Combat skills vs Mental skills

[Resahl]

if you train a lot of combat skills, your mental ones will go up slower and you will never be a very competent mage.

Is this true? Does this mean that, if at some point, one wishes for a turnaround, it'd be difficult to the point of not wanting to do it any more?

[isengoo]

Well, it will be very difficult. If you don't want to put up with it then I suggest not doing it.

[Delia]

You can always start forgetting your combat skills and/or spend a lot of time improving both your mentals and mental skills.

[Delmon]

I don't think what jezz wrote has been proven.

[Naga]

I don't think what jezz wrote has been proven.

I think it has, but I don't remember where. It has something to do with the "soul." I remember reading a reference to a "combat soul" before; apparently certain skill spreads determine it, blah blah. I'm talking about things I don't really know, not going to assert anything. I trust the programming, and I expect it is fair. There really are clever and meticulous people involved in development.

[dragan]

But it certainly is proven, that tank mages (or battle mages) are the best mages ever, so you cannot avoid to train your physics as well - if you want to be a success. There will not always be someone to hide behind and you should also be able to survive in front row.

[krelji]

I am sorry, but I have to disappoint you here Dragan. It is far from being
proven that battle mages will be the best mages ever. While there won't
be always someone to hide behind for a mage, they got a number of spells
already that makes avoiding fights easy, and if you can choose when to
fight and where, then you don't need those tanking capabilities.

[Olrane]

But it certainly is proven, that tank mages (or battle mages) are the best mages ever, so you cannot avoid to train your physics as well - if you want to be a success. There will not always be someone to hide behind and you should also be able to survive in front row.

Do-it-alls are lame. Specialists who depend on others to be at their max potential are much more fun.

[adanath]

I would tend to agree. Someone who is good at many things, many times excels at nothing specifically. Having a battle(mage/cleric), is probably the easiest way and most rounded way, especially if you find yourself alone a lot, however, if the character is more focused on being a "mage" then it is likely they will be able to do things the hybrid is unable to do. In which case with planning and heavy consideration of abilities and how they can work in concert can be just as dangerous.

[krelji]

Having a battle(mage/cleric), is probably the easiest way and most rounded way, especially if you find yourself alone a lot, however, if the character is more focused on being a "mage" then it is likely they will be able to do things the hybrid is unable to do.

Actually the path of a battlemage is a lot more difficult in regards to the
progress of learning the magical arts. Improving the relevant magical
skills is damn hard, and considering that my char didn't have a single
improve in any of the 17 related skills for about 6 months should give
you an idea of how difficult it can be.

However, I am not complaining about it, and I am glad that it is as
difficult as it is, though I wished I knew some workaround for this
problem my char got.

[adanath]

In a lot of muds the souls are even more seperated so that a priest/mage can only say improve their combat skills to around 65-70%

[lanyara]

It seems as if some skills are simply harder to learn than others. It also may be that the character's current knowledge makes learning new things (or mastering these new things) harder.

I do however wonder about anyone being able to play a battle mage who can't fight without magic - given the way combat works right now, I can't really imagine that any battle mage could effectively go solo against larger threats.

[Delia]

Given how magic can be interrupted any solo mage will receive his/her share of hard times.

[lanyara]

That kind of makes me miss the time when it was possible to interrupt miracles of clerics ...

[adanath]

It still is possible to interrupt miracles of clerics, just difficult.

[caelia]

It still is possible to interrupt miracles of clerics, just difficult.

Quite right. None of them will produce a message that says "You interrupted Caelia's miracle, so Adanath will be killing you instead," but it certainly does happen.

[lanyara]

Hmm. Might be effects caused with specials, but not with normal hits?
I think critical hits may have caused this effect in the past too, like by cutting an arm off or such. Don't think I have ever noticed that today.

I think the old indicator message for this effect was:

"XYZ looks confused."

Here from an old log
http://wiki.geas.de/bin/view/Main/ADuelAgainstMorgor

You ram your armoured knee into Morgor(dwarf)'s groin, but his armour
absorbs all the damage.
Morgor(dwarf) looks confused.

Morgor(dwarf) looks confused.
You kick the left leg of Morgor(dwarf) hard with your foot.
But your enemies armour absorbs all the damage.

It used to be so easy! Didn't even require any real damage ...

[isengoo]

That was before the new miracle system was implemented.

[isengoo]

Oh man, the old miracle system was so funny. I read that log like 5 times now and it just makes me giggle each time

[arxthas]

Not to mention the old backstab that would kill you 9 times over, or the backhand chop instant-kill (through iron-gorget). Yes, skill had nothing to do with it (and still does not).