Specific tactics while fighting AS, or AGAINST certain classes/races.

Druids:

1. Druids are one of the best fighting machines on the mud, and I could argue that they are the best.

One tactic as a Druid against a crusader is to first: Call two charmies. I figure that on average, almost 1/2 of the time you order a charmie to rescue you it will listen. So with two charmies, you have almost a 75% chance of when you ask them to rescue you, they will. Also wear a strong enchanted staff (pugil helps with damage), and make sure your imbued. Soon as you attack the crusader, energy drain him. The only thing a druid really has to worry about a crusader is their ability to cast. While their charging and dual wield is usually what they use in combat, the only way they have a chance against your superior skills is to get a lucky spell or two off. So about three or four energy drains will reduce his mana to piddily. This is all assuming you Can cast on him. If your first two energy drains fail, I would order all rescue myself. This would at least buy me some time to cast more. After the energy drains go through, I would just dispel, and then continue to order my pets to rescue me. Each round, I'd be getting double hits, my pets would be hitting, plus of course I would barely be touched. The crusader will most likely notice that he's losing and flee somewhere around big and nasty, which is why soon as they enter big and nasty, i usually stop the rescuing, and wait for the crusader to flee, and chase him down. That's the point of attack, he flees, attack, he flees, etc.

2. Another tactic against crusaders is a little more simple. Imbue, curse, energy drain 4 times, blind, heat metal, get all, and at around that point, the crusader can no longer cast, see, hit you with anything since half their gear fell off, and you can do what you want. I personally love to demand that they die to get their gear back. I get my toast, they get their gear.

To kill a druid: In order to kill a druid, first catch them by surprise. The first thing I would do as a spellcaster is to energy drain the druid 4 times or so. Even more than the crusader, a druid is dead meat without mana. As a barbarian, warrior, ranger, etc, the only thing I would do is to be in stance offensive, wear saves gear, and hope for the best. Generally if the druid is smart, a barbarian or ranger has no hope at all since they can't bless their gear (usually). A warrior with blessed gear, saves gear, and berserked could stand even with a druid (with a lot of skill and luck).

Barbarians:

Wear a lot of hit gear. Most of the time the reason barbarians lose is that smaller races start dodging them, spell them down and whoop on them. Vroz and Erevaen can beat up almost any small race without a spell being cast just because they have incredible hit rolls. I know my kender is in dire straights when either of them show up, because they actually Hit me. Usually I love to fight barbarians because most barbarians think "Barbarians have big damage". Well, they do have good damage, but you gotta make sure your hit roll is at least above 30 before attacking anyone. Otherwise, to kill with a barbarian, I almost always just go stance offensive, attack, wait for the person to flee (almost never want to attack someone who's expecting it), attack, wait for them to flee. Most of the time the battle will be over within four or five rounds (either they win because they blind you, or you win because they die, or they run away).

Warrior! By: Torbin Three Fingers -> Hirken Madaur -> Froust -> about 5 more too.

First and foremost, a prepared warrior is one of the best characters in the game. Notice, I'm not saying a prepared Ranger or a prepared Barbarian... It's the good 'ole warrior. What do I mean by prepared? You should have all your weapon skills to 90%+ (and you should have all weapons skills), you should have all your gear RECENTLY blessed, you should your detects up and about 4 true sights in your backpack. Lastly, you should have all your spells up (armor, shield, fly, giant str, haste, etc) and be wearing a good combo of saves gear and hit/dam gear. (often the best gear is at the church of stars around 30-40ish: good hit/dam and saves). So this idea of being 'prepared' is 2 fold. First you have to have a solid character (a prepared warrior has to be atleast 20k, mine considerably more). Secondly, you need to have all your spells fresh, and have your saves ready. Even if you are only fighting a barbarian or a thief, have all your gear blessed and be berserked (yes, berserk adds saves) because they're casting friends are just a gate away...

Ok, your prepared, how do you wack someone? Run from area to area, find your target. Ok, you've found them. Quaff your sanc, and run in with the murder command. Don't actually type any attacks that'll cause you to lag, they might be hurt and flee right away. So as soon as you attack, be prepared to start tracking. (my tracking is done by some simple triggers and fast typing) You'd be suprised at how many fights only last 2-3 rounds. If they flee, I get a free round every time I murder them again (death to mages btw)

That's about it, just stay aware so if you get gang banged by like 3 other people or someone way above your level, don't stick around. Past that, a prepared warrior won't have spells land on them and will toe to toe wack about anyone they fight (watch for mages and charmies, also watch for other prepared warriors and/or barbarians).

Others:

Still looking for article contributions for the following classes: Swashbucklers, Rangers. Bards, Charlatans, Jongleurs. Mages, Illusionists, Enchantors. Transmuters Invokers, Necromancers. Clerics, Crusaders, Priests, Shaman. Thieves, Assassins. Warlocks. Paladins, Bladesingers, Battleragers.

More to come, feel free to give me ideas!

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