Legends ROI Status Report From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1993 05:51:21 +0000 Strategic Reserve #5 contains a *lot* of information about status trees -- too much to reproduce at this time -- but here's a quick analysis. (I'm simplifying life by not discussing the marginal statuses (Dragon Friend, Order of the Star, Drakken Mercenary), but for practical purposes they're equivalent to Enchanted Status.) This analysis applies only to Realm. Each module has significantly different statuses. Gods and Demigods are exceptions to many generalizations, but the following analysis holds true for most statuses. VAMPIRE: There is no religious restriction on becoming a vampire, but only evil characters can morph up the tree. If you wish to ascend this status tree and you don't worship Nagashun or Vol, get converted. Once you're on this tree you're here for good: Vampires can't be afflicted by other status trees. Progress is actually fairly quick: 10%/battle of morphing to Greater Vampire, 5%/battle to Vampire Lord, and 5%/production to Spirit of the Dead. Then you have a 2%/production chance of morphing to Lord of the Dead. (It's true for almost all status trees that waiting for the last rung or two is like waiting for lightning to strike. A character at that level should probably look into communions.) LYCANTHROPE: The third rung of the Blessed-of-Kolvathe status tree is the first rung of the Lycanthrope status tree. Like vampire, once you're on this tree you can never get off. The first two rungs progress at 5%/battle, and the next two are long long (3% and 2% per production) waits. A nice status tree if you can get it. BLESSED: Characters near the top of the Netherworld trees -- Daemon Lord or equivalent -- can afflict characters on this tree. Aside from that, once you're on a religious tree, you can't get off. You have to be of the appropriate alignment (good/neutral/evil religion) to morph. Progress is no faster on the blessed trees than on others, and the bonuses are generally poorer. For some religions, however, this tree is a short- cut to the top of other status trees. Vol: Progress is initially quick (5%/battle *and* 10%/prodn to Favored, then 3%/battle to Spirit of Vol. There's only a 2%/prodn chance of morphing to Spirit of Battle, then a 2%/prodn plus 1%/battle chance of morphing to Essence of Battle. Valandara: The third rung of this tree is Paladin, which is third from the *top* of the good-hero tree. (INV/DMG 15/15!) An excellent ladder. Golinon: A short tree. 5%/battle plus 5% per production on the first two morphs. Then there's only one more morph (2%/prodn) to get to Demigod. (The Demigod has INV/DMG of 8/8, so it's not one of the *better* Demigods, but it *is* one of the more accessible ones.) Masinome: A very short tree -- Blessed, Favored, and then a 3%/battle chance of Arcane Lord. On the other hand, Arcane Lord is nothing special. Tahman: Another nice ladder. The third rung of this tree is Mystic, which is the second-from-the-top of the neutral netherworld tree. (INV/DMG 10/15 and able to train hero soldiers.) Kolvathe: The third rung of this ladder is the first rung of the lycanthrope tree. NETHERWORLD: This is the most wide-spread of the statuses, and the most problematic. Like the Enchanted tree and the Hero tree, the lower rungs are easy to get off of: Netherworld, Nethermorph, and Netherchild are fairly easy to afflict to other status trees, such as Vampire. After Netherchild, you're stuck. This is a particularly nice tree for neutral characters -- worshippers of Tahman or Masinome. They have a 10%/battle plus 10%/prodn chance of morphing to Discordian. Then they have a 5%/battle plus 5%/prodn chance of morphing to Mystic which, as I remarked above, is a very nice status indeed. And *then* they still have a 2%/battle plus 2%/prodn chance of reaching the top of the ladder (INV15, DMG20, able to train greater netherworld soldiers)! This may be the tree of choice for neutral characters -- but after you morph from Netherchild, it's too late to convert. For evil characters, this tree is a real pain. I thought that once you reached Greater Daemon you could train greater-netherworld soldiers, but no, it's Demon Lord, the next rung. And it's a long ladder, albeit a fast one: 10%/battle to go from Netherchild to Greater Possession, 10%/battle plus 10% per production to go to Lesser Daemon, and the same again to go to Greater Daemon. (The bonuses on these don't look very good either: Greater Daemon has INV/DMG of 5/5, for instance.) Then 5%/battle and 5%/prodn to go to Daemon Lord finally. (And, last but not least, 2%/prodn waiting for the final promotion to Chaos Godling.) Assuming that you get into two combats per phase, it should take about a year or two to get to Daemon Lord. There's no real difference between the evil netherworld tree and the good netherworld tree except for the names, and for the fact that a Daemon Lord can afflict characters at the bottom of the Vampire tree. My take on this tree is that most characters on this tree who haven't passed Netherchild should probably be switched to the Vampire tree when the opportunity arises. Note that once you *do* hit Daemon Lord, you're in very good shape indeed. Daemon Lords can afflict greater netherworld soldiers, and can afflict characters from any tree except Lycanthrope. (I'm not sure what status they can afflict, but I suspect it's Greater Possession.) ENCHANTED: This tree is almost identical to the netherworld tree in terms of morphing and affliction, except that there are not special benefits to being on the neutral branch of the tree: The morph chances are the same as for netherworld, with the ability to afflict enchanted soldiers appearing on the second-last rung. This is an easy tree to get off of: Vampires and Lycanthropes, can afflict you almost to the top of the tree. This is a better tree than Netherworld for influencers (you get pluses instead of minuses), but a poor one for combat types. HERO: This is the poor man's status tree. Eventually (especially if you have a good power weapon), you will spontaneously morph to Local Hero, then Regional Hero, then Hero. It's a good way to go if you're neutral, because the step after neutral Hero is Mystic, which is near the top of the neutral Netherworld tree. It's an easy tree to get off of for the first three rungs: Almost anyone can over-ride these statuses. After Hero, however, it's almost impossible to leave this tree. It's not a bad tree for good/evil combat-oriented characters to climb: 5%/battle chance of making Good/Evil Hero, which already has INV/DMG of 8/8. Then the same for the next two statuses, by which time you're a Paladin/AntiPaladin with INV/DMG of 15/15. Then a 5%/battle chance of making Paladin/AntiPaladin Lord, with INV/DMG of 20/20 and the ability to afflict hero soliders. After which you get to wait forever to become a demigod. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com The surface of the strange, forbidden planet was roughly textured and green, much like cottage cheese gets way after the date on the lid says it is all right to buy it.--Scott Jones Referenced By Up