Help Templar Guild

This was a draft for a new Templar guild helpfile; it’s left here in case the information is useful for someone.

Preliminaries

Welcome to the Order of Sikkarian Knights Templar. This document will explain our beliefs, goals and history, the skills with which we praise Sikkar and our power on the battlefield. It is organised in three major sections. First, we will examine what the Templars are and what is expected of a Templar recruit. Second, we will list and comment on the most essential skills available to Templars. The third section will outline opportunities and options for novices.

It is recommended that new Templars study these matters in their entirety, and refer back to the second and third sections during their training. More experienced Templars are usually available if questions arise during this.

The Order

We will first give a brief description of the history of the Templars to date, and what we stand for. Then, we will examine the nature of the work usually performed by Templars, and finally draw conclusions as to what is expected of new Templars.

History and goals

The Order of Sikkarian Knights Templar has emerged from the Sikkarian clergy as an organisation dedicated to spreading and upholding the word and works of Sikkar through preaching, scholarship and combat in His name. Our ranks are diverse and comprise scholars, healers and warriors, united by their adherence to the Sikkarian faith.

Templars protect good beings and vanquish evil ones, either by venturing alone or in alliance with others. Where not met by arms, we seek to spread the word of Sikkar and convert unbelievers to His faith. This is also what we inspire in our allies.

Tasks

The Templar may choose to face evil on his own, and will often prevail. However, serious efforts require skills and assets not available in the Order, and thus Templars will seek like-minded allies to further the Order’s agenda.

Usually, the Templar’s role is to harm the enemy from a distance, but we are also able to heal those of our comrades who are engaged in melee and to protect them in preparation.

Requirements

Cultists and Fallen are barred from becoming Templars. Aside from those, anyone is welcome to join the Order, but there are criteria for success as a Templar which should be kept in mind by potential recruits.

Most of the body of the Templar’s abilities is available as spiritual spells, i. e. magic inspired by our faith in Sikkar and by His power. Races that are less than fully capable of spiritual magic would be at a severe disadvantage in the guild.

Our magic depends on wisdom and mana regeneration. A fast heartbeat is also important for the latter. Senior Templars can compensate for some lack in them by advanced equipment, but novices whose potential in these is low will have a hard time.

Finally, life in devotion to Sikkar is very hard on members of those races which are habitually evil. They are not barred from the Order, but such recruits should be aware that they will be facing a big challenge.

Skills and spells

We will now list the most important skills and spells which can be trained in the Order. This is not an exhaustive list and novices should refer to the individual skills’ and spells’ documentation for further information.

Levels 1–9

Attack
determines whether one hits in melee
Halo
provides or enhances a halo that can lighten or darken the room
Canticle
a weak but cheap healing spell
Sword of faith
summons a broad blade that is superior to newbie equipment
Broad blade
determines the damage done with a broad blade
Mana blessing
reduces the cost of failed spells by half
Aspersion
a weak but cheap attack spell
Last rites
disposes of corpses and provides guild dues
Censure
fast attack spell, stronger than aspersion
Indignation
a spell that attacks every other being in a room at once
Psalms
reduces the casting time of attack and healing spells by one round
Castigate
the most cost-effective attack spell of the Order

Levels 10–14

Sanctuary
prevents evil beings from entering the room and provides a small regeneration bonus
Exsultet
a fire attack spell
Angel wings
grants wings for flight
Scourge
restores spell points in exchange for hit points
Piety
halves the casting time of attack and healing spells
Holocaust
a fire area attack spell

Levels 15–20

Light of sikkar
the most effective Templar healing spell
Resurrection
brings the dead back to life and provides guild dues
Anathema
the most effective Templar attack spell
Viaticum
increases hit points and heals
Doxology
distracts an enemy
Subtility
protects against being stunned
Greater miracle
heals and removes scars and diseases
Wrath of god
the most effective Templar area attack spell

Opportunities and options

Having explained the potential of the guild, we now turn to applications.

Things to do as a novice

First of all, Templar novices should at all times be mindful of their alignment. Many Templar abilities become less effective the less devout one is, and most become entirely unavailable to those who turn away from Sikkar. This implies that Templars must avoid killing good beings, and to atone for such deeds must kill evil beings. There are few things more helpless than a Templar who has dropped out of good alignment.

This is something novices should carefully consider when choosing areas to adventure in. The detect evil spell may be helpful, as is asking others.

Templar novices who pay attention to their training and are well aware of their abilities can defeat many enemies entirely on their own. However, teamwork is required to make many things possible. Therefore, Templars should join parties if their goals are convergent with the Order’s goals, and also should organise parties as needed.

Novices of very low level are encouraged to explore the six planets and to complete level quests before they seriously embark on combat. Exploration also has the benefit of providing experience that can be used on levels and training (to the threshold of the free training newbie advantage). Level 10 could be considered a goal to reach by exploration and level quests before attempting to fight evil.

Then, a novice’s choices are wide and include, among many others, the following places, ordered by the highest level at which one may enter (maxlock).

Maxlock 10
Petting zoo (Crypt), Asylum (Perdow), Native Village (Sosel), Sheltered Vale (Welstar)
Maxlock 15
Mausoleum (Perdow), Uruk Fortress (Welstar), Necromancer Camp (Welstar), Pirate Ship (Wysoom)
Maxlock 20
Autognome Factory (Crypt), Haelis’s Manor (Crypt), Wumpus Caves (Crypt), Chessboard (Perdow), Flynd Pass (Perdow), Bandit Camp (Perdow), Danowyr Outpost (Perdow), Azalin’s Lodge (Welstar), Barrow Downs (Welstar), Treant Grove (Welstar), Croshmok (Wysoom)
Others
Lao-Lung (Sosel), Battlefield (Welstar), Palim Mountains (Welstar), Artists’ Retreat (Wysoom)

Novices should also consider becoming apprentice to a senior Templar. Such a master can assign training bonuses and make training cheaper.

Best practices

The main function of the Templar in a party is to blast enemies by casting attack spells. Because our choice of attack spells is large, there are tactical considerations to be made before and during combat.

First of all, novices will usually choose those spells in which they have good training, so as not to fail often. Failures and fumbles of combat spells drain spell points (SP) without damaging the target.

Second, there is the choice of a damage type. We can consider the list of Templar blasts organised by damage type:

Holy
aspersion, indignation, censure, castigate, inquisition, anathema, wrath of god, holy word
Fire
exsultet, holocaust
Sonic
castigate, holy word
Acid
aspersion

Some targets are especially vulnerable to some damage types. This can sometimes be inferred from the target’s race, though racial vulnerabilities not always apply. Alternatively, somebody in the party may know which damage types are best. Additionally, Necromancers and Fallen are known to be able to reflect damage of most types, including fire and acid, toward the caster. In this case, attacks with holy or sonic damage are preferred.

Third, the ratio of damage done (considering the target’s resistances and vulnerabilities) to the spell cost determines the efficiency of a spell. In this sense, castigate is usually the best blast available to Templars, while inquisition is particularly inefficient. The damage done by inquisition and holy word also scales strongly with the target’s alignment, so they are rarely useful. Choosing efficient spells means doing the most damage with the available SP.

A final note to be made about blasting is that it is usually not necessary to specify the target for single-target blasts, when already in combat. This can help prevent accidentally attacking a peaceful monster that is in the same room.

During regeneration (regen) between combat runs, the scourge skill allows fast regeneration of SP at the cost of hit points (HP) and endurance (EP). Because it takes HP, it should be used cautiously in places where there is room damage outside of combat. Fortunately, scourge remains very efficient even when casting light of sikkar to heal oneself during regen. By using scourge and casting light of sikkar (or other healing spells, as appropriate) occasionally, Templars can regenerate quickly as long as sufficient EP are available.

In a party, Templars can also replace or augment other specialists, especially for protection and healing. When those are present, all should discuss how to share the workload in advance, e. g. by assigning healers to melee fighters or by discussing who is responsible for which protections. Not all abilities of Templars are well known, so sometimes the Templar will need to advertise having some particular spell in order to help the party plan.

Even when not assigned to healing duties, Templars should be ready to heal other party members, and should keep an eye on the party status to that end. This can help prevent unexpected incoming damage or a mistake of the healer from becoming fatal.

Both in and out of parties, Templars can resurrect the dead. Usually, a ghost requests this on the retro channel or party channel, and a Templar, given time and inclination, will tell them to accept. Good aligned ghosts prefer Templar resurrections, while evil aligned ghosts will seek evil resurrection by a Cultist, but even cross-aligned resurrections save experience. Resurrections should not take place in rooms where there is a threat from monsters or room damage, or underwater or in mid-air. Lesser miracle (or greater miracle) can be used to remove scars and heal after the resurrection. Because a fumbled resurrection has nasty side-effects, this spell should be trained very high upon reaching level 20 (at which the newbie advantage of not causing side-effects by fumbling disappears).

Templars themselves, after dying, benefit from training in resurrection even when they pray, so a Templar does not usually need to ask for a resurrection.

Options after level 20

After completing Templar training, a Templar can join one out of a number of secondary guilds. (A list can be obtained by ‘choices templar’.) The usual choices are the Cleric and Missionary guilds. In terms of practical significance, they offer different paths of tertiary guilds.

The three paths specific to Templars focus on improving protection from evil, resurrection and combat spells. The Cleric guild gives access to the first two, while the Missionary guild gives access to the last two. Each path consists of three tertiary guilds, where each tertiary guild has a single skill which improves some aspect of a Templar’s abilities.

It is also possible to join other guilds, regularly for up to nine levels, to gain other skills, but this happens at the expense of levels.

The choice of guild levels can be changed by reincarnation, which lets a character start fresh from level 4, with most of their experience worth being preserved. Templars considering reincarnation, or others considering reincarnating into Templars, should be aware that the Templars, like most other guilds, require certain amounts of guild dues to be acquired for levels 16–20. Therefore, the last rites skill and the resurrection spell, which are the only two regular means for Templars to acquire dues, will be particularly important for such characters.

Besides choosing guilds, Templars, like everybody else, must eventually acquire equipment to become more effective. For Templars the most desirable equipment is that which gives bonuses to wisdom, intelligence and spell point regeneration, but bonuses to constitution, agility and endurance point regeneration are also useful. Of course, Templar equipment should be good aligned or unaligned. Armour should be of bulk 3 (quite bulky) or less; bulk 4 (very bulky) armour hinders Templar spells. Weapons are also used by some Templars, though their effectiveness does not approach that of the Order’s attack spells.

In any case, Templars of all levels must maintain a high alignment and therefore uphold the Order’s ideals by battling evil. Though not the most glorious, our occupation provides the benefit of righteousness, and it is also not unheard of that Templars find fun in their work.

See also: getting started, newbie advantages, invoke

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