Hiya, Im pretty sure that Im getting a couple friends of mine to play UO here come Fall-ish. Im going to start a few new toons with them and try my hardest not to use my existing characters/wealth so I dont spoil the magic for them. I want to do something that Ive never done before with them and that is truly unique. What I want to do is a Tamer/Mage/Lockpicker. Ive never done Taming before so it will be a new thing for me. What Im sitting on now in my head is: 60 Taming 80 Lore 90 Vet 90 Magery GM Eval 80 Med GM Resist GM Lockpicking 80s 94i 51d I dont want to go full on Tamer and use dragons for many reasons, and I read Keza's "OzzyTank" Guide and that looked awesome. After a bit of in game testing the ostard isnt really much of a DPS machine. The best dps I can get at 60 taming is probably some combination of Scorpions, Panthers, and/or Giant Spiders while using my Ostard as a tank. Then I got thinking... If I bumped taming up to 80, then I could use a Frenzied Ostards and Frost Spiders and Hellcats.... So here are my questions: Do I really NEED 100 Lockpicking? Like, what is the minimum skill needed to do the highest level chests? I dont mind sitting there and breaking a few lockpicks for a bit if it means I can ride a Frenzied Ostard instead of a standard one. Has anyone ever tried to control mid level tames without GM lore/taming? Is it possible? The animal taming calculators I can find say that at 80 Taming and 80 lore, I will have a 99% chance to control Frost Spiders and below, and an 89% chance to control a Frenzied Ostard. Am I just asking to have my bonded frenzied go wild mid fight with that level of control? **EDIT** ...also, I think I read somewhere that 51 dex was the magic number for vet bandages and gives me a second quicker bandage time. Is this true?? One more thing, if I have a bonded pet, then release that pet, can I then bond another without going through that taming quest? Thank you VERY much in advance. Im kind of a taming noob.
51 Dex will give you 4 sec heals http://www.uorenaissance.com/info/Healing You can pick any chest with gm lockpocking or 95 lockpocking/gm detect hidden. You should be able to control a frenzied fine with 80 taming, not sure about 80 lore. I used to run an Ozzy tank with a frenzied but I found out I cold solo a lot bigger mobs with a mare. I run 100 Dex on my macer/tamer using a mare which gives me 3 sec heals I and can solo stuff pretty easy without having to gate pets around. It's kinda like being able to play a warrior and kill anything a tamer can.
Passing along some info from my own template thread: If you GM your Magery and use Bless it'll boost your dex by +11. Which allows you to have 40 dex and bless for the shortened timer. Just something to keep in mind if it helps to move those stats around any.
I thought you needed 70 something taming to just ride a frenzy? Frenzy will just have a mind of it's own, won't listen to commands and become unhappy. I hope you like picking chests cause GMing lock picking is going to take awhile! I think you'll only need gm lock pick for level 6 t maps (either true LP or with GM detect). Stealth, t map, lock picker is a fun template to play if you like hitting chests in tuff mob rooms. There's a lock picking guide on the forums for dungeon chest locations and levels. +1 for Ahirman's out side the box template, sounds fun for solo work even though people would argue for disco, actually hitting with a weap is more engaging.
Mostly what Artex said. GM lockpicking (or its equivalent of 95 lockpicking AND GM Detect) is for treasure chests. Any other overland/dungeon chest you come across can be opened with 95 lockpicking. Keza runs with a pack of hellcats, and they can do some damage!! Also, what are you doing with 90 Magery but GM Eval and GM Resist? If you're tanking with an ozzy (or something else), you really don't need GM Resist. Are you planning on using Magery as a main source of damage? Then I'd consider GMing magery. If not, then I'd drop Eval points.
Thanks to all of you for your replies. @Ahirman Thanks for the link. That answered my dex question. I hear ya about a Mare being better, but then Id be at 95 Taming and I might as well GM it at that point. Im really sweating already just thinking about going from 60-80... *shudders* @Ogtor Yep. Id forgotten that the timer uses your modified dex. Im going to drop the dex down a bit because 1/2 a second isnt too massive and unless I really go higher on dex I cant even buff to get a 3.5 second timer. Thanks! @Artex So Id really need 95 lockpicking to do all those metal and wooden chests in all the dungeons then huh... Thats a bummer. I was hoping to be able to do those chests at like 80 skill or something. I agree, a Stealth/RemoveTrap/Lockpicker would be much better at picking chests, and a full on provo tamer would be a better monster slayer. Im bringing two of my friends here to play UO for the first time ever and I want to show them that you can really do a LOT with those 700 skillpoints if you know how the mechanics work. Im going to try and give them the same feeling I had playing all those years ago when I had an alchy/tailor/warrior with a bit of taming to tame my own horses. @Pirul Man, those hellcats really tear it up. Shit man now Im really contemplating 80 taming now... ...as far as the magery goes. As far as I know, Magery as a skill is a lot like a weaponskill. It really only affects your chance to cast certain level spells and the chance that your opponent will resist your spells. With 90 magery I can cast 6th circle and below without fizzling ever and thats like 99% of the spells that really have to be cast fast anyway. Plus the extra chance my opponents get to resist my spells is really only rounding all the %'s the other way. Ill still be able to buff/debuff for 10 too so meh... With GM resist and GM eval, my ebolt will still hit as hard as anyone elses, and Ill be able to take ebolts as well as any other too. The magery/eval/med/resist is there for... stuff. Mages are so versatile and they can hit/heal hard and If Im gonna be traveling with a couple noobs I want to be able to take care of them from both mobs, and PK's. Again thanks a bunch.
Magery skill factors into some non-aggressive spells. i.e., formula for how much Greater Heal heals for is : [[Magery Skill * 40%] + 1d10]
Which is useful when your tank is taking significant damage from a dragon/balron/Ancient Wyrm.... Not to mention, you want to gate your pack to and from places. So unless you plan on going through a hell of a lot of gate scrolls, be prepared for a fizzlefest.
I see what yall are saying. So if i raise magery by 10 then id need to squeek out 30 points from something else. If i take from eval, ill hit signifigantly weaker and have the bad formula for damage rolls. If i rob from resist, then ill be on the receiving end of the GOOD damage formula. Ive played with 90 magery a lot before and its not as failtrain as yall are saying though. Where would you guys suggest the 20 points come from?
I am not a user of these types of templates, but let me have a crack at it. 80 Taming 80 Lore 90 Vet GM Magery 90 Eval 75 Med 90 Resist 95 Lockpicking (or play with med/eval/resist to suit your playstyle) I want to assume this is a mostly PvM character. Dropping a little resist or a little eval won't necessarily put you in the disadvantegeous side of the damage formula. Remember most monsters DON'T spawn with 100 Eval and 100 Resist. More likely than not, they will have under 90 of each, putting you on the beneficial side of the formula, unless you're hunting SUPER high end mobs/bosses. I think it balances out between what do you want? - Bigger, faster heals to your pets, and let them tank and do the damage = GM Mage, GM Med - You want to be taking/doing most of the damage with magery = GM Resist, GM Eval, GM Med. Keep in mind that if you want resist because you're taking damage from magery, you'll also most likely be taking melee damage unless you're only fighting from a ridge, which then subtracts from your pet's effectiveness. If the aggro is on someone/something else, you won't be taking magery damage, hence no need for resist. Remember also, if you're going to go 40 DEX to bless yourself to 51, you're going to need GM magery. 90 magery won't give you 11 points.
Just want to remind everyone of stat bonuses when figuring templates 90 points in x skill (real) can turn out to be 90, 91.6, or maybe 94.2 (adjusted(for example)) depending on the skill.
