Hello jumpkicker, the purpose of this help file is to provide help for starting and training, a ctr. who will specialize in the martial arts,in the basic game. This includes both the MA class and thief- ma types,and is geared toward both beginners and more advanced players who wish to grow a high-level ma in the shortest possible time.Developing high ma skill WILL try your patience, because you need very high skill to become effective! I would like to thank all of the martial-artists that i've pestered with questions over the past few months...You KNOW who you are! I recieved many playing tips,and a lot of info on the very high skill levels. Ok,lets get on with it. First, the main difference between ma skill users and others,is that the ma is able to play without wearing armor, and can block weapons with his hands. However,the actual truth is that while you may have the potential to play without armor,you lack that ability when you first start out! For a ctr without armor,your hand blocks dont even start until red belt,and at red you will only get a few. At black belt, you will get quite a few more hand blocks,and at third dan,you will block VERY well,even against tough crits! As your skill improves,you will notice that your strikes will recieve less armor blocks at each increase in your skill level,and at 4th dan,you will recieve a large boost in your offensive hitting power as well. You will then be able to kick SERIOUS BUTT!. The problem with ma skills is GETTING to 3rd or 4th dan without 5 rerolls,and 2 years of playing mega-hours. If you decide to play without armor from the start,you will only be able to take on weak crits, and your skill will advance very slowly. I believe that the best way to start an ma, or thief-ma,is to wear armor! This will reduce your ability to kick and jumpkick by several skill levels, but will not affect your punches. There are two ways to run an ma wearing armor. The first method is simply to fight bare-handed,and punch the crits to death,tho you will find it a little frustrating not having a distance weapon. One trick that helps is to wear your armor on top of your robe,and remove it,and carry it in your left hand,when you have a crit near death. You will now be able to jumpkick from a distance,and you can still punch, since your rt hand is empty. The drawback to this playing method ,is that you will take a lot of damage because it will take many rds to kill crits,and you will get almost no hand blocks. This leads to my second approach, which is to use a threestaff along with your ma skills, until you reach 2nd dan or so. A threestaff begins to block very well at familiar level,and it blocks SUPER at competent level and higher. Note...If you roll up an ma from Leng, you will start at the dock with capable in threestaff. Once you have fam. skill or higher, you can then then work on your ma skills using kicks,while holding your threestaff for the blocks it provides. The threestaff is the best blocking weapon in the game, and i have had it block 5 crits in the same rd, with only competent skill level. You can also get a black +3 threestaff on -4 kesmai,or sometimes in the pawnshop. Note...A threestaff is not for thief-ma types, since it will break the hide spell. I like kicking crits, then throwing my threestaff at those crits who run. This combination of threestaff should work well until you reach 2nd or third dan. At these levels you may remove your armor,and find your hand blocks to be even better, and critters will often miss you because you are much more agile without armor on....Remember,without armor,groups of crits who can stun you,and concussion and whirlwind spells are your greatest danger. Be sure to wear plenty of shield rings and extra glowers to cut down the number of rds you take to kill a crit. *********************************** *********************************** ....Ok,now for the more technical stuff for the player who wants high level ma skills as fast as possible,with the least amount of online hours. Let me warn ya,this is NOT the most fun method,and can be quite boring,but your ctr's skills will advance at 3 to 4 times the speed of normal dungeon play. . First,I would like to explain a bit about how the skill system works,since this is the area which i have been testing extensively. Each time you swing at a critter with a weapon,or take a punch,kick or jumpkick,your crt gains a small amount of that skill. Even a miss gives you skill,tho it is not as much as a hit,or a block. When you kill a crit,you also get a kill bonus added to your skill. The size of your bonus depends on the skill and toughness of the slain crit. Note..I've tested and found that the bonus of -4 and axe crits average 3 times that of those crits on -2 kes, and 0' axe-glacier! In order to have a frame of reference ,and to make skill comparisons,we need a basic unit of measurement for skill gain,so i call the amount of skill gained from swinging once at a crit and either hitting it,or getting blocked,1 swings worth<1 swing>.From my tests,this seems to be the same for all the classes,although the kill bonus varies according to your class. Knights and Mas get the most,next are thaums and thieves,with wizzes having the smallest kill bonus. I have found that -2 kes,and axe 0' level crits only average about 1 swing of skill for their kill bonus, not counting the swings it took to kill them. Other factors that affect your skill gain rate are the power of your weapon or strike,and your wound condition at the time. The more powerful your swing, and the more combat adds on your weapon,the slower your skill gain will be. Both adds and gauntlets slow down your gain rate. I've heard,but not tested,that skill gain is fastest when you are about 40 percent wounded. ************************************** ************************************** The fastest way that i've found to increase skill gain in both ma skill and weapon skills,is to swing at djinns You can also swing at the kesmai ghost,but all your swings will be misses,so your gain rate will be somewhat slower. For new players...... a djinn is a lawful crit that any high level thaum can summon,which will stay for about a half-hour. They cannot be hurt in the kesmai segment, except by glowing weapons and spells. You can swing at them without danger for the full half-hour and recieve skill for each swing. Make sure you train at least every 5 ranks of a level. Note..I've tested and found that training improves your ma and weapon skill gain rate by 3 times....Since the maximum amout you can train for at one time is 5 ranks,make sure you are not swinging at a djinn past the point where you have trained to!! Here are some skill notes for ya..... *green belt=about 18 swings per rank. *blue belt=30 swings per rank. *red=60 swings. *black=120 swings. Note.swings are the same for the equivalent weapon skill ranks. Training on the kesmai ghost is slower,but i dont have test results. To give you a comparison of djinn wacking to fighting crits,i kept some records and found that it takes about 25 mixed -2 or 0' axe crits to give you 1 red rank,and 25 -4 crits,or axeglacier crits,will give you 3 red ranks<3 ranks at practiced> This shows that wacking djinns is at least 3 times as fast as actual fighting, and on a slow night in the dungeon, can be 5 or 6 times as fast!!! Now you notice that we can't get kill bonuses from djinns in kesmai, cause we arn't killing them,rt? Well....in axeglacier you CAN kill them In axeglacier i get skill at TWICE the rate of wacking in kesmai,but you use your djinns up quickly,and run out of mps after about 6 or so. My test have shown that i recieve about a 5 swing kill bonus for each djinn,which is about the same as a tough -4 crit,and you don't lose skill while spending time looking for the crits. I find that training on djinns is the best way to reach black belt level very quickly,with no deaths or constant recalls. Once at black belt you will be able to ft all the weak and medium critters in the dungeons. **************************************** *************************************** Here are some final tips and comments on ma playing..... First,in case you have not rolled up a ctr yet,please note that except for the ma class,thieves are the only class that can be trained after reaching black belt. . So if you plan on using ma skills you MUST choose one of these two classes if you ever want to see 3rd dan in the basic game. When you roll up an ma,make sure you get at least a 15 str and 15 dex stat,in order to get all your adds, you need them all. Thieves will also need high intel and fairly high wis stats. *The more you weigh,the harder it will be for you to kick and jumpkick. *Watch your stamina! Jumpkicks use it up fast,and if you run out of stam. you cant run away from crits.Its a good idea to have a few stam-restore potions in your sack. They are found in axeglacier and are blue with white lines. *If you are a thief-ma,stress your ma skills more than your magic. Your magic will improve quickly anyway, but with your ma skills you must fight a constant skill loss that comes when you are not using it. Although thieves cant train to 4th dan,it is possible to get there,and 4th dan is the BIGGIE level to reach! *Because of rapid skill loss,don't spend much time walking in towns,or talking to other players,unless you are fting critters. Go to the co rooms to chat with friends. The practical limit of skill for ma types in the basic game seems to be about 5th dan,7th dan in ag. It's possible to go higher,but hard to hold it,against the constant loss in town activity. *Try a dex ring if you have a free finger,it helps crits to miss ya. *If you encounter a group of tough crits,throw weapons at them from a distance first,to wound them,then attack! *If you can get an obsidian egg,and can find an escort,travel to Vulcan in axe-glacier and get a magic raxe. You can use this,or a rhammer,in your left hand,and still have all your ma skills available,but make sure you can recall! *Keep a wand in your sack for zoos. *Carry 8 to 10 balms,and pick up any you find. *Carry an extra recall ring so you wont spend too much time going to ringseller. *There are only +2 gauntlets in bg rt now,and tho they do help at red or lower skill,my test show that they actually hurt your punches at black belt or higher! They also must be removed to recall.When they are worn at low skill levels,they do allow you to punch a bit harder,but you are blocked more often. *Wearing gater-boots or ffboots,will hurt your kicking and jumpkicking ability. I wear a wb ring,but still wear ffboots in axe-glacier,cause they will save your life when you fall off cliffs! *There are padded boxing gloves in kesmai which are supposed to reduce your punching power.They may be useful for raising your skill gain rate to even faster levels...and can be used to box with friends in the kesmai boxing ring...Hmmmmmmm... tests anyone??? ...errrr one last thing,if you are playing without armor,you might consider wearing two robes for more ice protection. Well,guess that's all. If you have any new info,comments,questions,or just want more details,please email me. I enjoy correspondence! I hope i have saved you a few deaths and some online hours. Good luck and good hunting! Mord..ppn 71271,2323