NewPlayerGuide

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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

  • 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 alignment, and Class, except Paladins, Wizards, or Shadowdancers, they are also home to the powerful Red Dragon Disciple The dragons have decreed that in support of their alliance with the dwarves, they will no longer accept slaves of the Dwarves or Gnomes races. Clerics in Sleeth may not take the Earth Domain, Plant Domain, Trickery Domain, or Water Domain.
  • Last Alliance - Long has the battle in Aetheria run. Long have the peoples of Neversummer held fast against the invaders of the rift. Long has the war taken its toll upon the original citizens of the Alliance. No longer....no longer will the people of Aetheria abide by these tragedies. No longer will the citizens of Neversummer allow raiders from the rift into their city. No longer will the peoples be complacent or oblivious as to what their leaders are doing. The stage has been set. Neversummer has refused to participate any further in the recruiting of tainted people from beyond. The city is teeming with activity, a new leader has been found. A new hope to bring the last of the original inhabitants back into power. A new power is being tapped to make Neversummer greater than the other factions that fight over scraps of land. This war is now about one thing and one thing only. The removal of all outsiders from their land, an end to the wars. A strong and powerful Neversummer shall now rule the lands. Located on the south coast of Aetheria, this is where the native people in this realm reside. The Last Alliance no longer accepts outsiders.

One other city of note in Aetheria 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.

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. All shops are open at all hours. Equipment has level restrictions of 1, 5, 9, 13, 16, 20, 25, and 30, but looted equipment can have level restrictions of 35 or 40, too. 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 and Ranger Companions 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. Review the Spell Changes list and the NS4 Change Log on the Forums (www.nsrealm.com), for current changes.

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.

Shifting

Neversummer 4 uses a custom shifting system that merges items into shifted forms in a more natural way. Unlike the bioware system, all bonuses from items and spells stack just the same as they would unshifted. For more information, see the NS4 Shifting Guide.

Lag

As with almost any online game, lag is an inevitable issue, especially when alot of players are online on Wednesdays and they're nearby. 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 non-automatic 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 (which is extremely rare), causing a possible loss of xp, items, etc. Using your diary 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.

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