Newbie questions ;) Note: INP

[Changrey]

Thinking of starting out on this server, but before I decide wether to grace your humble world with my all-powerful presence, I have a few questions.

1) First off (and what alot of new players probably fear), death. I'm reading up on the rules and the risk of perma-death, allthough comparatively low, just seems like a harsh blow. I know that I ended up with a permanently dead character, regardless of game or server, they could say goodbye. How "often" does players usually end up loosing their character for ever and ever.

2) This kind of ties in with the other question: How hard/difficult is this world? I've seen PWs (battledale for example) where even starter enemies were quite capable of tearing a new character to pieces, a bad thing for a world with perma-death imho.

3) Not being a huge master on D&D or Layonara races/lore, would the following pic work out as an elf (or half-elf, still not decided) avatar (potrait) and would it, in your opinion, be possible to build a character that resembles it? I say this because I like to make my potrait and chars look (at least) vaguely alike.
[img=http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/FireWarrior/Kaylie_posmall.jpg]

4) Sub-races. Is it mandatory to select one and what does it provide/remove of options for you? Mainly during char creation.

5) How strict are the GMs on enforcing all-roleplay all-the-time? Reason being that sometimes I do like to have a RL chat with someone I've met and if I'm playing with RL friends
it might be hard to stay IC constantly (Don't ask, if you knew my friends, you wouldn't).

6) Deity - Very nice collection of choices for new characters, but what are the consequences for not choosing a deity at all?

I can probably come up with lots more questions, but I think these will do for...

[Ar7]

1) Perma death is very very rare, in the history of the server only one character has gathered 10 tokens. Of course one still has to be careful and that is why this permanent death is implemented. Leanther wanted people to fear death and people do, but they do not panic about it.

2) This world is built around parties. This means that if you want to see the interesting and difficult places you will have to gather a party. Of course one can play solo, but it may get quite hard in some cases. Common sense will be your guide, just like in real life, you have to know the places you can handle.

3) I do not think there will be any problems with the portait you showed. As for the head, some time ago a large number ( over a hundred? ) of custom heads were implemented, so I am sure you will find a match.

4) You do not have to select a subrace, but if you do, you will find their pluses and minuses here http://www.layonaraonline.com/player_info/subrace.asp Or you can find more info in the Layonara handbook, regarding their history, look, character etc

5) This is a roleplay server and RP is encouraged. Though if you are playing with the people you know and they agree, you can of course have OOC conversations. But you should make sure, that others are not nearby as it may ruin the feel of fantasy enviroment for them. GMs are not strict, they will not punish you, but if you are on a GM run event and you constantly talk OOC you will be asked to stop.

When talking OOC place /// infront of you messages

6) A diety is a good way to align your character in this world. When a character chooses a diety he has to have atleast similar views on life, so it is a base foundation for him. Also, a diety will affect spells, for example if your character casts bless, then characters with a hostile diety will not be affected. You can make a character without a diety, it shouldn't have any major drawbacks.

Hope it helped and welcome to Layonara

[Xerina]

1) IT has only happened once, but their are a few others that are getting up their in their tolken count. But it is really rare as the greater you chance of getting a tolken the less you should die. But the server is fairly group based,

2)The world is fairly hard it is not impossible to start out here, but again the server is geared to groups even at lower levels. At any level death is a real possibility and more so if you are alone. Many monsters spawn in accordance with your level and or group size.

3)does it work for a half elf/elf vaguly, can you use it thats up to the DM team as it is not going to be a standard picture so no one other then you would see it unless it is added to the picture pack. Can you build one that looks like it in game, not really its the same character/head pack as normal NWN but you could do a pink longer haired elf I guess.

4)Not mandatory what it adds is listed under the subrace mostly it adds diffrent stat changes them the normal race, in some cases it adds abilities i.e. tieflings can cast darkness as an ability. Some also have a ECL that reduces the xp you receive from each reward as the subrace requires more xp to level.

5)We try to keep RL chat to a minimum same with ooc chat. It is a role playing server ooc should be limited to inportant things like //afk a minute //back that kind of thing not a conversation. And yes it is enforced. YOu are not limited on tells however. Also try to keep it out of party chanel as well. (and a edit I have seen this enforced but its not like a ban or anything I have seen people asked ot keep it to a minimum by a DM when they were standing around Hlint, and I have been asked once by a DM to limit it as well and neither case was a really long drug out ooc conversation. Neither was short and sweet and was longer then they should have been and it was a good call on the DM part it does ruin the experence for those not in the ooc conversation)

6)Only real concern not taking a diety is some cleric will not rez you as it will cost them xp. Rez spells are based on your diety and the diety of the one you are rezing, soul stones will help, but again as a RP server some clerics will be less inclined to help someone that does not follow a diety at all. But other then that thier is no penalty for not selecting a diety, and that is based on the character role playing hte cleric and the diety they follow.

Hope that helps, you can wait for a DM resopnce for a more formal answer on some of it like the picture, and difficulty is going to vary by opinion.

[Dorganath]

1) To my knowledge, very few characters have ever hit perma-death....maybe 2 or 3, and at least one of them specifically requested it...another went out in a blaze of glory ("Death Ward is fer panzies"). Perma-death comes after 10 death tokens.  Each time your charcter dies from 4th level on up, there is a 1% chance per level of getting a death token.  A 4th level player has a 4% chance, a 10th level player has a 10% chance, and so on.  Sometimes the dice are with you, other times they're not.  It all depends, however, on how often you die.

2) Difficulty....this server is built around the idea of adventuring in groups.  Depending on your class, there are some opponents that can be handled by a solo adventurer, and others that really need a small group...even a pair of well-matched characters.  Of course, in the deep dark places of this world, there are opponents that will make your grandchildren's granchildren wince in pain....but new characters have no business in such places anyway.

3) That pic looks fine, and yes, there's a head that looks very similar to that (going by the hairstyle)  Not sure if it's a human/half-elf head or an elf head, though.  I know I've seen it in-game, however.

4) Subraces are not mandatory.  There is no real effect during character creation EXCEPT that you must take the subrace bonuses and penalties into account when choosing your stats.  There are rules regarding minimum stats, for example, that must be taken into account when creating a subrace character.  The exact bonuses and penalties are listed on the forums here and in the Layonara handbook (which is being revised to account for the new subraces and other goodies).  It's important to remember: racial bonuses/penalties (elf, halfling, half-orc, dwarf, etc.) are taken into account automatically during character creation.  Subrace bonuses/penalties are applied after logging in via a "skin".  Your resulting stats must meet the minimums after subrace adjustment.

5) We like people to stay IC as much as possible when their words can be heard by others.  If for no other reason, while you and your friends might not care, there are lots of other people here whose RP will be disrupted by OOC chatter about last night's baseball game, or car troubles or whatever.  It's a matter of respect for the others on in this world, and a matter of immersion for the other players.  You can carry on OOC conversations through tells all you want.  As for enforcement, if you're blatantly OOC and a GM is around and we hear it, we'll ask you to stop.  Just assume we're always around and always listening, and there won't be any problems.

6) No "consequences" as such.  Clerics and paladins obviously need a diety, but everyone else is free to choose nothing.  For clerics, choice of diety affects many things, including raise dead/resurrection and summons...along with following the dogma of one's chosen diety.  For other characters, it's largely an RP device.  Look at the Server Status page and you'll see a lot of people without dieties.

Also, if for some reason your character decides to start following a particular diety, through RP and probably a CDQ, you can have a diety choice added to your character by a GM.  Likewise, you can change dieties if your character's belief system changes...again through RP and likely a CDQ.

And to clarify something that Xerina said:
Characters who choose no diety will be considered neutral to a cleric's diety when it comes to raising.  

Read this for more clarification:
http://www.layonaraonline.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=10816

Clerics will lose XP in almost all cases for raise/res unless one's diety is allied with that of the cleric's.

[Xerina]

Sorry if I wasn't clear I was refering to this

If you Resurrect a follower of a god whom your deity has Neutral feelings, if they do not have a soul stone, you will lose 5000xp

If you Raise Dead a follower of a god whom your deity has Neutral feelings, if they do not have a soul stone, you will lose 2500xp

And the role playing aspect of the cleric's willingness IC to rez someone.

[cappyra]

This is a great place to start

http://www.layonaraonline.com/player_info.asp

As far as roleplaying, this is a RP server.   You should stay in character the majority of the time. Try to keep OOC to a bare minimum,  and ooc chat in tells as to not spoil others atmosphere.  

Welcome to Layonara.

[Talan Va'lash]

only one person has ever perma-died.  A lot of characters have been retired or semi-retired at 8 or 9 tokens.

The statistics in this case dont really reflect the acctual impact of death tokens.

[Khold_Stare]

Where do you get layonara Online???

[Zhofe]

This is an online persistant world for the game Neverwinter Nights and it's two expansions ... so you need those first, then you just download the files that this server uses up in the "latest files" section.

[Changrey]

Kewl.... My own little newbie post is turning into a General Newbie questions thread.
    I just wanted a few questions answered...

[Varnart]

You can go  here to help you start out.
    btw how do you guys make things like "click here to" and the link is in the "here" word?

[Leanthar]

Like this here ?
  Just post the link, then highlight the link only and type the words you want... It will have the link embedded in to the words.. but I use Rich Text editing so that is probably a requirement.

[Varnart]

thanks a lot Big L