I have so many questions.

[Tiva]

New to Horizons and have searched and searched for information that just does not seem to be out there. Perhaps you can help me find it.

I want to know about multi-classing and how it works. I want to know the pros and cons of selecting another class. If I change class at lvl 20, do I go back to killing lvl 1 mobs with a lvl 1 character -- or do I have to *gasp* kill a lvl 20 mob to get any exp?

I want to know about all the different skills -- as a lvl 11 Cleric, I have all kinds of skills that I've earned but don't have a clue as to what some of them are or do or how they are used.

What's the purpose of being a scholar other than creating several tons of sandstone bricks?

What avenues are open to me for advancing/multi-classing my character?

What works and what absolutely does NOT work?

You see, I have lots of questions and I can't find any of the answers. Is there a web site out there that CAN answer these questions for me?

Oh, and if those weren't enough, I have a lot more.

[Theolaerynn]

Quite a lot of information you are asking for, but I will see if I can answer at least some of it.

I am a Dragon and cannot really answer your multi-classing questions in depth, but the basic gist of it is that experience is not given on level, it is given based on rating. Rating is a weighted average of all of your combat levels, and is considered to be the effective level of your character.

For instance, if you level a class all the way to 100 and then start a new class, you will be level 1. However, your character isn't the same as other level 1's because you will have more hit points and such. You wont be as strong as a level 50 either, thus the weighted average rather than the strict average. I do not recall the exact calculation, but many here do. I will leave it up to them to answer in more detail. The rating is the biggest con, the pro is that some skills from some schools will cross over. So if you take Cleric to 20 and then start a Warrior class, you will be able to heal and buff yourself, although not as a level 20 character until your Warrior hits level 20.

There is a forum here for each school (class), so you may find more information there on Clerics.

Scholars make the spells that players need as they level. Your level 11 Cleric is skilled enough to use several spells that they were not able to when first created, and a Scholar can provide those either directly or through a Consigner.

What avenues are open for multi-classing? Whatever you want them to be. You can join any school you like at any time, as long as you meet the minimum requireemnts. The penalty is that Attack Rating I mentioned earlier. There are some folks that have taken as many as 12 different schools to level 100. The exception to this is Dragons, we do not have schools at all, other than Crafting schools (and only two of those).

What works and doesn't is up to your playing style for the most part. I will leave it to a Bi-Ped (non-Dragon) to elaborate if such is necessary.

As for your questions, search these forums and you should find the answer to just about any questions.

[AA0]

Being a scholar is just a crafting school. It will allow you to gain skills in spellcraft, stone and essence skills, as well as limited amounts of cloth working (but not making armour).

As for multiclassing, it can get complicated.

The formula for rating = squareroot (current level^2 + (class#2/2)^2 +(class#3/2)^2 +......)

Brief summary of how hz classes work. There are 3 types of classes, I'll call them damage (warrior, scout, monk), Mystic (healer, cleric, paladin), Arcane (mage, sorceror, battlemage. The damage type classes gain no magical skills, nor can they use any advanced spells if they acquire the skills in another class. The mystic schools all gain at least one type of magic, and are able to use all other mystic spells (some exceptions) if they acquire skills by multiclassing. The same goes for arcane schools, except there are no exceptions, you can use every spell in arcane in any class.

If you are a cleric, you are mystic for example. You can use nature, spirit and blight magic, but you don't have any of that. Taking druid or shaman will get you nature skill, and shaman, nature and blight. Taking a class like mage which is arcane, will not give you large bonuses, as you are only able to use the repeater spells (flame bolt).
However, there are far too many cookie cutter class combinations out there. Pick what you like and enjoy, not necessarily the strongest, but fun for you.

As a cleric, you also have 2 options to move to prestige classes. Healer, which is weaker offensively but increased life and heals, or paladin... which needs little explaining usually. You can also stay pure cleric which has advantages in some areas.

[Oakleif]

I know horizons.gamersinfo.net will have a bunch of guides up (I know, I've written and submitted several for dragons, and my wife has written and submitted one for multiclassing and several others) but we're waiting on the web guy to get them up on the site.

For now you can see a draft of the adventure schools and multiclassing guide that may help you. In fact, if you have questions that doesn't answer, please ask and we can try to get them included in the guide.

[PJ]

Every class you take gets gains in 5 stats: Health, Strength, Dexterity, Focus, Power.

Health, is self explanitory, when you run out, you die.

Strength adds a bonus to your damage with weapons (it does not effect how much you can carry etc.)

Dexterity adds a bonus to your ability to hit mobs with weapons, and to evade weapon attacks.

Focus adds a bonus to your ability to hit mobs with spells, and evade spell attacks. Focus also adds extra healing power to any heal spells.

Power adds a bonus to your damage with spells.

Now on a more complicated note, every skill you get, receives a bonus based on your statistics. Weapon skills get larger bonuses from Strength and Dexterity, and Magic skills get larger bonuses from Power and Focus.

Now each adventure class gets points in a seletion of skills each level. These skills can be broken down into:

Melee skills: One Hand Slash, Two Hand Slash, One Hand Crush, Two Hand Crush, One Hand Pierce, Bow, Crossbow, Unarmed, Tooth & Claw

Casting skills: Flame, Ice, Energy, Summoning, Mind, Life, Augmentation, Nature, Spirit, Blight, Primal

Defensive skills: Evasion, Magic Evasion, Shield, Armor Use

Each skill has two numbers associated with it, current and base. Base is only modified by your level in each class, and how many training points you've added into that skill (and 1 passive ability). Current is your base skill, plus any bonuses from your equipment, stats, abilities, buffs, etc.

Now in the world of adventuring, weapons, armor, spells etc have skill, level, race, and classrequirements. The skill requirement listed is a Base requirement, not a Current requirement, you'll need to meet all of those requirements to use that item.

Melee and Casting skills add a larger bonus to hit mobs then Dexterity or Focus do, and a smaller bonus to your damage then Strength or Power do. This is where current comes to play. Your base is used to determine what you can use, but your current is what the game uses to determine how well you can hit, and how hard you hit something. Your weapon skill also determines your ability to Parry attacks. The one exception is Augmentation, which is the skill used to cast buffs. Your augmentation skill does not effect your buffs at all, so you only need to meet the base requirements, having a higher current augmentation skill does nothing.

For Defensive skills, Evasion adds a larger bonus to your ability to evade mob weapon attacksthen Dexterity, and Magic evasion does the same to your ability to avoid magic attacks. Evasion skill also determines your ability to Dodge attacks.

Armor use is only used to determine if you can equip armor, so current armor use never matters. Base Shield skill is used to determine if you can equip the shield, and current shield skill is used to determine your ability to Block attacks.


Parry, Block, Dodge:

These are special passive abilities. They come into play versus the 1 mob you're attacking, if you're fighting multiple mobsParry, Block, Dodge will only work versus one of them, the one you're "engaged" with. In all cases you need to have the passive ability listed in your ability list for these to function. Each of these abilities gives you an extra shot to avoid an attack (in addition to simply evading it)

To Parry, you need to have a hand to hand weapon equipped. You cannot parry with a bow or crossbow. You can only parry hand to hand attacks(a few exceptions), ranged attacks and spells cannot be parried.

To Block, you need to have a shield equipped. You can block most attacks, including most spells(a few exceptions).

You can dodge anytime, but only against the mob you're "engaged" with. Can dodge most attacks, including spells (again a few exceptions).

Now when it comes to multiclassing, skills and stats cross over immediately. But they are not added, or averaged, etc. Each class gets its stats and skills calculated independently, and you use the highest of those values. If I level warrior to 100, and switch to a level 1 school, I have all the stats and skills of a level 100 warrior. However those stats and skills won't increase again, unless my new school gets stats and skills that eventually surpass the old ones.

Example: If I take 5 adventure schools to various levels. And in school A.) I've got 420 evasion, in school B.) 500, school C.) 900, school D.) 200, school E.) 760. Functionally speaking I just use the highest value: 900. No averaging, adding, etc.
All skills and stats will work that way.

Now the other side of multiclassing is abilities. Now abilities differ from spells, standard attacks in a few ways. Spells and attacks have the delay between swings, before they fire. I.e. if you cast a spell with a 50 delay, you have 5 seconds of "casting time" before the spell goes off. Most abilities however have the delay after the ability is used, because they fire off instantly, abilities can be quite handy. Abilities are gained automatically as you level up, unlike spells and weapons which have to be crafted/purchased/looted/quested.

Now in general there are 4 types of abilities.

Weapon abilities, these modify your base weapon attack. And depend on your Strength, Dexterity, and appropriate weapon skill to hit/damge mobs. Multistrike I does your basic melee swing 2 times, etc.

Casting abilities, these have their own base damage, and delay. What weapon you have equipped, or spells you have scribed do not matter for these types of abilities.

Buff abilities, these give you, and sometimes your group members, special combat bonuses: Regeneration, To hit bonuses, Damage bonuses, etc. These abilities will always land, and last anywhere from a few seconds to hours.

Passive abilities. These are abilties that are always on, and don't need to be hotkeyed or used. They give a variety of effects, bonuses to skills and stats, bonus damage with certain attacks, or give your attacks a chance to produce some extra effect.

Now some abilities can be mastered and some cannot. Mastering an ability, means you can use it in any other class you switch to. Abilities that say "cannot be mastered" can never be mastered. All other abilities can be mastered. There are a few abilities that are "Instantly Mastered" once you receive them, but most are mastered normally. Now an ability is "mastered" when you attain twice the level that you received the ability in the class that you obtained it. When I get multistrike at level 10 Warrior, once I hit level 20 warrior, I can use Critical Strike I in whatever class I switch to. Now as there is a cap to levels at 100, no ability higher then level 50 is effectively masterable. There is a small exception to these mastering rules. If in the school you're in eventually gets an ability that you've already received in another school, regardless of the level of that ability, it'll master right away.

Example: At level 100, a warrior receives Multistrike IV. Normally this level 100 ability would be unmasterable, and in most classes I could switch to, I would be limited to Multistrike II (gained at level 50 warrior, mastered at 100 warrior). But if I switch to another class that gets multistrike IV at some point, I'll have Multistrike IV right away, instead of Multistrike II.

[Foxfire]

Informative and extremely useful as always, PJ - Thanks a bunch.

I didn't know that last bit about double-class mastery. Was wondering why I switched to L53 Healer and still had KNOC Coordinated Strike X. Adds a nuance I was unaware of to secondary school selection.

[Helcat]

The Complete Low-down, from Smeglor:

To help guide you in your spending of training points as well as your pursuit of techniques, here is a breakdown of how the various statistics relate to each other.

Attributes:
Note that all skills are slightly increased by some or all of the four main attributes, so they have that value in addition to the specifics below.

Strength: Increases damage with physical attacks. It is 50% more effective than attack skill in this respect.

Power: Increases damage with magical attacks. It is 50% more effective than casting skill in this respect.

Dexterity: Increases chance to hit with physical attacks, and decreases chance to be hit by physical attacks. It is 1/3 as effective in these roles than attack and evasion skills.

Focus: Increases chance to hit with magical attacks, and decreases chance to be hit by magical attacks. It is 1/3 as effective in these roles than casting and magic defense (which is being renamed to magic evasion) skills. Also increases friendly healing spell amounts by 1/2 as much as does the casting skill for the healing spell (usually Life).

Skills:
Offensive skills (including weapon-using skills as well as spellcasting skills for attack spells): Competes equally against the evasion or magic defense of the target for chance to hit. Weapon skills also compete equally against incoming attack skills for initial Parry checks. Also adds to damage by 2/3 as much as Strength or Power.

Defensive skills (evasion and magic defense): Competes equally against incoming attack skills. Evasion is also re-checked equally against incoming attack skill for initial Dodge checks.

Healing skills (mostly Life): Adds to healing amounts by twice as much as Focus. Note that the healing amount cannot exceed double the healing spell's specified range.
Shield skill: Competes equally with incoming attack skills for initial Block checks.

Armor: Reduces incoming non-ethereal damage at a slightly better rate than Strength and Power add to such.

Ethereal Armor: Same as Armor, but against ethereal damage.

Resistances: Add to Armor and Ethereal Armor against attacks of the resistance's type.

Wards: Add to Evasion and Magic Defense against attacks of the resistance's type.
Parry/Dodge/Block bonuses: These "active defenses" use a two-check system. The first check is a skill contest, as outlined in the skill section above. If that check succeeds (from the defender's point of view), then there is a flat 20% chance of the defense working. Parry, Dodge, and Block bonuses add to that 20%.

Other stats (such as Armor Use and Augmentation) are simply for meeting requirements.
Crafting skills are used to determine the number of resources required to make an item.
Gathering skills are used to determine the number of resources gathered per "hit".
Attributes are not used in crafting/gathering beyond their increase of such skills.

Given the above, you can see that skills are generally more effective than attributes. However, attributes have a much wider application.

I'll endeavor to improve the in-game descriptions to match the above.

Edit: Rephrased Armor description to clear up confusion. "

and 2nd part (additional posts in that thread):

"More info that Smeglor posted, from that thread

75% of the increase to skill from attributes comes from Dex for one handed attack skills, while 50% of the inrease is from Dex for two-handers.

It's not telling you exactly how much percentage of Dex is added to the skills, but since an interpid soul could figure that out on their own anyway, I'll go ahead and tell you they always add up to 10%. So 5% of Dex and Strength is added to two hand weapon skills, for instance.

-------------------------------------------------

I'll try to hit all the questions here, let me know if I missed any.

Bows/Crossbows are treated the same as any other physical attack. Their only difference is they have range. Well, another small difference is ranged attacks cannot be parried.

Here's the basic flow of things in a combat "round":

% To-Hit calc: Comparison of attacking skill * 3 + Dexterity/Focus against defender's Evasion/Magic Defense * 3 + Dexterity/Focus. Any attack chance to hit bonuses (i.e. Aura of Command) are added to attacking skill prior to this calculation. The result of this calculation modifies the base chance to hit.

Hit check: A random percentage is "rolled". If it is above the %To-Hit calculated above, the attack misses and this process ends.

Note that the following Block, Parry, and Dodge checks only apply if the attack (including spells) is from the currently engaged target. This means a target that you have engaged with the attack button, or have cast a repeat spell on. And obviously, you only get these checks if you have the corresponding ability and equipment (i.e. a shield for Block, a weapon for Parry).

Block "contest" % calc: Comparison of defender's Shield skill against incoming attack skill modifies base chance to be eligible to block. No bonuses nor other attributes apply.

Block "contest" check: A random percentage is "rolled". If it is below the % calculated above, the attack is eligible to be blocked.

Block check: If eligible, a random percentage is "rolled". If it is below (20% + Block bonus), the attack is blocked.

Parry only applies if you have a melee weapon equipped and the incoming attack is not a ranged attack.

Parry "contest" % calc: Comparison of defender's equipped weapon skill against incoming attack skill modifies base chance to be eligible to parry. No bonuses nor other attributes apply.

Parry "contest" check: A random percentage is "rolled". If it is below the % calculated above, the attack is eligible to be parried.

Parry check: If eligible, a random percentage is "rolled". If it is below (20% + Parry bonus), the attack is parried.

Dodge "contest" % calc: Comparison of defender's evasion skill against incoming attack skill modifies base chance to be eligible to dodge. No bonuses nor other attributes apply.

Dodge "contest" check: A random percentage is "rolled". If it is below the % calculated above, the attack is eligible to be dodged.

Dodge check: If eligible, a random percentage is "rolled". If it is below (20% + Dodge bonus), the attack is dodged.

Damage: Weapon/Spell damage + Strength/Power * Attack Delay + Attack Skill * Attack Delay - Target's Armor * Attack Delay
All the modifications are divided by values that I'm not going to reveal at this time, but as stated originally, Strength/Power is 50% more valued than Skill, and Armor is slightly more valued than Strength/Power.
The above result is then put through a Gaussian randomizer to give greater variety.

When damage is being calculated for a damage over time effect or a damage shield, the Strength/Power and attack skill are inherited from the values used to give the target that effect. For instance, the Engulf effect will have damage based on the Power and flame skill of the caster, because that was the attribute and skill used in the Engulf attack itself.

Edit: Clarified parry's requirement for a melee weapon.
Edit 2: Added mentioning of randomizing of damage."


(c) smeglor posted on tazoon.com/releaseforums

[Eckho]

This whole thread should be stickied...this is invaluable information.

[AA0]

I tried to do a very simple version, that wasn't too detailed :/

[Eckho]

Noobie here *raises hand* I understood it perfectly.

[Kulamata]

I agree about the stickying, a lot of good information presented compactly.