New Warrior

[Rethius]

Howdy!

A buddy of mine ran me into the game, showed me this site and got me set up with lich, then bailed before I could ask any questions on classes. A warrior is typically the one class I figured wouldn't need much explanation but I'm new to this and would hate to muck things up.

I did do some searching before hand and I see that most go for the heavy weapons but I wanted to go for a more traditional (safer?) route and go sword and shield or blunt and shield or anything with a shield, really.

[Whirlin]

Hi Rethius;

Welcome!

Fortunately, since you are a new player, you can play with your build substantially during the first 30 days, resetting skills instantly. Make sure you use it, and figure out what works best for you, and how YOU perceive your character. Remember, at it's heart, Gemstone is still a roleplaying game.

Most builds work. If you want to use two handed weapons, if you want to use sword and shield, if you want to use bows or lances... Anything can work, but there will be tradeoffs one way or another, mainly in terms of kill speed versus survivability. Once you have an idea in mind about how you want your character to hunt, then we can help you determine a strong training strategy to maximize your training points, stats, etc.

[Rethius]

Thank you Whirlin!

So the default stats of my character are fine, then I switch them up as I go or am I rebooting them entirely based on...? I haven't jumped in game as of yet.

I always play a tank-like character for a warrior in other games. So sword and shield, and the variations of shield combos, interest me more than hitting things with large weapons.

And yes! RP > Mechanics. I'm starting to like it here already.

[Buckwheet]

Hi Rethius;

Welcome!

Fortunately, since you are a new player, you can play with your build substantially during the first 30 days, resetting skills instantly. Make sure you use it, and figure out what works best for you, and how YOU perceive your character. Remember, at it's heart, Gemstone is still a roleplaying game.

Most builds work. If you want to use two handed weapons, if you want to use sword and shield, if you want to use bows or lances... Anything can work, but there will be tradeoffs one way or another, mainly in terms of kill speed versus survivability. Once you have an idea in mind about how you want your character to hunt, then we can help you determine a strong training strategy to maximize your training points, stats, etc.

Worst advice ever. Don't you have a sorcerer guide to write?

What you want to do is train heavily in the 400 spell circle and plan to 409 everything to death while wearing a pink and purple tutu.

[Whirlin]

Worst advice ever. Don't you have a sorcerer guide to write?

What you want to do is train heavily in the 400 spell circle and plan to 409 everything to death while wearing a pink and purple tutu.

Nah, I have a few people paying me NOT to write a sorcerers guide, because they're entertained by Sorc QQing.

Honestly, at level retarded, fighting rats, you can't possibly fuck up. Even if you do, it's not like there's any recourse to death at those levels.

So yes.... Go ahead and be a pure warrior at level 0... you'll still be fine. Even a Pereus build would work at that level.

[Archigeek]

Welcome to Gemstone. You'll do fine as a warrior. There's a lot to figure out in the first 30 days, so be sure to review options before that time frame is up. Read a guide or two, and take a look at stat progression and min/maxing of stats etc. But it is indeed a role playing game, so have fun first and foremost!

[Tgo01]

If you want to be a real warrior you should be a bard.

[Rethius]

Lost me there, Tgo01.

[HeyJoe]

Sword and board warrior is now even more viable than it was before due to the new SHIELD options. As Whirlin said, you have the first thirty days to instantly change your skills, and you also get five chances during that time period to change your stats. There are a lot of resources for you out there, both in game and out of game. http://www.krakiipedia.org has a ton of information. In game, there is also a group called the mentors who specialize in helping new and returning players. You can talk to them by going to silverwood manor in either the landing, TV, or mule. Just ring the doorbell and wait a few minutes, someone should be along to help you. As far as basic skills for a sword and board warrior, I'd recommend the following:

3x armor
3x shield
2x OHE (or blunts, if you prefer)
2x cman
2x PF

Of course, you have a lot of options beyond that such as ambush to increase your ability to aim, lots of MOC to let you use mstrike, and ancillary skills such as first aid and survival to let you skin creatures. Make sure to type shield and cman in game to let you take a look at what options you have for those. Just think about how you would like your character to be, and play towards that.

Good luck!

[Jeril]

The only change I'd make to starting stats is be sure and max out Logic and place Discipline at around 70.

[Rethius]

Just got off of work, thanks a lot for the information guys!

[Rethius]

So my buddy ran me through the character creation and what skills and stats to have. How do these look? Just want to be sure.

Armor Use..........................| 15 3
Shield Use.........................| 15 3
Combat Maneuvers...................| 10 2
Edged Weapons......................| 20 4
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 10 2
Physical Fitness...................| 10 2
Dodging............................| 5 1
Perception.........................| 5 1

Strength (STR): 80 (15) ... 80 (15)
Constitution (CON): 80 (15) ... 80 (15)
Dexterity (DEX): 80 (20) ... 80 (20)
Agility (AGL): 80 (25) ... 80 (25)
Discipline (DIS): 70 (5) ... 70 (5)
Aura (AUR): 70 (10) ... 70 (10)
Logic (LOG): 90 (20) ... 90 (20)
Intuition (INT): 40 (-5) ... 40 (-5)
Wisdom (WIS): 50 (0) ... 50 (0)
Influence (INF): 20 (-10) ... 20 (-10)

[Archigeek]

Probably fine for the short term, but as you get close to the end of your 30 days, you may want to consider switching them for longer term growth. Go out and enjoy the power now though.

[Whirlin]

http://gsguide.wikia.com/wiki/Training_Spreadsheet

There's a link to the most recent version of an old training spreadsheet developed for GS4. You can see the stat growth up through level 100, as well as training points that you'll earn each level, and plan out how to train, etc.

[Rethius]

Thanks for the input, the guide, the spreadsheet, the wiki. It's all a huge help.

I'm in a town called IceMule, level 4, and enjoying my time so far!

[Rethius]

Does Arcane Symbols directly affect redux?

My training thus far:

Level 9

Armor Use..........................| 126 33
Combat Maneuvers...................| 82 18
Two-Handed Weapons.................| 96 22
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 54 11
Physical Fitness...................| 96 22
Dodging............................| 45 9
Arcane Symbols.....................| 54 11
Perception.........................| 96 22
Climbing...........................| 45 9

[Archigeek]

It does not, though at your level you can probably skip it until you're able to get 20 ranks or so, as duration and ability to invoke will be limited till then. You could stick those points into CM or dodge in the meantime and get more bang for your buck. I think I'd go with CM personally.

[Rethius]

I'm fairly strapped for PTPs. So I do attempt to level my skills beyond what I normally do (1x dodge and I try to 2x CM) but I've had to settle on the current path. And a discussion I had about armor with some folks is that armor affects dodge and since I max armor every train, I opted to sort of neglect(?) it and leave it at level.

Will I be crippled in the long run if I keep it like that? Or are PTPs going to escalate as I level and I can play catch up?

[Archigeek]

Nothing is going to cripple you in the long run, as you can migrate in and out of skills and adjust your training as you go. Sometimes that can take a while, but you do get a fixskill once a year where you can boom! change everything around in one fell swoop. Dodge will give you more DS though, and CM will give you more AS, where 11 ranks of Arcane Symbols isn't going to do that much for you, because the spells you cast from scrolls will be low level and won't last very long, and spell casting from others at a much higher level of success is readily available if you want it.

On the other hand, if it's something you enjoy, go for it and be self sufficient. I trained in similar fashion to start, though back then there were no fixskills, so I had to live with my mistakes for a long time. I have always enjoyed a bit of self-sufficiency though, and scrolls and magic trinkets go a long way in that regard. It's a personal choice really.

And just in case maybe you don't know this yet, you can convert mental TPs to physical at a 2 to 1 penalty. IE: 2 mental TPs convert to 1 physical TP.

[Rethius]

Thanks!

I'll keep going as I am and until I become more familiar with what does what. I'll keep in mind the fix skill deal and use it if an emergency arises.

And I did not know that! Neat.

[Rethius]

An interesting conversation I've had with a rogue has piqued my interest and instead of cluttering up the boards with some inanity, let me ask it here.

Aside from the whole hiding as a rogue, what would one expect in terms of combat and training? What is the appeal in playing one over the other?

[cwolff]

An interesting conversation I've had with a rogue has piqued my interest and instead of cluttering up the boards with some inanity, let me ask it here.

Aside from the whole hiding as a rogue, what would one expect in terms of combat and training? What is the appeal in playing one over the other?

Rogues are ninjas, warriors are samurai, monks are shaolin.

[Rethius]

Rogues are ninjas, warriors are samurai.

Could you translate that to Warhammer 40k speak?

What is 'ninja' and 'samurai'? I don't even...

[kutter]

Rogues typically hunt from stealth, ie. hide/ambush, warriors are more open smash/bash, monks are masters of unarmed combat. That is not to say that a rogue cannot hunt from open and a warrior cannot hide, I have alts that do both, as far as monks, never had one so I cannot really comment on it other than the little I have read.

As someone mentioned, define your character RP wise then that should dictate how you want to train, there are no 'winners' it is entirely subjective. In the past year a very good friend has gotten me to interact a lot more with other people and it has made my RP better and allowed me to build back story for my family/characters. Each of us gets out of it what we want, what is it you want to get out of it?

[cwolff]

Rogues typically hunt from stealth, ie. hide/ambush, warriors are more open smash/bash, monks are masters of unarmed combat. That is not to say that a rogue cannot hunt from open and a warrior cannot hide, I have alts that do both, as far as monks, never had one so I cannot really comment on it other than the little I have read.

As someone mentioned, define your character RP wise then that should dictate how you want to train, there are no 'winners' it is entirely subjective. In the past year a very good friend has gotten me to interact a lot more with other people and it has made my RP better and allowed me to build back story for my family/characters. Each of us gets out of it what we want, what is it you want to get out of it?

That's it in a nutshell. Sounds like you would gravitate to the sword and board (shield) warrior.

One thing that I don't think has been stressed enough is that you have 30 days to play with your stats. After the 30 days it is VERY expensive to change these stats so be sure to set them where you want them to be by day 29.

[Rethius]

Defining my character isn't really an issue. I have a structure in my head and am slowly writing up a back story as I grow familiar with the World and lore.

I suppose I'll stick with warrior for a bit longer and simply switch back if I don't like what a rogue entails. I would like to thank everyone who has given me input and advice. I greatly appreciate it and don't want you to think that I'm tossing aside.