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| Professions: The Witch Hunter |
| The Witch Hunter, by JZF, Drifter of Catskills;
Edited by Xena Dragon |
ADVANCED WARNING!!
If you're new, familiarize yourself with other guides before
reading this, I'm assuming you already have a running character
who has SOME talents (talent =50ish) in magic resistance, this
is the hardest skill to train to a high level.
Pointers for Newbies;
Anatomy is a skill that I wouldn't have survived without,
you can use bandages with it (if your healing is high enough,
50ish will heal you nearly anytime), you get extra damage
with it, and you can get a good judge of your opponent.
The best way to raise your characters stats is to become
a hunter, track a target, kill it with a weapon, cut it up,
chop a tree with an axe, chop the wood to kindling, light
the kindling and cook the sod. (many separate skills going
there, rising your stats)
Timber wolves are a man's best friend. If you find that
your friends aren't around all the time you are, go and buy
yourself some skill in Taming when you have some cash, then
go and tame them straight away. A couple of timber wolves
can help you beat anything like up to Orc Lords, and your
skill will raise quickly fighting monsters that you can't
handle alone.
Role play. Even if you don't like thees n thous, live the
game as if it were real. Don't just charge in and kill anyone
wearing a wizard hat, shout at them a bit, tell them that
you will bring down his powers, even if you have to crawl
down his throat to stop him shouting 'Corp Por', a cute technique
is to paralyze your opponent (scrolls, of course), then give
them the corniest 'bringing to justice' speech you can muster.
Sod Ye Olde English. Play as movie character, or a computer
character, but remember what technological age your in. Imps
operate cameras (screen shots), and you are psychically linked
to your friends (via chat rooms). Oh, and somebody hasn't
telephoned you, your busy talking to the voices in your head.
;P
Don't read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel
UGLY.
NOTE: All through this essay
I use the term 'mage'. If you want to stay in 'The Illustrious
Merlin, Grandmaster Mage''s good side, claim that the 'Witch'
you hunt is Necromancers, Liches or PK Mages. I'm not here
for popularity, my last Witch-Hunter was a moody, cursed
(as in was-to-be-Evil), Exorcist who trusts only a small
group of people and gives attitude to anyone else, but I
still never killed anyone who didn't shout magic words at
me.
I'm sure that anybody reading this has been killed before,
the chances are that the fight involved your opponent using
magic, and you probably remember the words 'Corp Por'. This
essay is for people who don't want to become a mage and
want to ram the words 'Corp Por' back down their throat
in combat. I can't guarantee your success from just reading
this (I'm sure you understand my keeping some techniques
secret), but at the least it will give you a foot to stand
on.
When I was young, a
dark clothed man with silver hair saved me from a strange
lizard that walked on its hind legs. It was toying with
me, never striking the final fatal blow, it had already
killed my parents. their bodies lying in one pile of blood,
throats torn out. It was then that he came, pushed through
the bush and looked at me, then the bodies. He ignored the
lizard and whispered strange syllables and threw purifying
light into me, sealing my wounds. The beast looked at him
and snarled, it charged towards his back, its arms spread
and its jaws wide, he whispered, turned to it and stepped
to the side as the lizard fell over its own legs. He looked
so cold, his face still not showing his fear or sympathy.
He walked over to me and helped me up. I thanked his feet
and he lifted my chin with a finger. "Your parents spirits
are no longer here" I asked what he meant, he simply replied
"They've left you, forget them" He was about to leave me
when the lizard roared and charged him again, as he turned
an explosion slammed into the beast but before it recovered
he blitzed and sliced the beasts mid rift with a massive
curved sword making it in two. I felt sick, then I picked
up my thoughts, "I can't just forget them, I don't have
anything else" He turned and looked at me, still none the
more sympathetic to my cause. "Teach me to be like you"
I suggested "Please, show me how to defend myself, like
you!" He walked toward me, I could do nothing but freeze,
he walked right by me.
"Sorcery is a sin" My eyes shot open, didn't he just...
He looked over his shoulder "The powers of magic corrupt
the mind. I have seen many allies boast at their power,
telling everyone that listens that they are the 'power'
behind a group of allies ((JZF-you've heard it too)).
Magic is a powerful tool used in the likes of the strong,
trained minds of the illustrious and the honorable. But
magic will use the user as a tool to let great evils be
wrought if the user is not strong enough. At best a wizard
will become obsessed with practice into their art directing
their magic upon themselves, others will be possessed
by the force held in their tomes and murder will be their
only release from the voices in their head."
There are many ways to skin a cat
and two ways to exorcise a mage (without becoming a mage,
yourself). The neat, clean, techniques of the Assassin and
the strong, crushing weight of the Cleric
Both techniques are very similar in one aspect, Survival.
Both styles require the Witch Hunter to stay alive long
enough to rid the world of the sorcerers which he seeks.
This requires a pupil to learn to rid his mind of doubt
and fear, to be able to disbelieve in the magic that would
harm him, creating an egocentric shield to protect himself.
This is known as Magic Resistance. There is no known way
of practicing this art other than practical, mind conditioning.
Find a mage to train with. He will want to cast spells to
raise his magery. Get him to cast area-effect spells in exchange
for reagents, or companionship, in which case help him get
cheap reagents anyway. Try to stay in contact with this guy,
a mage you can trust is very useful in a party. Sometimes
they are even entertaining.
If you can't find a mage (you better have a good excuse),
or you can't get a mage to trust you hitch-hike your way around
gate spells, with some non-magic armour and weapons (replacable),
when you get to a dungeon find a mage, ask if they need help
with their monster (or just greet them), and work from there
(Do you come here often? Where is here exactly? I just got
gated here, I asked the guy for a gate to Trinsic...).
If you really are an absolute loner who can't think of a
conversation to save your life (go play a single player game,
and rescue princesses from dragons 'n stuff) you can always
practice magic on yourself, by yourself and get killed by
a group of witch hunters who just wonder by, step into your
firefield and kill you for it. Then quickly go and resurrect
(on the spot if you have to) and say you want to be just like
them, explain your situation to them, ask if you can hang
around with them rather than wasting �24 (or Dollars) on the
game. :)
I looked up as he slid
the door open, all I could see was his silhouette against
the early morning sun. His hat and robe were an insult to
my mentors teachings, how could my mentor just sit there,
still meditating, while this blasphemy walked into the room!?!
"You..." my blood boiled, I got up on one knee. My mentor
nodded in my direction, and I flew at him, he looked at
me with shocked eyes, as I attacked he vanished leaving
me to leap at his decoy of smoke. As I fell through him,
I remembered my gnarled staffs power. I picked it off
the wall and focused...
As the smoke cleared the wizard was stood against the
far wall of the dojo, light started to crackle around
the staff, my arms shook still holding its power. I stuck
at the air, the energy in the staff was released. As it
scorched the air to him, he never flinched. The fireball
never made contact and came straight back to me throwing
me against the wall.
As I lay there flat on my face, the wind knocked out
of me, my mentor stood up, and walked over to the wizard.
"What was that all about?" the mage asked innocently.
"I don't know. The younger monks always seem to act irrationally
if there is a new challenge walking in the door..."
Great... They're friends... He's sane... I sighed "lesson
learnt..."
My mentor introduced him as a free-lance mage, and a
close friend. He was going to be my 'test'. Many long,
painful lessons followed.
He's dead now...
The two offensive techniques differ by one school of thought.
Both techniques require a horse.
This is so that a pupil can keep up with 'fly by' mages,
who try to keep you at a distance, knowing that he can't defend
himself (a lack of wrestling training, and armour). An experienced
mage will only resort to this trick if he is scared of your
weapon skill. So knowing that he has little HP left, he is
trying to kill you before you can touch him.
Horses also enable you to pick your opponent in multiple
combat, your faced with two tin can fighters and a near naked
mage, slapping you with syllables. With a horse you can manouver
around the fighters (if you need to), and chase the mage across
the country while the fighters plague him with ICQ messages
about "lead him back to us" or some other screen-filling,
master plan.
Both techniques require alchemy.
Offensive magery spells sap your stamina like crazy, before
you realize you will be attacking too slow to interrupt the
mages spells. An alchemists 'Total Refresh' (red potion) solves
this nicely. Nothing else will do.
Explosives (purple potion) CANNOT be resisted by a mage,
they are a physical explosion. Not magic. This hurts anyone
like a decent extra hit.
No matter how strong you are a mage can kill you in under
a minute, most mages can work even faster. 'Greater Heals'
(yellow) are essential, no matter WHO you are you should always
carry some. Discard your weapon into your already open pack
and have a good supply of ya mammas best. This also applies
if you get poisoned (swig 'Greater cure', orange).
I don't recommend 'Greater Agility' (blue), when you drink
them, your dexterity goes up and not your stamina. Weapon
speed is based on stamina, not dexterity. So it removes your
ability to shove through people, because you don't have full
stamina. A friend, however, swears by them. He swigs them
down before he takes any Total Refresh, however I prefer the
strength bonus of the white potion (strength gives a bonus
to damage). NOTE: mages tend to carry A LOT of mandrake root
(for white), its the most used reagent.
'Nightsight' (black) is useful when your favorite magic
accessory has just ran out, and with the recent increase in
spiders in the mainlands forests, silk is easy too find.
DON'T USE SHIELDS!!! They DO NOT work against spells, and
you're better off keeping a hand free for an emergency potion
when your bandages are not working on time. Two handed weapons
give you a serious edge in combat, all of them have bonuses
over the one handed versions.
Both techniques require a certain degree of Intelligence
and Magery
Yes, this goes against your teachings, the role players
view could be that using magic for offense will corrupt your
mind. Ask a Paladin for his views and adopt them if you can't
think of your own.
You need a mana supply to use scrolls, 'Dispel' scrolls
can be your best friend and they cost 20 mana. I recommend
an intelligence of around 40 so that you may cast this twice
(Energy Vortexes and Blade Spirits are an absolute bitch).
This does bring about the argument for what statistics you're
aiming for. This is down to your choice. I go full out for
Dexterity so that I can interrupt spells, then I keep just
enough intelligence to cast Dispel twice (or Gate once) and
the rest of my stat cap goes on strength, now you probably
realize why I use strength potions.
Scrolls cast as if they were two levels of magery down from
what they really are. That's why you will have more success
casting spells from scrolls than from your spell book. The
mana consumed is still that of the level of the spell cast
though.
You will have a hard social life if you can't cast 'Recall'
scrolls or spells.
A Magery skill of 70.1 will allow you to do all of the above
99% of the time.
Obtaining scrolls is where your training mage friend comes
in. He probably practices scribing already.
The difference between the two styles is your choice of
weapon. The Assassin uses a number of poisoned fast blades,
the Cleric uses the fast blunt weapons, magic wands and
staves.
Officio Assassinorium, location unknown
As you probably guessed the Assassin uses a poisoned kryss,
and targets 'pure' mages. This is because pure mages learn
to meditate (renegade Stoics), which causes them not to wear
much armour, so a kryss becomes a nasty weapon. Mages also
have a habit of shouting "An Nox" (cure poison), this CAN
be interrupted by a kryss (and buys you striking time if you
don't interrupt). Ofcourse the kryss then poisons again. Vicious
circle. But the mage will learn from this experience, he won't
do it in two fights, but it is a necessary lesson that every
newbie PK mage needs to learn, and teaching can be profitable.
Once they've learnt not to cure themselves until they kill
you, the poison can run through their blood uninhibited. Mages
with G.Cure potions are only a minor set-back, because while
they're quaffing potions, they're not casting a flamestrike
on you.
Greater Poison is the only poison worth using on a regular
basis, it does do a fair amount of damage, and its relatively
cheap to make at anywhere near Master level.
Always carry ONE Deadly Poisoned weapon with you, this can
kill in mere heartbeats, most opponents WILL panic. They WILL
need a cure VERY soon, this is were you hack at them like
a mad-goth, drinking cola with coffee mixed in (JZF-You know
who you are!). Don't let them run, you've got them where you
want them, they may try to recall, interrupt it or you might
have well have lost.
If you need to defend yourself against an armored opponent,
switch to a spear (or a short spear, which although is 'slightly'
less powerful, its faster than a quarterstaff and looks sooo
sexy).
Don't forget your explosives.
CLASSIFIED SECRET REVEALED!!
Poison your newbie dagger for access to the 2nd fastest
weapon in the game, as soon as you get resurrected.
Paladins Hall, Trinsic
The Cleric should seek out the 'tank' mages. These are mages
in cans. A dedicated mage will have 100 STR and 100 INT, leaving
25 pts to dexterity and full plate gives minus 17 dex, 16
for a different helmet. These mages are nearly extinct due
to the introduction of the armsman's ability to rob their
opponent of stamina, and break armour.
A Cleric is still useful for fighting non-dedicated mages,
who will have more rounded stats, and certainly no more than
75 DEX (-17 if your lucky). These are very hard to fight.
These are the players that have tried everything else, and
probably fight PvP and don't go hunting monsters. The general
technique is based on how quickly they can disarm and re-arm
their weapon. "In Vas Mani" (G.Heal spell) usually gets shouted
A LOT, along with "Corp Por" from the other fighter, if he's
fast enough. Due to the duration of the fight, a quarterstaff
is an amazing way to degrade your opponents armour (bone shatters
soooo fast). The quarterstaff is the fastest mace weapon at
the time of publishing, and taking your opponents stamina
away. Ofcourse you are weapon-less while your drinking, but
that's a decision that you have to make.
A Clerics greatest advantage is the ability to defend himself
while using 'useless' Wands and Gnarled Staves, they use no
mana, and can have some cute spells in them. All you need
is a good Eval Int and you can batter an opponent with a quick
succession of 10-15 lightning bolts.(Last object, then click
him, you don't have to wait for the spell delay like normal
spells)
Any mage will resist 'of weakness' and 'of clumsiness',
but when you slap them with 'of mana drain' they tend to panic,
you can tell by the way the run in the opposite direction
so fast.
A magic stick 'of healing' can even be useful because you
can heal yourself with lots of small heal spells, it just
takes longer. 'of greater healing' items can change the flow
of a battle, and are greatly sought after by any wise armsman.
NEVER UNDER-ESTIMATE your gnarled staff, it is slow, but is
fairly powerful. Healing, to the best of my knowledge, relies
on your Magery skill and not your Eval Int, making them good
for the newbie who started with 50 Magery.
Which school should I choose ?
Telling what your opponent is wearing under their robe is
difficult. If the mage has a plate gorget, chances are its
a tank mage. If it has plate boots, it is CERTAINLY a tank
mage. If he is wearing a kilt and sandals, you are probably
in for a very tough fight, against a very confident pure mage
(or a perhaps an innocent miner... but you should be only
fighting him if you get struck first, or know his reputation
anyway).
Take note of your opponents reputation and karma, these
may help you find out what he is. If you have time.
The best way to choose what to be is to find a friend who
uses the other technique. That way you can use what you find
more effectively, if you find a wand give it to a Cleric.
If you exorcise a mage who had a lot of nightshade (Blade
Spirit fuel) on its person, give it to an Assassin. Giving
friends things that they can use helps build the trust between
you, eventually you won't care who owes who what, and your
wealth is then a combined mass, rather than a pair of single
wallets. (If you find a friend who uses the same technique
you can share what you have already got, but two Clerics WILL
fight over the first 'must have' wand or staff, I suggest
one of you learn how to use a shield and potions, the other
can learn two handed staff and learn to disarm and use beneficial
spells. Two Assassins call a need for the 'archcure' spell,
which takes longer ;)
The other monks had
been speaking of his ability for weeks now. He was to represent
another dojo in a one on one fight for its honor. I was
the favorite for my dojos representation. He had a height
disadvantage, but he was broader, probably stronger...
He greeted me with a casual nod, one student to another.
"Are you the one?" I asked, I wanted to find out if he
was thinking along the same lines as me. "Yes, but ...
don't let it bother you" he wore a thin smile and lazy
eyelids. He knew what I was talking about. It was probably
bothering him too. "Oh, I won't."
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