Thought I had a little more time left, but...oh well.

Kasir was fun, despite probably earning me the "broken record" award for consecutive characters and recycled role-play. Initially I was going to play him as a total hardass jihad type guy. Like a goodie version of Osama bin-Laden. His description was middle-eastern, he was from the desert, he was sphere purity, etc. But...I just can't maintain that level of harshness over the entire lifespan of a character. So Kasir sort of devolved into Mr. Jokey Pants the Friendly Marshall.

This may sound weird (to everyone but the imms) but I feel that in a lot of ways Kasir really underachieved:

1. I made some mistakes allocating thief and/or edge points. Basically I never thought I'd get as many points as I eventually did, so I kept picking stuff to use up "extra points" that I might not otherwise have taken.

2. I could have been a better follower to Baerinika, preached more, etc. I feel kind of guilty about this.

3. I could have been a better Marshall when it came to actually "leading". And interviewing. I still haven't figured out a good way to reject candidates. So, basically, everybody I talked with was inducted after we had a short chat.

4. In a lot of fights I either flat out did the "wrong" thing or forgot to do the "right" thing when doing the "right" thing would have landed the kill. It seemed like this happened more often with Kasir than with past characters. There's just more stuff to "keep track of" with this build, and I'd inevitably forget something.

5. I wasted some time as a lowbie trying to work on certain skills when, in retrospect, it wasn't worth it. I wish I had those hours back.

Some thoughts on thief skills and costs:

Gentle Walk: Awesome. A huge bargain at 3 points.

Thief Waylay: Awesome. Even more of a bargain at 3 points. If it gets altered in the near future, then maybe not.

Garrotte: Not nearly as crappy as everyone says.

Shield block: Probably could have done without it. Only time I wore a shield was when I was about to garrotte some beefy person. Looking back, I'm pretty sure I would have survived most of those encounters even without a shield.

Doubleback: Worth it. Esp. as a character without quiet movement.

Weapon Trip: Probably not worth it. I know at least one of my kills depended on weapon trip, but for the most part it wasn't that useful. Especially since you can't weapontrip people who are translucent, which is usually the same group of people who are flying.

Improved Hide: Not worth 4 pts. I had hoped it would work on "cb" and "gt" as well as "tell", but it doesn't. I understand why, so no complaints. Just think it should be cheaper.

Dual Backstab: Definitely not worth 5 pts. I had it work a total of three times in PK, and only once did it actually matter. Should probably be cheaper.

Precision Strike: Probably not worth it. I mean, it's nice for fighting mobs when you have a group, but...eh. I didn't gang people, so I didn't get as much mileage out of it as others might have. Should probably be cheaper than 5 points.

Acane Lore: Definitely useful, but I'm torn over whether it's worth 7 points. Especially since I had the edge that helps prevent you destroying scrolls when you fail to recite them. In the end, I'm going to say it was worth it, but it's close.

Drag: I thing I got a total of two kills by using drag. That is hugely different than what I expected prior to rolling this character. In my mind, I was going to be dragging people all over the place. So, I might could have done without drag. Then again it's only 2 points.

Sleeping Disarm: I think I used this in PK a total of one time. It just has too much opportunity cost. If the guy's not trussed then you're giving up backstab. And, since I'd usually greased the person's weapon anyway, it wasn't *as* important to get it out of his hand prior to combat starting.

Cheapshot/Binder Skills: Obviously useful, but...insanely hard to practice. Especially cheap shot. I only got it into the 90s by borderline abusing my cabal powers. The binder skills are so unreliable in PK until they're at a respectable level that you're pretty much obligated to go spam them before you can be effective.

Now for some goodbyes...

Baerinika: I'll confess, I made Kasir a Baerinika follower partly because of the shelacking I took at the hands of Niheriva when I was playing Waserax. That, and it was a goodie religion I'd never tried before. I found it sort of hard in the beginning, since you relate to your followers very differently than, say, a Marcatis. I also found it difficult to "toot my own horn", which you sort of commanded me to do when we were discussing the tattoo. My default stance around deities is "extreme humility". Thanks for all the interaction, and sorry I wasn't a more conscientious follower.

Ailinilia, Nian, Mina: You guys stand out for having an excellent attitude about the game. You're always cheerful, even when you've just had your face kicked in. Keep up the good work.

Maktess: I bow to your area knowledge. Heh. Thanks for basically carrying me in Tellik's scavenger hunt.

Humbert: My favorite exchange with Humbert was when we were about to fight the soul of veran:

Humbert: "I'll take the van."
Humbert: "Hah. Look at me, I'm talking like Mizfara."
Kasir: "Who's that?"
Humbert: "Oh, just some old Captain."
Kasir: "Huh. Never heard of her."

Xamekan: We didn't get to chat much, but you are a machine. I think we're sort of similar in that regard, based on how we spend our time online. Log on, acquire target, attack target, repeat. Btw, I meant that last thing I told you regarding your tat.

Sarien: I liked that you were always up for a fight, especially in situations where I probably would have exercised more caution (perhaps wrongly). You generally kept me from being wussy.

Lortas: Keep your head up.

Woldrun: Not sure why, but we had a good relationship. Which is funny, because if you go by the "reputation" command then I could not have been more hated by the Battle cabal. Seriously. I was at the "one asterisk" level. I'm glad you didn't have a means to check that.

Firhindil: Sorry I couldn't prevent you getting assassinated that one time. Thanks for not destroying me because of my addiction to scrolls.

Nidblot: We had a weirdly cordial relationship. To the point where it was probably bad role-play on my part. But you seem to be a good sport, and I like that.

Ahtieli/Satebos: Thanks for not looting me. Much. Ahtieli- I only resorted to stealing from you that last time because, honestly, there wasn't much else I could have done. Generally I avoided stealing from people "just to be stealing".

Dierj: I hate the tiger form with the white-hot heat of a thousand suns. Fighting you gave me flashbacks to Kharnial. Except this time I couldn't vanish. Some day I really need to figure out how to be more efficient at gambling.

Caztor: I hate wasp-o-tiger even more. You pretty much shut me down whenever you were online. If I got someone choked out in the open and tried to bind, I was incurring a significant risk of death.

Ikanu: You're such a polite guy. Heh.

Tameron: Dude. I totally flubbed our last encounter. I had scrolls of storms on me. You were writhing. All I had to do is recite. I am teh dumb.

Victacar: Man did I want to kill you after you punked Humbert. I'm sure you can figure out why I was toting around that stupid felar merc last night. C'est la vie.

Sorry if I missed anyone.

Now I can look forward to being eeeevillll again. w00t.