The Oracle - Player vs. Player

AnonMECH's
Player vs. Player
A Guide for Combat Against Other Players

Combat against another player is completely different from combat against an NPC or monster. Player characters are far more resilient, better equipped, and, if experienced in PvP, far more resourceful. All other things being equal, the player that knows what he/she is doing in a PvP situation will prevail. Some things work, some things don't. Explaining some of these things, and showing you how to prepare to confront another player, is the purpose of this Guide to PvP.

Character Evaluation

To succeed on the field of combat you must be aware of your character's strengths and weaknesses. Whether making a new character for use in PvP, or considering the viability of a current character, understanding how certain factors will affect your performance is essential.

Races - The three races in The Realm each have a certain advantages and disadvantages. Which Class a character of a given Race is will slightly affect these advantages and disadvantages.

Giants: Easy to Beserk and Confuse, even with high Intelligence and AoFW (Amulet of Free Will). Hard to Stun. Due to high Endurance, Giants usually have high Health Points.
Humans: Average, no advantage or disadvantage compared to other races.
Elves: High Intelligence, Low Endurance. That means Elves are difficult to keep Beserked or Confused, but are easy to Stun and have low health.

Attributes - No character can excel in all areas. Which attributes you are strongest in will determine which tactics you will be most successful in using.

Strength - This is the single most important attribute for PvP. Strength determines your Melee Damage Modifier, as well as how much weight you can carry. Your strength in relation to how much weight you are carrying is called your Encumberance and encumberance affects your Movement Rate, which is another important factor in PvP.
Dexterity - A factor in determinging your chance of inflicting a Critical Strike, Dodging an attack, and how much damage you take when you are hit. It is also a factor on how well you wield your weapon. The 2^nd factor in Movement Rate. When movement is the same for both players in PvP combat, whoever has highest Dexterity and the lowest encumberance will usually go first.
Intelligence - Determines how well you cast spells and resist Mystisicm spells cast against you. Also a factor in determining your chance of inflicting a Critical Strike.
Endurance - Determines your Hit points by (2xE) + (Ex Level) = HP. Also a factor on how quickly you recover from Stun.

Movement Rate - How quickly you can move is determined by the average of your Strength and Dexterity. For example, if you have 20 Strength and 10 Dexterity, your base movement rate will be 15. If you are encumbered your rate will be reduced.

Encumberance - The percentage of how much you are carrying vs. how much you can carry. The lower the better. An Encumberance over 34% will result in penalties of Movement, Attacks, Dodges, etc. When Encumberence is around 20% you gain advantages in Damage, Dodging (more likely too) and better chance of Crit. Never go into PvP encumbered.

Skills - Certain skills are necessary to succeed in PvP, the more devloped these skills, the better. However, to stand a fair chance against a random opponent, some basic minimum skills are required.

Minimum Basic Skills for PvP
(All classes)

Skill	Recommended Level
Thaumaturgy	5
Sorcery	4
Elementalism	5
Necromancy	5
Mystisicm	3
Meditation	1
Theurgism	1
Weapon	5
Critical Strike	3
Acrobatics	1
Shield Usage (if used)	3

When you are GM in the all necessary skills you will kick ass . Levels after that are for building Health Points.

Why These Skills are Needed - The list of skills given form the foundation for using successful PvP tactics. They provide the basis for attacks, counter-attacks, and defensive actions.

Thaumaturgy - Healing yourself and staying alive.

Greater Heal: Obvious. Gained at Level 3.
Cure Poison: Poison is a most deadly tool and can well build into the thousands. You must be able to counter it. Gained at Level 3.
Indestruct: Save yourself some money on repairs. Use with Extension. Gained at Level 5.
Invulnerability: Highly important. Absorbs melee damage. Gained at Level 5.

Sorcery - This has 2 spells that are necessary for PvP.

Extension: Increases spells duration by 50%. Gained at Level 3.
Defenslessness: Lowers opponents Armor Rating by 50%. Partially negates the benefits of a PvP suit. Gained at Level 4.

Elementalism - The Offensive magic does little damage but one spell can be a lifesaver...

Freeze: Makes opponent unable to move until spell duration expires or target takes damage. They can attack if you are in range. Alot of people don't make good use of this spell. Gained at Level 4.

Necromancy - Most Important.

Curses: The Curses are all very important. Poison is the best and should be cast first. Gained at Level 3.
Death Touch: Can inflict to ½ the opponent's health. Handy against Giants or Human warriors. Gained at Level 4.
Death Wish: Anyone who PvPs that is not Pure Evil is just asking to be killed, and this is the spell that will do it. Beware of backfires, they will inflict ½ your opponent's current health on you. Won't backfire if you have a 120 SDM.. Gained at Level 5.

Mystisicm - Will be covered in Advanced Training and Strategy.
Meditation - Each level increases your SDM by 15%, making your spells more effective.
Theurgism - Increases the effectiveness and speed of using items such as wands and potions. Also improves the effectiveness of God Items.
Weapon GM - Obvious. More attacks, fewer misses.
Critical Strike - Makes your hits count, inflicting huge amounts of damage. Depends on Dexterity and Intelligence.
Acrobatics - Increases the number of misses when your opponent attacks.
Shield Usage - Can absorb anywhere from all to half damage when you successfully block. A round shield will only cover your chest. A tower will cover Chest, head and legs, making it much harder to get a critical strike on you.

Equipment

The PvP Suit - A PvP suit consists of PoI, BoD, Obs cowl, and Mythril Helm, Greaves, and Boots. All must be enchanted with Str/Dex/IA. This will give you a 100% Armor Rating and protect you against most offensive spells. Mages have trouble wearing this due to their typically low Strength, therefore Wizards should consider wearing Mythril Leggings and Mythril Chain mail.

Rings & Amulets - Which Rings and Amulets you should wear must be gauged by your character's needs. Giants, with their high Endurance, need not be overly concerned with health points and should wear Intelligence rings to help them counter the Bezerk, Stun, and Confusion spells that will be hurled at them. Elves are typically on the other end of the question and should wear Endurance rings. Humans can go either way, or wear one of each type. Evalute your character's strengths and weaknesses and choose your rings accordingly. For PvP, Elves should wear an Amulet of Free Will. Giants should wear AoDMP in group combat and AoFW when fighting solo. Again, Humans can go either way.

Enchants - Every item you can equip - every item - needs to have both Strength and Dexterity enchanted on it. A warrior who uses a 2-handed weapon can have his Str & Dex can be increased 11 points above their base (not counting exotic boots or RoDs). Wizards who use a dagger and shield can have their Str & Dex boosted by 12 points above their base values. Helms, Belts, Rings, Amulets, Skirts/Robes, and Backpacks should all be enchanted with Fire Shield to prevent them being from being incinerated. (NOTE: An item Enchanted with Fire Shield is also protected with Fire Shield, i.e. the enchant works both as a perm to protect the item and as an enchant to protect the wearer.) Attacking another player's equipment during PvP is dishonorable but one cannot always count on the honor of an opponent. Be aware that rings, amulets, and baldrics which are worn cannot be incinerated. However, those same items, when not equipped, can be. Also, anything inside your backpack can be incinerated. The Fire Shield on the Backpack will only protect the pack, not the contents. For other enchants you should have ALL Shields, including missle resist, and Regen. Anything thats beneficial.

For PvP you will need a variety of items to succeed. Here's a list and their affects. Remember these can be incinerated.

Potions - Having the right potion at the right time can mean the difference between life and death.

Regeneration: Acts as a Greater Heal and Cure Poison, all in one. Can sometimes be found on Paladins but cannot bought at Magic Shops. Marvin's in The Labyrinth does sell them. Another alternative is to find a GM Alchemist and order a batch.
Invulnerability: Obvious, reason for using the potion though is because its faster then casting a spell, and you will be sooner on the defensive.
Shifting: This is good for mages, or anyone who casts a lot of spells. Keeps you moving, causing your opponent to waste movement points chasing you. Drink one before combat and have a couple extras ready in your inventory.

God Items - The fun stuff. Using a god item can sometimes turn the tide of battle.

Duach Crystal: Fireball that does alot of damage against opponent. Make sure they are Defenselessed and fire cursed for maximum damage. If opp isnt Defenselessed then it wont do anything.
Despothes Scepter: Does random lighting, fire, cold, to enemy group. Problem is they all have to be cursed up because ya dont know what effect it will produce.
Enids Perfect Rose: Kinda like a Regen potion but covers all group members.

Basic Tactics

In PvP, the first thing you need to do is avoid spells such as Confuse, Beserk, and Stun. They are often cast first because they are quick to get off and can have serious consequences for the target.
Many Wizards will use "cloth" items (enchanted with Str/Dex/FireShield), making them very light and, therefore, very fast. The rest of the standard shield spells (Poison Shield, Elec., Cold, Acid) and Immolation and Regeneration are placed on items, such as the backpack and robe/skirt, which will not be destroyed in combat.

Stacking - Frequently one of the early moves of your opponent will be to cast Dispel Magic on you in an attempt to remove your Invulnerability Shield, Empower, Nimbleness, etc., so that you are more easily damaged and less effective in your attacks. To reduce the probability of a Dispel negating all your protection and enhancement spells try "Stacking" them, i.e. cast every spell--every spell--that you can cast upon yourself, starting with the least useful ones, such as XXX, and progressing to the most valuable ones, such as Invulnerability. Even a 180 SDM Wizard may not be able to remove them all with a single Dispel, forcing him to spend another round in the attempt; another round in which you can attack (or attempt your own Dispel on him).

A Note from HyJinks - I rarely PvP. Even when I do, it is always against friends. I am completely unqualified to instruct anyone on the nuances of PvP in The Realm. I am merely the editor of this section, not a writer. This section can only exist on this site through the efforts of those who have the knowledge, and the patience, to teach us all. If you have any ideas relating to PvP not given here, and are willing to share what you know, your contribution would be greatly appreciated. Please click on the email link below and take a few minutes to teach all of us PvP rookies the ropes. Ample credit will be given (unless you prefer to remain anonymous, in which case be sure you tell me that).

Click on the word "Search" on the graphic to initiate the task. The "All Words" option corresponds to a logical AND, i.e. any entry containing all the words in the search term will be found. The "Any Word" option corresponds to a logical OR in the search, i.e. any entry that contains one or more of the search terms will be found.

http://www.realmoracle.com/pvp.htm
Comments and feedback:
Webmaster

©The Realm and related graphics are the property of Norseman Games LLC, Inc.
©website and all maps contained therein copyright 1998-2005 by TheOracle and HyJinks.