Legends of Belariath

Character Development

The way to increase your character's power and ability is by increasing the stats that you started with. There are several ways to do this but whether you are increasing in level or spending money, they really come down to you actually doing something in roleplay.


INCREASING A LEVEL

When you gain enough experience to go up to the next level, you also get some free points to spend on your character. These are known as level points. These work in the same way as the free points when you started:

STR, INT, AGI, RES, LFE - Each extra rise of one stat point needs you to spend two level points.

STA - Stamina stat points can be increased one for one.

SPELL SLOTS - Spell slots can be purchased from level five providing you have a suitable class of character. They cost one level point for one slot.

EQUIPMENT SLOTS - These can also be purchased from level five. They cost four level points for each slot.

SPENDING MONEY

Certain stats can be permanently increased by buying and using a potion from the Sorcerous Sanctuary. They aren't cheap but if you have spare cash they are one way to make your character more powerful.

The Sorcerous Sanctuary can help you increase the number of your spell slots if you belong to an appropriate class. Of course, this also costs money.

Temporary stat boosts can be gained by enchantments that can be placed upon assorted items can be enchanted to increase a stat, with the effect lasting either as long as you are using the item for permanent enchantments, or for a fight for activated enchantments. The more effective the item is, the more it costs.

OOC

Out of character, you can be paid in mehrials or experience points for items you send to enhance the web site (original work only please). These can be articles filling in the background on races, stories or artwork. Those who give up their time to work in the Development Group are also awarded exp to make up their loss of roleplaying time.

Levels

As you visit The Lonely Inn and role play your character you have the opportunity to gain experience and from this, to be promoted to higher levels. These promotions bring extra money and level points that you can use to make your character stronger. At some significant levels, they can also earn you other valuable benefits. Exp points are awarded by Des according to a complex formula and there is also an opportunity to impress the Ops with the fact that you play your character well and entertainingly, so possibly gaining a bonus.

Experience is not gained by anything you do in the OOC channel. Nor is it simply a case of the more you type the more experience you gain. But concentrate on having fun and the promotions will follow.

To be awarded experience points you will need to be recognised by the channel 'bot Desdaemona. To do this, when you join the channel, send a message:
/msg Desdaemona !login password charactername
or see the page of Desdaemona commands for more details.

Be aware that experience points can be deducted as well as added. Poor role play, too much OOC chat, failing to play fairly in free-form combat and using OOC knowledge IC are all grounds for reducing your points. Unwanted interference in scenes will seriously reduce your prospects of ever getting promoted, assuming you don't get kicked out first.

Once you acquire enough experience points, you will be advised by Desdaemona that you have reached a new level and can edit your character to improve your stats.

SIGNIFICANT LEVELS

Most promotions are automatic once you have the correct number of experience points. But some levels are considered significant, so to achieve a promotion to Levels 5, 10 and 15 you will need to pass a test. Until that is completed, you will not be able to move on. As an example, you could be stuck at level 9 forever because you have not completed the requirement to reach level 10. Or you could delay a long time and waste a lot of exp since your exp total resets to zero on each advance.

DEMOTIONS

In very exceptional circumstances, for totally unacceptable behavior or serious breaches of the rules, the Ops may decide to strip you of your rank (demote you to whatever level they think fitting).

CLASSES

At levels 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 you have the opportunity to take a class as well as the normal upgrade benefits. You can add a second class or take an existing class again to reinforce it. This provides the extra points associated with that class. You can not drop a class you have already taken and you can never have more than two classes.

From level 10 you can also have the option to evolve a starter class into an advanced class. Note that you can only ever have one advanced class.

USING POINTS

The points you gain at each level work in the same way as the free points that you started with at level one (see above).

PROMOTION EFFECTS

Levels Two to Four: At each level you are awarded 12 points to customize your stats plus 100Mhl.

Level Five:

At this level you can add a second class to your character if you wish. If you don't want a second class then you can select your starting class again. You are awarded the points for whichever class you chose, plus a further 12 points to customize your stats, plus 200Mhl. In addition you may either have a weapon or piece of armor that you currently own, or purchase at its normal price, magically enhanced by +1. All classes gain one OOB spell and characters holding a magical class gain one extra magic slot free. Characters not holding a magical class get one extra equipment slot free.

Characters can now start buying extra slots for points. Those with a magical class can buy spell slots. All characters can start to buy extra equipment slots.

Promotion Requirement: Level five characters have a character bio page in the Characters section of the site. To complete promotion to level five, you need to write the contents of this and send it by email to Stormbringer. This must be accomplished before you can reach level five, so you should be sending it mid-way through level four to avoid any delays.

Please follow these instructions:

Mail the character bio as an attachment, not in the body of the e-mail to stormbringer@belariath.com. Include your character nick in the subject line of the e-mail.

The attachment should be a plain text file. Not MS Word, not Works or any other word processor. A file created in Notepad or similar. IE mybio.txt

Paragraphs should have a double CR (press the Enter key twice) between them. I don't need any other CR's within a paragraph, just let it word-wrap.

At the start of each paragraph type <p> and at the end of each paragraph type </p>

Example:

<p>The story of Fred began when he was born... etc etc.</p>

<p>When he reached the age of 18 he won the local bathing beauty contest. Not difficult since all the other contestants were goblins... etc etc.</p>

We don't need a list of stats and equipment on this page. It's the story of what happened to your character before they entered the empire and how they came to be in Nanthalion or Valencia. You can list the other stuff in your database descr or notes as you wish.

It's not difficult to do this and it saves me a lot of time in adding your bio to the site. Do it right and your char will be flagged for level 5 and the bio page created.

Levels Six to Nine: At each level you are awarded 12 points to customize your stats plus 100Mhl.

Level Ten:

You may:

  • Select a second class if you only have one
  • OR select your starter class again
  • OR select to evolve one of your starter classes into an Advanced Class

You are awarded the points for whichever class you chose, plus a further 12 points to customize your stats, plus 200Mhl. At this level you may either have a weapon or piece of armor that you currently own, or purchase at its normal price, magically enhanced to +2. This is not cumulative with previous enchantments. All classes gain one OOB spell and characters holding a magical class gain one extra magic slot free. Characters not holding a magical class get one extra equipment slot free.

Promotion Requirement: In order to successfully move up to level 10, you must either provide the log of a recent role play (public or private) to demonstrate that you can play your character effectively. Or you can submit a detailed story or informational piece centred on your race on Belariath, for use on the web site. Email your log or story to Stormbringer for approval. Remember to specify your character name. Also remember to get the permission of anyone else involved if the role play was in private. You will need to complete this before moving on to level 10 and beyond so it's a good idea to send it off mid-way through level nine.

Levels Eleven to Fourteen: At each level you are awarded 12 points to customize your stats plus 100Mhl.

Level Fifteen:

You may:

  • Select a second class if you only have one
  • OR select to evolve a class into an Advanced Class if you don't already have one
  • OR select your first or second class again (including Advanced Class)

You are awarded the points for whichever class you chose, plus a further 12 points to customize your stats, plus 200Mhl. All classes gain one OOB spell and characters holding a magical class gain one extra magic slot free. Characters not holding a magical class get one extra equipment slot free.

Promotion Requirement: In order to successfully move up to level 15, the Advancement Team will review your rp, race, class, character. You may be passed, you may be asked to join in a discussion about your character, or you may be required to do a written quest showing evidence you can play your race and class. The review happens automatically when you reach level 14, and if there are issues, you will be contacted within a week or two.

Levels 16 to 19: At each level you are awarded 12 points to customize your stats plus 100Mhl.

Level Twenty

You may:

  • Select a second class if you only have one
  • OR select to evolve a class into an Advanced Class if you don't already have one
  • OR select your first or second class again (including Advanced Class)

You are awarded the points for whichever class you chose, plus a further 12 points to customize your stats, plus 200Mhl. At this level you may either have a weapon or piece of armor that you currently own, or purchase at its normal price, magically enhanced to +4. This is not cumulative with previous enchantments. All classes gain one OOB spell and characters holding a magical class gain one extra magic slot free. Characters not holding a magical class get one extra equipment slot free.

Levels 21 to 24: At each level you are awarded 12 points to customize your stats plus 100Mhl.

Level Twenty-Five

You may:

  • Select a second class if you only have one
  • OR select to evolve a class into an Advanced Class if you don't already have one
  • OR select your first or second class again (including Advanced Class)

You are awarded the points for whichever class you chose, plus a further 12 points to customize your stats, plus 300Mhl. All classes gain one OOB spell and characters holding a magical class gain two extra magic slots free. Characters not holding a magical class get two extra equipment slots free.

Completing Promotion: Promotion to this and all higher levels is automatic as you have already proved yourself at the lower levels.

Levels 26 to 29: At each level you are awarded 12 points to customize your stats plus 100Mhl.

Level Thirty

You may:

  • Select a second class if you only have one
  • OR select to evolve a class into an Advanced Class if you don't already have one
  • OR select your first or second class again (including Advanced Class)

IMPORTANT: This is your LAST chance to add a second class or evolve a class to an Advanced Class if you have not already done so. You will NOT be offered the option again.

You are awarded the points for whichever class you chose, plus a further 30 points to customize your stats, plus 1,000Mhl. All classes gain one OOB spell and characters holding a magical class gain two extra magic slots free. Characters not holding a magical class get two extra equipment slots free.

Levels 31 and up: At each level you are awarded 12 points to customize your stats plus 250Mhl.

Level Sixty

At any time beyond this, the Ops may award you a Legendary Item. This is entirely discretionary and the same requirements apply to these as they do to Realics.