I've been tempted to try this game for a while now (years). But PVP scares me... I've never really had a PVP experience before... Generally I come from PVE muds, that have optional PVP.

Anyhow I'm going to the plunge, but I only have time for one character.

I'm not asking which character and race is best to play... I've already read over the races and classes on the website.. and concluded that I wish to try a conjuror, druid or anger, though I'm unsure of the race just yet.

I'm wondering if someone can narrow down my pick from the three so I can decide... Conjuror would like to be my first pick, but it seems they might be hunted alot.

Thanks for any advice.

Also there is there an in game map or a list of maps? somewhere

Bah, I just noticed I posted this in the wrong section.

PVP scares me

You're probably going to suck in PK in the beginning, but that's not a reason to get depressed as the game is not easy and you're allowed to suck as a newbie. Basically, you should bail out of a PK situation that you didn't start as the other player probably knows his stuff better than you do and has calculated that he will win the fight against you. Carry return and teleport potions with you and quaff them when you think you are in danger. Check your surroundings using "where" command frequently. If there's a guy who can PK you that you don't know, run away just in case (it is safer to communicate with people you don't know via tells. That will at least give you some kind of idea of that persons intentions). And if someone manages to kill you, shrug it off, run to your corpse to get your gear. Log the fight and try to learn what you did wrong.


I only have time for one character.

One character at a time is a good idea in my opinion. That way you can better keep up with your RP without other characters messing up your mind.

I wish to try a conjuror, druid or anger, though I'm unsure of the race just yet.

Do a ranger or an assassin, as these classes can fight well and have ability to conceal themselves from most of people. Arial, felar, or human for assassin and felar or human for ranger. If you intend on doing a ranger, you should stay in wilderness terrains and avoid spending more time in civilized terrain than you have to, as many ranger skills don't work in cities and ranger skills deteriorate if they spend too much time out of the wilds. This applies to druids as well.

Personally, I would recommend assassin due to this reason, but ranger (I'll focus on ranger advice since you seemed to prefer that class) isn't a bad option either, as long as you remember to stay in the wilds, keeping your visits to towns short ones. If you feel like doing PvP, join Outlander with your ranger. Personally, I think that a felar forester/beastmaster could be a good idea, as felars can dual wield their claws using two-handed weapons and beastmasters are good at hand to hand fighting, for which felars get a bonus. Human would have better strength, being able to hit harder, while felar would have more hit points and better dodging abilities. Human would be able to dual wield other weapons, while a felar would get bonus attacks with your ranger staff or spear. Make the decision based on which you want to RP more, a humanoid cat or human. Wood elves have some additional bonuses for druid and ranger skills, so that race isn't a bad pick for ranger either.

As for druids, they need empowerment, which you need to get in an interview with the immortal of your chosen religion. My initial thought for druid would be a sphere protection Corrlaan druid that wants to protect the wilds. That's a bit generic, so you'd need to think up something personal as well if you want to do a druid. Be prepared for some wait in reaching your chosen Imm, as he might not be online the same time you seek him, meaning that you probably have some time of waiting until you reach your Imm. My empowerment chars have generally gotten empowered after 9 hours of play/seeking. I have no advice on how to play druids, but people say that they are generally a good all around class.

Conjurers in turn are mages, meaning that their defensive skills aren't that great. This means that low levels are going to be rough for you. Also, you need to be careful and always use a fresh circle when you try to do conjuring-related things that your own servitors won't beat the ever loving crap out of you. I don't really recommend a conjurer as a first character for you as it's going to be a bit rough, but if you want to do one, go ahead. You can start playing with any class, some are just going to be a bit rougher than others.

in game map or a list of maps?

The game has map items you can use. In addition, there's a pretty good, detailed CF world map in the DIKU-wiki at www.qhcf.net that I can recommend.

I have been around for about a year now, I started with a half drow assassin that I used just to figure out how to play. Did not end well, con died at 32, but learned a lot. Next I tried a storm warrior sword spec that I heroed and learned pretty much everything I needed in terms of getting around and some basic things. Then I tried another assassin that made it to hero that I used just to experiment with being in a cabal, but it was fairly dull so I ended up deleting and I did not really care for playing assassins.

Then Thendrell was my fourth character. Dwarf paladin was amazing for exploration and all and that's how I really learned the rp aspects of the game and the PK as well. You can see his premium, it was pretty obvious I was new.

I'm had others since, but I found warrior's are good for beginners because they can rank fast and melee skills are generally good for mobs and alright enough in PK. Assassins were nice because of hide and strong melee as well. Paladin requires more effort since they have exp penalties and have to go through empowerment which is a bit easier when you know a thing or two about some of the imms.

My only general advice if you want it. When you have a question ask it on the newbie channel, lots of good people there that know a good amount and can be quite helpful. Or try asking in an IC fashion, lots of characters will be helpful if they get the sense you're new, even if they are technically someone that should hate you. And don't worry about dying and getting killed. It will happen a lot, just part of the curve in learning the game.

Have fun in the fields.

Out of my own marketing curiosity, where did you learn about us from? =)

Also, I'd vote for assassin for a good first character.


G.

Shield dedicant. They're a good choice as they'll survive almost anything in pvp. Easy to escape enemies, people want you in the group to tank, heal etc. You can explore quite a bit solo as well. + Other goodies likes to help you out.

After that I've been a serial warrior player as I still (After 4 years) consider mage classes to be somewhat out of my league. ^^ (I don't have the patience.)


I'd suggest a melee class. Assassin, ranger, warrior or if you're good at RPing, Paladin shield dedicant.

Always shoot first and then call whatever you hit the target.

>Anyhow I'm going to the plunge, but I only have time for one
>character.

>and concluded that I wish to try a conjuror, druid or ranger,

Of these three I'd suggest ranger for a new player, though a druid is also a good choice.

Conjurer can be easy to play if you go lawful good, but you'll be targetted by ragers and outlanders both, which can be pretty rough if you've never done pvp before. If you think you'll be resilient I think lawful good conjurer is one of the best ways to learn the game, but you will die a lot of deaths to people who just run up and bash you without every saying anything early on (they are roleplaying, their roleplay just doesn't involve chatting with conjurers). If you're okay with that, go ahead. However, I wouldn't suggest a neutral or evil conjurer since you'll have the same problem, plus the class is inherently much harder to handle (your servitors will kill you, for example). It can also be hard to find groups as a conjurer early on.

Druid is a solid class and has some excellent tools for a newcomer that is comfortable with empowerment. You won't have any automatic enemies (although Empire will probably assume you are one), and you have pretty good survivability. The only problem is that getting the most out of it will require learning where forests are. Also a druid isn't as straight forward as a melee type class, you'll need a more nuanced grasp of tactics to do well. You'll be pretty desirable by groups and have some ready-made allies.

A ranger offers two major benefits for new players. One is that you have a very good hiding ability, to keep you safe from most of your enemies. The other is that you're a melee class with very strong survivability in your element. People will want you in groups and you won't have any automatic enemies. You're similar to a druid in the assumptions people will make about you. The biggest downside to a ranger is that you really are kind of restricted to the forests (or less common home terrains if you pick one), which means finding fights will be harder than if you weren't a forest-based class. Especially with player number on the low side, you might get bored if you don't know how to hunt effectively as a ranger.

Honestly I wouldn't play any of those.

I'd do an assassin or paladin before any of those.

Here's my quick and dirty advice for PVP:

1. Have a plan going in. Know what your skills do, know what your enemy's skills do. Know what your weaknesses are, know what his weaknesses are. Starting out, it's usually best to play a class where the typical "plan" is a pretty simple one.

2. Develop a set of aliases to use for targetting. Some people claim to be able to kick butt using plain telnet. I'm not one of those people.

3. When you get surprised, don't hesitate to take immediate evasive action.

4. Always have the means to take immediate evasive action. By that I mean: 2 teleport potions and 2 return potions in your inventory. If you're someone who can brandish, then keep a return staff in your inventory. Have aliases set up to quaff or wear/brandish each one.

5. Don't spam commands during a fight.

6. Learn when to leave a fight. If you're 3/4 dead and the other guy is barely scratched, then that's a good time to leave. There's no shame in living to fight another day.

If you decide to do an assassin, here are my thoughts on the class:

http://diku.qhcf.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?IsildursAssassinFAQ

I wouldnt really advise conjurer. Unless you go goodie conjurer, they're sort of hard and definitely frustrating to play.

With both conjurers and druids, unless you have someone OOC who can tell you exactly about how to play each and all the info, these two classes have a steep learning curve. That is, you need to sort of experiment a lot to see what works in what situations. (summonings in the first, moon cycles, call of the wild, herbal stuff in the second.)

And Anger isn't a class.

If you know how to RP well, paladins are a decent first class, since they have a pretty good offensive power (dont go crusader or monk for now if you go paladin) and at around level 27 they get sanc.

I would suggest you stick with a good-aligned, just because other good-aligneds in the game will be more inclined to help you out.

And I think ranger isn't a terrible choice for first class to start with. I think warrior, assassin, and ranger are all pretty good for beginners.

Sorry I meant Ranger.