| With the introduction of the
treasure map a new class of adventurer is born, the Treasure
Hunter. Armed with a treasure map, enough lockpicks, and a
shovel, the treasure hunter can aid the average adventurer
with a map make more gold than a simple mapmaker could in
a lifetime of drawing charts.
GETTING STARTED
Your skills:
There are 2 skills that are essential to every treasure
hunter: Cartography and Lockpicking. Which other skills
you decide to take depends on what kind of treasure hunter
you want to be and how you want to play that character.
Before you create your character, think a bit about that.
If you are undecided, it is a good idea to go to a test
shard and experiment with a few different skill sets. One
of each level treasure map is given to you as starting equipment
on test shards, and many people throw them on the ground,
so you will have plenty of material to try things out with.
Here are a few popular styles and the additional skills
that go with them:
- The Pure Treasure Hunter
- The "pure" treasure hunter takes all the traditional
treasure hunter skills and does not use telekinesis to
untrap a treasure chest. Because of the number of skills
involved with this template, it is one of the most challenging
to play. A pure treasure hunter will almost always hunt
with a party because there is little room here for skills
to kill the guardian monsters. It is a good template for
a guild treasure hunter, a treasure hunter for hire, and
roleplayed treasure hunters.
- Remove
Traps: This is the main skill that sets a "pure"
treasure hunter apart from the rest. You will need a
minimum of 50 Lockpicking and 50 Detect Hidden before
you can train this skill. You cannot start with it.
- Detect
Hidden: You need at least 50 in this skill in order
to use Remove Traps
- Mining:
Mining is a useful skill since it increases the distance
from which a treasure chest can be dug up as follows:
- 0 to 50.9 mining: You can dig from 1 tile away
from the treasure chest.
- 51.0 to 80.9 mining: You can dig from 2 tiles
away from the treasure chest.
- 81.0 to 99.9 mining: You can dig from 3 tiles
away from the treasure chest.
- 100 mining: You can dig from 4 tiles away from
the treasure chest.
- Number refer to enhanced skill levels, not "real".
The increased distance makes it much easier to locate
the chest spot if you are not using a map archive. It
also allows you a bit of distance between you and the
guardian monsters that come up with the treasure chest.
- The Fighter Treasure Hunter
- The fighter treasure hunter takes a more active role
than most others. Instead of provoking or sending a pet
to fight the monsters, those choosing this style will
be fighting the monsters one-on-one.
- Weapon Skill of your choice: You should decide early
on if you want to use a melee weapon and a shield or
take up archery. Melee fighters will be very effective
on low level hunts. An archer will be effective at all
levels.
- Anatomy:
An essential skill for any weapons fighter, also increases
your ability to heal yourself and others.
- Healing:
Being able to heal yourself while you continue to fight
is a great advantage.
- The Mage Treasure Hunter
- A mage treasure hunter can choose to play a supportive
role; healing, curing and resurrecting the rest of the
party, or step in and help kill off the monsters.
- Magery:
It goes without saying that a mage will need this skill.
- Meditation:
A mage is only as good as his/her mana pool.
- Evaluate
Intelligence: This skill greatly increases the effectiveness
of offensive spells, if you plant to kill monsters with
magery it is essential.
- Resisting
Spells: Many of the monsters that spawn on treasure
hunts are magical. This skill is recommended for anyone
using magery as their main offensive / defensive skill.
- Wrestling:
Of less importance than the others. You may decide to
replace this with something else and keep your distance
from the monsters instead of letting them hit you. It's
usually healthier that way anyhow.
- The Bard Treasure Hunter
- One of the more popular styles, a bard treasure hunter
can go anywhere on his own and survive. A very powerful
treasure hunter capable of handling high level hunts on
his own easier than most others.
- Musicianship: Check the bard
section for details on raising and using bard skills.
- Provocation: The main "tool" of the bard.
- Peacemaking: Another useful skill. Depending on how
you intend to fight the monsters, you may decide to
replace this skill with something else.
- The Tamer Treasure Hunter
- Like the bard, the tamer treasure hunter has a greater
ability than others to handle high level hunts on his
own.
- Animal Taming: Take a look at the tamer
section for tips on raising a tamer.
- Animal Lore: Needed to help control your pets.
- Veterinary: Dragons can be killed very easily by ogre
lords. You will want to be able to heal them.
- Other Skills to Consider
- Magery: This is a very handy skill for every treasure
hunter. If you do not intend to use Detect Hidden and
Remove Traps, you will be using the telekinesis spell
to set off the trap on the chest after you have picked
the lock. It is also very useful to be able to recall,
mark runes and gate your party and/or pets around.
- Mining: this is not only for the pure treasure hunter.
It has uses for all classes if you want to fit it in.
- Meditation and Evaluate Intelligence: If you plan
to use magery as a backup offense, you may find this
combination handy.
- Hiding:
Many use hiding to help avoid instant death when the
guardian monsters first spawn.
- Item Identification: ID wands are not hard to come
by, but if you have extra skill points to spare this
skill will save you the bother of seeking them out.
There is no right or wrong way to build a treasure hunter.
As long as your character has Cartography and Lockpicking,
the rest of your skills really are up to you. Talk to other
treasure hunters and find out what works for them. Try it
out on test, think of what your treasure hunting goals are,
and go from there. Remember also that you can always change
your mind about skills later on and drop one in favor of
another.
Another thing to consider is teaming up with a friend and
splitting the two main skills of Cartography and Lockpicking
between you. That would leave each of you room to expand
on other skills (not to mention only having to train one
of them: they are both time consuming and difficult to GM).
The biggest disadvantage to that idea is that you are dependent
on each other to go treasure hunting, but for the right
pair of people it can work very well and be a lot of fun.
Once you have chosen which skills you want to use, pick
three to start your character with. Consider two things
when choosing starting skills:
- What equipment do you start with? Here is a list
of starting equipment given with each skill. A bard will
surely want a "newbie" instrument. You may decide to put
one point in mining even if you plan not to use it just
to get that shovel or pickaxe that will never leave your
side.
- How hard is it to raise the skill from zero to 50? Remember
that you can train most skills up to about 30 or so with
an NPC for a small amount of gold, and that a lot of skills,
such as cartography, are relatively easy to train up to
50.
TRAINING
Now that you have chosen the skills you will have, it's
time to create your character and start training. It is
good to start in a city that has a mapmaker. Minoc is the
only starting city that does not have one.
Cartography Check the
Cartographer section for
a list of mapmaker locations and notes on training the skill.
Lockpicking
- Lockpicking is affected by the anti-macro code; it is
an object based skill, meaning you need plenty of targets
in order to train. Movement does not affect this skill.
- Remember as a training lockpicker, tinkers are your
friends. You will be going through a lot of lockpicks
during your training. You will also more than likely want
to buy some tinker-made lockable boxes or chests to work
on. Why do I say "tinker-made" when everyone knows that
carpenters make these things? Because you are concerned
with the quality of the lock on the box, it is important
to have it made by a tinker of appropriate skill. A carpenter
can make a lockable box, yet if he/she is GM carpenter
but has only 25 tinkering, you will end up with a nice
box that has a very weak lock on it. Pay attention to
the tinkering skill when buying boxes. If you dont know
a tinker, try looking on the Stratics
Tinker Forum. Chances are good you will find a tinker
on your shard of the right level there.
- You will want to contact a tinker and buy some picks.
Tinkers raise skill by making them and you can often get
a good deal on a bulk purchase. That will end up being
cheaper than buying them from a NPC tinker.
- At 0 skill get 3 or 4 boxes made by a tinker of 50 to
60 skill. You will break a lot of picks on them, but they
will raise you well into your training. You can use these
as you walk around town picking the boxes and crates found
in shops, or you can go to Vesper
bank and work on the level one boxes that spawn in
the north back room there. There are 6 boxes that spawn,
each box stays up for about 9 minutes and is replaced
by a fresh one about a minute after it disappears. Lockpicking
raises very fast here at low levels, and the advantage
of having a bank right there to refresh your supply of
picks from is invaluable.
- You can also train the skill with a theif guildmaster
if you prefer not to start at 0.
- Once you get to the mid 50's, you will be opening the
level 1 boxes pretty well and the gains will slow down
some. From here, you have a few options. You can get a
few more boxes made by a tinker in the mid 70's to low
80' and work on those; you can get a set of GM tinker
boxes, or you can train on spawning dungeon chests. Let's
examine the pros and cons of those options.
- Using boxes made by a tinker about 20 points above
your current skill is great for gains with fewer lockpicks
broken. However, to get around the anti-macro code,
you will need a lot of them if that is all you are working
with. They are good when used in conjunction with the
harder town boxes and with level 2 spawn chests. You
can find level 2 spawn chests in the Western
Vesper bank back room, in the north chest room at
Yew
Crypts, and in various dungeons.
- GM boxes will take you all the way to 95 shown skill.
You need a lot of them though, and for many storing
them is a problem.
- Training on spawning chests is certainly more fun
(and profitable) than the other methods but of course
it tends to be more dangerous as well. There are a few
safe locations where chests spawn, but they do tend
to be popular, so training in those locations alone
can be slow.
- The best bet is to combine a few techniques, if your
gains stall on your GM boxes, hit the dungeons for a while
until you get a gain, at which time your GM boxes will
be "reset" and you can gain from them again.
- Once you have reached 95 enhanced skill, you will no
longer be able to gain from the GM boxes. Some people
believe that it does help to run through them a few times,
even though you will not raise from them. Whether you
do this or not is up to you. The only way to raise now
is to hit the dungeon chests and the harder static* chests
in towns and dungeons.
- * A "static" chest or box is one that is always in
the same location. They do relock and retrap, and some
have items in them. Usually the items are of little
or no value, the exception being the semi-rares which
appear in certain town boxes. A spawning chest has a
very short life span, about 9 or 10 minutes. When a
spawn chest disapears, it is replaced by a fresh one
a minute or so later in the same general area.
Detect Hidden
Do yourself a big favor and buy this skill from an NPC
to start. It is one of the few skills that you do not gain
in through using it at zero skill. 300gp to a theif guildmaster
will get you started nicely.
Detect Hidden is an object based skill. You will need to
detect many different traps or hidden people in order to
gain. If you plan to train on hidden players, you must do
that in Felucca. You cannot detect hiders in Trammel.
Many boxes and chests in town are trapped. Most provisioner
shops have lots of these, and they can be a good place to
train. The Warriors
Guild in Britain has a lot of trapped boxes as well.
Don't forget about dungeons, they are a good place to train
also. There are many trapped chests and also floor traps
there.
You may also want to train using tinker made trapped boxes.
You will need a fair number of them for this. Remember to
combine them with traps around town and dungeons to defeat
the anti-macro code. You can only detect the same trap a
few times before you can no longer gain from it, until you
have gained on a fresh target.
Remove Trap
While Detect Hidden will tell you if a chest is trapped
or not, the Remove Trap skill is needed to actually remove
the trap from the chest.
To train in Remove Trap there is only one path to follow:
Remove Traps. You can train with a theif guildmaster to
start, but remember that you need at least 50 Lockpicking
and 50 Detect Hidden before you can train.
The most efficient way to train is to get a supply of tinker
made trapped boxes. The tinker skill should be no more than
about 20 points above your Remove Traps skill, or you will
be setting the trap off more often than not, and the gains
will be slower. You will need to have new traps made by
a more advanced tinker as you gain. Dart traps do the least
amount of damage, so they are probably the best ones to
get. Some people prefer to use poison traps and train at
a shrine. When they fail and poison themselves, a quick
double-click on the shrine cures them. Training at a healer
in town is a good idea also. One thing to note: training
in this skill will kill you, many times.
You may wish to vary your training by working with trapped
boxes around town and chests and floor traps in dungeons.
Just be aware that there is a good chance that you will
be killed while doing this, and plan accordingly. If you
know a friend training healing who needs to resurrect ghosts
to gain, you might want to partner up with him for a session
or two.
Other Key Skills
Please refer to the sections linked above for information
on training skills specific to the style of treasure hunter
you want to be.
THE TREASURE HUNT
For a detailed look at treasure maps and what you can expect
to find in them, check Treasure
Map Quests
Eventually you can enter your profession by offering your
services to other players. Banks are a good place to advertise
your services. If you are in a guild, ask your guildmaster
to give you a title that will let others know what you do
- "Treasure Hunter" is obviously a good one. You can also
write something to that effect in your profile; people do
read them. You can also leave a completed map with your
name on it as a "business card" near the bank. (Try not
to leave too many though, no-one likes those who create
extra lag for them.)
You should decide what fee you will charge before you start
to advertise. Many like to dig just to gain experience or
for the fun of it, but charging a modest fee is a good idea
in any case. You will be treated as more of a professional
for doing so.
Work out any details with your employer before you set
off in search of the chest. Decide who will loot the chest,
when you expect to be paid, how you will get to the site,
etc.
Some tips on digging up treasure
UO Automap is an invaluable tool for the treasure hunter.
You can find a link to download this free and UO Approved
utility in the bar to the left. You can navigate using your
overhead radar, but the area you see with it is much smaller.
The treasure hunter and anyone who is in his
party are the only ones who will be able to take items
from the chest in Trammel. In Felucca anyone is able
to take items from the chest, but anyone not in the
treasure hunter's party will be flagged criminal for the
action.
Once you get the sound of sucess (you can distinctly hear
digging sounds), back away from the chest and get everyone
in the area. Let them get their mana up full, and then finish
digging it up. Also plan a route of retreat and ask any
mages to cast things like bless, reflective armor, and other
protective magics on you so you can run as soon as the monsters
appear and stand a chance of escaping.
Finally, after you dig up the treasure and dispatch the
monsters, note down the sextant coordinates of the chest,
this is because if there is ever a time warp you can at
least get back to where you left off.
Once you dig up the treasure the fun begins, for the moment
that chest sees the sky all heck will break loose. This
is where you need friends, or at least your employer. The
moment the chest is uncovered any foes that are to appear
will appear right next to the digger - that being you and
regretfully you are also the prime target. Hopefully there
is a bard near by making peace before you have to. Ogre
Lords and Dread Spiders are foes that seem to plague these
chests, a level 3 map will spawn Liche Lords and worse,
so a good strong team of souls is what you need. Once the
monsters are dispatched or distracted, you need to open
the chest. Now its time to try those lockpicks out and have
at it (hopefully you have been practicing).
If you are using telekinesis to remove the trap, step away
at least four paces before you cast the spell. Since you
have just picked the lock on the chest, the chest is your
last target. If you cannot see the chest for trees, you
can always use the "last target" feature here. If you are
using the Remove Trap skill, you can do that before or after
picking the lock.
A few rules for those who are coming along:
- Never be off screen while the hunter is digging. For
when the monsters come, they will spawn right next to
the chest so if you are out of sight of the digger you
will be latefor the party.
- You will know the treasure has been found the moment
the treasure hunter starts digging more than one stroke.
That's when the bards should have their hands on the peacemaking
keys. Mages should have In Vas Mani on their lips, and
the targeting cursor on the treasure digger. Warriors
should be in combat mode and ready to fight the foes.
Once they spawn, the monsters are fast and furious.
- Treasure should be collected one item at a time by the
employer or the treasure hunter. Never take anything out
until the mages have regained their mana and everyone
is healed back up. If no monsters spawn, keep taking until
the chest is empty. You can put any item inside the chest
and simply move it around in order to encourage more monsters
to spawn.
Other key items that have helped in the past: Gate scrolls
to a healer rune so after the treasure hunter gets squished
you can get rezzed to come back and pick that lock. Mark
scrolls and blank runes to mark a rune so you can come back.
(Note that there are a limited number of "treasure
locations." So if you build a rune/map library you
can get back there if you find a map in the same vicinity.
Now that the treasure is yours, here comes the fun part.
Hopefully you worked out payment before you went along for
the trip, such that there are no questions involved. A good
plan for people whom you think you can trust, is an even
share of the treasure. But if you don't have complete faith
in a fair deal ask for some coin up-front (at least 250
gold per map level) and leave it at that. Even the wussiest
chest is loaded so your "partners" will not feel
taken advantage of.
The code of honor for treasure
seekers
- Never take another persons map - If you can't decode
it, give it back.
- Once you open the chest let the employer pay you - that
way there are no questions about was that all there was.
It is also a good idea to keep your distance from the
chest if you do not know your employer well. You do not
wamt to be falsely accused of taking his items from it.
- Make sure you have the time - If you offer to decode
a map know that it can take upwards to a couple of hours
if its in a hard to reach place and your mining skill
is not up there, make sure your employer knows this as
well.
Some other Hints that have come to my attention:
Watch out for conartists:Some people are trying to sell
either completed treasure maps or decoded ones to other
people which are useless. There is a way of telling a genuine
un-decoded treasure map from clicking on it. An undecoded
one will give the title 'A tattered treasure map'. A decoded
but uncompleted one will give the title 'A treasure map'
and a completed one will say 'A treasure map completed by
so-and-so'. Nice thinking by the programmer to stop people
getting conned.
ROLE PLAYING A TREASURE HUNTER
Treasure hunters typically come in as many forms as there
are treasure hunters, but there tend to be several trends:
Action Man/Woman: This is
the one we are all most familiar with. Think Indiana Jones
or Laura Croft (of Tomb Raider fame) and you have a perfect
image. They relish the conflict dealing with the guardian
of the treasure as well as the treasure itself. Mastery
of the combat arts is critical to them. Brave to the point
of suicide, nothing will stop them from finding that treasure.
This form of treasure hunter would really benefit from the
team tactic where one person becomes Cartographer/ Miner
the other Detect Hidden/ Lockpicker. This will free up skill
points for things like combat and magic skills.
Suggested Skills: Cartography, Mining, Lockpicking, Swordsmanship/
Mace Fighting/ Fencing/ Archery (or Magery), Tactics, Hiding,
Healing.
Explorer: Its the journey
there that excites them. Think Lewis and Clark, Pirazzo,
Columbus, and countless other explorers who set sail to
find the gold but became famous for their journey. Let the
muscle deal with the beast, its the trip that makes the
journey worth it. Skills for them still include some combat
skills but self sufficiency is important so things like
mining and tracking are considered handy. They have a knack
for finding that which is hidden, hence they will be masters
in detecting hidden thus giving them the Ranger title.
Suggested Skills: Cartography, Mining, Detect Hidden,
Remove Trap, Lockpicking, Tracking, Archery/Fencing, Tactics,
Hiding.
Book reader: Its the research
before and after a successful treasure hunt that thrills
these hunters. These are like the many real life treasure
hunters today. They poor over charts and books looking for
that sunken treasure. They are familiar with the myths and
legends surrounding the items they find. In the realm of
UO they are masters at identifying the items found and excel
in the making of maps above all others. These will more
often than not be those who rely on having many friends
when heading out to seek the treasure. Their mastery of
Identification and Cartography will title them with Scholar.
Suggested Skills: Cartography, Mining, Detect Hidden,
Remove Trap, Lockpicking, Item Identification, Magery, Hiding,
Meditiation (or instead of Magery, some like bardic skills
- Musicianship and Peacemaking instead of Magery and Meditation).
Pirate: While Pirates are
known for burying their treasure, Pirates are also known
to always be looking for other pirate's treasures. While
they are rouges and fighters at heart, wearing bright colored
clothing and bandannas with flair, the Pirate is the best
at making a lock their best friend. The best example of
this are the pirates of Treasure Island (Long John Silver)
and the Beautiful Morgan Adams (Gina Davis) of Cutthroat
Island (1995).
Suggested Skills: Cartography, Mining, Detect Hidden,
Remove Trap, Lockpicking, Swordsmanship, Tactics, Hiding.
Artificer: Tinkerers are
known for making things from the minuscule gears of a clock
to the behemoth ovens upon which we bake, the artificer
has made locks and traps his life. Specializing in the skills
needed to both set and remove such dangers has unfortunately
branded him as a rouge by his fellow man, but deep down
he knows that no lock can resist his touch and no trap will
scald him. Think MacGyver, or for those who missed that
era of TV think a bomb squad specialist and you have this
one in mind.
Suggested Skills: Cartography, Mining, Detect Hidden,
Remove Trap, Lockpicking, Carpentry, Tinkering, Lumberjacking,
Hiding.
A good shtick to enhance your roleplaying is to pick one
thing that your treasure hunter values above all else, be
it magic staves or red gem stones. Ask for these in advance
as part of your payment. Once the treasure is found and
the item you like is in there, oooh and ahh over it. If
there isn't any of what you collect, still go about doing
what you must, but feel free to look in the chest and proclaim
"Its all junk!" If you are doing Action or Book
style treasure hunters, have a story to go with whatever
you find. My character collects all types jewelry from necklaces
to earrings. One trip we found a magic gold necklace. Item
identification proved it to be a necklace of blessing, so
I said "Ah Ha! Tis the necklace of the Sacred Order
of Compassion, last worn by the priest Shane, this necklace
blessed whom ever wore it." The Basic formula is "Ah
ha! Tis the (item) of the (insert some dead culture/order/tribe),
last seen upon the hero (insert name here), it (insert magical
effect here: made them a better fighter/allowed them to
see in the darkest shadows/gave them great speed/ etc.)."
If you are really a hard core Roleplayer and consistently
hunt with the same group of players you might want to create
a history for this dead culture/order/tribe that you talk
about all the time. So that if anyone asks you about it
you can give them a story as you celebrate your successful
hunt over a pitcher of whatever at the nearest tavern. When
Identifying Items I tend to emote things while I wait to
try between failures. "Examines the material"
and "Examines the ancient carvings" are favorites
of mine.
So with all that I wish you luck in your venture. I know
I have had a great time meeting new people and facing Britannia's
toughest fiends. So keep your sextant up and charts straight
and may fortune smile upon thee.
- Cassidy (Napa Valley/TC)
- with special thanks to Faceless, RuneSabre, Daedalus,
Maestro, Zander, Aewin and all the crazy TC people in DC.
|
Stratics Central
