Realms of Kaos™ Gameplay
Frequently Asked Questions V1.0
This FAQ deals with gameplay mechanics only. If you have a technical problem with the installation or the running of the ROK software, consult the Technical FAQ
Before you consult this FAQ, make sure you go through the Tutorial area beneath the Terra Tavern. The Tutorial area is invaluable to new players!
tile.gif
INDEX
New Player questions
Combat-related questions
Skill-specific questions
Spell-related questions
Item-related questions
Money-related questions
Communication-related questions
Progress-related questions
Clan-related questions
Quest/Mosh-related questions
Resource-related questions
About this FAQ and ROK
New Player questions
1. How come my class says Figher, Healer, Mage or Rogue instead of the class I chose when I generated the character?
2. Why do I have to register my character?
3. How come I am always "Exhausted"?
4. I am playing a rogue character and am exhausted every time I move. Why?
5. How come my spells keep fizzling?
6. Where do I buy new spells?
7. Where can I find information about spells, monsters and places?
8. How does experience and level work?
9. Where do I gain levels?
10. What happens when I die?
11. I went out of town and got slaughtered by a [insert creature name here]. Why?
Combat-related questions
How come I am always "Exhausted"?
What is a combat "round"?
How many attacks do I get per round?
When will I get more attacks
How do I get better in combat"?
How much damage do I do in combat?
What is backstabbing?
What is the dual weapon ability?
How do you do a "flying roundhouse"?
How do you morph into an animal?
Skill-specific questions
How to the rogue skills (sneak, hide, backstab & rob) work?
How do fighters equip more than one weapon?
How do monk special skills work?
How does the Ranger, Druid & Assassin "track" and "stalk" skills work?
How does the Ranger "tame" skill work?
Spell-related Questions
When do paladins get to cast spells?
How do spell magic points work?
How do the summoning spells (Unkelming, Warpdoor & Plantcall) work?
How does the enchant spell work?
How does the soulbind spell work?
How does the bless spell work?
How does the animorph spell work?
Item-related questions
How does food and drink work?
What is a quest item?
What is a drop item?
What is a [insert item name here]?
What is soulbinding?
What is the best weapon for my class?
What is the best armor for my class?
Money-related questions
Where do I get money?
How much money can I carry on me?
How do banks work?
My pockets suddenly felt lighter. Why?
Communication-related Questions
How do I direct speech to someone?
How do I whisper to someone?
How do I page someone?
How do I telegram someone?
How do I check my telegrams?
How do I clan chat?
Progress-related Questions
How does experience and level work?
Where do I gain levels?
When will I become the class I chose when i generated my character?
How many levels are there?
Where should i got after I reach level 8?
Where is the next city?
Party-related Questions
What is a party?
What are the benefits of being in a party?
How do I join a party?
How do I start a new party?
What are the various party commands?
Clan-related Questions
What is a clan?
What are the benefits of being in a clan?
How do I join a clan?
How do I start a new clan?
What are the various clan commands?
Quest/Mosh-related questions
What is a Quest?
What is a Mosh?
What are the benefits of Quests and Moshes?
What are the risks of Quests and Moshes?
Resources
Where can I find maps of the Realms?
Where can I find a complete command list?
Where can I find experience tables and race info?
About ROK staff
Who wrote this?
How do I contact the ROK staff?
What is a Warden?
How do I join the ROK staff?
How long has Realms of Kaos been running?
1. How come my class says "Figher, Healer, Mage or Rogue" instead of the class I chose when I generated the character?
Your character is still the class that you chose, but for the beginning of your character's career they are classified as either a Figher, Healer, Mage or Rogue. Later on down the road, when your character becomes more experienced, they will become "official" members of the class that you chose.
2. Why do I have to register my character?
Registering your character allows you to manipulate (give, sell etc) items. Registering also allows you to increase your characters skills at the Guild. You cannot get very far in the game if you do not register! Unregistered characters are deleted after a few months. Registered characters are never deleted.
3. How come I am always "Exhausted"?
As an adventurer young in the ways of adventuring, you have much to learn about combat. You only have one attack (either a physical attack or a spell cast) every "round". A round lasts about ten seconds, after which you may attack again. As you gain levels, you will be able to attack more often in a turn. Figher classes get their additional attacks sooner than the other classes.
4. I am playing a rogue character and am exhausted every time I move. Why?
You accidently turned on the rogue's autosneak ability. While a very usefull ability, at low levels autosneak is more of a hinderance than a help for the rogue classes. Turn off the autosneak ability in the rogue menu at the top of the game window, or type /autosneak to toggle it off.
5. How come my spells keep fizzling?
At low levels, spellcasters have difficulty casting new spells. It usually takes a few levels before you can cast a new spell correcetly. High level spellcasters are able to learn new spells immediatly.
Note that spell casting success also depends on your Inteligence (Int.) and Wisdom (Wis) stats. The higher these stats, the more likely you'll be able to master a spell and cast it without fizzling.
6. Where do I buy new spells?
Spells are available in the Guilds, the same place you go to train to gain a level. Mage spells are available in the Mage guild, Healer spells in the Healer Guild. Rogues and Fighters cannot gain spells, with the exception of Fighters pursuing the class of the Paldin, who is able to purchase spells only at higher levels. Note that all spells have specific requirments on the level of the caster (the Guildmaster will not sell you the spell if you do not have a high enough level), so you may not be able to purchase a spell until a later level.
7. Where can I find information about spells, monsters and places?
Try the Academia, located across the street from the Tavern. The Academia contains shelves of information about all the spells, creatuers, cities, regions and legends of the Realms of Kaos!
8. How does experience and level work?
Each time you successfully damage a creature with either a physical attack or a spell, you gain experience points. You gain a bonus amount of exp if you land the killing blow. As you gain exp, you may have gained enough skill to get training. The process of getting training from a GuildMaster is called gaining a level. As you gain levels, you get more health points, more magic points (if you are a spellcaster), your blows and spells do more damage, your ability to hit an opponent in combat increases, your non-combat skills (if any) get betterand you might even gain an additional attack! Gaining levels also unlocks new spells and skills for you to buy.
9. Where do I gain levels?
You can train your character in the appropriate Guild building for your class. All four guilds (Fighter, Rogue, Healer and Mage) are located on Guild street. Enter the build and click the "buy training" button. If you have ammassed enough experience points, the guildmaster will train you and you will gain a level. If you do not have enough experience, the guildmaster will tell you how much more exp you need until the next level.
10. What happens when I die?
If you are reduced to 0 health or less, you collapse on the ground and black out. You immediatly come back to life in the last temple you visited. When you are "killed", you lose all your gold, drop some of your items and lose a little experience. So don't get killed!
11. I went out of town and got slaughtered by a [insert creature name here]. Why?
Syndar is a dangerous place for inexperienced adventureres! The wilderness outside the gates of Terra is a dangerous place, and should not be braved until about level 6-8. Until then, stick to the arena, or explore the island of Vetra, located off the docks of Terra - there is plenty for you to find there!
After you have passed the recommened level, try venturing out into the wilderness with a group of friends.
Combat-related questions
What is a combat "round"?
A combat "round" is a period of time that you are exhausted between attacks. After you use all of your attacks, you may not do any actions (including moving, attacking or casting spells) for approx. ten seconds.
How many attacks do I get per round?
Every character beings with only one attack. As you gain levels, you will occasionally gain additional attacks. The exact level which you gain attacks varies from class to class, but usually fighter classes get their attacks at an earlier level than other classes. Any class, however, will recieve their second attack no later than level eight.
When will I get more attacks
As you gain levels, you will occasionally gain additional attacks. The exact level which you gain attacks varies from class to class, but usually fighter classes get their attacks at an earlier level than other classes. Any class, however, will recieve their second attack no later than level eight.
How do I get better in combat"?
The only way to get better in combat (that is, not miss as much) is by gaining levels. In addition, if you use a specific weapon for a long time, you will become "proficient" with it and tend to hit better with that specific weapon. Your "agility" statistic also contributes; character with higher AGI stats are less likely to miss.
Obviously, fighter classes are more likely to hit than the other classes of the equal level.
How much damage do I do in combat?
The amout of damage you do per hit depends on your level, the weapon you are using, and your strength statistic. A fighter using a longsword in combat would do more damage than someone using a mere club, and two characters equipped with identical weapons would differ in damage if one of the character was stronger.
Damage is reduced by the armor of your opponents. Whacking someone upside the head who is wearing nothing but a simple cloth would do more damage that someone wearing full armor and a helmet.
What is backstabbing?
Backstabbing is a skill that only the rogue classes (assassins and thieves) can use to do more damage. It can only be done with dagger weapons. See the rogue skills question below.
What is the dual weapon ability?
The dual weapon ability is reserved for only a few of the fighter classes. It allows them to equip more than one weapon at a time, which allows them to choose a weapon for combat. Type /tw to toggle which weapon you are striking with.
How do you do a "flying roundhouse"?
The "flying roundhouse" attack is a monk ability. If a monk lands three consecutive blows, the third blow automatically becomes a special roundhouse attack which does more damage. See the monk skills question below.
How do you morph into an animal?
"Animorphing" is a special skill (actually a spell) that the Druid classes can use. For the spells duration, the character turns into an animal, increasing combat damage. See the animorph spell question below
Class-specific questions
How to the skills of the rogues (sneak, hide etc.) work?
The two rogue classes (Assassins and Thieves) both excell at remaining undetected, and are able to sneak around without being noticed. By toggling the "autosneak" ability (from the menu or by typing /autosneak), the rogue will be able to move from location to location without showing up on other people's screens, as well as being ignored by monsteres. However, like the spells of the spellcasteres, this skill must be perfected with experience. At low levels, you will most likely be unable to properly sneak around, but as you gain levels you will become better at it. In addition, sneaking around is a difficult task; you only get a number of sneaks equal to you level before you become exhausted for a round.
Sneaking is fine, but if a player looks around, or walks in on you after you have snuck into a room, they will see you. To stay hidden, use the hide skill (activated through the rogue menu or by typing /hide). If you successfully hide, you will be invisible to everyone that passes you by! You can only be found if someone activly does a search of the area.
Hiding has a second, more lethal property. If you are equiped with a dagger weapon, and launch an attack on someone while you are hidden, you will automatically attempt to BACKSTAB. If the backstab connects, you will do much more damage than a normal attack! Assassins can do more damage than thieves.
Thieves are able to rob monsters and creatures of their gold. By simply typing /rob NAME (where NAME is the name of your victim), you will attempt to rob your victim of gold! If you are unsuccessful, you automatically lose all your remaining attack for the round and become exhausted - not a good thing. If you are successful in robbing someone, you will take an amount of gold proportional to your level. Be warned - people and monsters that are robbed will be aware that something crafty is going on, and will usually attempt to find - and punish - whoever stole their gold!
Again, robbing success gets better with level. Some people are more succeptable to robbing than others - it's up to you to find out! A nice feature about robbing is that you will gain experience when robbing from monsters. Robbing from players does not net you any exp.
Assassins also have a tracking ability. See the tracking question below.
How do fighters equip more than one weapon?
Some fighters can equip more than one weapon. To do this, simply equip it from your inventory list using the right-click menu. If your class does not allow you to equip any more weapons than you already have equiped, you will not be able to. To toggle which weapon you fight with, type /tw.
How do monk special skills work?
Monk skills are unique in that they are all automatic. Monks automatically do much more damage with their bare hands and with staff weapons than with other weapons such as swords, hammers or axes. In addition, every third consecutive attack automatically turns into a "roundhouse" attack which does double damage.
Monks also are able to automatically purge their bodies of poison after a few seconds of standing still. Finally, monks get a natural bonus to their armor class statistic (giving them natural "free armor") every time they level in a Guild.
How does the Ranger, Druid & Assassin "track" and "stalk" skills work?
The "track" ability allows the character to attempt to find signs of a certain person, and see which way they went. Simply type "/track NAME", and if the person recently went through the area, you will get a message stating which direction they went. The "stalk" command is used in the same way, and automatically moves you in the direction they went. The Stalk will automatically keep moving you in the trail of the person being stalked until you lose their trail, or you find them. Type "/hstalk" to stop stalking.
How does the Ranger "tame" skill work?
Rangers have the ability to tame animals into following them. Type "tame" NAME, where NAME is the name of a monster or creature. If your level is high enough, and you have a high enough charisma statistic, the creature will join your party. See the party question below for party info.
Spell-specific questions
When do paladins get to cast spells?
Paladins are able to purchase their first spell at level 10. The spell can be purchased at most Paladin Guilds.
How do spell magic points work?
Spell-casting classes use magic points. Each time you cast a spell, it takes a few magic points to cast. Note that the magic points are lost even if the spell fizzles, or if the effect fails. Magic points to regenerate on their own. There are special items called manastones that give spell-casting classes a boost of magic points.
How do the summoning spells (Unkelming, Warpdoor & Plantcall) work?
By successfully casting the spell, you automatically summon a creature. The creature automatically joins you party, and is under the command of the party leader. See the party section for details of party commands.
How does the enchant spell work?
The enchant spell is among the sorcerer's most famous spells. The spell can be cast on any weapon or piece of armor. Enchanted weapons gain a damage bonus, and enchanted armor gets an armor point bonus. Higher level sorcerors can cast better enchants, raning from dull enchants to full brilliant variations.
How does the soulbind spell work?
Soulbind allows a piece of equipment to literally be attatched to the soul of the person carrying it. This means that soulbound weapons are not dropped when the player is killed! Soulbind is a unique spell in that a special item (a moonstone) is required to cast the spell. The moonstone is lost when the spell is cast, even if it fizzles.
How does the bless spell work?
The bless spell can be cast on any weapon or piece of armor. Blessed weapons gain a damage bonus, and blessed armor gets a bonus against attacks. The type bonus depends on the divinity of the person blessing the item, meaning that there is one type of bless for each of the five divinities. Any item can have one of each type of bless.
How does the animorph spell work?
Animorph is a druid spell that can be targeted only on the druid casting the spell. The spell causes the druid to temporarily turn into an animal, the exact type of animal depends on the divinity of the druid. While in animal form, the druid gains a bonus to both their strength and armor stats, resulting in much more deadly combat. However, until the spell wears off, the druid is not able to cast spells while in animal form.
Item-related questions
How does food and drink work?
Every so often, your character will become hungry and thirsty. While hungry, you slowly lose health, and while thirsty, your spells have a higher chance of not working. To cure hunger, simply use a food item (such as rations or meat), and to cure thirst, use a drink item (such as a waterskin or ale).
What is a quest item?
A quest item is an extremely powerful item that is awared as a prize for completing a quest, mosh or tournament. These items are very powerful and very valuable (and not to mention rare). They usually come pre-soulbound, but if you get one that is not soulbound, get it soulbound ASAP!
What is a drop item?
"Drop Item" is the general term for an item that cannot be bought in a store, but is dropped when killing a monster. Most of the monsters that drop "Drop Items" only appear once a day, so for the most part Drop items refer to the rare 1-a-day items
There are also common items that are dropped by common creatures; for example, trolls often drop rations.
What is a [insert item name here]?
There are literally hundereds of items in the Realms of Kaos! There are weapons, armor, food items, clothing items, keys, rings, talismans, and many other things that litter the realms. If you see an item that you are not sure about, simply page a Warden - they will be happy to explain how the item works.
What is soulbinding?
"Soulbinding" is the process of making an item stay with the character carrying it, even when they are killed. Only clerics are able to soulbind; see the soulbind spell entry above.
What is the best weapon/armor for my class?
There is are lots of weapons and armor out there, but some of them are usable only by certain classes. Fighters can usually use just about any armor or weapon. Healer and Rogue classes have some restrictions, while sorcerers have the most restrictions on what they can equip. Check the academia for details.
Money-related questions
Where do I get money?
Money comes from killing monsters. When a monster is killed, any money (gold) it is carrying immediatly goes to the person who landed the killing blow.
You can also get money by selling items in shops. You can only sell an item in a shop that has that specific item for sale.
How much money can I carry on me?
There is no limit to how much money you can carry on you. However, it his highly recommened that you keep all your money in a bank - if you are ever killed, you lost all the money you had on you. Carrying a lot of gold on you also means that you risk being robbed by a thief (see below)
How do banks work?
Every large town has a bank. Banks are a safe place for you to keep your money. Once you deposit the money, no one but you can get that money out - so don't worry about thieves.
An important point is that as of the writing of this FAQ, all banks are not linked. This means that if you have money in one bank, you cannot access it from another.
My pockets suddenly felt lighter. Why?
If you get the message that "Your pockets suddenly feel lighter" it means that a thief has just robbed you of some of the gold that you where carrying. By the time you react, the thief is probably long gone. Try /search -ing the area and you may come across the thief, but be sure that you caught the right person - it is generally concidered rude to kill the wrong person you accuse of theft.
Communication-related Questions
How do I direct speech to someone?
To direct speech (that is, have the words "[to Person]" appear in front of your text) type /d NAME before your speech, where NAME if the name of the person you wish to direct your speech to.
How do I whisper to someone?
To whisper to someone (that is, say something to them that only they can hear) type /w NAME before your message, where NAME is the name of the person you wish to whisper to.
How do I page someone?
To page someone (that is, send them a message from anywhere in the realms) type /p NAME before your message, where NAME is the name of the person you wish to page.
How do I telegram someone?
Telegraming is a good way to contact someone when they are not online. To telegram, go to a Tavern in any town and press the "send telegram" button. Type your message in the window that appears, making sure to add their name in the appropriate box. The next time that person logs on to ROK, they will get a message that a telegram is awaiting them at the nearest Tavern.
How do I check my telegrams?
If you get a message that you have a telegram waiting for you, simply go to the nearest Tavern in any town and press the "read Telegrams" button. You will be able to browse all your telegrams.
How do I use clan chat?
Clan chat is one of the many benefits of being in a clan. Once you are in a clan, you will notice a stream of text from all other members of the clan. You can send a message to any other members in the clan (that are currently online) by typing /cc before your message.
Progress-related Questions
Where do I gain levels?
You can train your character in the appropriate Guild building for your class. The guilds for the "fighter", "mage", "healer" and "rogue" classes are all in Terra. If you have ammassed enough experience points, the guildmaster will train you and you will gain a level. If you do not have enough experience, the guildmaster will tell you how much more exp you need until the next level.
Once you attain level 8, the basic guilds in Terra are not able to train you any furthur, and you must go to a different town to a specific guild for your class - Paladin Guild for Paladins, Druid Guild for Druids etc.
When will I become the class I chose when i generated my character?
When you reach level 8, you will "officially" become the class you chose when you generated your character - fighters become Knights, Paladins, Barbarians, Monks or Rangers, healers become Druids or Clerics, rogues become Thieves or Assassins, and mages become Sorcerers.
How many levels are there?
At the time of writing, there are 25 levels.
Where should i got after I reach level 8?
It's up to you! Try exploring the many places around Terra - try the caves or sewers. Ultimatly, you want to head to the next city so you can continuing leveling up, because after level 8 the basic guilds in Terra will be unable to train you.
Where is the next city?
The nearest cities to Terra is Duskan (to the east, up the mountain) and Trollheim (to the south, in the moors).
Party-related Questions
What is a party?
A party is a group of characters who roam the various regions of the Realms of Kaos. A party includes player characters as well as summoned, chamed and tamed creatures.
What are the benefits of being in a party?
Besides the benefits of being a general group, members in a party can quickly view the health of other party members (handy for healers), and the entire party follows the party leader - when the leader moves, everyone else in the party automatically follows the leader.
How do I join a party?
If someone invites you into a party, just type /join followed by the name of the person that invited you.
How do I start a new party?
A party can be created in one of two ways. The first is to summon/charm/tame some creatures. These creatures are automatically formed into a party with you as the leader. The second way to create a party is to invite someone by typing /invite followed by someone's name. When they join, a party is automatically created with you as the leader. Keep inviting more people to make your party bigger!
Note that any party can only have up to five summoned/charmed/tamed creatures at a time.
What are the various party commands?
The party commands are /invite, /join, /disband, /pattack, /phaltattack, /pfollow, /phaltfollow, /pappoint and /party. See the Command list for details on how the commands work.
Clan-related Questions
What is a clan?
A clan is a group of players that have banded together under a unique name. Basically, a clan is a club or sorts.
What are the benefits of being in a clan?
The first major benefit of being in a clan is that when people look at you, the name of your clan will appear in your profile. "PlayerGuy is a member of Superheroes".
Players in a clan are automatically notified when other clan members log on, log off or is killed. If a player is killed, all other clan members are told what/who killed that member. ie "Playerguy just joined the game." "Playerguy was killed by a Orc Chieftan."
Players in a clan can immidiatly find out which other members are online, and location and health of other members by typing /clan.
Playeres can talk to eachother on a private shared channel called "clan chat". Player can clan chat by typing /cc before their message.
How do I join a clan?
You can only join a clan if one of the clan leaders invites you. This means that most clans are exclusive. When a clan leader invites you, a message will appear prompting you to type /cjoin followed by the player name if you wish to join the clan.
How do I start a new clan?
To create a new clan, you must have 10,000 (ten thousand) gold on your character. Then simply type /ccreate followed by the name of the clan ie "/ccreate Clan of Superheroes". If the clan name is already taken, the server will tell you and you may try again. A very important note is that once you create a clan, the clan name stays - even if you misspelled it! Check your text carefully before you hit the enter key - 10,000 gold is a lot of money!
When you create the clan, you are automatically appointed the leader. You can invite other players into the clan by typing /cinvite followed by the players name.
What are the various clan commands?
The clan commands are: /ccreate, /cc, /c, /cinvite, /cjoin, /ckick, /cdisband, /cappoint. See the command list at http://kaosmaps.tripod.com for details on how these commands work.
Quest/Mosh-related questions
What is a Quest?
A quest is an event run by a staff member that involves role-playing and various types of objectives. All quests are announced about an hour beforehand. Examples of quests including finding and killing a certain monster (created by the staff), guarding a fantasy character from monsters, racing to a place etc.
What is a Mosh?
A mosh is an event run by staff that involves many players fighting each other in a large arena. Various mosh rules include teams, where players can join forces, and free-for-all events where everyone must try to be the last one standing.
What are the benefits of Quests and Moshes?
The best part of a quest or mosh is the reward! Staff members usually reward everyone involved in a quest with an extremely rare quest item. The winners of moshes are also rewarded with an extremely powerful quest item. But the greatest benefit is that quests and moshes are FUN - rare opportunities to show off your role playing or combat skills.
What are the risks of Quests and Moshes?
The risk involved with quests and moshes is that if you can die. If you die, you usually miss out on the reward. Also note that you will lose exp, gold and items (items that are not soulbound) if you are killed. This especially goes with moshes, where there can be only one winner out of hundereds of contestants.
Resources
Where can I find maps of the Realms?
There are many map sites on the Internet, but the most popular is the page of the Order of the Compass clan at http://kaosmaps.tripod.com - commonly known as "Kaosmaps". This site has more maps than any other ROK site on the Internet.
Where can I find a complete command list?
You can find a complete command list at https://kaosmaps.tripod.com/commands.html. This is part of the "Kaosmaps" Order of the Compass clan site.
Where can I find experience tables and race info?
There are many sites with this information. Check the links page at https://kaosmaps.tripod.com/ for links to many info sites.
About this FAQ and ROK
Who wrote this?
This page was written by AP "Rip" Bejmuk II, a former staff member of ROK. Rip is the webmaster of https://kaosmaps.tripod.com/, the "Kaosmaps" website.
If you wish to contact the author of the FAQ (comments, additions etc) email ROKRip@aol.com
How do I contact the ROK staff?
You can contact the ROK staff in many ways. The best way is to type /staff in the game to get a list of staff members online, and page one of them. You can find a list of email addresses at the http://www.realmsofkaos.com/credits.shtml, on the ROK credits page.
What is a Warden?
The Wardens are members of the ROK staff who directly help players. Wardens can be spotted by their special Warden uniforms. If you ever have a question, page a warden - you can get an instant list of wardens that are online by typing /staff.
How do I join the ROK staff?
When the ROK staff has a staff opening, they will post ot the ROK message boards on the Realms of Kaos website. Usually only people that have been playing ROK for over 7 months can apply, since lots of experience with the game is required.
How long has Realms of Kaos been running?
Realms of Kaos has been running since July of 1997.