How to create a fighter or a cleric

This guide shows you how to create a fighter or a cleric that can survive its first fights, and how to equip it. You need an account; if you don't have one, ask an admin for an invite.

A fighter is the stronger choice for a first character: it hits harder, can use any weapon, and starts with more money. A cleric is slower to start but can turn away the undead as it gains levels.

Name your character

Log in, and go to characters.
Type a name and choose Create. A name is one word of 1 to 10 letters, and no one else may have it, in any case. It can't be changed later.
Choose play beside the new character.

An account has room for one character.

Answer the game's questions

The game asks four questions. Type each answer on its own line: anything after the answer on a line is ignored. The first letter of an answer is enough.

Class

At Class?, type fighter or cleric.

	Fighter	Cleric
Hits	8	7
Fatigue	14	11
Magic	2	4
Money	200 shillings	80 shillings
Weapons	Any	Blunt and pole only

Typing stop here leaves the game without creating the character.

Attributes

At Stats?, type five numbers: strength, intelligence, dexterity, piety and constitution, in that order, separated by spaces or commas. Each must be from 5 to 18, and they must add up to 55 or less, so spend all 55.

	Fighter	Cleric
Suggested	`18, 5, 12, 5, 15`	`12, 11, 12, 5, 15`

What the attributes do:

Strength helps you hit, and lets you strike again sooner. You can carry ten pounds for each point.
Intelligence decides which spells you can cast, and how strong they are. A cleric needs 10 for its first healing spell.
Dexterity helps you dodge, and is used for hiding, picking locks and avoiding traps.
Piety gives you more money if you come back from death. It doesn't help a cleric's spells or turning.
Constitution is your chance of coming back from death: five percent for each point, so 15 gives 75%. If the roll fails, the character is gone for good.

Strength and dexterity help in steps of six: 12 is better than 11, but 17 helps no more than 12, except that strength still speeds your blows and your load.

Weapon

At Skill?, type the kind of weapon you will use most: sharp, thrusting, blunt or pole. You hit more often and harder with that kind.

A fighter should choose sharp, for swords.
A cleric must choose blunt or pole: a cleric can't wield sharp or thrusting weapons.

Sex

At Finally, is your character a male or female?, type male or female.

The character then enters the world, everyone in the game is told, and it is saved.

Equip your character

Characters start with nothing but money. On the current server, which runs the small reference world:

Go south from the village square to the market.
Type catalog to see what's for sale, and buy and the item's number to buy it. The shopkeeper puts it on the floor.
get each thing you bought, then wield the weapon and wear the armor and the shield.

Item	Price	Fighter	Cleric
short sword	25	Buy	Can't wield
leather armor	30	Buy	Buy
wooden shield	10	Buy	Buy

A cleric fights bare-handed for now: the reference world sells no blunt or pole weapons.

Type condition to see your hits, fatigue and magic, and information for your full character sheet.

Train

Experience from fights lets you train to the next level, which gives you more hits, fatigue and magic, and a point on a random attribute. Training also costs money: 128 shillings for level 2.

A fighter trains in the fighters' hall: from the village square, go south three times.
A cleric trains in the cloister: from the village square, go west twice. A cleric starts with less than the 128 shillings, so it must find money before it can train.

Type experience to see how much more you need, and train in the right room.

Things to avoid

A cleric turning undead too soon. turn can only work on a monster at least three levels below you. Until then it always fails, and the monster strikes harder and never misses.
Fighting while weak. Damage comes off your fatigue first, then your hits. Rest in a safe room, such as the village square or the temple, to heal.
Quitting during a fight. quit waits until 20 seconds after you were last hit. run gets you out of a fight, but you drop your weapon and shield.
Typing too fast. After ten quick commands the game asks you to wait a moment.

If you die and pass the constitution roll, you come back in the temple, west of the village square, with a little money and one point less constitution. Your body and belongings stay where you fell.