Ultima Online Beginner's Guide

Ultima Online Beginner's Guide

Welcome to the world of Ultima Online! Before you enter this confusing realm, there are many things you need to know about. But first, let me tell you about myself. I am not a long-time player of UO, but there are many things I've picked up upon that I can pass on to others. Through the help of my allies, and many other people that were at the right place at the right time,I've gotten some good stuff. The thing about UO is, you can't get by without other people. But I'm getting off subject. I play mostly on the Atlantic shard,so if you looked hard enough, you could probably find me there. I have three characters I use mostly: Vash, a Grandmaster swordsman with some light magical abilities; Ky, a moneymaking character with no fighting abilities; and Elric, an archer I have recently started. Anyway, when you first start, you need to make a character. And that's what this next section is all about!

II. Beginner's Guide

Well, you bought yourself an account, have everything installed and
ready to go! So...now what? Here's where this guide comes in handy. I can
help you with whatever you need to know!

Section 1: Stats

There are three different stats your character has: Strength, Dexterity,
and Intelligence. Strength is how much damage you can give, as well as how
much HP(Life force) you have, and how much weight you can carry. Every
character can use this stat, in some form or another. Dexterity is relative
to a person's speed, and stamina. With high dexterity, you can attack more
often, and last longer. Intelligence is the power of one's magic,how often
it will actually cast,and how much mana (Magic points) you have. In the
beginning,you get to divide 80 points amongst these three stats. Also,the
stat cap is 225,meaning you can't gain more than 225 points total between the
three. You also can't go over 125 points in any stat. There are things called
stat scrolls,that depending on what kind they are,can give you a stat cap of
230,235,240,245,or 250. These things cost a LOT of money,so you don't have
to worry about it early on.

Section 2:Skills

Whoo boy! Now that you've got your stats,you have to choose what kind
of skills you want to persue. There are around 50 skills. You can go up to
100% in any skill,unless you buy a powerscroll. Depending on what kind,you
can get up to 105%,110%,115%,or 120% in any skill. Also,these things cost a
lot of money,so you won't be getting one anytime soon. Also,there is a skill
cap of 700. You can only divide 700 points among your skills,so no,you can't
GM everything. (GM {Grandmaster} means you have 100% in a skill.) You won't
be even close to your skill cap at the beginning,so it's no worry for now.
Anyway,here's a list of all the skills and what they do.

Alchemy:This is the skill of making potions out of magic reagents. You can
create agility,strength,poison,explosion,and many other types of potions.
Using a mortar and pestle,as well as some empty bottles,you can create
potions to use in battle,or to sell to others.With the use of the carpentry
and tinkering skills,you can create potion kegs to sell to people,which can
be filled with 100 bottles worth of a potion. Kegs are used by double-clicking
on them,which fills one of your empty bottles with the potion inside.

Anatomy:A skill needed by almost everyone. Anatomy can increase damage done
by attacks,increase the power of your own healing,and can even tell you how
strong and fast others are. With anatomy and healing both over 60,you can
heal poison,and if they're both over 80,you can resurrect the dead. Anatomy
increases the damage you do by up to 20%.

Animal Lore:This skill tells you about any animals you or others have tamed.
Needed for animal tamers. It can tell you many things about your pet,such as
its strength,what it likes to eat,and how loyal it is to you. Also helpful
to tame more advanced animals.

Animal Taming:This skill allows you to control certain animals you may find
in the wild. You can tame horses to ride,for instance. You can also control
things like dragons,and have them fight alongside you. Some tamers get to
be extremely powerful.

Archery:What you need if you plan to use bows or crossbows. A combat skill
that gets better whenever you use your bow. Remember,keep a steady supply
of arrows on hand. Bowcraft/Fletching,Lumberjacking,Anatomy,and Tactics
go hand in hand with this skill.

Arms Lore:With this,you can check up on the condition of your weapons and
armor. This is especially handy when you want to buy a weapon from another
player. That way,you know you aren't paying a lot for something that's
about to fall apart.

Begging:I've found this skill to be very useless. Using it,you can beg
an NPC for some gold. They can only give you up to 10 coins,so I
see no point.

Blacksmithy:Now here's a useful skill! With this,you can create armor and
weapons,as well as repair. There are many different types of metals and
hammers,so with the right stuff,you can make some good weapons. A blacksmith
is a good friend to have. With the new additions from AoS,blacksmiths can now
enhance weapons with the powers of other colored ingots,without the use of
a runic hammer.

Bowcraft/Fletching:A very useful skill for an archer. This skill alows you
to craft your own kindling for fires,and make bows,crossbows,arrows,and bolts.
Using wood,and having a good skill,you can make anything archer related.
GM bows are some of the best bows you can buy.

Camping:An ok skill I usually don't use. If you set up a campfire,and use
a bedroll,you can safely log out anywhere. Good if you're in the middle of
a dungeon,but HAVE to leave.

Carpenter:Allows you to make furniture and the like from wood. Great if you
have a house you want to furnish. Also great if someone hires you to furnish
their house.

Cartography:The skill for treasure hunters. You can hunt treasure for gold
and fame,if you have the cartography skill needed. Goes along with
lockpicking,detect hidden,and remove trap.

Chivalry:The skill of Paladins. Allows you to use spells of Paladins.
I don't know much about this skill,to tell you the truth.

Cooking:Cook raw food over a fire so it can be edible. Cutting up certain
corpses givesyou raw food,so you can get free food doing this. Cook large
quantities of food to sell to people for some quick cash.

Detect Hidden:Detect traps,and other hiding people. Good for thieves and
treasure hunters. However,once you get to the higher level treasure boxes
that you already know will be trapped,this skill is useless to leave above
50. 50 because that's how much you need to get remove trap.

Discordance:Skill for bards. Lets you weaken creatures with your music.
The strength of the weakening depends on your skill.

Evaluate Intelligence:The equivalent of Anatomy to a mage. A warrior needs
anatomy to assess an enemy's strength,and do more damage. A mage needs eval
int. to assess an enemy's intelligence,and add more damage to magic.

Fencing:A combat skill. Used for daggers,kryss',short spears,war forks,
and the like.

Fishing:With a fishing pole,you can catch fish to cut up into fish steaks.
Also,with a high enough fishing skill,you can pull up SOS messages or
treasure maps.

Forensic Evaluation:Not a very useful skill. Allows you to see who killed
what,or who picked what lock.

Healing:Skill used by most. You can heal others with bandages. With better
skill,you can heal more. With 60 skill in healing and anatomy,you can heal
poison,and at 80,you can resurrect the dead.

Herding:In my opinion,one of the most useless skills in the game. Lets you
move an animal from one point to another. I think it'd be better to tame
it,but that's just my opinion.

Hiding:Allows you to hide in the shadows,even in the wide open. Very useful
when you need to loot your body,but monsters surround it,or if you are a
thief. You cannot hide while you are in the middle of a fight.

Inscription:With the right Magery and Inscription skills,you can create
scrolls. Scrolls are needed to fill spellbooks,and cast spells without the
need of a book. Knights without much magery or intelligence especially like
scribes who create recall scrolls. With a high enough skill,you can create
runebooks. Runebooks are sought after by lots,and you can make a business
out of it.

Idem Identification:Allows you identify 'unidentified' items. You can find
out what magical properties they have before you use them. This skill is
useless if you have an identification wand. It does the same. (Update:
This skill is pretty much offically useless now,with the changes made by AoS.)

Lockpicking:Needed for rogues and treasure hunters. You can pick the locks
off treasure chests and boxes. You may want to find out if it is trapped
first,however.

Lumberjacking:Very useful skill for some. Using axes,you can chop trees and
gather wood. Wood is needed for carpenters,tinkers,and bowyers. A high skill
in lumberjacking also helps in battle. You may notice an increase in damage
when wielding certain axes.

Mace Fighting:Combat skill needed for blunt weapons,such as maces,mauls,
war maces,staves,war hammers,and the like.

Magery:The skill for mages. Used to cast spells. The higher your skill,
the better spells you can cast. Reagents are needed for all spells,and can
be bought at magic shops.

Meditation:A must for all spellcasters. Increases the rate at which your
mana regenerates. If you use the skill actively,you go into a trance,and
it goes up even faster. However,you can't do any actions while meditating.

Mining:A must for all blacksmiths. Lets you mine ore from mountains,which
can then be smelted into ingots. Great skill to have. Also a good way for
mages to train in strength,or for merchants to sell in bulk.

Musicianship:The skill of bards. Use with other bardic skills to create a
powerful character. Alone,it doesn't do much.

Necromancy:The skill of Necromancers. Lets you raise the dead to serve you,
as well as let you turn into many different undead forms.

Parrying:The ability to deflect attacks with a shield. If you use shields,
get this skill.

Peacemaking:Bardic skill. Allows you to make monsters stop attacking you,
if only for a short time.

Poisoning:Lets you poison weapons or food. Poisoned weapons begin to wear
down if the poison isn't cleaned off with oil cloth. If you need oil cloth,
go to a popular tailor shop. It'll probably be lying around everywhere.
Don't drink the poison potion,by the way.

Provocation:Bardic Skill. Allows you to make enemies attack one another.
VERY nice.

Remove Trap:Lets you remove traps off treasure chests. You need a skill of
50 in both lockpicking and detecting hidden first,though.

Resisting Spells:Anyone who fights,needs this skill. Lessens the damage of
any spell,or nullifies it completely.

Snooping:Lets you look into the backpacks of other people and see what they
have. Looked upon as an act of aggression,and will lower your karma a bit
each time you do it.

Spirit Speak:Not particulary useful. Lets you see what the dead are saying,
as opposed to only seeing "oooooooo." (Update:Now VERY useful for
Necromancers. Increases the effect of necromantic magic.)

Stealing:Lets you steal items from others. You must be in Felucca to steal
anything. You must be a member of the thieves guild to steal from other
players. To join the thieves guild,seek out a thieves guild NPC guildmaster
in certain cities,such as near the Britain bank.

Stealth:Lets you move while hidden. VERY sneaky,yes? However,you must have
at least 80 hiding before you can even train for it.

Swordsmanship:Combat skill needed for swords. Used for all swords,bardiches,
halberds,and the like.

Tactics:Needed by any fighter. Increases the chance of you hitting your
opponent.

Tailoring:Lets you create clothing out of cloth. Also lets you create
leather and bone armors,with higher skills. You can dye your clothes to
any color using a dye tub. There are different,rarer types of dye tubs,and
also rare undyeable cloths. Refer to the tailoring section of the moneymaking
guide for more.

Taste Identification:To me,useless. Lets you taste if food is poisoned.
If that's your thing,go for it.

Tinker:Create various tools,traps,jewelry,etc. Can make some very useful
stuff,like golems. Refer to the tinkering section in the moneymaking guide
for more.

Tracking:Lets you see where someone has gone,or where to find the nearest
of a certain type of animal.

Veterinary:Lets you heal your pets. With high enough skill in vet and
animal lore,you can cure poison or resurrect.

Wrestling:Hand-to-hand combat skill. Used mostly by mages. With high enough
skill,you can disarm an opponent,or stun them,in collaboration with other
skills,such as Arms Lore.

And there you have it,all the skills.Choose which ones you want,how much
you want to shoot for,and configure your character as you like.