Fauste's First Class Guide
When creating a new character in the game, there are a lot of factors and decisions you have to make that will affect the character's entire lifespan, and definitely affect your gameplay. The right decisions can make gameplay easier, whereas the wrong decisions can make gameplay harder. This guide is an attempt to explain some of the basics so that the novice Adventurer can make more informed decisions.
There are twelve races in the world of Alyria: Dracons, Drow, Dwarves, Elves, Fey, Gnomes, Halfings, Half-elves, Humans, Minotaur, Ogres, and Sidhe. Each has their own particular strengths and weaknesses, but all are worthwhile. If you are interested in Player Killing, some races may be better suited for you; if you are more interested in Role Playing or just plain old fun, then it doesn't matter. In the end, the choice is up to you.
Dracon
Immunities: None
Resistances: Fire, Bash
Vulnerabilities: Cold
Racial Skills or Effects: Breath attacks, armor bonus, racial levitation.
Summary: This is a decent race for beginners, and one of the most diverse as far as racial abilities go. However, it's usually not a very good idea to go Dracon if you plan to delve much into PK, because the cold vulnerability can be easily exploited. Also, the breath attacks lose their usefulness much past first class (after level 60).
Drow
Immunities: None
Resistances: Necromancy, Charm
Vulnerabilities: Holy
Racial Skills or Effects: Sense life, detect hidden
Summary: An all around balanced race, they have a decent resistance along with a weakness that is rarely exploited. Their ability to go Cavalier raises there somewhat low vitality as well.
Dwarf
Immunities: None
Resistances: Magic, Poison, Disease
Vulnerabilities: Lightning
Racial Skills or Effects: Infravision
Summary: The only shortcoming of the Dwarves is their lightning vulnerability, however this is made up for by their resistances. With great class path choices and decent stats, they are a good race for all.
Elves
Immunities: None
Resistances: Charm
Vulnerabilities: None
Racial Skills or Effects: Hide, infravision, detect alignment
Summary: Elves have the most maximum SP of all races, and are very good spell casters. However, they don't have a lot of HP, so they can be rather hard later on.
Fey
Immunities: Poison
Resistances: Charm, disease, paralysis
Vulnerabilities: Light, water, iron, drowning
Racial Skills or Effects: Feed, magical fade, shift, faerie fire
Summary: This race of vampire faeries is rather strong, although limited in class choices. They also cannot wield items made of iron, and have three other weaknesses. One could argue that this is made up for by their resistances and immunities, and rather high maximum HP and SP
Gnome
Immunities: None
Resistances: Magic, Poison, Disease
Vulnerabilities: None
Racial Skills or Effects: Fast healing
Summary: Gnomes are quite strong indeed, with resistance to magic and no weaknesses. However, they do have quite a limited choice in classes, as male gnomes are forced to be Paladins, one of the weaker fighting classes.
Halfling
Immunities: None
Resistances: Magic
Vulnerabilities: None
Racial Skills or Effects: Racial haste, dodge, hide, detect hidden, infravision
Summary: Perhaps the perfect race for the beginner, their great class selection and two attacks give them an advantage in the beginning.
Half-elves
Immunities: None
Resistances: Charm, disease
Vulnerabilities: None
Racial Skills or Effects: Fast Healing, infravision
Summary: A hybrid race between elves and humans, Half-elves are one of the more popular races in Alyria. They have decent stats and great class selection, so they are a good race for all.
Humans
Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Vulnerabilities: None
Racial Skills or Effects: Shorter death timer, less practices required for skills
Summary: The basic race, humans have neither pros nor cons. They have all classes available (except shaman).
Minotaur
Immunities: None
Resistances: Cold, Bash
Vulnerabilities: Fire
Racial Skills or Effects: Shieldless bash
Summary: They are a great race for anyone not interested in Player Killing. However, if you do decide to be a minotaur and want to PK, you will find yourself at a disadvantage due to your easily exploited fire vulnerability.
Ogre
Immunities: None
Resistances: Fire, Cold, Bash
Vulnerabilities: Mental
Racial Skills or Effects: Bash, Battle Rage
Summary: The prime warrior race, Ogres have the most HP of all, but also the least SP of all. They also have the most racial strength and vitality.
Sidhe
Immunities: Poison
Resistances: Charm, Disease, Paralysis
Vulnerabilities: Light, water, iron
Racial Skills or Effects: shift, faerie fire, glamour, charm
Summary: The Sidhe are a beautiful race of faerie-folk who contrast their evil cousins, the Fey, in nearly every way. However, like the Fey, they cannot wear iron, and when they die, they go to the Faerie Plane instead of the Ethereal Void.
As a new player, the meaning of some of the racial abilities and effects may be new to you. So, I will explain them to help you further understand each of the races.
Armor Bonus: This means that when you start, you will have an extra bit of armor, which grows slightly each time you multiclass.
Breath Attacks: Dracons are the only race to receive breath attacks, and they come in five varieties: fire, gas, acid, lightning, and frost. Each has it's own effect and use, along with damage.
Detect Alignment: The ability to discern whether a person or creature is good or evil.
Detect Hidden: This is the ability to see hidden creatures or items in the area.
Feed: The ability of the Fey to assault and drink the blood of a victim, sating both their hunger and thirst, as well as doing damage to the target. It also has a chance to paralyze the victim.
Infravision: The ability to detect creatures in the dark, and better see your inventory in the dark. It does not, however, allow you to see in the dark.
Magical Fade: A defense ability of the Faeries that allows them to dodge an attack by slipping momentarily to the Faerie Plane and back.
Shape Shifting: The ability of Faeries to assume the shape of any creature for a certain length
The first step to playing Materia Magica is to create your character. Choosing the best Race and Class Path is up to you; I will, however, give some information on all the classes.
In Materia Magica, you get the opportunity to multiclass every 60 levels (levels 60, 120, and 180). You get a total of 4 classes, in addition to Archon at level 240. You get to choose from one Warrior class, one Magician class, one Clerical class, and one Thief class. Some classes go better with others, and this will be covered.
Each class has a 'main stat' which raises one stat up from your normal racial limit by three in your first class, and by two in all the others. Also, skills and spells cost less in the earlier classes, so you may wish to plan your character accordingly.
Barbarian
Barbarians are a powerful class, available to Humans, Half-elves, Drow, Halflings, Fey, Dracons, Minotaur, Dwarves and Ogres. Their main stat is Strength, and the major highlights of this class are: Axe, arguably the most powerful one-handed weapon in the game, and Battle Rage, an ability which lets you utilize the built-up anger from long fights in order to deliver a crushing blow against your foes. They have one of the smallest skill lists of all, but are still very powerful.
Cavalier
Cavaliers are noble knights accustomed to fighting on horse back, available to Humans, Half-elves, Sidhe, Minotaur, Dwarves, Drow, Halflings, and Elves. Their main stat is Vitality, and the major perks to Cavalier are Riding, which gives you a large accuracy boost while mounted, and Lance, the strongest weapon of the game whose only downfall is that you must be mounted in order to use them. Also, Cavalier is a male-only class.
*It is not suggested to go Cavalier if you are a Minotaur, as you will be unable to use the fire ward.
Paladin
The weakest of all the fighters, Paladins have less combat ability than other fighters. However, to make up for this, they are able to use curative magic to aid themselves and their allies. Also, they receive Cure Blind, a very vital spell, which allows them to go Druid. Races able to go Paladin are Human, Half-elf, Gnome, Dwarf, Halfling, Sidhe, and Elf. Their main stat is Courage.
Valkyrie
The most defensive of all the classes, Valkyries receive the key ability Second Defense, which allows them to dodge an extra attack each round of combat. It doesn't sound like much, but it drastically cuts down the damage received. Feys, Elves, Humans, Half-elves, Sidhe, Drow, Gnomes, and Ogres may go Valkyrie. Like Paladins, their main stat is Courage.
Monk
Not particularly skilled in offensive magic, Monks receive the ability Herbalism to make up for this, along with some defensive and offensive maneuvers. They also get Cure Blind, which allows you to go druid without sacrificing your warrior class to go Paladin. Humans, Half-elves, Gnomes, Elves, Drow, Dwarf, Halfling, and Sidhe may go Monk. Their main stat is Knowledge.
Psionic
Psionics utilize their mind to cast their spells. They have silent casting, which helps in PK, and need no spell books and very few reagents to cast their spells. Available races are Fey, Human, Half-elf, Elf, Minotaur, Dracon, Halfling, Dwarf, Gnome, and Drow. Their main stat is sanity.
Ranger
Almost more of a warrior than a magician, Rangers receive special skills like Snare, Herbalism and Riding, while not getting some of the better offensive spells available to Wizards. The races that may go Ranger are Human, Half-elf, Fey, Gnome, Drow, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling. Their main stat is Agility.
Wizard
Available to all races, Wizards have the most spells of any spell-casting class, and are arguably the most powerful. Their main stat is Knowledge.
Druid
Druids are unlike the other clerical classes in that they do not have the need for spell books, and that they are mostly offensive rather than defensive. They are, however, lacking the spells Cure Blind, which the other clerical classes have, which makes them crippled in some way. Their main stat is Knowledge, and are available to Humans, Half-elves, Elves, Gnomes, Dwarves, Sidhe, and Halflings.
Priest
Nearly identical to Shaman except for certain spells such as Augment Aura and Word of Recall, a Priest's main stat is Wisdom. They are available to Humans, Half-elves, Drow, Sidhe, Halflings, and Dwarves.
Shaman
Again, very similar to Priests, Shamans are a mostly defensive class. Their main stat is Wisdom, and are available to Gnomes, Minotaurs, Dracons, Fey, and Ogres.
Bard
The most notable skill of a Bard is Music, which allows them to cast certain spells by playing notes on magical instruments. They aren't seen to be as powerful as Rogues, but that can be a matter of opinion. Their main stat is Luck, and they are available to Humans, Elves, Half-elves, Sidhe, Halflings, Ogres and Dwarves.
Rogue
True thieves, they receive the special skills of snare, evasion, tracking, and many others which Bard misses out on, and are great for PK. Their main stat is Agility, and available races are Humans, Half-elves, Gnomes, Fey, Dracons, Ogres, Halflings, Drow, Dwarf, and Minotaur.
There are certain class paths that are frequently chosen due to their strength and compatibility. There are also classes that should not be combined, because of skill redundancy, or overlap, and a lack of power.
Good Class Paths
Paladin/Wizard/Druid/Rogue - This class path gives you all the key skills you'll need to get by in basic playing and PK. However, this path would leave you weak physically, and dependant on magic.
Barbarian/Ranger/Priest/Bard - Giving you a mix of the skills Axe, Riding, and Battle Rage makes you strong physically, and Herbalism + Music make up for your lack of offensive magic prowess.
Barbarian/Monk/Druid/Rogue - Combining the power of both Barbarain and Druid makes this a very powerful class path. Also, Herbalism makes up for the lack of magic from Monk. You could also interchange Valkyrie with Barbarian, and/or Bard with Rogue and it would still quite a decent class path.
Cavalier (or Barbarian)/Wizard/Priest (or Shaman)/Rogue - A basic class path that gives you brute strength and superb magical ability.
Classes Not to Mix
Priest (or Shaman), Monk, and Paladin - Each focuses on healing magic, so having more than one of these in your class path is a bad decision.
Rogue and Ranger - They each overlap a lot in their proficiencies, which is quite bad.
Gaining experience levels is an easy thing to do as a warrior or thief, but is rather difficult for magicians and clerics. If you are a cleric or magician first class, skip to the next chapter. If you are a warrior or thief, read on.
There are certain areas which provide more experience than others, and some that should just be avoided outright. I will give a list of places to level up according to your level.
Levels 1-10: You should level up mainly in Lasler, because it is easy there, and there is lots of help. You may get more experience in the Ghering Caves or in the area past the Forest Guardian. At level six, you may leave Lasler. I would suggest only leaving then to go to Rune and buy a better weapon, then come back to Lasler. Levelling is much easier then. It should also be noted that you cannot come back to Lasler after level 10.
Levels 10-20: Rune Park is a nice place to level. It may be easy to get lost here, however, and it is best not to venture into the Graveyard at low levels.
Levels 20-25: In this stage it is easiest to level in the farmlands outside of the major cities, killing primarily Peasant Farmers, Cows, etc. Beware, however, Peasant Overseers can be rather tough, and it takes a lot of stamina to move about in the fields.
Levels 25-30: Journey to Sigil, and fight the Knights that dwell within the Castle. They may be few, but they give lots of experience.
Levels 30-50: If you feel you are up for a challenge, and want a lot more experience, then journey to the town of Templeton, just north of Tellerium. It should be noted that the mobs here are rather tough if you are lacking a defense such as dodge.
Levels 50-60: You can fight the denizens of Pirates Cove. Be careful, though, there are PK-rooms in the north part of the city, and outside of the city on the continent of Beltane, everywhere but the roads is PK.
Questing is a necessity if you wish to get all of your skills practiced. Also, it may be the only way you can level by yourself if you're a first class Magician/Cleric. Certain areas are better for questing than others, and shall be outlined here.
Rune - Considered to have the best quest rewards of all the towns, Rune also has some of the hardest quests, requiring you to venture to far away towns. It is not suggested to quest here if you are new.
Sigil - In contrast to Rune, Sigil has some of the easiest quests with the least rewards.
Tellerium - Just about in the middle as far as quest difficulty and rewards, although Tellerium is not suggested for spell-casters as the town is no-magic.
Xaventry - Rather far off from the rest of the world, Xaventry has average quest difficulty and rewards, much like Tellerium.
Templeton - Although only available at level 60, Templeton is one of the better questing towns, sporting easy quests with big rewards. However, Lady Templeton, the Quest Master (or QM) has no Quest-Items for sale.
If you become lost, and cannot figure out what to do, there are many places, in addition to this website, you can go online for help. Please see the Links section of the website for a list of Materia Magica-related sites.
