PowerMud

Releases 2005

Date : 12/29/2005, Apex

Command - A new command, 'checkskill', has been put in. Use it!

Date : 12/28/2005, Viper

Guild Items - It is now possible to buy items for your Guild that will save in the Guild House. Only one of each item type can be put in each Guild. For those Guilds that have multiple locations, each branch would have to buy their own items. The Guildmaster of the Guild can do the purchasing. If there is nobody in the top spot, then the highest position can do it. Please see the 'help guild_items' file for more information. Submit any requests to Viper. More items to come.
Spells - The duration of a large number of 'buff' spells has been upped, some up to 50% more than previous times. See 'help buff_times' for the list of those that were altered.
Gonnat - When you quit from Gonnat Island, as before when you log back in you will be placed elsewhere. Those 'places' have been altered quite a bit.
Haste - There was a bug with Haste and Enhanced Haste. The spell now can be better than it was. NOTE: The 'AC bonus' of Haste has been temp removed for testing.
Potions - A new potion type has been introduced, and can be brewed using the 'brew' command. This type will help with the 'syndrome' that UD Players get when casting spells on the surface, and with Surface Players having the same issues while in the UD. There are two of these Potions, Calming and Extra Calming. Note that this only helps when casting spells.
NPC Spells - Haste and Enhanced Haste has been added to several NPCs, including many of the Dragons.
NPC - The Speaker of the Moon has been upgraded quite a lot. He has several more spells among other things, as he is a member of the Bastion of High Sorcery. He potentially has a new item.
Spells - For the Hiation and Planar Gate spells, there is now less chance that the spell component (Undamaged Dragon Scale) will explode when the spell is cast. Also, the better quality the scale (from a higher level Dragon), the more less likely it is to be destroyed.

Date : 12/08/2005, Viper

Dragonfear - Eight (8) new levels of DKR have been added. These new levels are all above 'Virtuoso', where that used to be the max DKR you could get. These new levels will further add to your resistance to Dragonfear.
Magic Items - Six new Rings that give various bonuses for 'Aversion' type skills are now in. To find out where they might be, seek out a fellow named Finnyer, on the Kalin continent. He has clues to where these rings have been placed.

Date : 12/07/2005, Viper

New Spells - Two new spells, Haste and Enhanced Haste, are now in the game. Battlemages, Sorcere, Illusionists, and Bastion get Haste, and Bastion gets Enhanced Haste. There are also scrolls for each type. See 'help haste' and 'help enhanced haste' for more information.

Date : 11/17/2005, Viper

Combat - The 'Aversion' skill set is now in. It consists of the five main combat skills of Slash, Blunt, Unarmed, Ranged, and Pierce Aversion. All non-Mage Guilds now have either one or more of the skills. The Guild trainer will now have the skill or skills that the Guild can learn. Also, some Professions add the skill or skills, and some can raise the Skill Max on one or more. Be sure and check the help files for the various Professions. Viper) ('help aversion' for more information)

Date : 11/11/2005, Viper & Blink

Teaching - The Teaching skill is now available. Some of the benefits of using it is that you can get +Wisdom as well as regular experience when doing it. Check out the 'help teach' and 'help teaching' help files. There is a trainer in both Dunkrist and Kalinport.

Date : 09/29/2005, Viper

Artificer - You now get a bonus to your Max in several skills, see the help file for more information ('help artificer')
Profs - The help files for all the Professions will now list if that Profession gives you a bonus or penalty in your Max for a skill. Look for the 'Skill Maxes' line.
Profs - The Archer, Sapper, Duelist, and Bladesman Professions now give double the Skill Max (for each type of skill related) that they used to give. Ranged for Archer, Blunt for Sapper, etc.

Date : 09/08/2005, Viper

Merchants - The regular Experience given when completing a Caravan route has been increased.
Merchants - There is now a GM system in place, see guildinfo.
Profs - The Penalties for Alchemist and Salesman have been removed.
Brewing/ Concocting - These skills can now be learned by any guild. However they will max out very low unless the Alchemist Profession is obtained. Also, the 'Alchemy' skill that is used with the Potionid command is only available to an Alchemist. There is a place in Kalinport where these two skills can be learned (check the Map).
Profs - The Alchemist Profession is now used in making potions and concoctions. To make any of the higher level items, you must have the Alchemist Profession.
Merchants - The number of Professions that a merchant can obtain has been raised, from 6 to 10.
Merchants - The Experience to obtain a Profession has been reduced by 50% for the Merchant Guild only. So, the first Profession can be obtained, by a Merchant, at 7.5k exp instead of 15k exp, etc.

Date : 08/29/2005, Viper

Knights - There are several additions/changes for your Guild, be sure to check the Guild Board for more information.

Date : 08/24/2005, Viper and Blink

Vials - Vials and Custom Vials have been reduced in price by half. Also, they are able to be sold to normal shopkeepers now.
Conjured Weapons - Weapons and Armor that are conjured by spells will no longer sustain damage while in combat.
Hiding - The 'hide' command should not bug out anymore when there are a lot of NPCs and other things in the room.
Artificer - The bonuses for Artificer in the woodworking, cigar rolling, tailoring, and forging skills have been doubled.
Sailboats - You can now 'board' and 'leave' sailboats while riding mounts.

Date : 08/19/2005, Viper

Carpenter - The Carpenter Profession has been upgraded. You now have many more possible items to be made using Woodworking. You also get an Armor Class bonus on any Armor made.

Date : 08/05/2005, Viper and Blink

New Area - There is a new mining cave between Dunkrist and Nal Shaddar in the UnderDark, check it out.

Date : 07/19/2005, Viper and Apex

More NPCs - Several of the larger cities and the general UD have been stocked with more NPCs for you all to have fun with. All areas will most likely be updated with NPCs soon.
Merchants - Check out the 'stack' command.

Date : 07/15/2005, Viper

Newbie Area - There is a new Newbie area one west of the Arena in Kalinport.

Date : 07/05/2005, Viper

Monk Guild - Monks are no longer affected by Sun or Snow exposure.

Date : 07/01/2005, Viper

New Players - There is now a 'restat' command to use. You would use this before joining a Guild. As of today all new players will not go through the process of picking Abilities (Str, Dex, etc) when they first log in. If you are a new player who joined before this release, but have not joined a Guild, just restat before joining a Guild, picking the same stats if you want. See 'help restat' and 'help restat2' for more information.

Date : 06/07/2005, Viper

Monk Guild - You now have the 'gauge' command.

Date : 05/11/2005, Viper

Traps - You will now get Perception experience if you successfully disarm a trap that you run across. This does not apply to traps that are set by Player Thieves and Assassins.

Date : 04/25/2005, Viper

Food - The decay rate for food is now 5x what it used to be. That is, any food will decay a lot more slowly, and last longer. This includes fish caught using the Fishing command.
Thief - When failing Extortion, it is now possible to gain some experience in the skill instead of getting zero as before.

Date : 04/03/2005, Viper

Prof - The Aristocrat profession now has Bladesman as a possible upper Profession to learn.

Date : 03/12/2005, Viper

Thief - Any race can now join this guild.
Assassin - Any race can now join this Guild.

Date : 03/08/2005 and 03/09/2005, Viper

Hide/Invis - You will now get a bonus to damage when using the below attacks when hidden or invisible: Annihilate, Arc-Moon, Charge, Gore, Roll-Thrust, Shield-Bash and Spin-Kick
Perception - You now get exp in Perception when you discover a hidden player/NPC. Frobodwin, Frabodwin and Frebodwin no longer exist. It is also possible to get exp in this skill by noticing an attack coming from the shadows.
Rangers - You now have an Epic skill, check with your Trainer.
Mariner - You now have an Epic skill, check with the Mariner Trainer.
Militia - You now have an Epic skill, check with the Commandant.
Homeguard - You now have an Epic skill, check with the Duergar Commander.

Date : 03/04/2005, Viper

Hide/Sneak - Hide and Sneak now is affected by how much you are carrying. (The weight of it all, not the number of items) The less you carry, the more bonus you get. It is also possible that you could get a penalty, if you are carrying too much, as it weighs you down.

Date : 03/02/2005, Viper

Melee-Magthere - You now have an Epic skill, check with Loreman or Dryyt. With this, the maxes for Hide/Sneak/Backstab have been raised to Perfect.
Abyss/Hallows - There is no longer any Surface or UD penalties in the Abyss or Hallows, including the Palace and Temple.

Date : 03/01/2005, Viper

Bastion - There is vote going on for the Enchanter positon. Check your Guild board for more information.
Releases! - The 'releases' command has been modified. If you just use the cmd by itself, it will list the releases for 2005. You can also do 'releases 2004' to list all the releases for that year.

Date : 02/24/2005 and 02/25/2005, Viper

Highlanders - This Guild is now closed for new membership. That is, you not be allowed to join this Guild as a newbie. Current members will be able to keep training, if wanted. However, this Guild will no longer be updated, which includes the GM systems and the EPIC skills/cmds. This is all due to the fact that the Guild deserves a lot of work, but it is not really in the theme of PowerMud. So, it is on hiatus for now and will most likely not be worked on in the future.
Psionics - Minotaurs now have a chance to get Psionics.
Assassin - Your Guild now has an Epic Skill. Check out the guildhelp.
SH Guard - You now have an Epic skill, check either trainer. Use the 'guildinfo' command for more information.
Fighting - The 'Cleave' attack now has a chance to stun when you are invis OR hidden. Previously you had to be invis.
Elite - You now have an Epic skill, check your trainer. The skill has a help file, use 'guildinfo' to see what it is.
Fishing - There are now tackle boxes out there that improve your chances of landing a fish while using the Fish command.
Northmen - This Guild has been given several upgrades, check out guildinfo.
Sheep Ledge - The animal NPCs of this area can now be skinned.
Profession - As a Blind-Fighter, it will now be possible for you to be able to use most Guild melee 'specials' while blinded. However this is only a _chance_, and will not always work. A high Dexterity will improve the chances of the 'special' working.
Cooking - There is now a Cooking trainer in Dunagin.

Date : 02/09/2005, Viper

Faith - Any guild that has the 'Faith' skill will now get a small SP regen and Faith experience when burying any corpses. This only applies to NPC corpses, not Player corpses. Also, the Cult's 'Offer' cmd now gives Faith experience.
Bows - You can now set up an 'alarm' to tell yourself if the ammo in your wielded Bow weapon is getting low. See the 'bow_alarm' entry in 'help variables'.
Exp Bonus - If you are a registered PKer, you now get an Experience Bonus. This applies to killing either an NPC or another Player. Also, any Player will get an Experience Bonus for their amount of Quest Points (type 'quests completed'), when killing either an NPC or another Player. The higher your number of Quest Points, the larger the bonus.

Date : 02/07/2005, Viper

Spell - The help file for Mirror Images states that you will lose your existing images when trying to cast over the old ones. A bug was noted that made the images NOT vanish. Be warned that they will now vanish in that instance.

Date : 02/03/2005 and 02/04/2005, Viper

Monk - Monks now get a natural Regeneration bonus, similar to the one that Doctors and Herbalists get. This is in addition to the Regeneration abilities your Faith skill gives you.
Potion - A new potion is in, see 'brew list'.
Tailoring - The 'mask' (armor) has been changed from the 'misc' slot to the 'eyes' slot.
Psionic - There is a new Mental Attack Psionic, see the Mind Flayer.
Clerical - All Clerical Guilds have been altered to not require a certain Intelligence to learn spells. Which means as a Cleric you could potentially learn any spell that your Guild offers. (There is still the Int requirement, but all spells have been set to a value below what your Guild required anyway)

Date : 02/01/2005 and 02/02/2005, Viper

Area - A new area is now in. It is a Tropical island called Gonnat Island and is located in the Sea of Honshale. Please note that this is an Very tough place. See 'help areas_misc' for more information.
NPC's - You may notice that certain NPCs are now hitting harder, for more damage. This happened because a bug with their weapon class has been fixed. You will notice this on those NPCs who used to hit MUCH harder when not wielding a weapon, and on those high level NPCs who's wielded weapon does not have such a high weapon class. The change will not be terribly great, but will certainly be of some impact. NOTE: Not all changes are in, I just wanted you all to have advanced warning of it happening.

Date : 01/27/2005, Couger and Viper

Area - A new 'area' is now in. It is a ship in the Sea of Honshale that can be boarded via a rented Sailboat. See the following help files for more information: areas, areas_misc, sailboat, moving_ships, seasickness If any bugs are found, please contact Cougar.
Exp Issues - The issue where you did not get experience for killing something outright when using Behead, Backstab, or Assassinate has been fixed. Let Viper know if you still see issues.

Date : 01/25/2005, Viper

PKing - Some weapons and armor will now be only usable by those who have signed up to be a PKer. ('help pker') Only a few items already in the game will be affected (such as Assassin weapons) but more will be added, most likely magical items.

Date : 01/18/2005, Viper

Spells/EQ - Protection from Good/Evil/Undead have been modified a few ways. The damage that it prevents is somewhat random now. Also, the max damage it can block has been lowered. This is due to the low level of the spell, and the potential usefulness far outstripped that low level (hence, BS).
Psionics - Previously, the 'delay' between Psionic uses was halved if the target dodged your mental attack, or you just failed the psionic. It is now NOT halved, and will be the same delay if the Psionic worked.

Date : 01/12/2005, Viper

Psionics - Several changes have been put in for Psionics, please see 'help psionic_changes' if you have Psionics.
Psionics - The Mental Being trainer is now in Toril. The Dimension Door Psi has been altered acordingly, and Zahkar was put back as an option for the destination.

Date : 01/05/2005, Viper

Psionics - Finally, all of the bonuses for Mentalist have been put in. If you have that Profession, you will probably notice better results when using the Discipline Psionics.
Dragonfear - There was a bug that allowed the dodging and evasion of a Dragon's 'quick' attack (their special) with no penalties when you are being affected by Dragonfear. That has been fixed, so you will now note that it is a lot harder to dodge/evade those types of attacks while under the influence of Dragonfear.
Knights - The 'knight-salute' attack has been modified. You now do more base damage, and the damage done while mounted has been inproved quite a bit. Also the bonus you get for damage if the target is blinded, stunned, or entangled, has been upped.

Date : 01/03/2005 & 01/04/2005, Viper

Magic EQ - Several new magical Quivers have been put in. They are all obtained through a dragon's hoard.
Dragons - DKR will now affect if you even get Dragonfear or not when coming into contact with a Dragon. Up until now that piece of the code was not working correctly.
Profession - Any Damage and/or ToHit penalties have been removed from the following Professions (see the help files for more info): Horseman, Lumberjack, Miner, Outdoorsman, Artificer Profession - The Horseman and Animal Trainer professions now give bonuses to both damage and the success rate for the 'Lance' command.