Ryzom

So I just started the game, but I was wondering, how viable is it to be a 'dark knight' of sorts? I heard there were heavy penalties to casting in plate/heavy armor and it is useless, or not worth the effort, to cast spells under heavy armor. How true is that? If I wanted to be a mix of melee and magic, I'd have to get stuck wearing medium armor?

hmmm
CAsting in HA is a no no
Medium armour can afford good protection whilst leaving casting viable.
The otehr option is to wear HA and use enchatments on your weapons.. this can be done without penalties but you will need a big old supply of sap crystals

*addition*
Also you are not limited to a class in ryzom.. eg i am 250 in elemental magic and 230 ish in melee.. just have to swap gear

Not "stuck" in the worst sense.
You can always switch armors... But well, it´ll look a bit... strange while cackling evily, don´t you think

Heavy Armor is for heavy fighting. Period.
It increases your SAP consumption in casting. And if you use Life(HP) for casts it increases this cost also. Same with time...

Light armor is for casters. Period.
It gives only a very small amount of protection, but who needs it when you can blast away at your foe.

Meduim Armor is a good mixture of both and if you´re planning to play a female charakter a true sight to behold

This is only a personal semi RP outlook on things, for I´m in no way a technical player. Stats and such things are for others to explain.

Hope it helps at least a bit

CU
Acridiel

I agree with Acridel for the most part .. but...
At medium to high lvls Light armour is viable and sometimes better than HA for grinding melee.

EG when lvling on plants or lvling solo (less down time)

Well that was the answer I was fearing, not truly as customizable as I wanted the game to be... Now, I'm not saying you should wear heavy armor while casting spells of doom, but you know, have a chance at playing a heavy armor wearing knight with spells to back himself up. I know there aren't any classes, but what I was hoping to RP was a knight with dark spells. Sort of like a Shadow Knight in EQ, or Anti Paladin from various MUDs.

hmmm
Soundslike the afflictions path..
This can be done with HA.. but not as sucessfully as with MA or LA.

Also do not underestimate the power of good medium armour!!
It can offer excellent protection - check out sehraciis shop in the bazaar

Sadly though the HA malus is there for a reason..
If i could fire off Nukes in my q250 HA without any real penalties or sap HP drain I would be practically immortal.
LA and MA would become defunct and everything would generally suck..

*dreams of being able to dig in PR with HA on

You know.. you /can/ wear HA for spell casting if you feel like it.. the spells will just not be as efficient.. but if you dont mind the malus penalities, go for it?

acridiel wrote:
Meduim Armor is a good mixture of both and if you´re planning to play a female charakter a true sight to behold

Yeah Sandaara looks way hotter in her medium Ranger armor than her heavy Matis armor.

But the heavy armor gets the job done better, so I've been using that... heheh.

C

aleloh wrote:Well that was the answer I was fearing, not truly as customizable as I wanted the game to be... Now, I'm not saying you should wear heavy armor while casting spells of doom, but you know, have a chance at playing a heavy armor wearing knight with spells to back himself up. I know there aren't any classes, but what I was hoping to RP was a knight with dark spells. Sort of like a Shadow Knight in EQ, or Anti Paladin from various MUDs.

you can easily be a dark knight. as far as i know a dark night is a warrior that augments his melee with affliction or damage dealing spells. they are mainly warriors so there spells are not nearly as powerful as one used by a mage but can it can give them that extra bit of damage or weaken their enemy so an incredibly deadly blow can be dealt. this is what makes a dark night so feared. even the largest and most powerful blades can be dodged but not when you have been put to sleep or stunned into a stupor.

so, you can use HA with a weapon but your spells will be alot harder and more expensive to cast as it should be. thats one of the main reasons i believe they developed amps. it sets casting and melee combat farther apart. it used to be there were no magic amplifiers and casters just simply did not equip a weapon to keep their spells quick and efficient. that meant you could equip a weapon and medium or heavy armor without that much of a penalty. the difference is mainly that one is a knight and one is a tank. by tank i don't mean meat-shield i mean the the heavy armor that allows those within to remain fairly safe while blowing stuff up at a great distance.

as for what do if you want to become a dark knight here in atys. well, its very possible but i wouldn't use the affliction or damage over time spells. even to enchant your weapon. fear is about the only exception. the spell system in Ryzom for any type of affliction or damage over time requires a link to keep doing its job. any action such as melee combat would automatically cancel the link causing its affect to wear off shortly after. so, i personally would stick with damage spells to augment your melee both enchanted on your wepon and the occasional cast. enchants can get expensive with sap crystal costs unless you forage alot for cash or something.