Devastant's Avatar Archer Guide
This is an ad verbatim reproduction of the Archer Guide, written in 2003. Only formatting has been updated.
Due to the age of this document some information has become outdated and/or some values changed.
Contents
Introduction
I'm writing this in hopes of increasing understanding about how archers work, and the ways in which they are different from other classes. Hopefully, this will filter down to our lowest level players and make the class more accessable to new players.
TIPS FOR COMBAT
- Mob armor reduces archery damage. The most common cause of low archery damage is heavy mob armor. Armor piercing (or higher level alternatives) arrows ignore armor. Until these become available simply avoiding heavily armored mobs is probably the best bet.
- Splinter arrows (or higher level alternatives) suffer extra damage reduction to enemy armor.
- Many bows are awkward to use in close combat. When low level archers say they are missing a lot, it's usually because they're using a bow with a high melee penalty. See the chart in the "bow types" section.
- Archery damage is not increased by the mob being prone (if anything, it'd make them harder to hit from any kind of distance) but it IS affected by the reduced defense that comes with being bashed.
- Once an archer gets target leading, only monks and mobs with shields will be able to defend against them.
GEAR TIPS
- Fletching "rare" arrow types (such as explosive) causes fatigue. A good idea is to fletch them 5 or 6 times, or until you get 2 or more failures in a row. Note that failures do not add to or refresh the fatigue.
- The amount of bonus given by archery bonus items is based on the level of the item, and the hitroll of the wearer,
- Arrows that never survive hitting a foe may survive and be found in the room if they miss. Archers should remember to check the ground after every fight.
Weapons
Item values
Bows are items of type # 31. Occasionally you may come across standard weapon type items (type # 5) which are NAMED bows. A quick identify will tell the difference. Bows have 4 value fields like all other items, which signify:
value0- bow type (see below) value1- minimum damage value2- maximum damage value3- draw strength or restring count
Min and max damage are randomly determined by the mud when the item is loaded.
If draw strength has not been specified in the area file, it is assigned when the item is loaded, based on bow type.
Bow Types
There are seven bow types, although only the first four are common.
# name ammo damage meleemod SCAT LONG restring DRAW 0 short bow arrow medium moderate y n full 12 1 long bow arrow high extreme y y full 16 2 light crossbow bolt low none n n limited n/a 3 heavy crossbow bolt high moderate n y limited n/a 4 compound bow arrow high high y y limited 10 5 sling stone low low y n none n/a 6 gun (arbalest) bullet medium none n y none n/a
NOTES: Heavy crossbows have a chance of failure to reload in time to fire. Compound bows are prone to breakage and have low hps. Short races get a bonus to using slings.
Ammo type determines the type of ammo required. See below.
Damage refers to the increase given to the randomly rolled min and max damage of the item. Those with "low" listed will have roughly the same min/max as a normal weapon of the same level. The damage mod helps scale archer power across the low mort levels, and should serve to builders as a general guide to what bow types to use at what levels. Anything listed "high" should never load lower than level 30.
Meleemod refers to the reduction in accuracy suffered when using that bow type in direct melee combat. The penalty isn't a reduction in hitroll, but rather a flat out % chance of missing.
SCAT tells whether or not that bow type can be used to fire scattershot.
LONG tells whether or not that bow type can be used to fire a longshot.
Restring refers to how much restringing the item can handle. Crossbow restrings are limited by the item's level. Compound bow restrings are limited because they are very prone to breakage.
DRAW refers to the default draw strength of an item of that type. This effects how often a bow can be restrung. If a builder wished to make a bow especially restringable or un-restringable, the draw strength for that item could be set higher or lower than the default.
Ammo
Item values
Ammunition items are type # 32. They are requried to fire bow type items for both players and mobs. If a mob lacks the right ammo, it will remove the bow item it is trying to use. Although they are single items, ammo items represent many actual arrows/bolts/etc. and are subject to many unigue rules. They will merge with others of the same type whenever they are put in the same location, be it floor, inventory or container. Currently the only way to split them is to drop a specific number. Mobs don't use up ammo, so it isn't necessary to give them more than a handful of arrows.
value0- warhead type (see below) value1- ammo type (see below) value2- poison type (see below) value3- quantity
Warhead type refers to exploding, piercing, etc. See the table below.
Ammo type refers to arrows or bolts. See the table below.
The poison field only matters if the arrow has the ability to poison.
Warhead Types
# name level notes 0 standard 4 1 steel 13 nigh unbreakable 2 barbed 23 barb affect 3 splinter 101(51) weak vs armor 4 flaming 42 5 explosive 101(51) rare 6 piercing 50 ignores armor 7 poison 33 carries poison 8 ice 125 9 lightning 125 ignores shield, stuns 10 ebony 125 ignores armor and shield, rare, can shoot thru doors 11 mithril 125 nigh unbreakable 12 sableroix 4 quest prize arrow for low mortals 13 glass 1 quest prize arrow for higher players 14 cluster 250 weak vs armor 15 sunray 250 ignores armor and shield, rare 16 displacement 250 ignores armor 17 terror 250 barb affect, carries poison
Ammo types
# name used by 0 arrow long bow, short bow, compound bow 1 bolt light crossbow, heavy crossbow 2 stone sling 3 bullet gun
Poison types
# name level 0 poison 5 1 toxin 20 2 biotoxin 35 3 virus 50 4 venom 50 5 plague 50 6 necrotia 124 7 heartbane 124 8 doom toxin 124 (mob only) 9 psychotia 249 10 liquid pain 249 11 pyrovirus 249