Equipment Overview

From The Final Challenge Wiki
Revision as of 19:01, 5 April 2011 by Katrana (talk | contribs)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

(From the TFC For Newbies website created by Nyx.)

Items are a major part of life on TFC. They are the equipment that make your stats better, the magic potions that keep you alive, the reason behind many PKs, the sources of pride and bragging rights, and much, much, more. It will take some time to become familiar with everything that is available, but it is time well spent.


Interacting with Items

First, you have to know how to do stuff with items. This is list of the various commands at your disposal. (Using just the first couple letters of the command will also work, for example, typing EXA instead of EXAMINE.) You can read the on-line helps for more information on the command syntax. You can also use {#}.{item} to refer to things when you use these commands, where {#} is the number of the item in the list of items in the room or in your inventory and {item} is the item name. For example, LOOK 2.RING will let you look at the second ring.

LOOK: this gives you small description of the item.
LOOK IN: this lets you look inside containers.
EXAMINE: this is like a combination of LOOK and LOOK IN (if the item is a container) plus it shows you notation revealing what any magics on the item do, provided the item has been identified, and shows you anything that has been written on the item using the inscribe ability.
COMPARE: this lets you compare two items of similar nature, like two weapons or two helmets. It only takes the mundane characteristics into account; it does not consider any special/magical modifiers.

GET or TAKE: both commands do the same thing: they let you pick something up. They are also used to take things out of containers and off corpses.
DROP: this lets you drop the item on the ground.
PUT: this lets you put the item into a container.
GIVE: this lets you give an item to someone else.
WEAR or WIELD: these let you wear something. The item will automatically be worn in the correct slot. If you already have an item in that slot, the item will (in most cases) automatically be removed.
REMOVE: this lets you take a piece of equipment off.
SACRIFICE: this lets you permanently destroy an item. When you do this, the code will first look in the room for the item you mentioned. If it is not in the room, it will look in your inventory. Be careful with this command. (Some people refer to this as “sac” and “sac’ing” instead of sacrifice and sacrificing.) You get 1 gold piece for each item you sacrifice. It is a particularly good idea to sacrifice corpses of things you have killed so that PKers don’t use them to find you.
(Note: Instead of affecting just one item with GET, DROP, PUT, GIVE, WEAR, REMOVE, or SACRIFICE you can use ALL in the place of an item. This will let you get all everything off the floor, drop everything, etc. SACRIFICE ALL will only sacrifice items in the room. For GET, DROP, PUT, and GIVE you can also use ALL.{item} to affect all items with the name you put in the place of {item}.)

OPEN: this lets you open containers and doors
CLOSE: this lets you close containers and doors.
LOCK: this lets you lock containers and doors, provided you have the key.
UNLOCK: this lets you unlock containers and doors, provided you have the key.
PICK: this lets you unlock some containers and doors without needing the key. You can only do it if you have learned the proper thief skill: pick lock.

EAT: this lets you eat food and pills.
DRINK: this lets you take a drink either from a fountain in the room or your drink container.
FILL: this lets you fill your drink container from a fountain in the room. If the fountain provides a spell, though, this will turn your drink container into a potion of that spell.
(Note: You will not start getting hungry or thirsty until you reach level 3.)

LIST: this causes a shopkeeper to list the items they have for sale and the prices for each.
LIST FULL: this causes a shopkeeper to list the times they have for sale, the prices of each, and the effects of the items if they are items that have been sold or given to the shopkeeper.
BUY: this lets you buy an item from a shopkeeper. The cost of the item is automatically deducted from the gold you are carrying.
SELL: this lets you sell an item to a shopkeeper, provided they are interested in it. Different shopkeepers will be interested in different things.
VALUE: this lets you find out how much a shopkeeper is willing to pay for an item you have.


Randoms and Limiteds

There are two kinds of items on TFC: randoms and limiteds. The vast majority the items in the world are randoms. Their names and magical effects (if any) are randomly generated, so the only way to know what they do is to have them identified. Limited items are ones that are specifically written into certain areas and always show up in the same place or on the same mob. Limiteds are, as their name suggests, limited. The limited items that have no or little magic are effectively unlimited in that there so many can exist they are almost always available. Fewer copies of powerful limited items will exist, though. The really nice things will only pop one or two copies.

One of the reasons to know if you have a limited item is that if you have one and just keep it in your inventory it can eventually purge.


Looking for Magic

Items with magical effects can be seen as such by anyone capable of detecting magic. Giants get this ability automatically; everyone else has to resort to having a detect magic or true seeing spell on themselves. What you will see under any of these conditions is a descriptor in parentheses before the item’s description, looking something like this:

(Weak Magic) A steel helmet lies here.

This descriptor is sometimes referred to as the item’s magic flag and can reflect how powerful the magics on the item are. The magic flags, from weakest to strongest, are:

  • (Token Magic)
  • (Weak Magic)
  • (Moderate Magic)
  • (Powerful Magic)
  • (Potent Magic)
  • (Artifact Magic)

If you don’t have a high level means of detecting magic, however, you will often simply see a (Magical) flag on the item. This just means you can’t tell how powerful the magics on the item are.

Most items with only (Token Magic) are junk. The exception to this, and it is a very important one, is magic items like scrolls and fetishes. If your class can’t use a particular type of magic item you will always see those items as having (Token Magic), no matter how powerful they are.

Also, keep in mind that just because an item is magical it is a good thing. Some items have bad magical effects, which is why it is always a good idea to get something identified before you put it on.


Getting Items Identified

This is typically done by having a mage cast identify (ID) or improved identify (imp ID) on the item. Imp ID is the better spell because it reveals exactly what any magical effects on the item do and allows the mage to mark the item so the effects can be seen using EXAMINE.

A quick note on getting IDs: Mages constantly get asked to ID things and it can use up a lot of their time. Imp ID in particular costs a good chunk of mana to cast, so that can slow things down, too. If you want to better your chances of a mage helping you out, consider doing the following things.

  • Ask politely. It’s a simple thing but will help considerably.
  • Only give them magical items to ID. If you can’t see whether or not your items are magical, ask for a detect magic first and sort out the non-magical stuff.
  • Only give them one item at a time.
  • Save up any scrolls, wands, and staves you find and give them to the mages that give you IDs.
  • If you are a shaman, use your give mana spell to help replenish the mage.
  • Always thank them afterwards. Again, it’s a simple thing but a nice one.

There are three other options for getting items identified should you not want to deal with mages. The first is to be a mage and learn the spells yourself. The second is to find the mob named Avangeline and have her identify the item. The catch is that she charges an obscene amount of money for that service and she won’t even mark the items for you. The third option is to sell or give the item to a shopkeeper and then have them LIST FULL. The drawbacks to this are 1) if it is a nice item it may cost you quite a bit to buy it back, and 2) if it is an item Mish is looking for it then she will get it and you won’t be able to buy it back.