Leveling

(From the TFC for Newbies website by Nyx)

The size of your character is determined by the number of levels you have. You start at level 1 in your class and can reach as high as level 30 in that class. The way you increase your level is by collecting experience points (xp). You can earn xp by:

• Killing mobs. You get less xp for mobs that are easy for you to kill and more xp for ones that are harder for you to kill. The maximum amount of xp you can get for killing a mob is 200 xp.
  
• Successfully completing quests. The three kinds of quests that are available are Mob Mastery (MM), Mob Hunt (MH), and Location Quest (LQ).
  
  • Mob Mastery: This quest requires you to find a specific mob in the world and kill it in a certain amount of time. The more you complete, the bigger the mob you have to find and kill. You have to kill the creature on your own; if anyone casts spells on you or attacks the creature you will fail. Too, if you don’t kill it within the time limit you also fail. Failing a mob mastery quest costs you xp. See HELP MOBMASTERY for more information.
    
  • Mob Hunt: This quest is kind of like a multi-player mob mastery with rounds. At least two people must register to play before it will begin. Once it begins the players can see a list of mobs. They get points for killing the mobs on the list, and each time a mob on the list is killed it is replaced with a new mob. After each round the players who did not kill enough mobs to qualify for the next round are eliminated. You must have gold in the bank in order to play mob hunt, as there is a cost associated with each round. You receive xp for killing quest mobs, with more xp being given each round, and the winner and second place get some gold at the end. See HELP MOBHUNT for more information.
    
  • Location Quest: This quest requires you to find a specific room in the world before your time runs out. As you complete more and more LQs, the rooms you must find become less and less commonly traveled. Starting an LQ costs xp, but completing one rewards you with even more xp. See HELP LQ for more information
    
    

You lose xp by being killed by a mob, failing a mob mastery, or starting a location quest. If you lose enough xp you will lose a level.

When you level, several things happen. Everyone gains hit points, movement, and practices. If you are lucky you may get also a train. If you level a magic class you will also gain mana. At lower levels you can expect to see your stats shift as well. Last, but not least, you will see the amount of xp you need for your next level.

Multi-Classing

While there is nothing wrong with having a single class, most people choose to multi-class. On TFC you can be one fighter class (warrior or ranger), one magic class (mage, cleric, or shaman), and either a thief or thug. In order to multi-class, you must first reach level 10 in your current class. Next you will need to be carrying 25000 gold pieces. Finally, you will need to visit either Jack or Jill. If you want to gain a non-magic class you need to see Jack. If you want to gain a magic class you need to see Jill. Getting to these two can be difficult, especially at lower levels. Your best bet is to get someone to help you find them. You can always switch back and forth between your classes as long as you meet these requirements.

Once you multi-class some things change. First, you may no longer have access to all of the armor, weapons, or magic items you had available to you in your original class. For example, a warrior who multi-classes to thief loses his abilities to wear metal armor and use shields. Second, your size is now determined as an effective level. You can see your effective level when you save or you can calculate it for yourself. To calculate it you take the number of levels in your biggest class and add one for every three levels you have in your other classes. To illustrate, let’s say you are a level 14 ranger, level 10 mage, level 7 thief. You begin with 14 (your biggest class) and add 5 for the 17 levels you have in your other classes, essentially ignoring the 2 levels above 15. This gives you an effective level of 19. As soon as you get one more thief level, though, you will be at an effective level of 20. Third, if the levels of your classes are really far apart you get less xp for the mobs you kill. It’s a good idea to try and keep your levels fairly close.