>
>I've learned my way around Thera pretty well, although still
>learning a lot about strategies to fight various classes and
>what they're capable of (and their respective weakenesses).
>I've played a warrior, assassin, and shapeshifter thus far (in
>that order). Now looking to get serious with my RP and also to
>try a go at something a bit more complex.
>

OK. Good start with the early classes you've played. Definitely the way to go.

>Thinking about trying a drow conjurer or a duergar AP, but I
>am open to suggestions if you think these will be too tough
>for a newbie+.

Well, human evil conjie will be a LOT easier than drow conjie, and good conjie will be a LOT easier than evil conjie.

If you're a human conjie, you should do well in pk at the ranks you're talking about, but much moreso if you know of a few protective wands. Not talking about sleek locations. Just a few limited aura or shields. Then you can use angels and demons which are pretty good at landing pk's because of all the levels they have on your enemies.


I haven't had much luck with PK so far so I'm
>looking for something that will be a strong PKer at the mid to
>high ranks (I'm fine with running/dying while young, which
>will be likely as a drow I realize). Leaning toward a mage of
>some sort. Although keep in mind I rarely have more than 1-2
>hours at a time to play...
>

I would consider a transmuter. Why?

a) If you want to play a drow, drow muter works well. If you wield a staff your defensive spin will be REALLY good. Your spells will rock most people (you can mental jolt most enemies to fleeing or death at low ranks, and at higher ranks go for the slow, soften, disrupt flesh, or better yet, slow, decalcify, maybe soften, and disrupt bone for crazy damage).
b) Even though you're only around for a short time, and even though you are EVIL, you will still be a desirable groupmate because you can haste your groupmates and slow most mobs. You can also do nice healing stuff later on with your repair flesh/bone/organ. Things that few other classes can do (e.g. repair eyes from an eyejab, cut the duration of plagues, rot etc.).
c) You have duo, which is good for exploring some of the high end areas that you probably haven't explored yet. Sure, you'll die when you consider a mob out of habit, and it pops you out of duo, but not often.
d) You also have the option of stacking damage redux via your own spells, instead of malleability.
e) You will tear most giants apart at pretty much any rank (mental jolt).

Just remember, if you go drow muter, use a staff. Other weapons don't even come close to the kind of tanking you'll be doing with a staff.


>What do you think is the most fun without being incredibly
>challenging for a player that's still learning?
>

I'd go dexy muter (elf or drow) or good aligned conjie if I was you.

>Assuming I go with a conjurer, any tips on what to do and not
>do, and general strategy, would be greatly appreciated. I have
>limited experience with cabals and their particular skillsets,
>so if there are advantages that are critical for a race/class
>combo I'd also love to hear any thoughts on that.

If you play conjie, you'll probably find your first one is a learning experience of what not to do. There are so many things not to do that I can't list them all here. Some will depend on your familiar (e.g. some are fragile, others tough). Some will depend on your servitors (especially if you are evil, as they tend to attack you if they aren't happy with what you're doing). Some tips I had are: Get sources of slow, especially if you're evil. You want to have lots of mana in the bank if a servitor turns on you. If you have a lot of mana, I would attempt the strongest dismissal that you're able to, rather than a series of weak ones. Also, spam dismissal on something. Doesn't have to be a servitor, iirc. Getting the dismissal edge is a huge plus if you're evil. With my last one, I was able to dismiss with near 100% reliability if I had a lot of mana (which normally I did). If your servitor is tough (e.g. imp) you can use it to tank the angry servitor while you make a circle.

Servitors heal fast, you you can wear many things down with them.

If you don't mind people getting clues as to where your recall is, you can leave a strong circle at your recall. Then if a servitor turns on you, you can recall and be reasonably safe.

Warp dimension is much underused. It can reduce damroll and hitroll iirc (by around 5 for a coule of ticks). It can feint one or even two attacks (which at low levels, is a lot) from everyone in the room (which is both a plus and a minus, depending on what else is in the room). It can even cause a weak short duration feint effect on your enemy.