2x Craftsmen templates for a roleplay guild character (restrictions apply)

[Heskey]

Hi all,

I've recently returned to Ultima after a 10 year hiatus. I've always wanted a craftsman having been inspired by Lord Ulysses and [RAA] way-back-when (who I believe are still going, less the man himself - bravo!), but in knowing there's not much profit to be made in player-crafted items these days, or social interaction to be had by waiting at the forges and repairing the armour of passing adventurers, I'm thinking of making this craftsman part of a roleplaying guild that I'm part of (which is the reason I've returned to UO)

RESTRICTIONS APPLY:

1. I cannot use any form of magery (so no recall mining)
2. I cannot use any form of mount or outlandish pack animal (so pack horses only, realistically)
3. I'm allowed to wear leather/studded/ringmail/chainmail armour.
4. I'm allowed to have 75 in a single weapon skill, and 50 tactics - to protect my pack animals from trifling beasties whilst gathering in the wilds. No anatomy or healing (use potions if I need to heal), though the character isn't designed to fight.

I understand the above may seem bizarre to some people, but I assure you it's part of my fun and I'd appreciate it if suggestions took it into account and as a-given for character types 1 & 2 below (but not 3).

The two templates I have in mind will determine what kind of character I play. The three options are:

1. A dwarven miner/blacksmith/armourer in ringmail and a norsehelm, capable of using his pickaxe to dispatch wee beaties that hassle his pack horses (using some skill combination up to 75 swords & 50 tactics)
2. A naval Quartermaster, with all the skills required to outfit High Seas ships and their cannons
3. Scrap the RP characters and make a Blue crafter that is optimal

For the dwarf I've had a few ideas. I started with a base of:

• 75 Swords - Base Skill
• 50 Tactics - Base Skill
• 100 Mining - Base Skill
• 100 Arms Lore - Base Skill
• 120 Blacksmithing - Base Skill
• 100 Tinkering

This leaves 175 skillpoints between Lumberjacking / Fletching / Tailoring / Alchemy / Carpentry / Cooking / Imbuing. I'd be inclined towards 120 tailoring or GM carpentry or Alchemy leaving 55, or 75 respectively.

If I reduced swords by 25 to 50 that'd be 80-100, but would mean I couldn't use Double Strike. If I reduced Tactics to 30 (to let me still use Double Strike) that'd be 100 or 120 - so I could pick up any of the remaining crafts, though only Tailoring is capable of reaching 120. So, potentially:

• 70 Swords
• 30 Tactics
• 100 Mining
• 100 Arms Lore
• 120 Blacksmithing
• 100 Tinkering
• 100 Alchemy
• 100 Carpentry

I actually really like the look of this one. Though it means no tailoring or fletching.

For a Quartermaster, capable of outfitting ships, it looks like I would need:

• 120 Blacksmithing
• 100 Arms Lore
• 100 Carpentry
• 100 Alchemy
• 120 Tailoring
• 100 Tinkering
• 80 Skill Points Left - Cooking, for Charcoal?

This would mean I'd be buying my materials and apart from Carpentry, not be doing anything with wood. I've heard people say that due to the amount of illegal miners out there, it's cheaper to just buy your materials than try and compete and get your own.

Alternatively, I could scrap the roleplay ideas entirely and keep my character Non-RP and optimal. I'd buy my materials and use those 200 skill points from not Mining/Lumberjacking for other craft skills as my interest would be on engraving my name on as much as possible! How does this sound?

120 Blacksmithing
100 Arms Lore
120 Tailoring
120 Imbuing
100 Carpentry
100 Alchemy (if pots are still sought after by players)
60 points - potentially split between Chivalry or Magery to transport myself around, and tinkering so I can make my own tools?

Thanks for reading. I appreciate it's a lot of newbie-perspective, and I hope you can respect my desire to RP and abide by guild restrictions when it comes to templates for ideas 1 and 2.

 

[Tamais]

Welcome back. I've also made a rp crafter. It is a blast. All of your examples would work. You just have to decide which would be more fun. Are you allowing jewelry with skills? That would allow higher tactics and swords. One idea would be head over to test and try them out. Lake

 

[Basara]

I would probably go with lumberjack on the first character instead of having Alchemy on both. To me, Alchemy is too "Majicky" for a dwarf.

Personally, I consider those claiming that there are too many scripters selling resources to be full of bovine feces. There's ONE shard where that's true - Atlantic (while the scripters might be mining and logging on other shards, they sure aren't SELLING the stuff there). And, I found it laughable when someone claimed that someone was doing it on my shard, unless they're doing it someplace like deep in a dungeon or the like, none of the locals I know have seen such scripters. Even if I was playing on Atlantic, I'd probably mine and log for myself on principle, rather than support what appear to be cheaters.

 

[Heskey]

Completely forgot about the test centre, thanks!

And no; wouldn't be allowed any form of magic - we're still deciding on if we can RP Imbuing, though (hence it not appearing on my 2 RP templates)

Edit: Looks like we posted at the same time Basara,

I'd only be doing 1 of these characters, not 2 - hence alchemy being on both of them. Potion use is fine in this guild - and we have 2 groups that use poison and explosion pots so I'd be able to keep them supplied. Also it's needed for some aspect of ships if I were to make the QM instead.

Fair points re scripters!

 

[Marquis de Sade 209]

I have done something similar with a “family” of dwarves but use them as a BOD account. I base every character in fel Delucia. One of them is a miner and crafter while the others are just crafters. I gather all the BOD’s with them and mine and lumberjack all around delucia in the guard zone. I use a packhorse and smelt only at the forge. Back before transfer tokens (and BOD’s” this is how I always started on a new shard.

 

[Percivalgoh]

I am not sure if this flys with roleplaying but there are soulstones that can be used to share skills between the characters on a single account. Just something to keep in mind. Or of course you can make other characters that aren't for roleplaying.

 

[Heskey]

Thanks all. Though not optimal, I'm thinking of going with:

75 Swords
50 Tactics
100 Mining
100 Tinkering
100 Arms Lore
120 Blacksmithing
120 Imbuing

This leaves me with 55 skill points for something like Hiding so I can 'run away'. Will make my character as combat-able as this RP guild will allow, and also make me a focused armourer which seems very Dwarfy to me. Thanks for your help.