Well I think it's about time I trek over to OTF and show the critters there what a capped rogue could do (and hopefully that's not die a lot).

Any tips? I have 2x stalk/hide with level 5 shadow mastery, fully trained in CM, 30 trains in swimming (I understand swimming is necessary), and ambush with a mean handaxe (although I have a flaring weapon handy if need be). Also I can CM VANISH when needed.

My understanding is that my DS should be in the 440ish range to avoid significant problems, but I have no idea what my TD should be.

Thanks for any info.

Maynist

Griffins are annoying; they may do their snatch and grab trick before engaging in melee, and their screech can throw you into a fair amount of RT. You can't hit them physically until they descend for actual melee attack (UNLESS you have a ranged attack!!! See below), and they can sniff you out of hiding. Seers may be hard to hit as they often have WoF in effect, although your DS pushdown will help with that if you attack from ambush. There is only 1 swimming check to get in, and that seems pretty easy; on the other hand, I have 70 ranks of swimming (for getting into Nelemar) so don't go by me. I have heard of people drowning on the way back out because they were too injured or too encumbered, althugh I have not seen that myself. Black crystals ae good to have to reduce encumbrance, and a disk does not count toward spell burst.

OTF is a spell burst area; I have no idea what magical skills you have, so you will have to discover on your own what outside spells you can wear. On the other hand, if you post your skills here, someone can probably give you an estimate. You may not absolutely need outside spells, but they can't hurt (unless of course they make you explode). Get TD enhancing spells like blues, if possible. Things like small statues are also quite useful. And of course, any spells you actually know (most capped rogues have 401 at the very least) don't contribute to spell burst.

Most ithzir attack in the mid 400 AS range; one on one you can easily shrug that off, I am sure. Problem is, they tend to swarm, and all of a sudden there are 5-6 of them whaling away at you; without some MOC, this can drop your DS. Also, you didn't say if you are using a shield or not. Some of the ithzir have an annoying habit of hurling their weapon at you; check your DS vs hurled/arrows. Most ithzir (except scouts) have those extremely annoying crystal weapons, which are notorious for killing on a 101 end roll because of electrical flares.

Ithzir will steal your stuff after you are dead. Some folks prefer to depart immediately to avoid loss of a prized weapon or shield. Me, I have 3 characters stationed in Illistim and hunting OTF, so I just make note of the room location, then log off and organize a rescue party with one of the others.

Last hint: hunt with friends. A group can drag your dead butt out, and thus save your items without the penalty of decay or depart. Just make sure they are used to hunting with an ambushing rogue. I hunt OTF with an ambushing rogue (an archer; she nails the pesky griffins in the eye 8 times out of 10! Consider taking up archery instead of OHE), and I know enough to wait while she rehides when she comes out visible. She signals when she is ready to move again after rehiding.



The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me

>>Don't be afraid to leave a pile of critters if things get too squirrelly - there's lots of them in there, you'll find some more.<<

Umm, I think what this poster is saying is, if you start feeling overwhelmed by swarms of critters, get the heck out of Dodge. There will be no shortage of critters in other rooms as far as experience goes. As for boxes, leave them if you have to, dead adventurers pick no boxes.


The bells of Hell
o ting-a-ling-a-ling
or you but not for me

Arcane spells don't count towards spell burst (1712, aka small statue, and 1701 are the two main ones.)

-Taakhooshi, and Me

For the Story of Taakhooshi:
http://www.gsguide.net/index.php?title=Taakhooshi

Maynist, I can wear the same set of spells plus 509. Being tripled in dodge is the key here to get your DS up to 440+. And honestly, I hunted in OTF a lot with only double dodge and a DS of around 400 without much issue. You probably want to highlight the word crystal and deal with them in some way. A couple suggestions are to disarm the creature and take their weapon( Either with cman disarm, or remove the limb), leg them because while prone their AS isn't near enough to hit you, or kill them and pick up the crystal weapon. Most people prefer one of the former two methods because killing the creature gives another one the chance to spawn with a crystal weapon.

at 2x stalking and hiding you'll rarely hide with a griffen in the room. Seers will occasionally spot you, as will scouts (they are rogues too) other than that you won't have much issue.

You are correct regarding symbols & cmans. For spell burst only spells you don't personallly know count against you. you can add 307 and 310 to the list of useful scrolls to find. They don't count either.

Pick up a cheap vultite shield. You will die, no matter how good you are...and you will loose your shield. If there enough hunters around to track it down you may get it back, but 60k isn't nearly as bad a loss as x mill for a good shield

I'd say the same for the weapon. Heralds swing hand axes, so there's no shortage available for free that you can get ebladed.

They will take enhancives. But they can only take items off your person and out of open containers.

Seers cast major dispel.

Heralds have a nasty trick with spinning discs that, when active will cause you to loose a limb if you swing...perhaps someone who hunts there more than I do has the verbaige/string for that.

War Griffens have a shriek that will fear you, they often do it upon arrival in the room. RT from this is as high as 20 seconds, but it won't instantly knock you out of hiding if I recall correctly.

Greater constructs are built like tanks...I suppose it's being made of stone. If you've hunted stone critters in the past you know how annoying it is to limb them.

I'll echo the sentimates of others...if you get swarmed, run, do not hold your ground. They will ewave, fear, and CMAN you into rediculous RT.

Not sure what armor you wear, but if you can manage hauberk or MBP you should be fine. With the DS you described leather will not be your friend.

The market road swarms badly. you may want to head to the edge of the west woods for the first hunt or 2 to get your bearings. There is a mix of ithzir and Aquaduct critters there. Set a gold ring for the room with the exit portal. If you're badly wounded you won't want to walk it.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something important...but perhaps I've rambled on too much as it is.

-Jurp

>>I'm sure I'm forgetting something important...but perhaps I've rambled on too much as it is.<<

1) Dragging things ...

If there is a construct in the room, and you try to drag something along with you (like a box, for example), the construct will reach down and stop you. In the case of a box, you can pick it up (and take the DS hit from having a hand occupied) and carry it. However, if you are trying to drag, say, a dead adventurer out of the area, you will have a problem. All you can do is try and kill the construct, or leave the corpse there and hope to be able to double back when the construct leaves the room.

2) Symbol of Return

Ack; it's been a while since I have seen Maynist around (Hi! It's Guen!), so I can't remember if you are in Voln or not. If you are, Symbol of Return doesn't take you back to town; it takes you to a safe house where you can use herbs to heal up, but which is still in OTF. Oh, be sure to carry a good selection of herbs! They can save your butt. And, I haven't been there in a while, but there is a trick to getting out of the house, which I forget right now. Doh! I'm geting senile.



The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me

<<Are wearable enhancive items generally subject to be taken upon death? Do any of the critters dispel?>>

No - the only truly valuable things that they'll take are your weapons or shield. They will root around in your containers for things though, so if you want to be safe, you have to keep things in a locked container (or a container inside of a container). I don't have any DB items but Lucos told me that they don't take those either, and he hunted in there a lot.

While it is rare, they can and do take wearable enhancives from your corpse. I've had it happen to me and I've seen it happen to a friend. No idea about DB items as I don't own any.

-Richard/Fjalar.

Yes, the constructs in OTF are what the ones in Ronan's temple were based off of, annoying but manageable.

>> but I've been wrong before...at least twice.

Heh. And one of them was when you thought you might be wrong. . .

Right? :)

Doug

>Heh. And one of them was when you thought you might be wrong. . .

nope. I'm highly opinionated and excitable, but I've never considered myself infallible.

I allow for 2 mistakes a day, unless first one gets someone killed or mamed. Then I just stop making decisions.

--Jurp

--Never play with 120,000 volts when you're angry.

> I am currently going through every container on me and finding a locker spot for items I don't want to lose.

Or you can save a bunch of time running back and forth to lockers, buy one container that filled with the items fits inside another of your containers, and viola, all those items in the double bagged containers now become safe from rifling by the various OTF meanies. Of course that does add encumberance, but most the time when I go into OTF the inside container weighs less than 10 lbs.

- Anonymous

A double containered item is safe from being stolen. Stick some stuff in a sack, close the sack, stick the sack in your backpack ... voila! The items are safe from being stolen. Of course, they aren't readily accessible either, but you can't have everything.

The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me

"Are wearable enhancive items generally subject to be taken upon death?"

A little late to the discussion, but Ithzir will steal worn enhancives. One of the best defenses I've found is to find a cheap imbeddible item and put 40 charges of 401 or 101 in it. For some reason, that's the first thing they've always grabbed from my characters in there.

Its that time again, when I officially change hunting grounds and do my absurd analysis of my upcoming enemies. I will be starting to hunt the ducts as a Sorcerer.

What do I need to know about:

Gremlocks
Taints
Beings
Lesser Contructs
Lich Qyn'arj? (are they in the ducts)

I know Gremlocks garrote you, and thats about all I know. I was under the assumption that constructs aren't realistic to hunt as a pure, but maybe thats only the greater ones. So now, I will assume to avoid them.

What is susceptible to 706? Can any of them break stun? Any maneuvers I need to watch out?

Also, I know that some areas have some overflow of Ithzir and such, is this an issue in the Ducts?

I can't say I understand most of your post, but I can say it made me laugh.

I guess I will get the jokes after being on the receiving end of a few deaths.

>Garrotte is their favorite manuever and they are good at it. Encumberance = death. Perception helps as they spawn hidden more often than not. They will also steal from you while living or dead. gems primarily, which you'll find in sacks on their corpses.

How does the perception help (I've read this same suggestion for bandits). Do I search each room I'm in? I have 50 ranks as is.

>Immune to magic until you hit them with a couple hundred mana or whack em with a weapon enough times to knock the aura down, not found in west ducts.

East ducts it is then.

>Moving a room or 2 away to face them one on one is prudence, not cowardace.

I've played like a coward since level 15. If it will help me survive OTF, I will do it even more. I'm very big on spending as little time as possible in front of un-disabled targets.

Also, how exactly do you ENTER OTF? Like, what is the messaging for the swim check? Anything I need to know there so I don't drown? I know where to go, I have maps, but not the messaging or anything.

>>Also, how exactly do you ENTER OTF? Like, what is the messaging for the swim check? Anything I need to know there so I don't drown? I know where to go, I have maps, but not the messaging or anything.

To get through the water part you just go water, swim, and it puts you out on the other side. And this is before you enter OTF, when you go barrier is when you actually enter into OTF. You don't need a lot of swim to make then check either 25-30 ranks at most as long as you aren't encumbered and you don't have to worry about it on the way out, you can fog back to town right after you enter the portal to leave,or west of that room, but either way you don't have to swim to leave. You should also be able to rift back to town after the portal. One trick I've seen people do is to rift from the very start of OTF to the observatory. Once inside OTF you can ring and rift to quite a few places within to skip most of the traveling through what would be dangerous territory for you.

So you can't fog/shift/ring INTO the area between the swim and the barrier, but you can fog/shift/ring OUT of said area? Gotcha.

Does the very first room of OTF proper have enemies? For instance, if I "go portal" can I walk into a big old mess and get insta-killed? And if so, can I PEER portal to prevent such? If enemies can spawn there, what types?

But otherwise, I'm best off shifting/ringing directly from that room to my desired hunting location?

>>Major Ewave or standard (or both)? Disease attack mitigated by Disease Resistance/Cure Disease?

I forget if they major ewave or not, I think if they do its a rare thing. I recall a lot of the normal/standard ones though. Disease resistance should help, if you happen to get hit with it you may need to cast cure disease multiple times before it is completely gone.

>>Any of the spells include things like Call Wind or Boil Earth? Whats the kick maneuver like?

I think they call wind sometimes and ewave but it was rare, mostly they just bolt. They also cast 409/415 which shouldn't be a problem for you. I rarely actually saw the kick maneuver there is a chance it can kill you though. Most of the time you just end up with a stun, a wound, and some rt.

>>Sorry if I ask so much, but I like to research my hunting grounds in advance to the T.

If I had a problem with asking too much, I wouldn't answer questions in the first place.