>Nikos says, "Welcome to the Mentor Society of Athens Lecture Series."

>Nikos says, "Tonights topic is, Warriors and their abilities. Many of you have questions asked of you by aspiring or developed Warriors and are wanting more information. I am hoping that you will feel more confident in your own knowledge of the way of the Warrior when we are done with the lecture."

>Nikos smiles nervously at his audience.

>Greymar rubs a battle axe.

>Nikos says, "Warriors are the masters of combat. As a Warrior gains skill and experience they become more and more deadly. This fact is not as readily apparent at lower levels of skill as it becomes at higher levels."

> Nikos says, "There is no area of combat in which a warrior does not excel. But their choice of god when they are being born can make a critical difference in the longterm power and strength of a warrior. The first part of the lecture will discuss the gods that favor, are neutral to, or disfavor warriors."

Nikos says, "This is important because a poor choice at birth can have critical effects on a warrior later in life. The second part of the lecture will discuss the skills that a warrior trains in and their known or speculated benefits. And finally I will discuss combat and basic strategies involved in it."

>Nikos fidgets nervously.

Nikos says, "There will be an opportunity to ask questions between the portions of the lecture."

>Nikos says, "The first part of the lecture is about the choices new Warriors often makes with little or no idea of what longterm effects there are."

>Nikos furrows his brow.

>Nikos says, "Namely the effects of race and god on the plans they have for their development. This is a critical area and a young Warrior should think about it and have the best advice possible for following the path they want."

>Nikos smiles.

>Nikos says, "Dispite what people may think race does matter to a warrior depending on their goals. Centaurs for instance will never be the masters of acrobatics or brawling. But by the same token they excel in weapon lore and physical development."
>Nikos says, "Giants on the otherhand are definatly not Acrobatic types nor do they do well in Arcane lore, but they are exceptionally well developed in the physical department. And finally Humans are great at everything, and have no areas that they do poorly in."

Nikos says, "What this means is that Centaurs are good weapon masters, Giants have their strength and might to back them up, and Humans are good generalists"

>Nikos says, "If I was wanting to build a weapon master I would be best off choosing a Centaur and Zeus, Posidon, Artemis, Athena, or Hephaestus. Doing this would aide me becoming a weapon master. I might even be best off selecting Centaur/Artemis as the best choice of race/god. As you can see this can get involved, so giving advice is never easy."

>Nikos says, "Still I hope with the following you can gain some aide in advising people."

Nikos recites:

"The Following is the Race options
Human: Neutral to warriors
Centaur: Good weapon masters lousy as brawling masters.
Giant: Strong, hit hard, not so good at defense but great overall warriors."

Nikos recites:

"Following is a list of Gods favorable to the way of the Warrior"

>Nikos recites:

"Zeus, Hermes, Posidon, Artemis, Hebe, Athena, Hepheastus, and Pan."

>Nikos says, " All the preceding gods are advantageous to a warrior in some way shape or form. And no warrior would go wrong with any of them. There are several places to see the list of what skills gods favor and disfavor including my warriors guide. The thing is a warrior may find he is following a god that doesn't boost his areas of interest. With all of that there are still gods that are neutral, and gods that are antagonistic to the way of the warrior."

>Nikos recites:

"The following three goddesses are neutral to a warrior, but give some advantage in added skills."

>Nikos recites:

"Persephone, Iris, and Hestia."


Nikos says, "None of these three favor the skills of the warrior, but they also don't disfavor them. So with a bit of planning you could work with them. But the last two are not so good, and any warrior with one of these should think about their goals carefully."

Nikos recites:

"The following two gods are poor choices for warriors:"

>Nikos recites:

"Apollo and Demeter"


>Nikos says, "From the list you can see that a warrior actually has a reasonably good chance of starting with a favorable god. Particularly if they know a bit of mythology. Also again remember that you can look up each of these gods in detail. This concludes the first part of the lecture and the floor is open to take questions."

>Strindt says, "Sorry, Had something at work run late."
>Nikos nods to Strindt.
>Nikos pants.
>Nikos says, "ok, the floor is open for questions."
>Nikos grins.
>Strindt points at a straw-stuffed mannequin.
>Strindt winks at Nikos.

Nikos bows to Strindt.
>Nikos says, "ah thank you."
>Nikos begins to advance on a straw-stuffed mannequin.

>Nikos advances to melee range on a straw-stuffed mannequin.
Nikos throws a quick jab at a straw-stuffed mannequin with his fist.
[To-hit:37 Roll(1d100):62]
...Nikos hits, inflicting 3 points of damage!

>Nikos says, "I was hoping I wouldnt have to mime the later sections of my lecture."

>Nikos grins at Strindt.

>Bontinor chuckles at Nikos.
> * Ninna joins the adventure.
Nikos grins at Bontinor.

>Nikos asks, "ok, no questions on the first section?"

Nikos asks, "if not I have a question. How was the timing?"

>'A bit on the fast side.You say, "A bit on the fast side."
>Aeolyta nods to you.
>Nikos nods.
>Myste says, "it was find Nikos"
>Nikos says, "ok, give me minute and I'll slow down the next section."
>Aeolyta says, "I scrolled back a bit, on the longer ones. But it sounds good."

>Myste says, "fine....I imagine questions will arise as ya go"

Nikos nods.

>Nikos says, "ok, onward then"

>Nikos says, "The second part of tonights lecture deals with the warriors skills. Warriors automatically learn Brawling, Weapons, Acrobatics, and Physical. Each area with its own subskills. I'll deal with Brawling and Weapons down in the combat section of the lecture. So this portion will deal with the little known areas of Acrobatics and Physical skills."

>Nikos grins.

>Nikos says, "The first of these skill areas is Acrobatics. It consists of the following areas: Dodging, Escaping, Tumbling, and Catching."

Nikos says, "These skills are a large portion of the defensive ability of a warrior. Another part of defense is the natural improvement that comes with age, but another aspect of it is acrobatics. Specifically Dodging seems to improve your ability to avoid getting hit."

>Nikos says, "Escaping is currently not a big skill, but anyone who was in alpha will remember that constricters once constricted for 60+ damage a turn and that escaping was the only way to break their hold. So this skill while currently not a big deal could come to be essential if the creature GM starts putting in creatures that need this skill to avoid again."

>Nikos says, "Tumbling is very definatly in, and is involved with the leap, flip and tumble dodge abilities."

Nikos says, "Catching is the skill used to catch or block specific attacks and is used in conjunction with several brawling moves. At the moment this skill seems to be automatic and related to how close the blow came to actually hitting. I suspect improvement in this skill improves the amount you can catch the blow by when the miss. For example if they miss you by one you might normall catch the blow but not if they missed by two, as your catching skill improves the amount that they miss by that you can catc"
>Nikos says, "The next skill area is Physical. It consists of Health, Stealth, Athletics, and Adrenal Moves."

>Nikos says, "Health seems to behave in its on inimitable way dependant on race profession and god."

>Nikos says, "Stealth improves your ablility to sneak around and to hide. Useful and maybe essential when someone finally learns how to Ambush."

>Nikos says, "Athletic is a catch all skill, it covers swimming, climbing, intimidation, stun and poison resistance. This one is useful and essential if you fight things that can stun regularly."

>Nikos says, "Adrenal moves is the skill that covers Adrenal Endurance, Adrenal Strength, and Adrenal speed. If you think you overlooked something, you didn't. As of this moment these skills are not active yet. What is known about them is that you will be able to use the skill for a temporary boost followed by a drop in ability for a short time. Useful when it does come, but until then this area is not currently useful."

>Nikos says, "What this all means is that different skills are essential to different goals as a warrior, if you want to fully develope your brawler you need catching for some of the advanced throws. On the otherhand perhaps stealth, or shear brute force are your thing. Then you need physical areas, and when some of the currently inactive skills become live then things might get really interesting."

Nikos says, "Finally there has been word that we have not seen everything the warrior class has to offer us. But that message left unclear if this refered to special abilities, or the skills that have not yet gone live. This concludes the section on skills, the next section will be on combat and combat strategies."

>Nikos asks, "Does anyone have questions about warrior skills?"
>Nikos pants.
>Greymar raises his hand.
>Nikos blinks.
>Nikos says, "yes Greymar."
>chucGreymar asks, "who teaches health, and where?"
>You chuckle.
>Nikos grins.
>Nikos says, "I can look his name up if you want but he is in the white house inn."
>Nikos grins.

Greymar asks, "I shouldst just go up asking every stranger I see in the white house?"
>Myste pokes Greymar in the ribs.
>Aeolyta chuckles.
>Bontinor chuckles at Greymar.
>Nikos chuckles at Greymar.
>Cindi nods to Greymar.
>Nikos says, "good question, and I didn't have my information at my finger tips."
>Nikos chuckles.
>Greymar leans on Cindi.

Nikos says, "you would ask Jacobus."
>Greymar says, "I always wast a bit shy, hate talking to strangers."

Nikos says, "that is who Greymar."
>Nikos grins.
>Greymar smiles.
>Nikos asks, "anymore questions?"

Nikos says, "Some of these skills require more skill to use and so not everyone can use them. After I list the known skills, I'll discuss in combat strategy and specialized combat tactics."

>Greymar smiles at Nikos.

>Nikos says, "The Brawling skill group consists of Punching, Kicking, Throwing, and Grappling. Each of these areas provides specialized combat moves for battle."

>Nikos says, "These skills are listed in detail in the combat section of the game manual, and in various other sources. One thing to notice is that the numbers you might find listed as adjustments for each might not stay consistant."

>Nikos says, "The brawling moves can help expand your range and choices of attacks. It should be noted that various attacks have differing advantages and disadvantages. It is also possible that how a move works may change as the skill improves."

>Nikos says, "Now that we have discussed the Brawling moves you probably wonder about the Weapon skill group. It is simple and Straight forward consisting of One-Handed Weapons, Two-Handed Weapons, Ranged Weapons, and Improvised Weapons."

>Nikos says, "These skills are much simplier in their combat moves because One-Handed Weapons, Two-Handed Weapons, and Improvised weapons all use the same set of moves."

>Nikos grins.

>Nikos says, "these moves are of differing advantage to the user. Each serves its own special need."

Nikos says, "The two known Ranged combat commands are Fire and Throw."
Nikos says, "Remember the Tumbling skill under Acrobatics? Well it comes back now. There are three known tumbling commands."

>Nikos says, "These are Leap, Flip, and Tumble. If you type them by themselves you will get a full listing of what each one does."

Nikos says, "The next section of the lecture will be regarding combination moves and strategy. I'll take a break for questions here."
>Nikos grins.

Nikos nods to Greymar.

>Strindt says, "I'm awake now, btw."

>Strindt grins.

Nikos grins at Strindt.
>Myste beams at Strindt!
>Greymar rubs Strindt gently.
>Aeolyta cackles!
>Bontinor pokes Strindt in the ribs.
>Nikos says, "shame on you falling asleep in the lecture."
>Myste rubs Nikos gently.
>Nikos grins at Strindt.
>Nikos sniffs.

>Greymar yawns.
>Strindt says, "My mind was busy in worlds of corporate business. Weird dreams."

>Nikos says, "ah well I'll take out my frustration on the mannequin during the next section."
>Nikos grins.
>Strindt nods.

>Myste snarls.
>Myste stares at a straw-stuffed mannequin.

>Nikos says, "As you probably know there are two styles of combat, Automatic combat and manual. Up until recently automatic combat was the only way to swing two weapons at once. With that being fixed so that you now use both weapons if you have two equipped it makes much more sense to use the manual system of combat. Also it is not really possible to Brawl effectivly under automatic combat."

>Nikos says, "Also using the manual combat system gives you the flexability to use combat maneuvers."
>Nikos grins.

>Nikos says, "By that I mean combinations of moves that result in a tactical advantage to you."

>Nikos says, "Combination moves are a very powerful tool, and used wisely can lead to tactical advantage. Basically using a special move will influence one or more of the following three combat factors."

>Nikos chants:

"Attack Accuracy
Attack Speed
Damage"

>Nikos says, "You will see one or more of these factors change on a succesful combination move. The thing is Accracey will never go below 2 to hit nor will it go above 100 to hit. The bottom end of speed is like wise 2 seconds"

>Nikos says, "I'll demonstrate the first of the moves now, This first one is a brawling combination move that has been known for a while. The Jab - Jab combination."

>Nikos quickly follows with a second jab to a straw-stuffed mannequin's head.
[To-hit:32 Roll(1d100):12]
...The punch misses the straw-stuffed mannequin cleanly.

>Nikos throws a quick jab at a straw-stuffed mannequin with his fist.
[To-hit:37 Roll(1d100):44]
...Nikos hits, inflicting 3 points of damage!

>Nikos quickly follows with a second jab to a straw-stuffed mannequin's head.
[To-hit:32 Roll(1d100):1]
...The punch misses the straw-stuffed mannequin cleanly.

>Nikos says, "As you can see the see the second Jab had a -5 on its to Hit from the first one. I am also assured that it had a -1 second round time, but since it only takes me 2 seconds to throw a punch you can't see that."

>Nikos grins.

>Nikos says, "You should already see that this could be the start of something useful, particularly if your seeing improvements in To Hit, damge, or round time. The next brawling combination is a continuation of the Jab - Jab combination. It is the Jab - Jab - Front kick."

>Nikos throws a quick jab at a straw-stuffed mannequin with his fist.
[To-hit:37 Roll(1d100):6]
...The punch misses the straw-stuffed mannequin cleanly.

>Nikos throws a quick jab at a straw-stuffed mannequin with his fist.
[To-hit:37 Roll(1d100):53]
...Nikos hits, inflicting 3 points of damage!

>Nikos throws a front kick at a straw-stuffed mannequin.
[To-hit:72 Roll(1d100):65]
...The straw-stuffed mannequin parries the kick with his bone-hilted scimitar.
...Nikos takes 1 damage!

>Greymar says, "OUCH."

Nikos blinks.

Strindt chuckles.

>Cindi nudges Strindt with her elbow.

>Nikos says, "hey strindt you gave it a sword."

Strindt says, "Sorry."

>Greymar says, "That tis why I quit using my hooves."

>Strindt blushes a bright red color.

>Nikos throws a front kick at a straw-stuffed mannequin.
[To-hit:72 Roll(1d100):83]
...Nikos hits, inflicting 3 points of damage!
...The straw-stuffed mannequin is stunned!

>A straw-stuffed mannequin is no longer stunned.

>Nikos says, "From this you will see the full combination gives a no change in the to hit with the front kick, as well as decreasing its round time by one second. Its my impression from watching it that this combination may also increase the damage a bit."

Nikos says, "The next combination is the Jab - Reverse Punch."

>Nikos throws a quick jab at a straw-stuffed mannequin with his fist.
[To-hit:37 Roll(1d100):85]
...Nikos hits, inflicting 4 points of damage!
>Nikos follows his jab with a reverse punch at a straw-stuffed mannequin.
[To-hit:52 Roll(1d100):99]
...Nikos hits, inflicting 10 points of damage!
...The straw-stuffed mannequin is stunned!

>Nikos launches a reverse punch at a straw-stuffed mannequin.
[To-hit:32 Roll(1d100):35]
...Nikos hits, inflicting 8 points of damage!

>A straw-stuffed mannequin is no longer stunned.

>Nikos blinks at a straw-stuffed mannequin.
>Nikos blinks.
>Nikos babbles incoherently.
>Myste giggles.
>Myste says, "yas best kill it Nikos, he dangerous"
>Nikos says, "thats not how its supposed to work."
>Nikos glares at a straw-stuffed mannequin.

Strindt gazes around at his surroundings.
chuc>Nikos throws a quick jab at a straw-stuffed mannequin with his fist.
[To-hit:37 Roll(1d100):51]
...Nikos hits, inflicting 4 points of damage!

>Nikos follows his jab with a reverse punch at a straw-stuffed mannequin.
[To-hit:52 Roll(1d100):75]
...Nikos hits, inflicting 10 points of damage!

Nikos babbles incoherently.

>Strindt asks, "It's fighting back more, eh?"

>Nikos shakes his head.

Nikos says, "no the numbers for to hit are behaving strange"

>Nikos babbles incoherently.

>Strindt says, "AH."

Nikos launches a reverse punch at a straw-stuffed mannequin.
[To-hit:57 Roll(1d100):13]
...The punch misses the straw-stuffed mannequin cleanly.


>Nikos says, "ok, now its right."

>Strindt says, "I had to put something on the poor thing."


>Nikos says, "You can see that this combination again gives a -5 to the To Hit number and a -1 second on the round time. Again it also seems to increase the likely hood of the damage being higher with the Reverse Punch. "

>Strindt says, "It wouldn't look right to have Nikos beating on something defensless."

>Strindt smiles.

Bontinor giggles at Strindt.

>Nikos says, "These are the currently known combinations, but then I haven't heard back from the fearless people testing every move and every possible mix of combinations yet. It is very likely that some truely creative ones exist. Also not every move is likely integrated yet."

>Nikos grins at Strindt.

>Nikos says, "Weapons also have combination moves, as a matter of fact it is this feature that makes me encourage people to cease and desist with the wasteful autoattacks."
Nikos chuckles to himself.

Nikos says, "The first of the two known combination moves is the Jab - Lunge combination. Watch as I demonstrate this move."

>Nikos removes a dark brass-hilted longsword from his wool bag.

>Nikos jabs at a straw-stuffed mannequin with his brass-hilted longsword.
[To-hit:32 Roll(1d100):9]
...The brass-hilted longsword misses the straw-stuffed mannequin cleanly!
>

>Taking advantage of the opening created by his jab, Nikos quickly lunges at the straw-stuffed mannequin.
[To-hit:98 Roll(1d100):47]
...The brass-hilted longsword misses the straw-stuffed mannequin cleanly!

>Strindt says, "It's not like they're going to be regular critters or anything."

>Strindt pouts.

>Nikos lunges at a straw-stuffed mannequin with his brass-hilted longsword.
[To-hit:98 Roll(1d100):78]
...The brass-hilted longsword misses the straw-stuffed mannequin cleanly!

>Nikos nods to Strindt.

>Nikos says, "As you can see the Jab - Lunge does not change the attack difficulty, butthe time decreases by one, and definatly boosts the damage done. All around a good attack if you can handle a +46 to your To Hit. "

>Greymar asks, "Ye ever try to lunge with an axe?"
>Nikos shakes his head.
>Nikos says, "no Greymar"

>Nikos swings his brass-hilted longsword at a straw-stuffed mannequin.
[To-hit:52 Roll(1d100):56]
...The brass-hilted longsword hits for 18 points of damage!

>Greymar removes a battle axe from his leather backpack.

>Nikos quickly follows with a second reverse stroke to a straw-stuffed mannequin's chest.
[To-hit:98 Roll(1d100):72]
...The brass-hilted longsword misses the straw-stuffed mannequin cleanly!

Nikos says, "Notice that the total bonus on that Reverse stroke is +46. It also seems to increase the damage a bit, and in combination with the swing attack is devastating. As you can see the combination moves are a factor that any warrior or even non warrior should include in their arsonal of attacks."

>Nikos asks, "Again I am certain that the total number of attack combinations is greater than this, but we just don't have all of them found yet. At this time if anyone has questions regarding combat or combat strategies?"

>Nikos says, "I want to thank you for attending this lecture on the ways of the Warrior. I hope you found it useful and informative."

>Nikos bows.

>Cindi raises her hand.

>Nikos says, "yes Cindi"

Bontinor whispers something quietly.

>Cindi asks, "Has a way been found to do the nifty pommel move the skeles have?"
Nikos shakes his head.

>Nikos says, "no everyone I know keeps getting the you don't have the skill yet."

>Myste nods to Nikos.

>Strindt says, "It can't die."