Template Advice - Dungeon Crawler

Discussion in 'Renaissance Discussion' started by vsanthos, Apr 5, 2018.

  1. vsanthos

    vsanthos New Member

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    So, I'm new to the server, been macroing characters for a few weeks with very limited time to actually play. I had this idea for a dungeon crawler where I would stealth through a dungeon and just loot everything that wasn't nailed down. I've been able to macro my way to:
    • Musicianship
    • Peacemaking
    • Provocation
    • Hiding
    • Stealth
    • 95 lockpicking
    • 65 magery
    • 35 meditation
    I tried it out one night by sneaking through Destard and looting some chests. It just did not live up to my expectations at all. I felt like the loot was just not as common or fast spawning as it was in my imagination.

    The main opinions I am seeking is:

    Do I just need to change my play style and gate myself around on another character? Does this then make the bard skills useless?
    Or should I just go full mage and give up the hiding/stealth and pick up mage/med/eval at GM level.
  2. Zim

    Zim Well-Known Member

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    I have one for just that that like this:

    Music
    Provo
    Magery
    Eval
    Med
    Resist
    Lockpicking

    I can go through just about any dungeon start to finish and hes a great compliment to my cartographer.
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  3. vsanthos

    vsanthos New Member

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    As much as I don't want to give up hiding and stealth, I feel like I know in my heart of hearts that you are right. :(

    Thank you.
  4. wylwrk

    wylwrk Well-Known Member

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    Dungeon chests are what they are, low to mid level fodder. I can't help but notice you've dedicated 300 skill points to passive combat.

    You get to do both, how is that bad?


    You could totally drop peacemaking unless you use it for run-throughs and consider it a necessary luxury.
  5. Pirul

    Pirul Well-Known Member
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    I would also suggest dropping Peace. Stick to provo an you will be more versatile.

    Also, I notice you have 35 med but only 65 magery. You will not be casting big mana consuming spells with 65 magery, so you don't really need med.
  6. vsanthos

    vsanthos New Member

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    More or less that was just where I've landed at currently, wasn't sure if there's anything else useful for the 35pts.

    So, if I drop peacemaking, and I went gm on magery and meditation, would I be too handicapped for PVE damage without eval int?
  7. Pirul

    Pirul Well-Known Member
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    Therein lies the pickle! As a bard you should NOT be relying on magery to be your main damage dealer. Have the two mobs that are dancing kill each other. You should just make sure that you don't end up with a mob that's single and horny when the song ends.
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  8. vsanthos

    vsanthos New Member

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    And there is exactly why I worry about having at least a little bit of damage output. I like the option of finishing off a low monster. Though, the more I think the scenario through in my head, killing a single monster that is leftover is not worth dying and losing a bag full of loot over. Especially when I can just escape line of sight and hide, instead.
  9. Pirul

    Pirul Well-Known Member
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    That is why you're dealing damage throughout to make sure they are going down at the same rate. Plus remember, paralyze is your friend and does not need eval.
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  10. wylwrk

    wylwrk Well-Known Member

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    Not really... eval is nice but depending on your favourite targets could be not necessary at all.


    • Summons
      • Earth, water, fire
        • Novelty. Although if you cast from scrolls you'd be surprised how many of these you can have up at a time. Kinda neat.
      • Daemon
        • Tank
        • Higher resistance to dispel spells
        • Don't cast dispel upon as an owner, they will quickly show you how much they hate that
      • Blade Spirits
        • The meat to the potatoes
        • High cast time low mana consumption
        • you can spam these effortlessly with good aggro management
        • can poison targets
        • melee damage laughable, damage comes from poisoning
      • Energy Vortex
        • Targets based on highest intelligence in area
        • Higher poisoning skill than blade spirits
        • Moves fast
        • Will kill their owner whenever possible
        • Purple llama people. Purple.... Llama.
        • Think of them like a castable lower level silver serpent
    Fun fact: You can heal your summons with animal lore and veterinary. Yeah, I actually tried it. It was fun... sorta.

    Neat combo on difficult caster mobs when you have a chance to plan ahead

    1. Summon daemon
    2. meditate
    3. attack mob with daemon
    • (loop til dead)
    • summon energy vortex
    • summon 2nd energy vortex
    • meditate
    • (loop til dead)


    While I am well on my way to making a wall of text let me put a bug in your ear.

    Treasure hunter.... dude... Treasure hunter doing maps!
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  11. vsanthos

    vsanthos New Member

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    I appreciate a good wall of text. And yes, Treasure Maps are definitely an idea, just not what I had in mind for this character. This guy has definitely been a fun over functionality concept for me. I'm just trying to give it the old college try before I admit I had a terrible idea. (It hasn't been so much fun so far, lol)
  12. Pirul

    Pirul Well-Known Member
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    You can do that too, and is VERY efficient and quite simple.

    Personally, I like messy screens. Run into destard and you'll never be short of mobs to provo onto each other. By the time that Dragon has killed the 2 drakes you put on him, you should already be kiting another dragon and a wyrm around to provo and keep stuff busy. Same in Thera Keep. Put 2 Thera Warriors on an Avenger, while you have a Matriarch on another avenger, and you know eventually the avengers will come loose, just provo them unto each other when you can put the warriors onto the matriarch to kill it off.

    Things like that you will start to get a feel for when you have more experience playing a provo bard. Whenever I go out with my Provo/mage, I will hardly ever be caught below 80% mana simply because I don't need to cast. If I do, it will be an Explo on an avenger that I see at 4% that has a warrior at 8%. That way both mobs die at the same time. Keep a messy screen. It's fun, and it's safer actually.
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  13. wylwrk

    wylwrk Well-Known Member

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    I think what you have is pretty interesting and I don't see any trouble having fun with it if I were to play it.

    It has several of the things I love most going for it!

    making gold
    chaos
    treasure chests
    chaos
    music
    picking locks
    being sneaky
    chaos


    I mean... come on!


    Seriously though I "think" I know what you mean. If I'm not mistaken, you had expectations, the character is not quite delivering, and you're really "not feeling it".

    That's every character I've ever made. Seriously.
  14. Zim

    Zim Well-Known Member

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    Yes, it could totally work fine as is.

    Id personally drop Peacemaking for GM Magery & Med as well.

    You can stealth around and just pick chests when youre tired, or pop out of stealth and provo the cave of monsters and farm that way.
    If you get caught with one monster left alive at full health, you could always go stealth mode or cast spirits.
  15. vsanthos

    vsanthos New Member

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    Just wanted to follow up. I dropped peace for meditation. I've been able to make enough money to get my magery up to 95 so far, and upgrade my house. This is honestly exactly what I was looking for. Thanks everyone for the advice, this character is a blast. Aside from having no recourse or chance of escape from PKs if I can't get my initial recall off. But, oh well.
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  16. Cretoma

    Cretoma Active Member

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    I have wrestled with this kind of build a lot recently. I go back and forth on whether to have cartography.

    Right now, template is:
    Hiding
    Stealth
    Music
    Provo
    LP
    Magery
    Meditation
    vsanthos likes this.
  17. vsanthos

    vsanthos New Member

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    That is my exact template I'm using now. I considered dropping med for cartography as well. If the big, easy spawns are busy, I like to gate around to the level 4 chests and stealth in to loot them all. Not having med would make that an extremely painful process.

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