10 Things Every Player Should Know
1. Heed's PC Tools are your friend:
One of the first things you will want to familiarize yourself with are the PC Tools. To access them, right click on your character. A number of options will pop up, including 'PC tools'. Select that by clicking on it to open. In there, you will get all sorts of good information like: How much xp have I earned this week, how many craft hours have I used, when can I rest again, when will my weekly cap reset, etc. Pop open the various boxes and familiarize yourself with them. This is also how your character can 'emote': sit down, kneel, dance, etc. In addition, you can remove 'various' props from your pc: swords, tankards, spoons, etc.
2. Resting:
There are two types of rests: Full and Moderate.
Moderate Rests: are the ones you use most frequently. These are the ones that allow you to regain spells, regain any 'per day' use abilities, and restore 10% of your total hit points. You are able to complete a moderate rest in most areas when there are no enemies near by. You may rest once every 3 hours level 1-3, and every 6 thereafter.
It does not reset your bleed DC (more about this below), complete healing/antitoxin kits/ herbal kits, etc. For that, you need a 'full rest'.
Full Rest: To have your character benefit from a full rest, you must rest in a safe area. Examples of safe places include: The rooms at any of the Inns, the Copper Mug in Silverbridge Square for one, or certain areas within Adventuring Companies HQ's. It is rumored that there are places in the wild that have ben made safe as well.
For more info: http://knownlands.com/node/547
3. Bleeding and Dying:
TKL has a semi-permadeath system. Your PC may 'die' a number of times equal to your starting con score.
Bleeding:When your PC drops below zero hit points, they are 'bleeding'. They will continue to take 1 hp of damage until they hit -10, at which point you win a free trip to the death room, or make a save. This save is called the 'bleed DC': The Base Bleed DC is 16. Every time a PC gets knocked to bleeding, this number goes up by 2-- for player's convenience, this is converted to a percentage on the Bleed DC button .
Only a full rest will reset it.
Dying: When your PC hits -10 hps, they are 'dead' and will be sent to the death room. The character will loose 1 life and 1 con point. Your character can be returned to life two ways: DM intervention, or player intervention. PC's can be brought back via resurrection or raise undead. The main difference is that resurrection has a chance of restoring the PC's lost con point.
Read here for more info: http://knownlands.com/node/539
Please note: Before level four, your character cannot 'die'. They will bleed out and then 'fall unconscious' for a period of time. Once your character is level four they are subject to our semi-perma death rules.
4.Experience and leveling:The majority of PC's belong to a DM run group, or adventuring company. A PC is restricted to belonging to one party at a time. In addition, your PC can participate in a Free For All, or FFA. Each PC can earn up to 1,000 xp each week outside of DM run sessions. This is referred to as 'your cap'. Starting players will find a number of quests that take place inside Silverbridge, running errands for the shop keepers, collecting items for the various shopkeepers and priests, or even handing out invitations. Their efforts will be rewarded in gold and XP's. Although not glorious, many a brave adventurer started humbly. Take the time to talk to all the nPC's you meet in town, or ask the PC's you encounter for some tips for the new guy/gal/creature in town.
Read More Info Here:http://knownlands.com/node/551
5.Ask! We are here to help you.
DM's and other players alike, every one of us was 'the newbie' at some point. TKL is fortunate to have a friendly and helpful player base. We actually enjoy escorting people around and passing along our hard earned wisdom. It is preferred to do this in character (IC), however, sometime ooc is necessary. “How do I toggle my PC tools?” is just not IC roleplay material.
TKL is more fun with friends. Talk to the PC's you meet.
6.Custom Systems:
TKL has several custom systems: Encumbrance, Crafting, and the TKL Performer. Encumbrance is relevant to everyone and can be read here: Crafting works different than in NWN2. If you are planning a crafting PC, you may wish to familiarize yourself with the system. The Performer is just awesomeness that lets you program music for your PC if they have ranks in perform.
More about crafting: http://knownlands.com/node/550
More about encumbrance: http://knownlands.com/node/542
More about TKL Performer: http://knownlands.com/node/998
7.This is not Forgotten Realms.
There are several differences between TKL and the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. The most notable of these are Drow, dragons, dracolisks, planar cosmology, and the Underdark. These are not the only differences, just a few examples.
Dracolisks:http://knownlands.com/node/846
Dragons:http://knownlands.com/node/840
Drow: http://knownlands.com/node/838
Planar Cosmology:http://knownlands.com/node/828
The Underdark:http://knownlands.com/node/780
8.The Danger of Chairs.
You may be wondering why this warrants inclusion in a top ten list, but sitting in chairs is a tricky process. When seated you will be unable to move unless you stand up. Most of the time you can do this by simply clicking somewhere you wish to walk. Other times, this is not the case. A yellow icon that looks like a walking man will appear at the top of your screen. Click on that to have your PC stand up. If you crash, or quit while seated in a chair, you may log back in stuck in a chair of doom! If that happens, you can AF (auto-follow) another PC. Then that PC needs to go through a trans which will pull you through and defeat the chair trap.
9.Talking
Your PC can speak in any language that your character is fluent in using the DMFI (the series of boxes on the top right of your screen). Select what looks like a cartoon speech bubble, and you will be prompted to select a language. Then type whatever you want your PC to say. Other PC's that are also fluent, or have high enough lore skills, will see the translated words in the event log. Non-speakers will see the 'language' only, and not be able to interpret.
Note: Druidic and Thieves Cant are not translatable by the spell tongues, or lore skill checks. Animal can only be comprehended by the Speak With Animal spell.
More info about languages: http://knownlands.com/node/546
The DMFI language tool is also how you can make henchman talk. Does you familiar, animal companion, or even that annoying bard have something to say? Right click on the nPC you wish to make talk. Then type in the DMFI language box. Anything you type, will be 'said' by the selected PC.
Tired of the same old words? You can add italics and bold to what your PC says by using the syntax <i></i> or <b></b> around whatever you want italicized or in bold. Example, <i>this bit will be in italics</i>.
10.The Local Lingo
As with any group, we have our own abbreviations. Most players abbreviate the main town of Silverbridge as 'SB' for example in OOC chatter, and many prestige classes by their initials.
There are different 'chat channels':
L(ocal) Everyone standing near your PC will hear this.
W(hisper) Only pc's very close to your PC will hear this. If you want a 'stage whisper' that everyone hears, just indicate it be *w* before what your pc says in local.
P(arty) This is to be used by parties, generally DM session only. DM's hear everything said in party chat regardless of where the PC is on the server, as do members of the same party. Players not in the party will not hear you even if they are standing right next to you. This aids in the storytelling when party members are in different areas.
D(M) This is the DM channel. Use this to report die rolls or communicate with your dm in session (if asked).
S(hout) This is a channel reserved for DM's. What is said in it is heard by everyone on the server.
In addition, anything you type is considered to be spoken ICly by your PC with the following exceptions:
To say something OOC: ((I'm tired and going to log, gang.))
Or to emote: *falls dramatically to the floor as his liver is ruptured from drinking too many beers.*
Here is a list of other common ones you will encounter:
http://knownlands.com/node/998