Stryker's Tips
[Written by Stryker]

 

Getting Started

The first thing you should do when you enter Legends of Kesmai is read the Quick Start guide in the LOK manual. It gives all of the info you need to begin playing. After you get a good understanding of the game, find someone who has some spare time to help show you the ropes. Look around the town, explore, then if you find a higher level person (look at them by right-clicking on them), ask them to help you get started. If they have the time and want to help, they will show you the dungeon and show you how to fight for the first time and maybe help you gain some levels. If you go in by yourself you may be disoriented in the game, so help from someone else helps a lot when you are getting started. I also recommend that your first char be just a trial char, and after you get a good feel for the game, reroll and create a character that you will use permanently.

 

Beginning Items

At the beginning of the game, the variety of items you will be able to get will be pretty limited until you gain levels or someone gives you something. A couple items you should look for when first starting out your character are items that are needed but can be found on Kesmai -1 or Kesmai -2. +1 Strength rings are very helpful for the beginning player and are not too difficult to find in the dungeon. A breathe water ring always helps, in case you need to go in water sometime but don't want to drown when you forget :) As soon as you save up 100 gold you should buy plate armor from the armor merchant (see the section "Stores" for help with the stores), because it offers slightly more protection than leather but is not too expensive (keep in mind wizards cannot wear it though). With your flashy new armor, kill a troll and take the corpse to the tanner, who can make you Troll Leather Armor (which looks like a peculiar stone-colored leather) and is equivalent to +1 plate. You should try to get Troll Leather as SOON as you can because it helps greatly in the beginning. These items are very good for the beginning adventurer.

 

Stores

This section describes the location of all merchants within Kesmai. Merchant info for other areas will be coming soon :) For the armor merchant: go north from the dock (the starting point)until you begin to see paved road. It is the first building on the left and Steen is the shopkeeper. For the weapons merchant: Look for the first building slightly north and left of the dock. For the Bank: go west and north slightly from the armor merchant and the bank is on the left, Marlis is the bank teller. For the lockers: go up to the fountain in town square (straight north from dock) then head W and S slightly until you see a set of stairs going up. Go up the stairs and you will be at lockers. For the tanner: just go west of the locker stairs. For the tavern: go straight West from the West side of the fountain, Rolf is the tavern keeper. For the temple: Go all the way North past the fountain, there will be a set of double doors, that is the temple. For the dungeon: go West as soon as you enter the temple. Go west as far as you can, then go north for a few spaces and you will see stairs going down. Go down these to explore the dungeon. For the pawn shop, go N from the dock until you see paved road, then East following the road until you you can see Dr. Lloyd. Then head South of Dr. Lloyd and you will be at the pawnshop, Dik is the pawnshop merchant. For the location of trainers, see the "Trainers" section.

 

Trainers

This section describes the location of all trainers located within Kesmai. Trainer info for other areas will be coming soon as well :) For the weapons trainer: Go to the fountain, then head straight east from the east side of the fountain, and you will find a small room with a boxing ring in the middle, Olaf is the weapons trainer. For the Thaumaturge trainer: enter the temple and go north a little ways, Sven is the thaumaturge trainer. For the wizard trainer, go north and follow the paved road to the East to where you can see Dr. Lloyd, then head north until you see a building on the east. Oskar will be standing inside, he is the wizard trainer. For the Martial Artist trainer, go North to the paved road then head west until you see buildings north of you. Go in the middle one and Neela will be standing there, she is the MA trainer. For the sage, who does not train skills but gives 2.5 x gold in experience, go just north of the pawnshop and east slightly, the sage will be standing in the small room there. Keep in mind his name is Sage :)

 

Karma and Alignment Help

If you find that you have accidentally become neutral, either by hitting someone or casting spells in town, you will want to become lawful as soon as possible. If you are neutral, NPCs will attack you in town, and the sheriff will persistently chase you through town shooting you with his bow. To become lawful again, you must get a silver dagger. Take the silver dagger into the temple (you may want to go in the secret back entrance on the right side, so you avoid the NPCs) and go into a small room with the confessor ghost. Drop the silver dagger on the ghost's hex and say "Ghost, forgive me". That will make you lawful again. If you accidentally slay a player, which can happen often with misfired spells, make sure you get them to forgive you before you or the person logs. That way, you will still be neutral but not accrue a karma point. If you forget and still have a karma point, there are 2 ways to get rid of it. The first is take a tiger figurine to the confessor ghost, and do the same thing as above. 1 tiger fig will remove 1 karma point. Or, you can wait until you need to go to the UnderWorld and find Set, who will remove your karma. For more info on that, check out the Quests Section.

 

Effectively using spells

If you are a magic user, learning which spells to use and which to try and avoid can be crucial to your success in LOK. If you are a wizard, NEVER use fireball or icestorm in somewhere like Kesmai -2, where a hapless newbie without F&I protection can walk right into your spells. Even when people have F&I protection, ice storm can still slowly degenerate people's hps... so watch out. Never use fireball when someone has died.. their body will be destroyed and it will be impossible to raise them. As a result they will lose more skills than necessary, as well as all the items on the body. If you are a thaum, be very careful with the lightning spell. A level 12 magic skill thaum can take almost 75 hps with one lightning bolt. This spell can be helpful, as it is the only way thaums have of eliminating large hordes of enemies, but be very careful to never cast it while you are in water, and never try to cast it across water. If you cast it on your hex or a wall next to you, it will backfire and hit you. Poison cloud is also a great spell, but I recommend avoiding it. It poisons and blinds people who get by it, and since it goes around aimlessly, you can seriously hurt or kill people who do not know it is there. Always remember, spells are great to have, but they can be deadly if not used correctly! :)

 

Strategies for Spell Use

Although the above mentioned spells can be dangerous, when used effectively spells can be a very helpful tool. Lightning, for example, if used with a good strategy can take out zoos of monsters. One strategy for lightning bolt is to get a whole horde of monsters on your hex (after you have warmed the lightning bolt). Then, move 3 spaces away from them before they attack you. Then, when they move 2 spaces closer to you, fire the lighting bolt 1 space away from you where they are all standing. If you are powerful enough, it can kill or at least stun most of them. You can finish off the stunned ones with another lightning bolt if you wish, but remember that, like fireball, lightning only gives about 50% of the experience for killing the monster, because it is an area spell. Another spell that is a great asset is Summon Phantasm (yes, I know this is thaum biased). If you are standing at the top of some stairs or a rope, and want to make sure that if there is a zoo at the bottom you will have time to react, summon a djinn and send it down first. Then, when you climb down after it, the monsters will be focusing on it, which will give you time to attack. Just make sure you never summon concussion djinns... they can easily kill you or your friends as well as monsters. (I learned most of these lessons the hard way... by doing them to myself)

 

What To Do If You Die

If the monsters you are fighting get the better of you, there are many things that need to be thought of. First of all, wait a minute to see if anyone will come by and help you. Remember that if you were killed by a fireball, your body will be disintegrated and you will automatically be raised with full penalty. Depending on what monsters killed you, you may have lost everything on you, or just your gold. You always drop the things in your hands when you die. One way to avoid being looted is that if you know you are going to die and there is no escape, get in water very quickly. That way if you die, the monsters won't be able to loot your body. If no one comes along, you will have to press the exit button and get raised with full penalty. A thaum who raises you is just as good as the priest raising you, but if he raises you in the middle of monsters you can die again very easily. If you have to get raised the hard way, exit and try to find someone to go get your stuff, because running back by yourself with no armor or weapons can get you killed very quickly again, if you died in full armor before. Just remember that death isn't the end of the game, just jump right back in! :)

 

Menagerie of Monsters

The land of LOK has many different monsters, and each monster may have many different characteristics depending on what area it is located in. Certain monsters have special characteristics, with the first I will mention tying into the paragraph above. Certain monsters will loot certain things. If a gargoyle kills you, you will not lose anything except what is in your hands and your gold. Everything else will remain intact. Some monsters, such as animals like wolves, do not even loot because they are animals, and all you lose will be the things you were holding in your hands. Other monsters like trolls or NPCs will loot everything, and take everything of value. This can make it very difficult to recover your things, as you have to kill every monster on that floor to try and find it. Even then, you may not find it because someone else may have, or the items were taken by the janitor. Other monsters don't loot you, but rather eat your body. Everything you were carrying drops to the ground, and you are immediately sent to the UnderWorld. Monsters that do this are Kosh, Drakes, Mama, WW Dragon, and sharks. Be extremely careful to get away from these guys if you think you are going to die... it's not very fun doing all the UW quests when you don't need them. Other monsters are impervious to certain kinds of weapons. Many of the lair monsters are immune to any type of weapon except glowing and/or silver. Rockwyrms that reside in Axe can only be hurt by rapiers, and no other weapon. Gargoyles found in Oakvael can only be hurt by a blunt weapon such as a hammer or mace.

 

Recall Rings and Their Uses

Recall rings are one of the most useful and important items in the game. They allow anyone who is wearing them to escape from any dangerous situation, just by pulling the ring off their finger. Recall ring sellers are located in the following places: in Kesmai, look near the pawn shop and the Sage, on the east side of town. In Oakvael, look near the bank and the gem shop, he is standing next to a tree. In Leng, look for him in the Southwestern part of town, he is standing close to the balm seller. In Axe-Glacier, look slightly northwest of the pawn shop, and just east of the statue on the bridge. To buy one, just drop 150 gold at their feet, they will take it and drop a ring. Thieves can make recall rings whenever they want, so if you don't want to go find the recall ring seller, look for a thief somewhere around you to make you one. To use one, put it on where you want to recall. Then, when you are in danger, pull it off your finger and put it anywhere. Then, you will teleport back to where you put it on, but make sure you never put on in something like a portal or a destroyed wall... they may be closed later and you will not be able to recall.

 

Training and Skill Gain

Getting to higher levels in skills is something people are constantly working on in LOK. Higher skill levels in weapons mean strong attacks, better accuracy, and better blocking. Higher skill levels in magic allow for the use of newer and more powerful spells, as well as more ease of use for earlier spells. To gain skill, you need to practice the skill, such as casting spells or hitting things with your weapon. Where you do it can have a large impact on how fast you accrue skill gain. If you are in a situation involving some risk, such as standing in a group of 6 monsters and swinging at them all with your weapon, you will gain skill much faster than if you were standing in the water and poking them with a halberd. The same goes for magic... it may be a lot easier to stand in water and hit monsters with spells in safety, but magic skill will go up much faster if you get out in the middle of the monsters. Training is an effective way to speed up skill gain, but it will cost you some gold. To train, find your respective trainer and put an amount of money at the trainer's feet or on a counter. Then, if you are magic user put your spell book in your right hand, if you are training in a weapon have that weapon in your right hand. Then say, "(trainer name), train me". If they take all of the money, you have not received full training and should put more down. If they left some, you received full training. Then, when you are practicing the skill you will gain ranks in the skill faster than before. The training only lasts a few ranks, so if you are really trying to gain a level going back to the trainer and getting trained again can help a great deal.

 

Lots and Lots of Weapons

There are many different weapons to choose from in LOK. Depending on your profession and fighting style, there is one weapon that is perfect for your needs. If you are a knight, having both a BBS and a returning hammer or axe can be very helpful. Returning weapons don't hit as hard as a BBS does at the same skill level, but are much easier to hit running monsters with. With both, you will be able to attack powerfully up close, and finish them off from a distance. If you are a magic user, it depends on your fighting style. If you prefer to fight with your weapon often, and like to use it as much as spells, then a returning weapon would probably be better for you. With one, you can finish off weakened monsters easily, and attack often from a distance. If you are a spell caster who uses mainly spells, and uses a weapon only for blocking or when out of mana, then a BBS would probably be better. BBS are great weapons for blocking, plus even at low skill levels they are powerful. There are other specialized weapons as well, such as a Silver Greataxe (SGA). An SGA is powerful, but is more useful in specialized situations such as hunting the King Wolf or other monsters that have to be hit with silver weapons. A BBS is useful as a more conventional weapon for fighting normal monsters. Knights can also get a quest halberd, which is +5 and can attack monsters from a square next to you. This can be very helpful with lair monsters, and counts as a glowing weapon. It is tied though, so only Knights can use one.

 

Gaining Experience

Experience is a large factor in your character's development, as it determines what level you are currently at. Gaining Experience levels is a high priority, as it gives you more hps, stamina, and mana (if you are an MU) to work with. Every 4th level, along with the normal added hps etc, you will also gain 1 point of additional dexterity and strength adds. So at level 4, 8, 12, etc... you will gain 1 point of adds in both of those categories as well. There are different ways to gain experience. You can buy experience from the Sage in Kesmai, who will give you 2.5 exp for every gold piece. So, if you dropped 10k gold and said "sage, train me" you would get about 25k of experience. Whenever you train in a skill, such as a weapon or magic, you get experience that is equal to how much training you bought. So if you paid 8k for training at the weapon trainer, you would gain 8k experience, along with the weapon training. The other way to gain exp is by fighting. Some areas are experience rich, while others give very little experience for monsters. In Kesmai -2 for example, you get about 400 exp a kobold. In Oakvael -1, you get about 1500 per kobold, because they are stronger and usually have more friends to help them. In Axe-Glacier, you get about 250 per kobold. The wide range of experience can make large differences in how fast you gain exp, but some areas are better to hunt for other reasons. For more info on monster exp, check out the Monsters section.

 

Special Monsters

In LOK, most monsters except lair monsters appear randomly and can appear anywhere. There are a few monsters that always appear in the same place or area, and are often significantly different from other monsters in that area. One example is Smokey the Bear, who roams around Kesmai Surface. It is said that if you cast fireball or anything that burns trees, Smokey will find you, although I don't know this is true, as he can be anywhere on the Kesmai surface. Smokey is much harder than normal bears, as he has 500+ hit points and hits very hard. Another thing that is a major difficulty is the fact that he can move 3 spaces like everyone else can, so you can't really run away from him. Just keep in mind, he can drown like any other animal. Glamazu and Driizalu, 2 NPCs located on the TT level of Oakvael, always appear in the same area and are always the same. Glamazu is the "sheriff" of TT has about 500 hps, but only uses a bow to attack and is not very hard to kill. Driizalu has about 150 hps, but has a more powerful bow. They both appear in different areas of TT. Other monsters that always appear somewhere are the 2 trolls of Leng: the Bridge Troll and Powertroll. The Bridge Troll is found on the bridge that connects Leng town to the east side of Leng. He has a hammer, and can knock you down. As a result, if you are standing on the bridge and you get knocked over, he may knock you off the bridge, and without FF you won't survive the fall. Other than that he is not very difficult if you lure him away from the bridge. The powertroll is a completely different story. The powertroll is very strong with 400+ hps, and can swing greatswords in both his hands at the same time. He is immune to most attack spells, except for Ice Spear. If you kill him, you will find a key that will unlock a door on the north edge of where he resides. The hex there is a one-way portal to Oakvael -3.