Newbie Guide

This is a purely OOC (out of character) page, built for the idea to familiarize new players with magic. While Advent have a very good library of help files, this has been written to give new players an overview of the basics so they do not have to wade through help files. However, do not ignore the help files, not all of them are listed here and certainly not all the help files for what spells that exist are here. Any help file where information is pulled is listed.

Making a Mage: So, you’ve decided to be a mage, great! However, there’s some things that you should be aware of when you do this. Firstly, is where magic comes from, according to the mythos of Advent. The Goddess, Orenda is the keeper of the mists, where all magic is drawn from. She is considered to be the supreme sorceress over all mages, however, a character does not have to follow Orenda in order to be a mage. Exactly how the mists came to be is unknown, but it is said that deep in the Mistwood Forest is a well which the mist rise from, but none have found it. It also accounts for the strange fog which lingers at all times in the forest.

When you make a mage, keep in mind also that right now, the spell list for Advent is very limited. While this will soon change, it might affect your choices to what schools to take. The most rare skills anyone can have is six (help SKILLS and help PRAC). However, since one of these must be spent on cantrip (more on this soon), the most schools a mage can master are five. Though there is a way to gain more rare skills, but it takes a lot of work and time, and not all will achieve this, so it is skipped in this guide, but if you wish to look into it, see help RPP and help GAIN.

Though Advent is an RPing mud, the combat system is automatic. This means that mages will fight differently than someone which has concentrated on skills that do not depend on the player. As a mage, you will be typing in a number of commands as the fight progress in order to cast spells and your ability to keep pace with the fight will determine the outcome of the match.

It should be noted, that mages are not expected to spend all their rare points on schools, they can be spent them on whatever they wish. Your abilities as a mage will generally come down to your ability to RP. While the fight is important to know how to do, being able to RP an effective mage is also important to your character.

Stats: The most important stat for a mage is aura (help AURA and help STAT). A higher aura than other characters will give you a few advantages. Firstly, it will increase the effectiveness of your spells, secondly, it will improve how well you resist other spells, and finally, a higher aura allows you to memorize more spells (see magical items below for more).

Other stats, intelligence, dexterity, strength, and constitution, will also help mages in different ways, though it will depend on your character to which of these stats you give greater concentration to, if any. (help INT, help DEX, help STR, help CON.)

Choosing a Race: The race that you pick for your mage will affect his or her stats, including that of their aura. Some races are more in tune with the mists (such as pixies and elves) than other races (such as dwarves and centaurs). Some races even have a negative history with magic, which may affect your choice to play this race as a mage. While I cannot tell you how to play your character you are still expected to know what is typical of your race. Here is the listing of all the races and their general personalities.

Cantrip: As stated above, the spell cantrip uses one rare skill slot. Cantrip must be learned and mastered before any other spell can be learned. Cantrip falls under the school of Arcane, but you do not have to learn any of the ranks of Arcane in order to learn Cantrip.

The spell cantrip is the most basic spell a mage learns and is the building block to all other spells. One of the measures of the skill of a mage is their knowledge of cantrip, even among master mages.

Cantrips perform simple tasks or make small items which often do not last for very long. There are many different cantrips, currently there are 20 coded into Advent, but this list will expand as the MUD progresses.

To cast a cantrip, simply type:

Cast cantrip spell

Replace the word spell, with the effect you wish to achieve, or the name of the cantrip. For example (note, this one does NOT exist):

Cast cantrip train

Provided that trains existed in Advent, this cantrip might cause the sound of a train whistle to be heard.

Cantrips can also have targets, you can direct a cantrip at another character or object. For example:

Cast cantrip train Joe

And this would blow the train whistle at Joe.

Play with the spell, replacing the word spell with different words you can think of. Things you might try: Items, emotions, and events or effects.

Cantrip Duels: Cantrip duels are considered customary ways for mages to settle disputes or to show off skill. As cantrips cannot produce effects which harm, it is the perfect alternative to using deadly spells.

The rules for the duel are simple, but long established. Any number of mages may join. The mage to go first is determined by those participating. The mage will cast a cantrip and the other mages must duplicate the cantrip. Failure to do so, in any way, is considered a loss and the mage is removed from the match. The next mage then casts and the system repeated. This continues until only one mage is left or all mages have exhausted their cantrip knowledge and it is considered a draw. Using illusion to mimic a cantrip is considered cheating and is grounds for an automatic loss.

Schools: There are a number of schools available to choose from, though not all of them are open for play now. Dimensional and necromancy are rare schools their teachers hard to find and their secrets closely guarded. On the other hand, the schools of life magic, tattoo magic, and rune magic are considered nothing more than legend and are not know of by many, if any, mages.

Here is the full list of schools, along with their description, from help MAGICAL SCHOOLS. See the help files of each for more information.

Arcane: Unspecialized foundation of all magic.

Pyromancy: Fire magic.

Aeromancy: Air and lightning magic.

Geomancy: Earth and nature magic.

Hydromancy: Water and ice magic.

Illusion: Magic of deception.

Abjuration: Manipulates the magic of others.

Divination: Magic of information and detection.

Summoning: Dangerous control of powerful creatures.

Enchantment: Enhancements of creatures and objects.

Hex Magic: Curses and maladictions.

Necromancy: Manipulation of the dead and darkness. (Rare)

Dimensional: Transportation magic. (Rare)

Life Magic: Magic cast with the mage's own life force. (Legend)

Tattoo Magic: Magic prepared on the mage's body. (Legend)

Rune Magic: Runes prepared with triggered spells. (Legend)

Magical Items: There are several magical items (help MAGICAL ITEMS) which mages can find in the game to assist them. The most common of these items is spell books (help SPELLBOOK).

Spell books often contain one or more spells, though a mage may add more spells to the book through the scribe skill, which all mages have (help SCRIBE). However, the main use of a spell book is for mages to use to memorize spells (help MEMORIZE). Mages can learn spells from the book through memorization, though it takes many castings of the spell. However, when a mage which has mastered a spell casts the spell from memory, the spell’s power will be increased.

Spell gems (help SPELLGEMS) are rare items that are sought by mages. Spell gems can assume any form, but they often take the form of a gem or crystal. Stored inside the gem is a single spell, which, when held by a mage who meets the requirements for the spell, will be able to cast the spell within the gem. With enough castings, the mage will eventually learn the spell, but so as long as the use the gem, they will never master it. However, when a mage who has mastered the spell takes up the spell gem, they will always cast the spell at greater strength.

Spell gems are generally more powerful than memorized spells. However, when someone who has mastered the spell combines the spell gem and the memorized version, the effects will stack. The spell will be more powerful than either a memorized spell or a spell gem would provide alone.

Potions (help MAGICAL ITEMS) can also be found through the world and can be used by anyone, even nonmages. These are single use items which are used by typing: quaff potion, replacing the word potion with the name of the potion.

Combat: As mentioned above, combat (help COMBAT) is often different for mages than for more fighter orientated classes. While I cannot tell you how you should go about a fight or spar, I can tell you what to expect from them.

Fights can move very swiftly in Advent, so you must have a basic understanding of all the spells you have the ability to cast. You also have to be aware of the times it takes for each spell to be cast, some take longer than others. There is also the added problem that certain skills (help SKILLS) of other players can delay your casting. Knowing which of these does this and which spells take the longest to cast will assist you in deciding what to cast.

To cast a spell, simply type:

Cast spell target

And replace the word spell with the name of the spell and the word target with the name of who you are casting against.

For example:

Cast fireball Joe

And this would cast the spell fireball at Joe.

As soon as you cast an aggressive spell upon someone, PC (player character) or NPC (nonplayer character), it will start combat. To stop combat, type stop or type flee (help STOP and help FLEE).

However, there are spells which cause area effect and will cast upon everyone in the room, even your allies. If you cast an aggressive, area effect spell, it will cause everyone in the room to engage in combat with you, and any who are in your group to leave your group. There are non-aggressive area effect spells which will not cause either of the above to happen, but a mage is expected to know what spells, both aggressive and not, are area effect.

To see your list of spells, type spell. This will give you a listing of all the spells your character knows, by school, and to what percentage you know them (0% - 100%). The better the percentage, the better you are able to cast the spell. If you do not know any spells, this will not show anything.

To see the schools you know, type schools. As with spells, it will show you what schools you know, what rank you know them to, and their percentage known. The higher the percentage, the better you are at the school and the stronger your spells will be.

You can cast spells until you have run out of mana. Your mana can be found on the screen of your mud. This often appears just after anything is typed into the mud or when you move rooms. This is called a prompt (help PROMPT) The default looks like this:

<50hp 100m 100mv>

HP is hit points.

M is mana.

MV is movement.

However, when you first join the MUD, these scores will appear as percentages. After you have been logged on for a certain amount of time, the percentages will change to actual numbers.

You can also view your mana by typing score (help SCORE), along with other information about your character.

Basic Help Files: Just type in help and then the help file you wish to view. These are the majority of the help files that mages might use.

Apprentice

Aura

Cantrip

Combat

Mists

Magical Items

Magic Schools

Magic System

Memorize

Orenda