How best to solo in Arelith - class choice, start locations etc

[TermNerdy]

Good morning! I am the person the OP was talking about and I am finally getting around to playing. I ended up with an Evangelist "Battle Cleric" type setup for now so I can fight alongside my summons. I am not worried about hitting 30 on this character, its more designed to give me the tools to explore safely and effectively. I also started in Skaljard.

I appreciate all the tips and tricks and welcome any more, and if you see Vadra Greenhill running around that would be me. She is on the search for her idiot brother Harrod (he does not exist ofc but it gives her motivation) XD

Now I just gotta figure out what to do with all these materials I keep finding like meat and cotton and the like!

[The GrumpyCat]

There are NPCs who buy meat

For some other materials, you can also use Settement Warehouses.

In most settlments (aside from Skal) you will find a guy who is a 'trade czar' of some sort. When you talk to him he tells you about prices and amounts of things the settlment uses (wood, stone, cloth, food and metal).

In addition to that, you have the option of 'settlment warehouse' which you can either buy from ,or sell to.

If you explore this menue, you'll see various items that it will buy from you - if it's not already stocked up (Warehouses tend to buy/sell up to around 100 units of most things). If there's still space, you can sell your cotton, or some other materials to them. You can also buy materials from them - if you're looking to craft something.

All the settlments have warehouses, all will probably offer differing prices.

in ADDITION to the warehouse, you also have what I'll call the 'resource stocks.'

'resource stocks' is what I mentioned earlier, wood, stone, cloth, food ect. You can sell these to a warehouse in unlimited amounts, though the pricing will be differenet (probably less) than warehouse.

Grante chunks, marble chunks, bricks, are sold into stone
Various hides and cotton woven into cloth are sold to cloth
Hardwood and softwood go into wood
Meats and food rations go into food
Metal ingots go into metal.

To sell to the settlment all you need do is dump the items into a chest that is nere the settlment clerk, talk to the clerk and chose 'sell items'. The items will vanish from the chest and gold will be given to you, plus a reciept.

Because I know all this sounds a bit complex, I'll use an example, and I'll use Stone as it's easy.

For some ungodly reason, your pc has found themselves with 20 granite chunks.

You go to Bendir, and find that the warehouse says it will buy Granite for 250 per chunk! But it's stock is 90/100.
It says it also BUYS stone for 100%.
You put your 20 chunks into the chest, you sell them. You get 2500 gold of stone which goes into the warehouse, and then the rest (which would be 50gp per chunk - as a quick rule of thumb the value of a resource for stock piles is what it says on the description.) - would go right into the stockpiles and net you a further 500gp.
You can't sell any more stone to the warhouse until someone buys some, or a trade minister moves it to the stockpiles (which they can do), but you can sell it to the stockpiles.

If you put in an item and it can't be sold - either because it's not used, or because the warehouse is full - then it just stays in the chest.

I hope that helps a little?

[TermNerdy]

Lots of info

Yea that does. I just need to find this warehouse then in Skaljard it sounds like. So I can dump this stuff for now and make some cash to buy some equipment, potions, etc. I do want to craft, eventually, but right now I am trying to explore the world, do writs, and have my character search for her nonexistent idiot brother (nonexistent as in I dont have a character for them but she is looking for him XD)

[AskRyze]

IMO the best solo experience is in Andunor. Why?

Because you get to reap the benefits of having a steady population while having leveling routes that are relatively unmolested by server changes.

You need something crafted? Easy, find a kobold/khorin and pay with the gold you're getting from playing the video game. It's a lot harder to access material with surface settlements as spread out as they are and with Skal being explicitly level gated.

Early levels are simple. Take whatever writs on the nose give you the highest amount of XP that you can clear without risk. Then circle bonefields > stingers > Kuotoa temple > slime temple > grimlocks > ice road > shadow plane. Move to the next bracket when most mobs are giving you less than 15 xp a kill. Turn on adventure mode when you have less than 1000 xp in your passive tick pool to ensure that you're getting the maximum gains possible during a given time window, I generally turn it off if I have more than 4k stockpiled.

If you're tidy about it you should be able to get plenty of levels to save up the 26-30 writs needed to actually push for max level. I cannot stress this enough, do not take a writ that is max level 26+ until the last possible moment you can without slowing your progression. There is way more access to achievable writs or grind spots between 20-25 then there is 26-30, and you are going to need all of that writ XP to not make your 27-30 experience an insufferable slog if you're going solo.

If you want to continue soloing into runics after that point you've got very few options. Some summoners (undying warlock and eleswarm druid being notable outliers) can do it. Spellsword can do it if they're well geared and have a lot of potions/scrolls stockpiled, but it's very slow going. Overall, not recommended due to the consistency at which soloability gets removed from that tier of content without much warning - I've died more than once to "Oh this route doesn't work anymore due to a new mechanic/enemy type aaaand I'm dead."

Additionally: if you can, invest in appraise. Stinger barbs give a TON of gold for the level and even when you're attacking the area as an overleveled character you can still net a tidy amount of coin from their barbs. Most of the miscellany in NPC inventories is worth something, and if you have the strength to carry it to Treadstone you can sell what you've earned for a pretty penny.

Your greatest difficulty using this method will be either A: combating monotony (I recommend audiobooks), or B: learning which writs to take and which ones to not. Writ XP changes often without any amount of player-facing information, so don't expect 10K writs to stay that way for long. Additionally, many writs get updated tiles which reduce enemy density (less XP per hour) and increased difficulty from new mobs (More GP lost restocking healkits/potions) so do your best to stick to encounters which haven't been touched by the devs in a while for a more consistent experience. In that same vein, your best bet is to avoid newly released classes - while they are strong now, they're certainly not going to stay that way and you don't want to be stuck at level 25 only to find your character's offensive ability has been gutted before you can make the last push to 26 and roll.

By contrast, surface leveling regions are vast - the tiles are massive, the enemies spread-out and the NPC design built around the idea of pushed classes attacking the content in groups - and you are not 'groups'. Unless you're riding the bleeding edge of buildcraft you will not be able to conquer the surface while soloing, and certainly not in a timely manner due to the sheer amount of time spent walking from A to B (Another advantage of Andunor: the portal system ensures you only need to take the 'long way' once). Your greatest struggles will come between the 12-20 range where most of the mid-tier content has been updated in some way but before you can get realistic gains from Sibayad (though, with the recent update, I make no guarantees as to its ongoing viability as a leveling region)

Good luck soldiers, make sure to keep buying jewelry boxes o/

[TermNerdy]

IMO the best solo experience is in Andunor.

This actually sounds very interesting, and I am going to be making a character to try out Andunor, since I got one in Skal.

You mentioned Undying Warlock. How does that work, exactly? I believe I saw a build for it in the "Compendium" but its just a stat sheet and given that Warlock is custom here on Arelith any advice to how a Summoner Lock would work would be helpful!

[Xerah]

By contrast, surface leveling regions are vast - the tiles are massive, the enemies spread-out and the NPC design built around the idea of pushed classes attacking the content in groups - and you are not 'groups'. Unless you're riding the bleeding edge of buildcraft you will not be able to conquer the surface while soloing, and certainly not in a timely manner due to the sheer amount of time spent walking from A to B (Another advantage of Andunor: the portal system ensures you only need to take the 'long way' once). Your greatest struggles will come between the 12-20 range where most of the mid-tier content has been updated in some way but before you can get realistic gains from Sibayad (though, with the recent update, I make no guarantees as to its ongoing viability as a leveling region)

My last character I believe to 30 was a surface elf (without a guld start, so from level 1) that took 3 weeks. So, I think that's a bit of an exergation. That's not to say anything negative about UD leveling, though, I do think it's a bit harder at the upper end to finish (the new writs helped out a bunch)

While a lot of what you say isn't wrong, I can't imagine a new player to the server getting too deep into the weeds about xp/hr and optimizing level 26+ writs.

[Xerah]

IMO the best solo experience is in Andunor.

This actually sounds very interesting, and I am going to be making a character to try out Andunor, since I got one in Skal.

You mentioned Undying Warlock. How does that work, exactly? I believe I saw a build for it in the "Compendium" but its just a stat sheet and given that Warlock is custom here on Arelith any advice to how a Summoner Lock would work would be helpful!

The main thing is to make sure that you learn to use the summon tool to move around your undead. Make sure you take Animate undead, create undead, the create greater undead as they become available (can get rid of the other worse one), have them run forward, cast fear a few times (and some other aoe spells as needed), and then start picking people off with undead and eldrich blast (kobold or goblin works great for it). I like to make sure I get 24 CHA to get the Tier 6 undead (the strongest).

Even if fear isn't working, the mob of undead should be enough to stop them from swarming you. You're always hasted, so it's pretty easy to run away.

[Edens_Fall]

IMO the best solo experience is in Andunor.

This actually sounds very interesting, and I am going to be making a character to try out Andunor, since I got one in Skal.

You mentioned Undying Warlock. How does that work, exactly? I believe I saw a build for it in the "Compendium" but its just a stat sheet and given that Warlock is custom here on Arelith any advice to how a Summoner Lock would work would be helpful!

Andunor can be great fun for evil PCs, though it has a habit of being drama-ish. I would also say certain evil classes, like undead summoners, will paint a target on you if you happen to run across good factions like paladins. So just be aware the PvP risk goes up with such things.

Skal is a great place for a new player to learn the ropes, as the village is a perfect Hub for meeting others and going out on adventures. I might suggest waiting on the UD until you feel pretty comfortable with things. Also, if you type -ama in-game, it will show a list of players willing to help answer OOC questions through tells IG if you ever get stuck on something. So feel free to use that as well!

As far as testing builds, do you know about the Arelith PGCC server? It's an OOC server that lets you test builds and gear without having to grind them. Anytime I am curious about a build on the compendium, I make it there and level it to 30 to see how it might feel. So feel free to test the warlock one there. Personally, I adore the Hag or Fathomless Warlocks for their cookies. Both are a bit rough to start out, but once you get higher in levels, they are great fun for clearing dungeons.

PS - Welcome to Arelith!

[AskRyze]

My last character I believe to 30 was a surface elf (without a guld start, so from level 1) that took 3 weeks. So, I think that's a bit of an exergation. That's not to say anything negative about UD leveling, though, I do think it's a bit harder at the upper end to finish (the new writs helped out a bunch)

While a lot of what you say isn't wrong, I can't imagine a new player to the server getting too deep into the weeds about xp/hr and optimizing level 26+ writs.

Please understand that I don't say this to gloat: My last warlock hit 30 in ₉ days while I was between jobs. It is a big difference overall, when you're not just doing your 3 writs and logging off for the day and actually walking between packs / to and from locations, that time spent builds up. Before the award changes and before Slime Temple and Spriggans got updated my record was 1-26 in the space of a weekend on a pale master (pre-undead rework), but that was with a humility goblin back when goblins were negative ECL so YMMV in the modern era.

From my perspective, when asked "What is the best way to solo" I considered that the objective of solo gameplay is to level up quickly and efficiently. Of course, if time isn't a factor, just do your three writs and log and you won't be challenged, but that will take forever to do and won't engage you for very much time in your day.

This actually sounds very interesting, and I am going to be making a character to try out Andunor, since I got one in Skal.

You mentioned Undying Warlock. How does that work, exactly? I believe I saw a build for it in the "Compendium" but its just a stat sheet and given that Warlock is custom here on Arelith any advice to how a Summoner Lock would work would be helpful!

Slot your summon tool to your hotbar and use a macro to bind an accessible mouse button or other accessible hotkey (spacebar is one option if you can easily toggle it - I have a 12 button mouse so that's not an issue for me) to whatever Fkey your summon tool is set to. Click yourself with the summon tool to control all summons and ensure they walk in front of you when you're moving from A to B. Use WASD to control your character and the summon tool+mouse to move your troops - I have the summon tool button bound to F5+2ms wait +left click so I can hit the '5' button on my mouse and it automatically gives the order to move/attack.

You have a choice between herbalism crafting and art crafting: If you like the summons that don't have miss chance built in, go with art crafting and make arcane sequencers. If you prefer wraiths/ghosts/vengeful beast, go with herbalism and make lesser druid spell sequencers.

Hasting yourself also hastes your summons, and that extra APR matters a lot.

As an Undying warlock your priority is going to be debuffing mobs and healing your troops. You are a support character; you need to understand that YOU are not dealing all of the damage, but your soldiers are. Take Eldritch Doom to ensure your boys are topped off consistently and in an area, with the side-bonus of damaging the enemy while you're at it.

Note that some AOE spells can still be cast on your summons as long as you target a valid entity but this isn't consistent. I've sometimes had Mass Zoo spells work, sometimes not. Circle Against Alignment almost always works.

Your buff sequence should look like so:

Sequencer each summon
Stone Bones
Circle Against Alignment
Negative Energy Burst (gives your summons a strength buff, just don't stand in it yourself or you'll waste a Lesser Restoration scroll.)

You're going to want to pay close attention to your soldiers: If one of them is getting particularly low, switch off Doom and to normal Blast as that will heal this specific soldier more.

Worth noting, this is not a PVP solution. Undying warlock has little stopping power once your summons get WOF'd (and they will get WOF'd if you are opposing anyone worth defeating in PVP) and without your troops you're as useful as a king on an empty chessboard.

[AskRyze]

Andunor can be great fun for evil PCs, though it has a habit of being drama-ish. I would also say certain evil classes, like undead summoners, will paint a target on you if you happen to run across good factions like paladins. So just be aware the PvP risk goes up with such things.

Worth noting for new players:

1. Make sure you touch the Hub portal before you leave for your first writs. I can't think of the number of times I've missed it and had to walk home.

2. The usual roles on the server are reversed in Andunor, in that if Paladins show up in the Underdark they WILL get hunted down relentlessly. As long as you don't go to the surface you'll generally be OK.

3. It is relatively easy to avoid PVP because most players who are seeking out PVP don't traffick grind spots - they look for places that are high in gold value, that being rune locations or specifically the ice road/duergar library. Additionally, the players involved have to give you a non-death 'out' to PVP - if they do not, they are breaking server rules and you can report them. The DMs are fairly good about addressing those situations promptly. You're Evil. Take the out, grovel a little, give them half your gold and lie (gasp!) saying that's all you have, and leave.

4. Don't carry more gold than you need because you're going to die while you're learning the basic mechanics of movement and NPC aggro, PVP aside. I rarely leave Andunor with more than 200 GP on my person unless there's a particularly expensive wagon I need to take to reach my destination.

5. Click on the friendly NPCs at least once. Some of them will take you to exotic locales for a fee which will help you bypass climb checks that you don't have the skills budget for.

6. If you do have the skills budget, you can get a LOT of XP from climb/pickpocket/sailing, though Sailing is not a recommended solo activity.

7. If you're not interested in soloing, look for people covered in wards and ask if there's anything you can do to help them. More likely than not they'll get you hooked up with some faction or another and bam, you're roleplaying from level 1.

If you want the easiest hookup into RP ever, play a kobold in the underdark. I made it a challenge to not get interviewed by the Shadowclaw and only lasted 45 minutes after actively running away from them several times. They are very persistent and are a welcoming community if you can stomach playing a scalie.

[TermNerdy]

IMO the best solo experience is in Andunor.

This actually sounds very interesting, and I am going to be making a character to try out Andunor, since I got one in Skal.

You mentioned Undying Warlock. How does that work, exactly? I believe I saw a build for it in the "Compendium" but its just a stat sheet and given that Warlock is custom here on Arelith any advice to how a Summoner Lock would work would be helpful!

Andunor can be great fun for evil PCs, though it has a habit of being drama-ish. I would also say certain evil classes, like undead summoners, will paint a target on you if you happen to run across good factions like paladins. So just be aware the PvP risk goes up with such things.

Skal is a great place for a new player to learn the ropes, as the village is a perfect Hub for meeting others and going out on adventures. I might suggest waiting on the UD until you feel pretty comfortable with things. Also, if you type -ama in-game, it will show a list of players willing to help answer OOC questions through tells IG if you ever get stuck on something. So feel free to use that as well!

As far as testing builds, do you know about the Arelith PGCC server? It's an OOC server that lets you test builds and gear without having to grind them. Anytime I am curious about a build on the compendium, I make it there and level it to 30 to see how it might feel. So feel free to test the warlock one there. Personally, I adore the Hag or Fathomless Warlocks for their cookies. Both are a bit rough to start out, but once you get higher in levels, they are great fun for clearing dungeons.

PS - Welcome to Arelith!

So I have an Evangelist Summoner / Battle Cleric in Skaljard right now, thats just bopping around.

I kind of want to make a Warlock for the UD, and then something for Cordor, and kind of explore how each start feels before settling. But I am also a chronic altaholic in games lol

[Dreams]

Skaljard is a new player trap. Unfortunately whilst it was designed for new people, it developed a completely different culture to the way the entire rest of the server is. By playing there you don’t really get a full picture of what things are like on Arelith.

Probably better off to start off in Cordor and work things out from there to begin with. If the focus is to solo then it doesn’t matter where you start or what you’re doing anyway - Arelith has enough MMO systems to accomodate people who use a mobile device and only interact with voicelines.

[Edens_Fall]

This actually sounds very interesting, and I am going to be making a character to try out Andunor, since I got one in Skal.

You mentioned Undying Warlock. How does that work, exactly? I believe I saw a build for it in the "Compendium" but its just a stat sheet and given that Warlock is custom here on Arelith any advice to how a Summoner Lock would work would be helpful!

Andunor can be great fun for evil PCs, though it has a habit of being drama-ish. I would also say certain evil classes, like undead summoners, will paint a target on you if you happen to run across good factions like paladins. So just be aware the PvP risk goes up with such things.

Skal is a great place for a new player to learn the ropes, as the village is a perfect Hub for meeting others and going out on adventures. I might suggest waiting on the UD until you feel pretty comfortable with things. Also, if you type -ama in-game, it will show a list of players willing to help answer OOC questions through tells IG if you ever get stuck on something. So feel free to use that as well!

As far as testing builds, do you know about the Arelith PGCC server? It's an OOC server that lets you test builds and gear without having to grind them. Anytime I am curious about a build on the compendium, I make it there and level it to 30 to see how it might feel. So feel free to test the warlock one there. Personally, I adore the Hag or Fathomless Warlocks for their cookies. Both are a bit rough to start out, but once you get higher in levels, they are great fun for clearing dungeons.

PS - Welcome to Arelith!

So I have an Evangelist Summoner / Battle Cleric in Skaljard right now, thats just bopping around.

I kind of want to make a Warlock for the UD, and then something for Cordor, and kind of explore how each start feels before settling. But I am also a chronic altaholic in games lol

You will fit in well then, as most of us have a page of alts to play, depending on our mood. Not a bad plan to sample starting areas before getting deep into it. I will say that things are only new once, so take your time to enjoy the world as you explore. Arelith is something special in those first few years when there is a discovery or new game mechanic around every corner. Savior it, for once experienced, it can't be forgotten and experienced again. If that makes any sense.

[Dancing]

Additionally, the players involved have to give you a non-death 'out' to PVP - if they do not, they are breaking server rules and you can report them.

This is not true.
https://astrolabe.nwnarelith.com/rules

[AskRyze]

Additionally, the players involved have to give you a non-death 'out' to PVP - if they do not, they are breaking server rules and you can report them.

This is not true.
https://astrolabe.nwnarelith.com/rules

Well bob's your uncle, good to know. I had that one sent to me by a DM a few years back - interesting that the stance has changed now.

[Darkstorn42]

Additionally, the players involved have to give you a non-death 'out' to PVP - if they do not, they are breaking server rules and you can report them.

This is not true.
https://astrolabe.nwnarelith.com/rules

Well bob's your uncle, good to know. I had that one sent to me by a DM a few years back - interesting that the stance has changed now.

It is a rule, but falls under the 'Be Nice' rule. If you kill someone without an out once, no biggy, as long as it makes sense in the RP. If it starts becoming your go-to, then that's a problem and the DMs will likely be talking to you soon.

My opinion, PvP is an RP tool, like any other, and should not be sought as the goal. You will get bored quick.

[IAmSwampFoot]

Ranger. Dex base will offer a better AC advantage, of course, but with the right Animal Companion you get the AB of a fighter, more attacks than a monk, a tough companion to guard you (depending which you choose) and enough spells to buff yourself.

I prefer pure class rangers, but one can make the ranger even better with three rogue levels taken at the right time for Tumble (AC), UMD (item and arcane wand use) and sneak attack (additional damage if your Animal Companion or party member guards you).

In short, a well thought out Ranger will solo a great many areas and be a lot of fun, but there are some that will require a group. Most builds are going to be the same (although, I do think a Totem Druid might be able to handle much more alone).

[Cnaym]

Druid - totem if you wanna be something funky, normal for a generalist, they even out after lvl 21 anyway and play almost the same

Summons - Get yourself some Spell Foci in Conjuration, have summons, easy mode
Animal Empathy - No brainer for the new player solo experience, hilarious on Skal. Get wild animals to tag along and fight for you instead of against you. Enables you to solo dragons and deep wells

Herbalism - Just keep on mixing berries and nuts into sequencers, they are multi buff spells for your summons and animals

Heal - The skill is funny as heck for a wisdom class, you will heal 50+ hp for 35ish coins, rolls nat 20 outside of combat

Druid Spells - They are focused on wards, healing / regeneration and some very niche things making pets get much stronger than they should be

Entire thing only needs wisdom and the rest is whatever you feel funny with. Str / Dex / Con usually come from transforming into an animal anyway, so you can go high inteligence to learn languages for example.

Combine this all and by lvl 15 you run up the Skal Fell and bully a dragon with pets you found along the way. I recommended this build to every new player I had trying out Arelith and they all enjoyed it. You get a general overview over a lot of mechanics, have a safe as heck experience and can go explore almost anywhere without needing to prepare ahead of time.