on the amount of things you may directly memorize. This number is based off the Memory skill, and possibly some attributes.
show memorization limit
Secondly, once you become knowledgeable about a topic (A specific name for a weapon, or person is counted as 1 topic), you must then "memorize" said topic, you may do this by using the following commands.
memorize [topic name] memorize all
I personally recommend just doing "memorize all", since it will commit all topics you have learned recently to your memory.
Third, there is a command to show you which topics you have memorized.
show memorized topics
Last, there are commands in which you can use to forget topics, freeing up your mind for other things if need. Odds are, you won't ever need to use said commands. But it's nice to know about them I guess.
forget [topic name] forget unnecessary forget memorized - which will remove all memorize topics
There are a handful of ways to learn about the various cultures or items in-game, most of which are very easy and will be covered in the next few subsections.
Skill based Identification
There are specific skills which will grant you knowledge of things such as items, creatures, or people.
These skills normally end with the word "lore", such as Arcane Lore, or Insect Lore. The History skill might as well be used in some cases.
If you have the skill, or skills, high enough to know about a topic; then you will automatically know about it without having to use a memory slot. Or have any need to get more identification upon it.
There is a command to show you all the things you know about, just from your skills. If you have a ton of skill, this list is often very long and should not be used to often as it can cause lag on the game.
show intrinsically known topics
Item based Identification
There are some items in the world, which will grant you insight to the item you use them on.
The most common of which are Lenses of Insight. These can be found in only a handful of magic shops around the entire Lost Souls world.
When you look at a unknown item/person/creature through the lens of insight, you will instantly gain all knowledge of it and the lens will shatter.
You must then memorize the topic, or topics to remain familiar with said item/player/creature.
look at [item you wish to identify] through lens
You may set up a alias for this, the most common being,
set alias lens to look at $* through lens
Then you can just type "lens [object]" and you will use a lens if you have one in your inventory.
Lens of Insight/Analysis
A Lens of Insight will grant you knowledge of the item you use it on, while a Lens of Analysis will give you information on what the item is made of.
Such as a iron sword might be 90% iron, and 10% leather for the handle. Or whatever.
Both lenses are used the same way, but I'm unsure if the Lens of Analysis will grant you knowledge of any topics to memorize.
So, just be sure to know what you're buying is the correct lens you wish to have.
Although, Lenses of Analysis are cool because they can show you what odd/obscure items are made out of.
Finding Lenses
Lenses can only be found in a very few shops around Lost Souls.
Now, there may be more places to find them then I know of, but here is a list.
The temple magick shop - which is located in the Temple of Discordia
the Temple Magic Shop - which is located in Liathyr
Miss Cleo's Magic Shop - which is located in Halfmoon Bay
Magic Based Identification
Some guilds will grant you the ability to identify things via spells or abilities.
These spells do the exact same thing as a Lens of Insight, and you must still memorize the topic after learning.
These spells/abilities are mostly found in the more mage sided guilds.
Just read the help file for the spell on information on how it works or what is needed for the spell to be preformed.
Using a Trainer or Teacher
Trainers or Teachers, will increase your skills for a price, each one trains or teaches different things, and they each have different syntax's to be used. To see a specific trainer's syntax use: info <NPC>
Although the most common ones for a Teacher are...
say what do you teach? set alias tee to say what do you teach?
say teach me [skill/skills/all] set alias te to say teach me $*
say what skills do you train? set alias trr to say what skills do you train?
say train me in [skill/skills/all] set alias tr to say train me in $*
You can only receive 1 train/teach in a skill from a trainer/teacher. Successive attempts to train a skill that has been trained will result in the trainer telling you that you must train the specific skill elsewhere before they will train/teach you in the same skill again. To train a skill from that teacher again you must have performed some action that used that skill. EXAMPLE: To train a language skill (such as Anglic, Xhax, or any of the others) multiple times from the same trainer you must either speak or hear the language--whether it looks garbled or not. This will use that particular skill, allowing you to train again. Wait a few moments for the use of the skill to register before attempting to train the language skill from that trainer again. All skills can potentially work this way, not just languages, you just have to find a way to use the skill between training sessions with the NPC. Some guilds have abilities with ratings formulas; if a formula uses a skill and you use the ability, then you've used the skill and can train that skill again from a trainer. You can also move between two trainers to train a skill, and some skills will require you to do so if you intend to train them quickly.
Each trainer has a certain ability with any skill. They will be able to train a skill to that particular number and no higher. The maximum value a trainer is capable of raising a skill to varies between trainers.
All skills have diminishing returns as you train them. To explain this, lets say that your max in a skill is 40. From 1-20 will be easily trained. From 20-30 will get harder, requiring more effort per point in the skill. From 30-40 becomes significantly harder, often being very difficult to gain a full 40 points (which would max the skill out). The same would be true if you had specialty points in a skill and raised the max value of that skill. The numerically lower skill points would be easier to train than the higher ones. Ask other players for tips on specialty points and skill training for more advanced applications.
Due to diminishing returns it is unwise to attempt to train your skills to their absolute maximum value unless you have time and money to waste. As a new player you should have neither to do so with. If you try to do so you may spend thousands of gold and only raise the skill 1 point.
Trainers are an easy way to spend lots of gold, so if you are going to a trainer that is not easy to get to you should bring plenty of gold with you, just in case.
Finding gold and Other Items
As a new character, gold will be important for you to use on trainers, and other things.
Gold is not hard to come by in LS, many of the higher level players kill towns, and just leave all the loot/equipment behind, leaving you up to the job of playing "janitor" to take this loot, and sell it to a shop keeper.
Or, you could ask in the OOC channel if anyone has any spare gold they could lend you.
As for gear, some guilds give you equipment, but depending on your race/size, different things could be better for you, just ask "what should i be using", or "is this weapon good" and someone will answer you.
Shop Keepers
There are a wide variety of shops. Armor to Magick ...
Each shop will most likely have a sign displaying a list of items they sell. Or you might simply just need to use the list command.
To read a sign, you need some Literacy skill, and to know the language the sign is written in.
[read sign]
Or
[list]
In the shop keepers room.
To see a full list of what Traders/Shop Keepers can do with better description. Enter:
[help traders]
Banks
LS has a banking system for gold.
Lost Haven's bank, is 1n and 1e of the Town Square.
Bankers now respond to verbal commands.
To open a bank account simply hand the banker the minimum amount of gold required to open a account. 5000 gold.
To deposit gold simply give the banker the gold you wish to deposit.
To withdraw gold...
say account withdraw XXXX
To check your current balance, and max balance...
say account balance
To open a account, you must have a initial deposit of about 2000-5000 gold. When you deposit gold, a percentage will be cut as transaction fees, how high this percentage is depends on what bank you use. The bank in Lost Haven has the lowest that I know of.
There is a bank in almost every major town.
Your max balance is determined by a few skills. Also for every 1 quest point you have; your max balance will be increased by 1000.
Each banker now uses the same account, so gold you deposit into one bank will be available at all the others.
Quests
Lost Souls has a variety of quests one can do.
show quests show quests completed show quests undone
Some quests are meant for higher leveled players, such as the ones towards the end.
Normally the more difficult a quest is, the more quest points you will receive for it.
You can get more information on quests by going here - Quests
Some Quests can give you rare items, or experience points. Or both!
A good quest to start out with it the At'lordrith's Riddle, it's one of the first things I do on a new character.
It puts you at level 10 upon completion, giving you 50 attribute points to spend. It's also not to difficult to do, and there is no killing involved.
Keep
Each item has its own "keep" value, and categories.
How much keep you have for each category is dependent on your; Charisma, Willpower and various skills acceptable to that category.
If a item is not kept, it will be dropped on the ground when you log out. If it is in a pack, or other container, it will disappear forever.
To keep a item,
keep [item]
To unkeep a item,
unkeep [item]
To see your keep capacity simply,
show keep capacity set alias skc to show keep capacity
And to show all you are currently keeping
show keep usage set alias sku to show keep usage
Methods of Global Movement
As you gain knowledge of Guilds and other stuff in far off lands, you might run into the slight complication of how to get there.
There are tons of ways in which you can move around places quickly all over the MUD.
Some of the better ways are Guild or Association related, while others can be obtained by most people.
Walking
Obviously. You can walk there. Meaning this subsection is useless.
Mounts
It is possible to purchase a horse, some older guilds even give you ones for free. Although horses have no wings, there's a NPC in Camelot who will sell you "Horseshoes of Flight", which when equipped onto the mount, they will divest the Wingless Flight trait to the mount.
If the mount loses a leg with a horseshoe, it will also lose the flight trait.
Some mounts, such as a Pegasus have wings and thus are able to fly you around.
Items of Flight
There are specific items which are enchanted to grant you the gift of flying. Some of which are easy to obtain, others require help from those with specific powers.
Rings of Flight, can typically be found in Valathyr at Celebrimbor's shop.
Boots of Flight, have a random chance to load somewhere on the map. And are much harder to obtain.
Potions of Flight, grant you the Wingless Flight trait for around 5 minutes when consumed. You may purchase them from the magick shop in Corna
Some people with specific bonds can enchant a walking to stick to grant flight when held.
Cloud cloaks will fit the average sized being and will divest a pair of wings to their user. These items are randomly spawned on the mud, however the weakest version of them are fairly common.
Scrolls of Recall
These beautiful sheets of parchment can be purchased in Camille from the Mage Curan. He carries a moderate stock of them, mostly in the Anglic language.
To link a scroll, simply read scroll aloud, and if successful it will link to the current room you are in. Repeat the command in a different room and you will be placed into conceptual navigation and emerge at the original linked room.
These scrolls can be a valuable tool as they can be read during combat, as long as one has their vision and vocal capabilities.
One will know if they've successfully linked a scroll if they have the Astral Perception trait.
What to do Now?
Basically your first few levels should be spent exploring, then doing the At'lordrith's Riddle quest.
After that you should go join the guild you intent to join, then assign your specialty points into related skills accordingly.
Then get said skills trained, and then finally try to kill things!
Exploring
You gain xp for exploration.
This can be better in most cases then fighting right at the start.
Exploring will give you a good feel of how to find things, which is important here.
There are many towns and ares you'll be able to explore with the safety of the town guards.
Good places to start out include Jhan, Corna, Stillwater, Temple of Discordia, and Camille.
Getting Lost
If you happen to be wandering off and exploring places, be mindful that you can easily get lost.
If you do get lost, do not freak out and spam all over OOC or the Neophyte channels about how you're lost.
This will simply annoy others, and make yourself look idiotic.
Just simply state, "I think i am lost, and could use a bit of help finding my way back." - or something along those words.
And people will be more the happy to help you, because you seem like a calm and reasonable person.
Places to gain XP
Lost Souls is still mainly a hack n' slash styled game. Although there are very few ways to make XP out of combat, the fastest/easiest way to level up is by killing.
However, at your level and skill, killing stuff bigger then you on the food chain might result in sever limb loss or death. So it's best to take it slow.
Using a trainer for combat skills, fighting, and then using the trainer again is a very effective method of getting your skills up.
Be mindful that once you get to position where you don't know what you should kill, don't walk around killing (or trying to kill), every NPC you find. Some players need to have specific NPC's, or will get aggravated by you constantly killing them.
Personally, my favorite zones at low levels are Halfmoon bay and St. Paed's monastary. Both of which feature fairly weak mobs for the most experience you'll ever see at those levels. I'd leave out the monastery for later until you can at least take on 2 thugs at the same time from Halfmoon though.
Challenges
Those who are members of the Travelers guild are able to divest obstacles along with a task to a player, completing such task typically rewards in various things such as; magickal rings or potions, skill training, chakra energy, experience points, and many other bonus like rewards.
If your character remains passive (zero kills on the 'score' command), you will not get challenges with the required task to gain experience points (which can be fairly hard for new players), and instead only get tasks such as; Exploration, Charity, Quest Completion, and gaining Skill Experience.
This is a invaluable tool to learning the layout of the mud, developing a character early on by acquiring many skills and quest points, and for just getting into the good habits of smart character development.
It would be recommended to a player who wishes to remain passive set combat mode to defensive as you will not attack things if they attack you, and focus solely on defense.
Handy Commands
There are a few commands that are very helpful and might not be that obvious to find out about...
score - Will bring up your basic character sheet.
hunger - Will show how hungry and thirsty you are.
xp - How much experience you have and need to level.
hp - Just a shortcut command for 'show vitals'
show exits - Will show you a brief description of all the rooms adjacent to you.
Equipment Resizing
As you play, you might come across items that you may wish to use, but are unable to.
You may be to large or small to use said items, and there are NPC's which are able to resize items ... for a price.
Information on what NPCs can resize can be found here Equipment Resizing
Grouping
There is safety in numbers. Thus being said grouping with other new players can be very handy.
Groups are exactly what they sound like, two or more players grouping up together and fighting as a team.
A portion of each players experience is shared between everyone in the group, grouping can also increase the amount of experience made from slaying a npc. So that means more experience for everyone.
Plus, you now have two or more players all fighting the same npc, basically making both of your killing power go up. You may be able to kill tougher/more rewarding things together than you would alone.
Find more information about grouping.
Adventuring Companies
Companies are basically permanent groups.
It takes 3 players to make a company, and may have 7 total members.
Each company has its own name, and get their own channel to communicate in.
To join or create a company you must be at least level 10.
Find more information on adventuring companies.
Dying
Dying will happen quite often here, but that doesn't not necessarily mean it is bad.
You start with 5 lives, and can get more if needed (for example the Patris Michael in the cathedral of Losthaven will grant you lives (for a donation) if you pray for them).
When you die your ghost will be teleported to a altar where you can resurrect.
Simply 'pray for life' at the altar to return to mortal form.
When you die, you can get "Death Effects" which can hinder your characters ability, they can come in a variety of forms. Such as temporary attribute modifications, bad luck, hunger and thirst, or possibly mental illnesses. These are all temporary, and will eventually wear off.
Then go back to your corpse, and pick up your things.
If for some reason you cant get your items, just ask for help in a respectful, calm manor.
Flipping out and spamming OOC and other channels wont accomplish much here.
good luck! :)
