A Guide to DragonStone

Who Runs This Place?

The head administrative staff members of DragonStone are referred to as IMPs (implementers). Caimen is the Mac Daddy of all the IMPs and IMMs. He writes all of the code and approves all projects. DragonStone sprang from his mind in 1996.

Supporting staff are referred to as IMMs (immortals). Imps and Imams are a select trusted few who attend to the day-to-day maintenance, area building, code changes, quests, games and miscellaneous duties.

The staff is willing to help, but players might receive a lightning bolt in the derriere if they make nuisances of themselves. At least one individual has found himself on the receiving end of 500,000 volts after aggravating a certain Immortal. Feel free to consult them if you get stuck, but please refrain from excessive pestering of the staff :)

Character Generation

What name should I choose?Names must be medieval or fantasy in nature. Avoid:

Outright silly names (ex Cutie, Levy, Giggles)
Names from fiction (ex Frodo, RobinHood, Chewbacca, Kraven, Wolverine)
Words that have a direct meaning in English (ex Terror)
Names that are a combination of existing words (ex DragonSlayer)
Meaningless and seemingly random jumble of letters (ex Wjcjnrklj, asdfghjkl)
Names composed of more than one word (ex Strong Arm, Dark_Knight)
Names containing numbers (ex MaidMarion999)
Names from modern day (ex BillyJo, Tommy, SuzQ)
Screen names (ex Iwuzhere, AmHawt)Names containing vulgarity or offensive terms (ex Jerk, Nerd or worse)

DragonStone has a strict name policy; characters with unsuitable names must be recreated. If you are at a loss to find the right name, we offer a name generator at www.dragonstone.org.

I tried creating a character, but it says it's an illegal name!

A staff member probably decided that the name was inappropriate. It is nothing personal; please try again with another name. If you are at a loss to find the right name, we offer a name generator at www.dragonstone.org.

How do I get a surname/ last name?

At or after level 10, an individual can request a surname. This last name is visible on who, when looking at that character and when looking in the room in which the character is standing. Surnames are permanent. You could also ‘test out’ your own last name with the ‘title’ command.

What password should I use for my MUD character?

Choose a password just as you would for any computer account:

Use an ambiguous word, phrase or anagram. Don't, for instance, use the same name as your character, your own first name, or your girl/boyfriend's name.
Use different passwords for your character and your ISP account.
Use different passwords on different games.
Protect login information against reading by others if you use an auto-login.
Change your password if you believe that someone has accessed it (using the password command).
Always retain a hard copy of your password.

NOTE: Immortals will not divulge forgotten passwords unless they are absolutely sure the character is indeed yours.

What race and class should I select?

A character’s CLASS (i.e., warrior, mage) determines its skills/spells.

A character’s RACE (i.e., elf, troll, Elder) determines its choice of classes.

Your choice of race limits the skills/ spells your character will have at its disposal.

Choose wisely; race and class are permanent. First timers might wish to play a human, as they are well-rounded, without advantages or disadvantages.

Each race and class has pros and cons. Click on the RACES and CLASSES section of the website for more detailed information.

Should I multi-class?

Advantages and disadvantages exist for being either single- or multi-classed:

The single-classed character

Single-classed characters advance relatively faster than their multi-classed counterparts, since fewer experience points (XP) are required to level. Alternatively, single-classed characters forgo the benefits of the additional skills and spells offered by a second class.

The multi-classed character

A common question: “Should my first class be a fighter or a spell caster?”

Consider these factors:

A character's statistics (stats) are determined by its first class alone.

Consequently, fighters tend to have more hit points (HPs) due to their relatively higher constitution.

Characters tend to excel at the skills of their first class.

Thus, a first class monk does more damage with monk skills. A warrior/ mage inflicts more damage with warrior skills than with its mage skills.

A multi-classed character requires more XP to level.

First time multi-classers should consider creating a combination of fighter and spell caster. The first offers strong fighting skills, the latter, protective spells.

A few words about spell casters and fighters:

Different classes learn their skills to different degrees.
A lower percentage means that the skill/spell has a higher likelihood of failing and may do less damage.
Leveling a first class fighter tends to be easier at the lower levels because of the higher hit points, but sacrifices the higher percentage of skills gained (thus, less probability of succeeding with a spell/skill) and lesser effectiveness of the skills/spells of the second class.

Statistics and Attributes

I gained a level, what does this mean?

Fighting and killing mobs and questing generates XP. Accumulating a specific amount of XP automatically advances a character to the next level. This is called “leveling”. The greater the character’s level, the more power it has. Hit points, mana/ blood, and move points increase with each level. Leveling also earns practice points that are used to improve or learn spells, skills, or languages. Leveling may sometimes earn build points. Build points (builds) are used to raise attributes.

The amount of XP received from a kill depends on:

The number of characters in your group (if grouped)
The character’s level versus the level of the mob
The character’s alignment versus the mob's alignment
How many of this mob the character has killed lately
Some random variation.

Single classed characters require less XP to level [formula being 10000 + (current level x 750)], unlike dual classed characters that require 15000 + (current level x 1250). A higher level character requires more XP to level. Experience is lost by fleeing, recalling from battle, and death. The amount of XP required to advance is found on the SCORE screen. It can also be set to appear in the prompt (help prompt).

What are Attributes?

Attributes are the individual qualities. Five attributes exist, eachhaving its own effect. The collective whole of a character’s attributes is called its stats.

Strength (STR) determines the maximum amount of weight a character can carry and modifies the amount of inflicted damage (dam). It also affects a character’s ability to wield heavy weapons. A low STR increases the chance for injury when attempting to bash doors.

Intelligence (INT) affects the number of practices (pracs) it takes to become adept at a skill; the greater a character’s INT, the fewer practices required. The amount of mana/ blood points gained when leveling and rate of mana/ blood regeneration is also determined by INT.

Wisdom (WIS) affects the amount of practice points gained per level. This is a character’s main source of practice points; consider training WIS as high as possible.

Dexterity (DEX) affects the number of movement points received per level. DEX is a very important skill for thieves as it makes for quick fingers.

Constitution (CON) determines the amount of HP gained when leveling and how quickly HPs are regenerated.

For example:

------ Attributes ------

Str: Perm: 15 Current: 15

Int: Perm: 12 Current: 12

Wis: Perm: 11 Current: 16

Dex: Perm: 16 Current: 16

Con: Perm: 12 Current: 15

Cha: 30

What are statistics (stats)?

Statistics (stats) are simply the group listing all of the attributes. Stats displays a detailed version of the score command. It has four sections:

XP related
Stats
Kill stats
Other

Syntax: stat or stats

How high can I raise my character’s stats?

Remember, stats are the grouped list of individual attributes. Attributes are raised individually. A character’s PRIME ATTRIBUTE is the HIGHEST attribute listed for its primary class. Thus, the prime attribute for a necromancer would be INT at 22.

Prime stats are as follows:

Class: Str Int Wis Dex Con

Mage: 17 22 19 18 18

Cleric: 17 19 22 18 18

Psionisist: 17 19 22 18 18

Druid: 17 19 22 18 18

Thief: 18 18 17 22 19

Shaman: 18 19 22 17 18

Necromancer: 18 22 19 18 18

Ranger: 19 17 16 16 22

Vampire: 19 17 18 22 19

Bard: 16 16 16 22 18

Monk: 19 19 15 16 22

Warrior: 22 15 15 16 19

Paladin: 22 15 16 16 19

Werewolf: 22 17 15 16 19

Prime stats are the maximum limits to which attributes can be trained. Current stats are calculated as follows:

Your current train level + any race modifications + any additional stats on items up to a maximum of 4.

Thus, if someone trained a stat to 16 with a race mod of -1 for their class and +5 additional on items; their current would be calculated as thus:

16 - 1 + 4 (4 is maximum)

Their current would be 19.

Training a PRIME ATTRIBUTE costs only THREE builds, as opposed to all other attributes, which cost FIVE.

NOTE: The first class of a multi-classed character determines its stats.

Ex: For a bard/monk character, the BARD class determines the stats because BARD is the first class.

How do I raise my character’s stats?

Build points (builds) are used to raise not only attributes but also HP, BP, mana and moves. To train:

Find a trainer. (There are several in the game.)
Type train <stat/attribute> where <stat/attribute> is the statistic you want to raise.

For example, to train intelligence one would type: train int

What are HP, mana, move, and blood points?

HP (Hit Points) refers to a character’s health. When a character is hit, it loses HPs and when it hasn’t any HPs left, it dies. The number of HPs lost in attacks reflects the difficulty of an opponent.

Mana allows for spell casting. When mana is depleted, spells can no longer be cast until the mana is restored.

Movement points (moves) decrease with each step a character takes; when moves are depleted, it will be unable to move until moves are regenerated or restored.

Characters regenerate moves, HP, and mana as in-game time passes. Regeneration happens most quickly during sleep, a little slower while resting or sitting, and slowest while standing. Regeneration will not occur between log-ins.

Blood points (bps) are the vampiric form of mana. Vampires do not use mana, relying on blood instead. Blood points are regenerated by drinking blood or by the use of the feed skill. Neither rest nor sleep will recoup lost BP.

How can I see my points without typing ‘score’ all the time?

The easiest way to monitor points is to set up a prompt. A prompt can be customized to show more information. Read help prompt when online in DragonStone for customization directions. The basic syntax is as follows:

Syntax: prompt

Syntax: prompt all

PROMPT with out an argument will turn your prompt on or off.

PROMPT ALL will give you the standard "[hits mana moves]" prompt.

Example: PROMPT ALL sets your prompt to [10hp 100m 100mv]

Combat

What is a mob, and what is an NPC or PC?

Mob is short for a “mobile,” which is a monster or creature.
NPC is a synonym of mobile and stands for Non-Player Character.

PC is a Player Character, which means it is operated by a player.

So how do I fight things?

Firstly, look at the room and choose the monster you want to fight.

To fight a mob, you need to know its keyword or name such as zombie, fighter.

If you can't figure it out, use the scan command:

Syntax: scan.

Scan displays the names of all mobs within three rooms (unless there is something to block a scan.)

Found the name of the mob you’d like to kill? Take it down!

Syntax: kill <keyword> or k <keyword>.

Example: kill goblin

Combat is now initiated.

A character will fight until 1) it dies or flees, or 2) the mob dies or flees.

If a character flees, it loses a small portion of XP. If it dies, it loses a lot of XP.

Some mobs will automatically attack a character entering the room. Auto-attacking mobs are called "aggressive," “aggy” or "agro." There is no way to tell if a mob is aggy until you enter its room (although the names of some mobs serve as strong indicators as to their nature). If you are unsure if a mob is aggy or not, and you think your character might get killed, ask other players or avoid the room.

Err; I don't think I can kill this mob...

So you’re in a fight that you will not be able to win, hrm?

Tips to avoid character death:

Flee: Flee makes a character turn tail and run away. The direction in which a character flees is random and cannot be pre-set. Fleeing or attempting to flee from a fight costs a small amount of XP which is deducted automatically.

Syntax: flee

Wimpy: Wimpy sets a minimum number of HP below which a character automatically attempts to flee from combat. The default value is 20% of total HPs, although a higher amount is suggested when fighting in difficult, aggressive areas or when experiencing lag.
Similar to flee, wimpying or attempting to wimpy and failing, deducts a small amount of XP, but less than that deducted by death.

Syntax: wimpy

Specific: wimpy 15 (this sets your wimpy at 15%)

NOTE: The difference between flee and wimpy is that wimpy can be set in advance. Flee must be typed at the moment you wish your character to flee.

Presetting wimpy 20 ensures that your character attempts to auto-wimpy when it hits 20% of its total HPs. Wimpy may or may not succeed. Success or fail, it deducts a small amount of XP.

Recall: Recall returns a character to its hometown. Recall can be used during/ before/ after combat. In comparison with flee and wimpy, recall removes your character not just from the room but from the area, and costs more XP.

The actual recall command only works in the first 20 levels, after which your character will need to use recall scrolls or learn the spell "word of recall".

Supplicate recall: For those in temples, using supplicate recall will allow your character to recall to their temple at the cost of one supplication point

NOTE: Some rooms will not allow a character to recall from them.

Is there any way of knowing how hard a mob is without actually attacking it?

The consider command (CON) displays your chances of success versus a mob.

Syntax: con <mobname>

Example: con goblin

CON compares the levels and HPs of your character to the target mob, displaying the results. The mob's magical shields and skills do not enter into the comparison.

If a con of the first few mobs in an area rates them as unexpectedly difficult, it would be advised to recall from or leave the area and move to one less challenging.

When I attack one of these mobs, they gang up on me and attack me at once!

Don’t want to fight 10 mobs at once? See if you can push them out of the room before initiating the fight. It’s much safer to attack only one opponent at a time.

Syntax: push mob <direction>

Example: push orc east

Your character and the target mob will be left to fight each other to the death undisturbed barring wandering aggies that might drop by and join the party.

NOTE: Some mobs cannot be pushed.

The big bad monster is dead. Now what do I do?

1) If your character has been hurt badly, heal its wounds; otherwise, find another mob to fight after looting the corpse (see below).

2) Check the monster's corpse for any treasure. Treasure could be coins, potions, and/or equipment.

Syntax: look corpse

Abbreviated: l corpse

If the corpse contains something you want, get it! Loot the corpse!

Syntax: get <item> corpse, where <item> is the thing you want.

Example: get shield corpse

Use get all corpse to take everything.

Items may be kept, sold to stores, auctioned, dropped and sacrificed, given to other players, or donated to the general public using the donate command.

Syntax: donate <item>

Example: donate sword

NOTE: autogold and autoloot automatically take all the gold and all the equipment from a corpse. Type HELP AUTO

3) Sacrifice the mob corpse with the sac corpse command.

Syntax: sac corpse

Plural: sac all

If the Gods accept the sacrifice, your character receives either a few copper coins or a point restoration (a few HP, mana/ blood or movement points.) Sac’ing a corpse destroys everything inside it so be sure to get all from the corpse beforehand.

How do I group with other players? Can I group with anyone?

Fighting in a group has advantages:

Groups fight relatively harder mobs and return more experience.
Groups kill mobs much faster.
Groups share XP from kills (members must be in the room when the kill is made.)
Groups divide coins obtained from corpses (autogold and autosplit must be on.)

Groups are restricted by level: characters must be within 5 levels of each other to join. To follow, one must be within 20 levels. Follow and group work together.

To join a group, your character must first follow the leader:

Syntax: follow <character's name>

Next, the leader adds your character to the group:

Syntax: group <name of character> (groups a single character)

Syntax: group all (groups all the characters that are following)

The gtell command communicates with the group:

Syntax: gtell <message>

Once following and grouped, characters automatically follow the leader’s movements (hidden exits and rooms with certain entering restrictions excepted.) If anyone in your group is attacked, your character automatically jumps into the fight.

Is there any way of keeping track of the mobs that I have killed?

The Kill History (KH) command displays the most recent 30 kills. If the name of creature is on the list, it is added to the cumulative total; it is not as a separate kill.

Syntax: khistory

These mobs don't seem to reload after I kill them...

Areas reset at regular timed intervals between 3 and 15 minutes depending on:

a) If the area is a newbie area

b) If there are characters in the area.

If you want the mobs to come back, leave the area, and stay out till the area resets.

My character is a monk/werewolf. It can’t use weapons, right?

Wrong. Monks can use weapons, but receive a damage advantage when using their fists.

Skills and Spells

How does my character practice spells or skills?

Spell/ skill levels for new characters are set at 0%. This means that these things are available to your character but it must be taught how to use each one. Practicing a spell or skill increases the learned percentage for the spell or skill by a fixed amount based on wisdom. Typing prac displays the percentages to which each skill has been learned.

Syntax: prac

The slist command displays the specific spells and skills available to your character, the new spells/ skills offered at each level and the practice point cost to learn each one.

This number is listed to the right of the name of the spell/skill when displayed in slist.

Syntax: slist

To list spells specific to an individual class, type slist <class>

Example: slist cleric

Slist displays resemble this:

Lv Spells/Skills <practice cost>

3: magic missile < 1> martial arts < 9>

4: burning hands < 1> second attack < 2> boating < 5>

Based on the above, the cost to advance the magic missile spell is 1 practice point to raise magic missile by one increment. It costs 5 practice points to raise boating.

To practice a spell or skill you must:

1. Find a trainer. (There are several in the game.)

2. Type prac to display available spells/skills.

3. Type prac <spell/skill name> i.e., prac sleep.

How does my character use its spells and skills?

Upon practicing a skill or spell at least once, your character can attempt to use it. Spells cost mana/ blood points. Skills cost nothing.

Most spells follow a basic syntax:

Type c <spellname> <target> as such:

C sleep troll

NOTE: <spellname> is the spell name and <target> is the keyword of the target mob.

Enclose the name of two word spells (ex: magic missile) in single quotes (') as such:

c ‘magic missle’ giant else the spell will not fire.

For help on the use of a spell or skill, type help <spell/skill> while online to read the help file on it. For example, help magic missile.

[The single exception to this is that of first class bards who, being more poetically inclined, sing their spells. Example: Syntax: sing 'flight'

Characters with bards as their second class cast their spells like everyone else.]

Skills act as commands. An example is the thief skill 'backstab'.

To backstab a mob, you would type bs <target> (you could type backstab instead of bs, but bs is much quicker to type and does the same thing).

(Certain skills/spells may cause characters to become temporarily stunned. Some of the important ones which do this are: disarm, kick, punch, BS, and awe.)

Do spells and skills improve with use?

Most do. Some information:

Practicing a skill/spell increases the percentage to which the skill/spell has been learned to a fixed percentage depending on your character’s current wisdom.
Skills/spells can be improved by attempting to cast the spell or to use the skill.
As the percentage to which the skill/spell has been learned rises, the chances of a successful cast/ use increases commensurately.
Conversely, some skills (like martial arts or languages) and spells (magical dexterity) do not improve with use and need to be practiced to increase.

Also, in the case of certain offensive skills/spells, the amount of inflicted damage increases with higher percentage.
Some skills are automatic once practiced; they are in effect as soon as they are trained even once. Examples of this include multiple attacks, dual and dodge.

The percent to which I have learned this skill won't go up!

Several possible explanations exist:

1) You might have reached the maximum skill limit for your class.

No mortal can learn a skill to 100%. The maximum percentages are:

95% Mage, Cleric,

Psionisist

90% Necromancer, Ranger, Shaman, Vampire, Druid, Bard, Paladin, Monk

85% Werewolf

80% Warrior, Thief

To display the online help file for this, type: help skill limits

2) There may be a limit to which this skill can be learned by a member of the class.

3) Your character may lack the necessary statistics to use this skill/spell and consequently improve its expertise in it (e.g. thief skill poison weapon).

Death and Dying

Oh no I died! What do I do now? / Help! I just died and I’m stuck in a room without an exit!

Each time your character dies it loses some XP and the spells affecting it are canceled.

If it dies AT or UNDER level 20, both character and corpse appear in the morgue.
AFTER level 21, only the character returns to the morgue; you must return to the location where the character died to retrieve the corpse and EQ.

A limited time (30 minutes real time) is allotted to retrieve the corpse before it explodes. Failure to retrieve the corpse means that you will have to re-equip as when a corpse explodes, it scatters its contents throughout random rooms in that area. Hence, it is very important to remember where your character died. If you can't locate its corpse, you could lose all the EQ permanently. However, if the corpse does explode, you could simply return to the area and walk around picking up all of the stuff that is most likely laying all over the ground.

Corpse retrieval process and etiquette

To retrieve your character’s corpse, you can:

Walk back to where your character died and get the everything from the corpse
Ask for help. If a person decides to help you, he will need to be told exactly what help you require, where your character died and what killed it. Please note that anyone who chooses to help is doing this of his or her own free will, and is not obligated to help you get your corpse at all.
Ask for help with a corpse summons. With the use of a rune, some character classes are able to summon a corpse. There may be a fee for their services.
Supplicate corpse. If for some reason no one online is able or willing to help, you can use the supplicate corpse command if your character is in a temple. This enables you to recover your corpse at the cost of supplication points and temple tithe. Syntax: supplicate corpse
Ask an Immortal. If no one is on and your corpse is irretrievable, you could ask an Immortal. Some will help as a LAST resort. Other will not. Immortals are NOT required to perform this service.

NOTE: Once a corpse explodes and the EQ is on the ground, it is legal (albeit rude) for anyone to come along, pick up, keep, sac, sell or give away.

Introduction

What is a MUD?