Welcome to Project Bob!

Hey folks,

*Writing from memory at work, some numbers may be incorrect*
I wanted to get some discussions going regarding a variety of topics on the mud. Since Project Bob is very indepth and complex I think we need to pool our knowledge, or have the more experienced share some of theirs. Ideally once this is fleshed out a bit more the topics could be added to the Wiki.

I'll start off with a few of my own questions and answers. Combat questions of mine will likely be about melee or tech since thats what I have mostly played. Please feel free to add your own answers (and expand upon mine) or add questions for others.

Sneak Attack -
Qs: 1) How does it work?
2) What different things are factored in to figure out the number and damage of your sneak attacks?
3) Can a sneak attack receive bonus damage from Shadowstep, eviscerate or force?
As: 2) I "think" weapon damage is definetly a factor. My guess is that the average damage is used since I notice most of my sneak attacks hit for the same amount when I get several.
3) I'm pretty sure eviscerate can impact sneak attack damage. I don't seem to have enough force to see many rolls with it.

Cstats -
Qs: 1) Is there such a thing as too much of a Cstat?
2) Should I try to maintain some kind of balance or focus on a few?
As: 1) As far as I can tell there isn't such a thing as too much of a Cstat. While the bonus the cstat page lists may cap out at certain levels, pending on the stat, the mobs you are fighting may have increasingly high defensive stats of their own. So the higher your attack(melee, magic, or other) cstat in comparison to theirs is the better off you will be. **I'm not sure if the bonus actually caps out or not, it appears to on the cstat page at least, if anyone has better info please let us know**

Sanctuary/Barricade-
Qs: 1) I don't see any not about resists in my "affects" list, are you sure this is actually working?
As: 1) As far as I can tell Barricade and Sanctuary definetly work. I've noticed that if I start fighting without them up I get beaten up pretty badly, but once I buff up the damage I take in seems to drop significantly. My understanding of these buffs is that since they are for all incoming damage types they show up strangley in the affects list.

Treasure Huting-b]
[b]Qs: 1) How do I find a _______ type of artifact?
2) What quests give artifacts as a reward and what type are they?
3) Is it really worthwhile?
4) What should I do with Pandoras Box(es)?
As: 1) Artifacts come from a variety of sources. Using survey to hunt for buried treasure is a great way to find many of the more common types of artifacts. The pieces that you find can be traded to Casul the Artifact Dealer for whole artifacts and then placed on display in your house. Some quests give artifacts as rewards (these are often rarer types of artifacts and are much harder to find). Some artifacts can only be otained from winning the Jackpot in the lottery!
2) Cylair - Main questline there yields Sceptre of the Archangel as a reward.
3) Many would argue that yes it is. While it can be very time consuming to go treasure hunting on the scale needed to obtain enough artifacts to fill your house (and your account perks) the rewards are very good. The bonuses from the account perks add up pretty quickly once fully developed you'll have nearly 5 ranks to all your stats. While treasure hunting you'll certainly encounter all kinds of other treasure as well including the coveted Pandoras Box, countless chests full of items, loads of xp and material deposits.
4) Up to you. You can keep them all to yourself or you can be nice and share with other players. I can't speak for everyone but most people tend to share their findings. Pandoras Boxes can be opened in a group and everyone with get rewards (or you get a monster to fight). The rewards include Pool XP (very valuable), perk points, xp, and items. Feel free to save up the boxes you find until you have a nice big group to share them with (we will all appreciate it).

Races & Builds -
Qs: 1) Whats the best build?
2) How do I build a ______ custom build?
3) What race should I choose?
4) How do I know what to choose as a primary/secondary or learn later skill?


As: 1) There truly is no best build. Some builds may be easier depending on perks, playtime, equipment etc. In the end you can really make any build work as long as you put the effort into it.
2) Making a custom build can be very challening and also very rewarding. In my opinion the first thing you should do when making a custom build is to have a concept in mind. Do you want to be a melee powerhouse dual wielding the two biggest weapons you can find? Do you want to be a bloodsucking vampire, sapping the blood from your victims while your weapons finish them off? How about a troll wizard, able to take incredible amounts of damage while throwing out hellfire at any enemy foolish enough to approach? What about a tiny sprite whose very presence is so powerful that it tears their foes to pieces? From the concept stage you can begin the task of balancing skill choices and planning how to develop your character. It can help to choose a race that matches the stats that your skills focus on so that you can gain bonuses ranks in those skills from raising those stats.
3) Deciding a race is often part of the character design process. Each race gives different bonuses to stats in addition to their innate racial abilities.
4) Primary and Secondary skills gain additional mastery bonuses over skills you learn later. So choose appropriately. Save primary and secondary spots for skills you will be using as the very base of your character. Pickup other skills as additional ones to gain the spells or abilities if you aren't hugely concerned with how powerful they skill will be.

I have a Few common Questions and Answers that seem to come up often

What Attributes should I max out First?

Answer:
Max your Basic attributes first starting with your Primary attribute ( strength for war,int for mage etc) buy all the "basic <attribute>" x 8 perks first, then work on the "advanced <attribute>" don't worry about "maximum <attribute>" until way later in the game.

when I start a new Character i'll just go start killing things then PerkBuyFull str, pbf int, pbf con, pbf disc etc.

The same for your 2 Primary Skills and 3 secondary skills

The 2 primary skills are usually a weapon skill and an armor skill I would go for the armor skill skill first like "light armor" prac it upto to 10 then perkbuy "light armor mastery" and "light armor skill training I"
oh and practicing a skill over 10 isn't necessary until way later in the game also.

The same with your primary weapon skill.

my reply window is going buggy so ill end this here.

MHZ