This is pretty lengthy, but I'll copy/paste and wait for replies

[Shalimar]

A NEW (Caimbeul) needs template help. He posted this on NEW forums and I think he'll get a faster reply here so here it is:



Playstyle Background:

At the root, I'm a roleplayer so I sometimes run templates that are off the beaten path or not necessarily optimal if they satisfy my RP needs. My main char on prodo shard is an RP Detective with Forensics/Detect Hidden/Tracking/Wrestle/Tactics/Music/Peace.

Template necessities:

I would like to develop a luthier (one who makes stringed instruments) so 100 Carpentry and 45 Music are mandatory. From there, trying to create a character that is mostly independent and skills are not more of a chore than they need to be to raise. Not sure if there is a market for exceptional crafted instruments.

Skills Needed:

Carpenter needs logs so Lumberjacking, carpenter needs tools (as do all other crafting skills and mining) so Tinkering, tinkerer needs ingots so Mining, lumberjack needs axe so Blacksmithing, let Arms Lore raise naturally and support crafting, Magery

Final Template:

GM Carpentry
45 Music - enough to craft instruments
GM Tinkering - allows GM tinkered traps/golems/etc and kegs
GM Lumberjack
99 Mining - use gloves when needed
77 Blacksmith - enough to do repairs, craft light armor and basic wpns for new chars
GM Arms lore
99 Magery



Plan for skill development
Create with 50 Magery, 50 Tinkering, 11 Carpentry, Blacksmithy 9
- Tinkering will allow me to make tools to train other skills
- 11 Carpentry and 9 Blacksmithy allows me some basic options to start training the skills
- Keep spare shovel, tinkering tool, and ingots in bank and I can recover from anything with visit to the bank
- Allow Med/Focus/EI to raise to make training Magery more fun (hunting), allow Arms Lore to raise naturally or train as needed
When able to, craft axes for LJing to start working in LJ/Carpentry
When Carpentry is sufficient, get some instruments and train Music
Lower extra skills as necessary


Questions for experienced Siege players:
Any obvious holes in the template?
- I realized skills cannot be purchased 0-30ish from NPCs so had to make some changes
Will no Hiding/Spell Resist be a major problem?

[Aurora]

OK...a few things I see

1- You can only start with 100 points, not 120...Unless something has changed since I last made a character (which has been quite awhile).  So a suggestion for starting skills would be to pick 2 main ones (50 and 49 respectively) and 1 to place a single point into for whatever tools/resources it might give you (they will not be blessed or newbified tools) If you have already made this character and had the choice for 120 points...merely disregard the above bullet...heh.

2- Obviously, you are gravitating towards a crafter that can defend yourself and get around easily.  Makes sense.  Unless you are bent on being a blacksmith, I would drop it.  At 77, honestly, I would not ask you to make or repair anything for me - gm is the best possible choice for anything you might actually use, and smith goes to 120...so...if you were to try repairing something, the chances are very high that you would lose durability on it while repairing it.  Look into whether you truly want smith or not - tailor might work better for you in selling though, not much metal armor being worn on Siege (you cant stealth very well in it...lol)

3- You can just use hatchets for Lumberjack or whatever, these can be gained readily from many sources if unable to make them.  Many of us in GIL would gladly help you out in acquiring these items if need be as well, just let us know.  However, since you will be GM tinker for traps and such, this shouldn't pose an issue.

4- might as well go to 100 mining (what's one point?).  This way you could mine for sand and rocks for either personal use, or to sell to other crafters using them.  Looking ahead, glassblowing will be tweaked a bit for more uses, therefore, sand might be more wanted.  Nutshell, if having mining anyways, finish it off to gain full benefits from it.

5. Not having hiding is not necessarily an issue, however, you may find yourself watching as someone else takes your hard earned resources from your corpse.  I have GM hiding AND GM stealth - and this scenario plays itself out enough as it is..LOL.  This would depend on who you encounter and your playstyle.  Not a huge issue though, unless you feel it is so.

6- the magery skill might be a bit low for all around use.  It looks like that would be your only means on defense, which is not a bad thing.  However - at 99 skill...you will fail alot at ev's or summons.  EV's are my friend and only companions quite often when I am out.  Being able to cast them when needed definitely helps.  This is up to you obviously and depends heavily on what you are looking to use magery for.  Transportation only? 99 should be fine (although why not 100..lol..I think I am just OCD about things like that though)

So far, if the adjustments are made, you now have this:
100 Tinkering
100 Carpentry
100 Lumberjack
100 Mining
100 Arms Lore
100 Magery
45 Musicianship
(dropping smith allowed GM in the previous 99's)

total of 645 points, leaving 55-75 depending on account age for something like meditation or focus or eval etc...blah blah (although i notice your template uses 720, so you must have a few years on).  You could also throw some extra points into magery then use the rest for meditate and be able to kill decently with ev's when you are out and about.

7- training from 0-25 is quick and easy here, much like other shards.  Skill flies to 25, so that should not be an issue.

8- I am a Bard, so yes...There is a market for exceptional instruments (especially bamboo flutes)

There is not really 'advice' in the above, just my thoughts on what you had listed.  Take what you will and junk the rest...LOL   You will find that Siege truly is what you make of it and you will enjoy it, I'm sure.  I played for years on Atlantic and Lake Austin.  Once I came to Siege, all my chars on other shards have full banks of stuff just sitting there...gathering dust.

Welcome to the fold and safe travels.  Hope to see you around the world

~Gravity

[Loki]

I'll echo a bit of Gravity's comments and add a few of my own.

Drop blacksmith. I have a gm lj and tinker, I just whip out my tinker tools and make a new hatchet. It's alot less weight to do it that way (weight being a concern with all the logs/boards).

Arms Lore is only good if you plan on being a weaponsmith/armorsmith(instruments not affected). Otherwise it's 100 points better spent elsewhere. I understand with carp/tinker you can make weps/armor, but better off just enhancing drops you find rather than sitting in heartwood endlessly trying to get a runic saw.

Alchemy would be a great substitution for smith/lore. You'd have the alchemy inherent bonus to pot strength, plus healing and offense (not to mention gm alchemy is about to be a factor with pot resistance/immunity).

If you are gm tinker, you might as well go 100.0 mining. Not sure if the gems drop with a gloves bonus, but even if they do, not needing gloves is one less thing to have to replace... (welcome to Siege). Gems will be nice for the rings etc, and if you lose the jewelry you can make more.

So:
100.0 Carp
045.0 Music
100.0 Lj
100.0 Tinker
100.0 Mining
100.0 Alchemy
106.1 Magery (100% chance to cast gate/invisibility)
068.9 Other

So with this you could make a living from a vendor shop, PvM with Golem, Pots, use Magery to help heal pets. As for other, maybe meditation/focus, or even spellweaving(alot of spells can be cast at 100% with 68.9 skill and mana regen items can easily replace med/focus)


If you wanted to be a true RP'er though, and don't mind going in a different direction...

Gm Tinker
Gm Alchemy
Gm Mining
120 Magery
Gm Mysticism (SA Expansion)
Gm Eval
Gm Imbuing (SA Expansion)

based off: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem

You could have a ton of fun imo. Golem controller/holy man.  Just a thought.

[UONanook]

This is the player behind Caimbeul Cupair.  Thank you for all the input from all parties.  As could probably be expected, I made many changes and adjustments.  I severely underestimated the impact of buffed monster spawn in the forests and quickly decided that I needed to make some adjustments.  It basically boiled down to having magery or being able to protect myself from the spawn when traveling and chopping wood.  I fooled around with a lot of different skills and have settled on my template.

Swords/Tactics/Lumberjacking/Alchemy/Carpentry with some Music/Tink/Taming/Vet
- 45 Resisting Spells until I can craft instruments then 45 Music
- 60 Tink until just don't have the room then drop to 30 for trapped boxes
- 60 Heal/60 Anat until they get crowded out and/or GM Alchemy
- Use Taming/Vet to run low end packs (wolves until I can control bears) and train beetles

Caimbeul is settling in as an Initiate with CWS and aspires to be a Shadow Ranger someday.