Don't wanna be a fighter

[Lumpnose]

I'm a new halfing exile who doesn't want to be a fighter, just able to defend myself well. I understand that as a halfling, i'm somewhat capable in this regard, but my ability to make a kill isn't all that strong.

What i really want to know (for the moment), is what kind of weapon(s) will i be able to use as a non-fighter, and which would be best to use if i decide to be either healer or mystic (or stay un-professioned)?

Also, i love the RP portion of the game - I'm used to text-based online games like Gemstone and the interface makes whacking and moving about more fun without detracting from the role-playing.

I'll probably have tons more questions later!

[Steady Foot]

What i really want to know (for the moment), is what kind of weapon(s) will i be able to use as a non-fighter, and which would be best to use if i decide to be either healer or mystic (or stay un-professioned)?

Welcome Lumpnose! [:)] Ask as many questions as you would like! Also try the searching the forum. There are many good threads on a lot of previously discussed topics.

Being a fighter myself I love my axe and short sword but these may not be good for you. I would think a dagger or short sword would be good, mostly the dagger. There is a quarter staff but I haven't heard much about that.

Not being proficient with a weapon (offensive) doesn't mean you can't defend yourself (defensive). In the lands there is a trainer for mystics and healers that will teach you to defend yourself against critters (fighters do the same thing... [:)] ). I am not sure what the trainer's name is. This type of trainer is especially good if you would like to run around on your own.

Hope this helps! [:)]
Steady

[Kiriel]

Typically non-fighters don't do much actual fighting past the newbie stage. If you become a healer defending yourself will primarily be a matter of healing and if you become a mystic you'll be expected to fall lots :) Typically healers opt for a light weapon that uses very little balance, as their primary use is for the occasional tag and for clearing rats off of fallens. Daggers and quarterstaffs are popular for this sort of things. For a mystic I'm sure it would depend a lot on what you focus on, but since mystics can't train atkus or with a balance trainer as far as I know, I believe most do opt for a light weapon as well. As a halfling you have the advantage of high balance, which should help a bit, but as you get more experienced you'll find that you have difficulty hitting things if you're not a fighter, and no way to train to solve the problem, so having something that doesn't use much balance is key.

Welcome to ClanLord!

[Bob the Archer]

I can appreciate not wanting to be a fighter. I started out as one, until I realized the path was not ment for me. Now, as an Unprofessioned Exile, I sometimes miss old ability to take a likin' and keep on tikin' [:D] but there are some trainers that can help anyone regardles of their profession.

First, get a fighter to buy you a wooden shield. It adds a little (not much, but some - and to you, some is a lot) defensive ability.

Second, Master Bodrus will help you to develop some defensive ability, as well as increasing your total amount of health and your ability to hit a beastie.

There is one weapon that will increase your defense (two actually, but no newbie is going to find a main gauche in a package from Santa Chicken) and that is a set of bracers. Metal bracers are as effective as a knight's shield in increasing one's defense. The lightest weapon in the lands is a set of cloth bracers - they add less defence, but require almost no ballance to use.

Master Troilus' lessons are invaluable if you decide not to follow the healer's path. If you do want to heal others, there are more effective meathods of recovering your health.

Master Spirtus is not the most efficent trainer, but he does help one increase ones overall health a little, as well as how to be healed more easily by others.

Finally, Master Mentus, though much maligned, will help in a myriad of subtle ways to affect your ability to move through the world with less difficulty.

Most important of all right now is your mastery of a skill that no master teaches - running. Learn to move aside from the beasties, how to use the terrain as a help and not a hinderance, how to trap a faster beastie behind a slower one. Right now, and for most of your life as a non-fighter, most critters will have no difficulty chewing you to pieces if they can catch you first!

And remember to be safe and let one of the friendly Mystics or Healers know where you are going before you trapse off to the wild and dangerous parts of the lands. It makes your fallen, rat-chewed corpse a lot easier to rescue.

Finding the right profession that one is called to need not be rushed into. Do what you enjoy doing, and eventually it will become clear.

[Lorikeet]

You are smart not to make a decision before you are sure what you want to do. Maxing bodrus sounds like a good idea if you enjoy hunting. Even though I'm a healer I still enjoy the challenge of hunting. Of course there is no experience in it for me, and not too many (but some!) coins, but it's a challenge. I usually stick to south forest, orionwood, or the lake area because boloks are the hardest things I can solo [;)]. I use a longsword.

[Himitsu]

The first question you have to ask yourself is whether you'll be a Mystic or a Healer since that will change what you train. Accordingly, I have two sets of answers for each profession.

MYSTIC
If you're a mystic you're going to fall and accepting that is a big part of being a mystic.

As a halfling myself I can say that Bodrus really isn't worth the ranks because he's not a good defensive trainer or an offensive trainer. I could hunt Large Vermine, Giant Vermine, and Island Panthers if I had a healer with me but that's it. Troilus is also not worth the ranks because you get healed so quickly by healers and if you're recovering in a safe spot your natural Troilus will be enough because you have no health. Spirtus doesn't add a lot of health so I wouldn't get him either. You can train with Bracis to get Metal Bracers for the added defense but that's 50 ranks and I doubt it'll make a noticeable difference.

Let me remind you again that as a Mystic you're going to fall because you have all the defense of a soggy pancake and the health of an egg just about to hit the floor from being dropped a careless chef.

For items I'd get a shield, which doesn't do much but it goes well with most outfits. For the weapon, I'd get something that doesn't take away all your balance since that's where most of your defense comes from. I hear a Rapier has a great regeneration ability and that goes well with the Halfling balance. I use a Dagger and am very happy with it.

HEALER
Healers have a better defensive ability because they have access to a health trainer and have self-heal. There are some healers who actually focus on being the best self-healer they can be and I believe Slyph is one of them. Perhaps she can share her skills and training tips here?

I would say that much of what I said for mystics applies to healers. I wouldn't bother with Bodrus, Troilus, or Bracus. Some prefer Spirtus and others prefer Sprite and they are both pretty good trainers. Same recommendations for the items as for mystics.

I hope this helps.

[Sunoril]

Someone whose opinion I respect a lot said to me once that anyone aspiring to become a Healer or Mystic should get all the training Master Bodrus and Bracis can give before they do anything else. At the time, I'd already been a Healer for a while, but hadn't done those things. Now that I have, I agree with him. No, I can't coinwhore the way Fighters do, but I can defend myself against a lot of critters when I need to, and can kill a lot of junk around fallens (useful if you're trying to rescue someone who doesn't brick it, 'cause otherwise they'll just fall instantly as soon as you raise 'em - not to mention that the more rat-chewed they get, the harder it is to raise 'em).

A Mystic friend of mine has done much the same thing - learned all Master Bodrus and Bracis will teach him, plus keeping Troilus on his toes. He finds those skills quite useful. I suspect even a non-professioned exile would find them so.

Metal bracers are quite useful for defense. I can't compare them to, say, a shield, from personal experience, because I've never used a shield. Having been a bracer user almost since day one, I've never felt the need for a shield. But they do help balance management - which is the key to defence. And I think they add a little bit of darkus, too. Not sure about that, but I think so.

[Lumpnose]

Oh, man... I have a lot to learn (as every trainer seems to tell me...).

Great answers and rather than be answers each of you has broadened the realm of possibilities. Now i both want to train without committing myself to a profession and somehow know what that profession will be and train with it in mind!

[Himitsu]

Great answers and rather than be answers each of you has broadened the realm of possibilities. Now i both want to train without committing myself to a profession and somehow know what that profession will be and train with it in mind!

There are many trainers which seamlessly work with all professions such as pathfinding, skinning, mandible extracting, languages, brewing, baking, Mentus, and Spirtus (less useful for fighters). So if you train in any of these they won't be wasted if you choose a profession in the future.

As Archemar and others prove, it is entirely possible to remain an exile and be happy and productive without choosing a profession.

[Aprender]

Now i both want to train without committing myself to a profession and somehow know what that profession will be and train with it in mind!

Greetings, everyone. (This is my first message to this forum.)

Lumpnose, there is no reason to rush to choose a profession, nor to be overly concerned with what skills to train in till that time.

Both Bob the Archer and I are former fighters, and were in the second-circle even, but chose to leave that profession, surrendering all our formal training up to that time. Being a fighter is not for everyone, and knowing that about yourself is already a very good start.

As Himitsu writes, there are exiles who have decided to remain permanently without a profession, and manage well enough. Indeed, that might even be considered a fourth profession, if it's a deliberate choice. So there is no harm in remaining an unprofessioned exile longer if you're still undecided; indeed, it is far preferable to making a choice that turns out to be wrong for you.

As for training, there is no shortage of skills that are non profession-specific (as has been mentioned)--pathfinding, skinning, mandible extracting, languages, brewing, baking, woodworking. If any appeal to you, learning them will almost certainly increase happiness, and it is easier to learn them before becoming focused on profession-specific training. Too often, after choosing a profession, learning these other interesting skills is something that gets put off for a long time, too long, even forever, as I have heard more than a few exiles admit with some regret.

In addition, I suggest not shying away from who I consider to be the four basic trainers--Masters Bodrus, Spirtus, and Mentus, and Troilus. It is true that there are profession-specific trainers who are more effective. However, any lessons learned from the basic trainers are not "wasted" (as you will sooner or later hear some say); they are still useful. As you have already decided that fighting is not for you, learning from Master Bodrus would be a good choice. (There are more effective trainers than Master Bodrus for Fighters, but it's a moot point when one doesn't wish to be a Fighter.) I myself have been training a fairly even mix of the four basic trainers since leaving the Fighter profession.

Weapons. A non-fighter is unlikely to be able to use many weapons effectively. This actually makes the choice easier, as the number of practical weapons is reduced to a much smaller number--club, dagger, short sword, rapier, quarterstaff, and a few others. These are also the cheaper weapons; hence, other exiles will be more willing to lend them to you to try out for a while. I am using my old fighter's dagger exclusively now, though I consider a short sword or rapier perfectly good alternatives.

The guard towers, the myrm hive, and the practice dummies in the monastery are all good places to try out weapons. I particularly recommend the dummies in the monastery: a risk-free environment where one is free to try out different weapons, and to consider and practice strategy, without the distraction of creatures attacking you and the constant worry of injury or falling. The most effective survival skills are not learned from trainers; they are taught to oneself--running, dodging, not swinging more often than intended, having the patience to not swing at all sometimes, and perhaps most importantly, building friendships. For increasing one's ability to survive and improve oneself, I don't think any amount of training or weaponry can beat having even as few as only one other exile being willing to help you or come to your aid.

Best wishes in whatever path you choose.

[Lundar]

My reccomendation would be to start off training with Master Bodrus, up to maybe 60 ranks or so. If you're satisfied with your fighting skills, and want to look into other areas of training, you might want to consider being a healer or a mystic. If you feel that you're much too weak, and you really want to kill things, be a fighter. Ask people in-game about their experiences in their profession, and that should give you a good feel for what each of the Guilds has to offer.

-Lundar