ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

As part of testing my new Schrödinger's Lore (Mark 2) addon, I fired up an Orc Wyrmic to make sure the Internment Camp reports came out right. Now, my preferred way to play Wyrmics is to push Technique/Shield Offense and use a sword and shield; of course, Wyrmics don't start with a sword and shield, so the early game is a bit tricky. That turns out to be even worse for Orcs in EoR, since none of the Kruk Pride stores sell one-handed weapons (and shields are fairly expensive relative to your early income), which means that depending on your luck, you might end up spending several zones carefully juggling talent points trying not to get any stuck in the two-handed talents and strugging to do damage with your starting battleaxe fast enough to keep ahead of everything.

Now, Mindslayers start with mindstars in their inventory in case they decide to go the psiblade route, so there's precedent for starting Wyrmics with a sword and shield. Hence my new Sword-n-Boardin' addon, which fiddles with birth descriptors to put an iron shield and an iron longsword in the starting inventory of any character that starts with Technique/Shield Offense and isn't already created with a sword and shield. Currently that covers Wyrmics and Arcane Blades; addon classes may or may not also be modified, depending on the order in which things get loaded.

[Technical notes:

Frequently Asked Questions:

What classes are affected by this addon?

In theory, any class that starts with the Technique/Shield Offense talent tree known and does not start with a shield worn or in inventory should be modified by this addon to start with a longsword and shield in inventory. In practice, this currently includes Wyrmics and Arcane Blades (not Adventurers, as their birth descriptors play funky games with starting talents); classes defined in addons may also be affected, depending on load ordering, but this is untested.

Hey! I don't start with any points in Heavy Armor Training!

Well, no. The purpose of this addon is to make it easier for characters that start with Technique/Shield Offense to use it as soon as possible, not to force the character down that route. Testing suggests that by diverting early points to Heavy Armor Training and Strength with high priority, you should be able to start using your shield by level 2 or 3.