Character guide

This is a guide, tutorial, or gameplay strategy written by one or more players to better assist others with their gameplay enjoyment. The information presented here may be subject to the personal opinion of the contributor(s), and may additionally require periodic updates to keep current as the game environment changes.

Title: Character guide

Author: Allereli

Date Published: 2014-07-14

This guide will attempt to explain all basic options for personalizing your character, as well as explain basic item and inventory limitations and handling.

Character

This section will break down all the parts of the description of a character. When one LOOKs AT another character in game, they see something like this:

You see High Lady Allereli Lissina Faendryl the Runemaster.
She appears to be a Dark Elf.
She is taller than average and appears to be in the prime of life.  She has mismatched viridian and icy green eyes and flawless dark bronze skin.  She has long, straight dark hair falling to mid-back in varying shades of black.  She has thin-tipped pointed ears.  She has a grizzled amber-eyed owl perched on her shoulder.
You can hardly recognize her covered in all that soot and ash!
She has a crimson and ebon sigil tattoo traced into the back of her right hand, and a black rose tattoo on her finger.

The first two lines contain the name, title and race of the character. The remainder is the character's features.

Some of the examples include items that appear in the character's feature area. These are special merchant sold items not regularly available, but not overwhelmingly rare.

You can allow others to always see your features up through the wings section by setting PROFILE TOGGLE FEATURES on and off.

Name/Title

You see TitlePrename Firstname Lastname (Culture) the TitlePostname He/She appears to be a Culture Race

Only the pure elven houses and Faendryl (dark elf) can appear in the name line. This can be toggled using the SET/FLAG SHOWCLTRSURNAME verb.

Example:

You see High Lady Allereli Lissina Faendryl the Runemaster.
She appears to be a Dark Elf.

The title system page gives an excellent overview on the various titles and includes an extensive list. I will not duplicate that effort here.

Use the TITLE verb in game to see the titles available to your character, set your titles, clear your titles, and see how your full name is currently displayed. Free-to-Play characters must use a SimuCoin Title Change Pass to set or change their titles.

Features

Height, Body Build and Age

The first sentence of a character description contains the height and optional body build descriptors. The age descriptor is in the second sentence.

Height is set in the character generator. Height can also be changed at the feature pavilions in every major town, also called the New Look Pavilion, and by merchants doing feature alterations.

Setting the body build field is currently only available at special events, such as Rumor Woods, or via very rare raffle wins.

Age is set in game using the AGE verb. Age can be reset using an Age Reset Potion sold in the Simucoin Store.

Example of standard, non-altered height and age:

She is average height.  She appears to be very young.

Example of height/body build with a feature alter:

He is thick limbed and towering in height.

Example of standard height with optional body build.

She is average height and has a delicately boned, waifish body.  She appears to be extremely young.

Eyes and Complexion

The third sentence of a character description contains the eyes and skin descriptors.

Example of standard, non-altered eyes/skin:

He has ale-brown eyes and alabaster skin.

Example of eyes/skin with a feature alter:

She has mismatched viridian and icy green eyes and flawless dark bronze skin.

The term feature alter in this sense is used loosely as both the eyes and skin were changed with eye and skin changing potions from Ebon Gate. Besides these potions, eyes and skin can be changed at the Feature Pavilion. Premium members can also access Shear Delight on Mist Harbor. Eye accents and colors are through the doorway in the hallway while skin complexion and colors are through the curtain. Some festivals and pay events will also have a themed feature shop.

Hair

The next sentence of a character description contains the hair descriptor. Hair can either not exist (bald headed) or have a color, style (the cut/length), texture (such as wavy) , and quirk (not all are required).

Example of standard, non-altered hair:

He has long, unruly black hair.

Example of standard, non-altered hair with a hairdo:

She has shoulder length, brunette hair worn in a bun.

Example of hair with a feature alter:

She has very long, loose golden hair with lighter streaks.

Example of the same hair with a hair altering item:

She has very long, loose golden hair drawn back from her face and bound in place by a refined veniom circlet set with a raindrop of vivid blue sapphire.

All aspects of hair can be changed at feature pavilions and Shear Delight on Mist Harbor through the arch. Merchants will also style hair and additional options may be available at feature shops at festivals.

Hair descriptions can also be replaced by a wig, which may mask the color, length, texture, and style.

Example of hair with a wig:

She has lustrous, wavy charcoal black hair woven into an intricate herringbone plait.

Face, Nose and Distinguishing Mark

The fifth sentence of a character description can consist of a facial characteristic (e.g. angular, dainty, oval, round), a nose and a distinguishing mark (anything from mouth/teeth characteristics to facial hair to ears). Posture and body shape can also be included as a distinguishing mark ("stooped shoulders" is a standard option, "ample hips" is available in Shear Delight). Scars may be a part of the distinguishing mark of a feature alteration. One does not have to have to have a descriptor for every single part.

Example of standard, non-altered half-krolvin face:

She has a fleshy face, a hooked nose and a sloping forehead.

Example of standard, non-altered elven face with no nose descriptor:

She has an angular face and small pointed ears.

Example the same face with an item that covers the face:

She has an ivory silk mask of delicately layered feathers partially covering her face and small pointed ears.

All aspects of the face can be changed at feature pavilions and Shear Delight on Mist Harbor through the curtain (west of complexions). Merchants will also change any of these features and additional options may be available at feature shops at festivals.

Unique Feature Field

The final sentence of a character description is reserved for a unique feature, or can be a field for items or makeup. In some cases, an item or makeup may override and replace a unique feature in that field, and other cases it may be appended to the end of the unique feature, depending on the length of the unique feature and the feature-altering item in question.

Feature example:

She has a faint key-shaped birthmark below her left eye.

Item example:

She has a grizzled amber-eyed owl perched on her shoulder.

Makeup example:

She has alternating ebon and plum lacquer brushed onto her long oval fingernails.

Wings

Only characters of the Aelotoi race have wings. These can be also altered like any other feature. Wings have an additional feature slot for wing quirks. Unlike most features, wings cannot be changed at the New Look Pavilion, however some festival events, such as Rumor Woods, can provide options for changing wings.

Example:

She has a pair of translucent silver-veined frosty blue wings.

Face Paint

Face Paint is a separate sentence found below the standard feature paragraph.

Example:

She has a pair of thin black cat whiskers painted on both cheeks.

Teras Ash

Main article: Teras ash

Characters spending any amount of time on Teras Isle will likely be covered in soot and ash.

You can hardly recognize her covered in all that soot and ash!

Ash can be cleared using RUB (character).

Tattoos and Piercings

Tattoos

Characters are inked by tattoo merchants or at the stock tattoo shop.

     Tattoos can only be done in the following areas:

     Head - Covered by helms/hats.
     Neck - Will always be visible.
     Back - Covered by armor/shirts, cloaks, backpacks, gambesons.
     Shoulder - Covered by armor/shirts and cloaks.
     Chest - Covered by armor/shirts, aprons, gambesons
     Arm - Covered by arm greaves.
     Wrist - Will always be visible.
     Finger - Covered by gloves.
     Waist - Covered by belts.
     Thigh - Covered by pants/skirts.
     Leg - Covered by leg greaves.
     Foot - Covered by boots and socks.
     Ear - Will always be visible.
     Ankle - Covered by socks.
     Other - Other areas may be possible in
             certain instances, but they must
             always be visible.  Hence, they will
             NOT be placed in other, less obvious
             areas.
             EX: Face - good
                 Sole of foot - no good

Tattoo merchants appear regularly on Mist Harbor for Premium subscribers. They may also appear at festivals. These merchants will ink characters with custom tattoos that may have a show description.

Example of character with custom tattoos and piercing:

She has a grazing llama tattoo on her ankle, a delicate ring of fairy primroses on her wrist, and a tiny realistic dagger with a sharp blue peridot blade in her left nostril.

Example of custom show description:

Thick ebon pigments create the lashes of the bulging-eyed llama that is tattooed upon the alabaster skin of her ankle, while russet and bronze hues swirl together to create the patchwork coat of the shaggy beast.  Wide blades of verdant grasses stick out of the corner of the beast's big lips, while its tail is frozen in mid-swish with a fly just out of its reach.  An indigo and alternating violet patterned blanket drapes from its back.

Another rare service is a wandering tattoo. These tattoos will appear along with any other tattoo but also have idle messaging.

Example of character with a wandering tattoo:

He has an Elanthian-swamp detritus waterline tattoo on his ankle, a peaks of Elanthia tattoo on his neck, an ash-cloaked drifter tattoo on his leg, a silver-edged black sword tattoo on his finger, and the edges of an Elanthian map tattoo spreading down both of his arms.

Example of idle messaging:

XXXX's drifter tattoo glances around in ennui as it shuffles around in place.

Piercings

Characters are pierced by other characters with exceptional skill in First Aid and a piercing needle. Piercing jewelry and needles can be obtained at festivals, although not all festivals will have them. Some jewelry can only be worn in specific locations, while other jewelry can be FLIPped to change the location of where it will be worn. The jewelry and piercing locations must match for the piercing to work. The piercing may also become infected for a certain amount of time after, but any alcoholic drink or tincture of acantha may be poured on the piercing to stave off infection. I have no knowledge of any merchant that has done the actual piercing, and piercing jewelry is extremely limited in terms of being altered.

Inventory & Item Management

Characters for paying subscribers are limited to 500 items on their bodies/in their containers at any time. While there are ways to overcome the limit, it is highly recommended not to maintain being over 500 items as a character may become corrupted. INVENTORY QUANTITY can be used to see how many items your character is carrying.

Use INVENTORY HELP to see additional options for information about your inventory. Some of those options are covered below.

Functional vs. Non-Functional Items

Wearable items are divided into two types: functional and non-functional.

Functional items will INSPECT as serving some purpose. Non-functional items will not have that part of the messaging.

Example of INSPECT of a functional item:

You carefully inspect your pink dreamstone necklace.

You determine that you could wear the necklace around your neck.  The necklace appears to serve some purpose.

Example of INSPECT of a non-functional item:

>You carefully inspect your samara amulet.

You determine that you could wear the amulet around your neck.

It looks like this item has been mainly crafted out of organic material.

Functional items will take up a character's limited inventory slots while non-functional items do not.

Limited Inventory Slots

The following table shows the number of limited item slots a character has and the locations. Information in parentheses is to clarify the type of item worn there or give a common term used by many players to describe an item in that location. Everything a character is currently wearing can be seen sorted by location using INVENTORY LOCATION.

Code	Location	Messaging	# Functional	# Total	Premium Functional	Premium Total
0	-	Cannot be worn at all	-	-	-	-
1	General	put on (pin-worn)	8	20	8	20
2	Back	put on (as a backpack)	1	2	1	2
3	Waist	put around (as a belt)	1	3	1	3
4	Head	put on (as a helm)	1	2	1	2
5	Shoulder	slung over (as a shield)	2	2	2	2
6	Shoulders	draped from (as a cloak)	1	2	1	2
7	Legs	pulled over (as pants)	1	1	1	1
8	Torso	worked into (as armor)	1	3	1	3
9	Wrist	attached to (as a bracelet)	2	4	3	6
10	Finger	slid onto (as a ring)	2	6	3	8
11	Feet	put on (as boots)	1	1	1	1
12	Neck	hung around (as necklace)	3	6	4	8
13	Belt	attached to (as belt pouch)	3	5	3	5
14	Arms	attached to (as arm greaves)	1	2	1	2
15	Legs	attached to (as leg greaves)	1	2	1	2
16	Earlobe	hung from (as a single earring)	1	3	2	5
17	Earlobes	hung from (as a pair of earrings)	1	3	2	5
18	Ankle	attached to (as an anklet)	1	3	1	3
19	Front	put over (as an apron)	1	2	1	2
20	Hands	slipped over (as gloves)	1	2	1	2
21	Feet	slip on (as socks)	1	3	1	3
22	Hair	put in (as barrette)	1	2	1	2
23	Undershirt	slips into (as gambeson)	1	1	1	1
24	Leggings	slips into, on your legs (as leggings)	1	1	1	1
		Total	38	81	43	91

Item Sorting

As your character wears various items, each item will be put at the top of the inventory list and seen first as people LOOK AT him/her. In the real world, people usually look at each other from head to toe. In GemStone IV we can help emulate this practice by sorting our items from top to bottom using SORT AUTO HEAD.

Example:

You are wearing a green and red samara amulet, a rune-etched black Faendryl robe, a vestment, a cuffed-sleeve black wool jacket with vibrant red stitching, a fitted deep red charmeuse bodice with sheer golden sleeves, an ornate black spidersilk satchel slung over your shoulder, a stylish black marbrinus carryall fastened with an ember-hued firestone, a double-breasted waistcoat lined in cloth-of-veniom over a set of sleek black armor accented with sharp eahnor thorn buckles, some sleek scarlet despanal-buttoned black leather gloves, a Twilight Hall signet ring, an onyx-capped black leather scroll case, and a pair of grey wool socks patterned with tiny barn owls under a pair of polished platinum-toed scarlet calfskin knee-boots.

Click INVENTORY HELP for more options.

>get grea in wai
You remove some thick mithril arm greaves from in your double-breasted waistcoat.

>wear my grea
You attach some thick mithril arm greaves to your arms.

>i
You are wearing some thick mithril arm greaves, a green and red samara amulet, a rune-etched black Faendryl robe, a vestment, a cuffed-sleeve black wool jacket with vibrant red stitching, a fitted deep red charmeuse bodice with sheer golden sleeves, an ornate black spidersilk satchel slung over your shoulder, a stylish black marbrinus carryall fastened with an ember-hued firestone, a double-breasted waistcoat lined in cloth-of-veniom over a set of sleek black armor accented with sharp eahnor thorn buckles, some sleek scarlet despanal-buttoned black leather gloves, a Twilight Hall signet ring, an onyx-capped black leather scroll case, and a pair of grey wool socks patterned with tiny barn owls under a pair of polished platinum-toed scarlet calfskin knee-boots.

Click INVENTORY HELP for more options.

>sort auto head
Your inventory is now arranged in head-to-toe order.

>i
You are wearing a green and red samara amulet, a rune-etched black Faendryl robe, a fitted deep red charmeuse bodice with sheer golden sleeves, a cuffed-sleeve black wool jacket with vibrant red stitching, a vestment, an ornate black spidersilk satchel slung over your shoulder, a stylish black marbrinus carryall fastened with an ember-hued firestone, a double-breasted waistcoat lined in cloth-of-veniom over a set of sleek black armor accented with sharp eahnor thorn buckles, some thick mithril arm greaves, some sleek scarlet despanal-buttoned black leather gloves, a Twilight Hall signet ring, an onyx-capped black leather scroll case, and a pair of grey wool socks patterned with tiny barn owls under a pair of polished platinum-toed scarlet calfskin knee-boots.

Click INVENTORY HELP for more options.

Sorting via SORT CLUSTER will also move specified items in a container to the top of that container for easy access. This function is specific to the noun of the items (e.g. "leaf" is the noun of both acantha leaf and ambrominas leaf). This function will only work in the first open container that the noun of the item is found. If the noun of the item is also found in another open container listed further down one's inventory, it will not search in that container. The first container needs to be closed before SORT CLUSTER will find the noun in the second container.

>sort cluster starstone
2 items matching "a white starstone" were moved.
1 item matching "a blue starstone" was moved.
In total, 3 items in an ornate black spidersilk satchel with a noun of "starstone" were moved to the top of the container.

>sort cluster white starstone
2 items matching "a white starstone" were moved.
1 item matching "a blue starstone" was moved.
In total, 3 items in an ornate black spidersilk satchel with a noun of "starstone" were moved to the top of the container.

As you can see, specifying "starstone" or "white starstone" made no difference. All of the starstones, both white and blue, were moved to the top of the container.

Item Handling

There are several verbs to help a character quickly get or put away items.

• STOW (verb)
• STORE (verb)
• READY (verb)
• SHEATHE (verb)
• UNSHEATHE (verb)
• GIRD (verb)

Using these verbs is faster and safer than using GET and PUT/PLACE, as both GET and PUT/PLACE look for items on the ground before looking for items on your character. If a character has a wand in his/her container, and there is another wand, say, on the town bench, GET WAND will look for the wand on the town bench first. Players must use GET MY WAND, or GET WAND IN/FROM MY {CONTAINER} when needing to be more precise.

Many items have been lost using PUT {ITEM} IN {CONTAINER} when there is a similar container on a town bench.

At a bare minimum, players should set a STOW container, also referred to as a default container. STORE is a more elaborate setup of stowing in specifying different items types and which containers they go in.

Alternatives

Players using The Lich can also use the Alias function to shorten the effort it takes to put an item away (and do just about everything else).

Example 1:

;alias set bb=put my \? in my waistcoat

This will put any item specified after bb in the command line in my waistcoat

Example 2:

;alias set --global satch=put right in my \? satchel

This will put anything in my right hand in my satchel. If I am wearing three satchels I can SATCH THIRD to put whatever item is in my right hand in my third satchel. The global will set it for every character I access the game with from that computer. Of course this limits one to items held in the right hand, so a corresponding one should be set up for the left:

;alias set global satc=put left in my \? satchel

Another alternative is to make a basic script to get items and another to put items away.

Script name: w

Comment: Satchel put

put open my satchel

put put my %1 in my satchel

put close my satchel

Script name: ww

Comment: Satchel get

put open my satchel

put get %1 in my satchel

put close my satchel

Rummage

Similar to SORT CLUSTER mentioned above, RUMMAGE will find items in specific containers (vs. opening all of your containers and finding a noun in the first available open container).

RUMMAGE is a mechanical verb. It will search through a container for a specified item. If the user has an empty hand, the item will then be removed from that container and placed into held inventory. The user does not have to be wearing the container. Further, any container that can hold an item works with this verb. This includes town benches or other furniture. Use INSPECT to check furniture for holding capacity.

Usage

Usage:

    RUMMAGE [IN|ON|UNDER|BEHIND] {target} [{options}]

Where {options} may be one of:

    INGREDIENT {description}     - Find an alchemy ingredient matching {description}.
    RUNESTONE  {rune}            - Find a runestone with some rune on it.
    SPELL      {spell}           - Find a scroll with some spell on it; identified by spell number, mnemonic, or full name.
    HOLY       {tier}            - Find a Holy Receptacle (325) blessed gem identified by the common tier name or number.
    FOR        {description}     - Find an item matching the specified description.

Ones does not need to specify in|on|under|behind unless that container has multiple "pockets" (e.g. a table having room both on and under it) with objects in both pockets. Ones also does not need to specify the noun to find an ingredient/gem (see RUMMAGE for a description messaging). For gems and jars filled with gems/ingredients, use RUMMAGE INGREDIENT as noted above.

Messaging

RUMMAGE through a container

First person

>rumm in my carry
You rummage through a stylish black marbrinus carryall fastened with an ember-hued firestone and see (lots of stuff)

Third person

XXX rummages through a stylish black marbrinus carryall fastened with an ember-hued firestone but it's clear she hasn't a clue if what she is looking for is there.

RUMMAGE for a spell on a scroll

>rumm my case spell 509
You rummage through an onyx-capped black leather scroll case and remove a thin crimson leather folio stamped with a silver fist with Strength scrawled upon it.

RUMMAGE for a gem jar

>rumm my pack ingredient unc emer

You rummage around the violet organza pack and remove an invar-rimmed violet glass jar containing uncut emeralds.

RUMMAGE for a description

>rummage robe for ora
You rummage through the grey elesine robe and remove a fine-linked ora chainmail pouch.
>rummage robe for fine-linked
You rummage through the grey elesine robe and remove a fine-linked ora chainmail pouch.

RUMMAGE for an ayana ingredient on furniture

>rumm altar ingredient ayana
You rummage around the basalt altar and remove an ayana berry.

RUMMAGE for a chrism

>rummage in cloak holy deity
You can only rummage for Silver to Gold, Brimstone, Nexus, Chrism and Intercession gems.
>rummage in back holy 4
You rummage through a gold-tinged jet spidersilk backpack, but can't seem to locate a blessed gem of that tier.
>rummage cloak for holy 4
You rummage through the burnt velvet cloak and remove a hammer-cut black pearl.
>rummage in cloak holy chrism
You rummage through the burnt velvet cloak and remove a hammer-cut black pearl.

Third person

XXXXX rummages through an ebon burnt velvet cloak patterned with sheer runic shapes and removes a hammer-cut black pearl.

Register and Mark

Two important functions to prevent item loss are MARK and REGISTER.

MARKing an item will make it unsellable to the pawnshops and gem shops. This could be important when unloading after a hunt. For example, say you have 10 wands to sell and 13 wands on your character. The three you do not want to sell are special in some way. Of course the best way to go about things would be to keep the 10 wands you want to sell in a separate container and use GET MY WAND FROM MY {CONTAINER}, SELL MY WAND in order to sell them. Of course this does not always happen and people commonly use GET MY WAND, SELL MY WAND or even just GET WAND, SELL WAND to sell. MARK REMOVE will make an item sellable again.

REGISTERing an item will make a record of them item and its properties in a database only GameMasters can access, except for by two methods. For the most part, when you get any merchant service done, the merchant will register the item to your character before giving it back to you. Whenever you have any item changed in any way by another player (weapons/armor enchanted or ensorcelled, container locked), you should re-REGISTER it so that the record will know the current properties if the item is lost.

One method where players can tell who an item is registered to is when an item is lost through disarming mechanics. In this case a bard loresong will say who the item belongs to, but only if the item was registered to begin with. The other method is to bring the item into a booth in a registrar's office and REGISTER INFO {ITEM}.

INSPECT will tell you how long ago you registered an item if you are unsure of whether the registration of the item properties is up-to-date.

>insp my phi
You carefully inspect your blown glass phial.

You determine that you could wear the phial around your neck.  The phial appears to serve some purpose.

You remember that you registered this item between six and seven years ago.

As item loss is something that happens to everyone at some point in their GemStone life, it is customary for players, even those playing somewhat shady characters, to seek out the owners of items they find that obviously belong to someone else. In the case of a shady character looking for the owner of an item, it is not unheard of to ask for a small ransom to return the item in order to have an in character (IC) reason for going through the trouble of performing such a kind act.

See Also

• Demystifying Unusual Loot