NewPlayerGuide
From Neversummer 4 Wiki
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World of Aetheria
Aetheria is a world at war. The world is seperated into Seven Factions, many of which have multiple restrictions on what you can build there. It is important to understand these restrictions if you wish to play a certain faction.
Factions
Last Alliance - Located on the south coast of Aetheria, this is where the native people in this realm reside. They are generally considered neutral folk, and are very accepting of recruits of all kinds in their strife against those who would rip their homeworld away from them.
Shadow Legion - Deep in the underdark, the Shadow Legion, calling Menzoduran its home, breeds a manifestation of evil. Fittingly, it is the exclusive home of the Assassin. While this faction does allow a wide variety of Races and Classes, those races that are not Drow must be evil-aligned and may not be good. Given this evil nature, the faction also does not allow Paladins. Also, Druids and Rangers are not allowed.
Mystral Ascendancy - Isolated on the southwestern coast of Aetheria is the town of Garagoth, home of the arcane and a host of Roguish types. This faction is one of the most limited in terms of Classes. While accepting any non-good Races (meaning Aasamir are not allowed in particular), the only accepted Classes are Wizards, Sorcerers, Bards, Rogues, Fighters, and Clerics (with limited Domains). Clerics in Garagoth may only take the Magic Domain, Trickery Domain, Death Domain, Evil Domain, Knowledge Domain, or War Domain. The Mystral Ascendancy is also the exclusive home to the Pale Master, one of the most powerful summoners in the region.
Ragnar's Kin - With wide carved halls and an underground Stronghold rivaling surface kingdoms, the loyal Dwarves of Aetheria call the underside of the Redhorn Mountains their home. Not wanting to shun any of their kinfolk, they are quite open about Class selection, but do not accept any of the surface races into their ranks. Gnomes, being an underground cousin to the Dwarves are accepted with open arms. This faction is the exclusive home to the Dwarven Defender.
Ancient Ones - Ruled by the powerful Dragons, this faction is located in the northeastern corner of Aetheria. Though Dragonkin and lizardfolk are most noted for their hatred of other Races, they are more than willing to accept slaves and followers to support their cause. Along with openly accepting any Race, alignment, and Class, except Paladins, they are also home to the powerful Red Dragon Disciple.
Northern Coalition - Located in the notherwestern corner of Aetheria in the city of Daeron hosts the home of those who fight for all that is good in this world. A collection of Clerics, Bards, Paladins, and Monks make up the majority of this group, while also accepting Rangers and Fighters of good heart to join their righteous battle against evil. While accepting all non-Evil Races, any who wish to join must be of good or lawful alignment and cannot be chaotic or evil in any way. This is the home of the Champion of Torm.
The Circle - In the midst of the serenity of the enchanted forest here in Aetheria lies the home of those who wish to preserve that which is around them, Melencia. While accepting all Races into their humble home, they only allow Druids, Rangers, Barbarians, Bards, Fighters, Monks and Clerics (with limited domains). Clerics in Melencia may only take Plant Domain, Animal Domain, Air Domain, Fire Domain, Earth Domain, Water Domain, Healing Domain, Protection Domain, Sun Domain, or Destruction Domain. The Alignments are restricted to Lawful Neutral, Neutral Good, True Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Good. They are home to the Shifter.
One other city of note in Atheria is the City of Trade, Avendell. It is neutral to all Factions and is a sanctuary to the war outside its gates. (NO fighting in Avendell or the immediate area around it). Avendell is closest to Neversummer City, the capitol of the Last Alliance, being not too far north of it. Inside of Avendell shops of all kinds can be found, along with The Hilltop Inn, and its own graveyard.
Alliances have been formed between many of these factions. Such alliances include that of the Shadow Legion and Mystral Ascendancy, Northern Coalition and The Circle, Ragnar's Kin and Ancient Ones. The Last Alliance has no allies, but makes up for it with its large population, lack of restrictions, large territory, rewarding Jobs, and close proximity to Avendell.
Merchants
Each faction city has a merchant that sells inexpensive items especially for starting characters. In most cities, these merchants are in the same location as where the character starts. These merchants offer items from a menu of selections.
The merchant system in NS4 is custom designed to be more like an actual store. There are store hours, 6am to 8pm [6-20] (Read the time by hovering your mouse over the compass in the bottom right of the screen). Equipment has level restrictions of 1,5,9,13,16,20,25, and 30. Merchants in Faction Cities carry level 1-9 gear while Avendell has level 13 gear as well. The rest of the gear must be found from mobs and bosses located around Aetheria, and the Planes beyond.
To use the merchant shops, you must select the equipment you want from the chests in the store, then take it to the merchant for purchasing. It is highly recomended that you try items before you buy if you are unsure if you can use them. If you are not high enough level for that item you will be told so in the combat dialog box. Along with buying items, merchants will also allow you to sell and Identify your goods for you. Please note that some stores are unable to buy some items. This includes Quest-Items and Category: Items too high up for some stores. For example, you may not sell diamonds or rubies to merchants in Faction Cities.
Summons
The summons in NS4 have been completely revamped. Spell Focus Feats and Cleric Category: Domains all affect the strength of your summons. Summon creature spells are affected by good/neutral/evil alignment in that they will summon different creatures. Prestige classes like the Pale Master and Blackguard have quite powerful custom summons, but require much dedication. For more see the Summon Guide
It also should be noted that Familiars are disabled.
Spells
Many Spells have been altered in Neversummer 4 and are in constant change. The Wiki may not be 100% to all the changes happening, and a spell guide will be created when the dust starts to settle.
Subraces
Use care when selecting Subraces in NS4. Many have powerful features that set them above the stock races, but may carry unwanted side-effects. One such side-effect is ECL or effective character level. In a nutshell, ECL races recieve less xp.
The bonuses given to subraces are hard coded bonuses, meaning they are natural and are seen by the engine for purposes such as Feat selection or Spells Level. Also, if a Subrace has a negative or bonus to Intelligence, it will affect the number of Skill Points a character receives at Level-Up.
Lag
As with almost any online game, lag is an inevitable issue, especially with the popularity of the server. During times of lag NPC conversation may be slow, or be halted altogether. If you get no response at all, ask nicely for a reset on the DM channel or shout (a DM may be on as a player). When the server does go down for a reset, the DM will usually give enough warning for you to get to a safe spot, rest, and use your book to save your character.
Under some circumstances, the server has been known to crash, causing a possible loss of xp, items, etc. Using your book and resting normally do save your character, but if the server crashes it seems to roll back to an earlier point of the database, causing the loss of up to a couple of hours' worth of data. Logging off and then back on will prevent this loss--logging off seems to set your data in the database so that it does not get lost in a crash.
