Commoner new player guide

Start

This guide will be an all encompassing guide for those delving into the realm of commoners.

Commoners are the default starting guild in Dragonrealms, meaning everyone starts as a commoner. However 99% of players will join a guild, with the bulk of the remainder being mules. Very few players decide to stay as a commoner.

The first and most obvious question is why?

Why stay a Commoner? - RP

Maybe you were such a heretic edge-lord that you finally got kicked out of the Paladin guild. Kssarh was so tired of your crap he threw you out of the Moon Mage tower and you landed on your head. Maybe you're an assassin that just wants to blend in? Or maybe you just really want to be a peasant.

It's a blank slate.

Why stay a Commoner? - Gameplay

• Tired of magic? Tired of khri? Tired of typing .combat? Don't want to be the 500th Warrior Mage to hit 200? Nostalgic for the Dragonrealms of yore where if you looked at a field goblin wrong you might find yourself walking the starry road?

• Staying a commoner is the 'hard-mode' of Dragonrealms. You're not going to get struck down by walking through Crossing in public, but since you are so TDP starved your actions matter tenfold. Listening to classes at the Empath guild for a few days could be the difference between survival and death. Upgrading a weapon can be truly impactful and that can make the game more exciting as each milestone is that much more gratifying. Dragonrealms plays a bit differently for a Commoner. They weren't tuned for you. It's like your Barbarian friend is playing Dynasty Warriors and you're playing a survival horror game. (Don't stay out at night the wolves might get you.)

• While being much more challenging than 'The Guilded' you're free to do what you wish as there's no guildmaster to corral you. You just want to kick rocks and read your encyclopedia in peace? Have at it. You don't have to be focused on combat.

Play your character

Play your character. As a Commoner you'll have no real goals other than those you set yourself. And, without access to the magic skillset, or any real ability systems, you'll have a lot of free time. Which you'll need because advancing is really painful and slow as a Commoner.

Advantages to being a Commoner

A Commoner trains all skills at a secondary rate. Meaning, if you plan on becoming a Moon Mage, you can train weapons up a bit before joining. This is largely silly though, because all skills train as primary to 50 ranks, and then as secondary to 100 ranks.

Disadvantages to being a Commoner

Literally everything else. The best way around this is addressed in the next point.

Ability Choices

As a commoner, you have access to a library of zero powerful spells and abilities. These include:

Below is the suggested picking order:

Training a Commoner

Do stuff and gain experience.

• Since you do not gain TDPs from leveling, it is recommended that you train as wide as possible, keeping as many skills moving as possible.

• There are many rough points on the hunting ladder. You will have to squeeze every drop of EXP out of enemies when 'The Guilded' have moved up. On the early end of the latter you may have to stick around until you're learning nothing. Dodge into somewhere to train your defenses and leave until you can safely survive. Or catch a class on Shield, Evasion, etc. You may need to overtrain your defenses, missile mastery and melee mastery to get a foothold on the next rung of the ladder. Alternatively if you hit an especially rough spot spend some time totally outside of combat and work those TDPs.

It Gets Better

• There are various pockets of difficult, but I found the 100-250 rank range to be the most difficult. In the circle 50 range 'The Guilded' are starting to get their advanced spells and able to use them properly and enemies are tuned for this. Once the ladder starts to open up and enemies have a wider range on which they can be hunted you can stick around longer and eke out a bit more EXP.

Friendship is Power.... and so is Money

• Got an Empath friend? Beg them for healing and buffs. Reducing downtime while bleeding out Or even better find a group to hunt with. Getting a couple of buffs can be a huge boost when you have nothing.

• Fortunately and unfortunately, for the same reason, Micro-Transaction items are a huge boon to Commoners. Heroic Tattoos, Wands good weapons and good armor can make a huge difference in survivability. Being able to survive and being able to hit an opponent are the most important so you can continue to gain experience.

• Partially because you'll be focused on staying alive, and partially because Commoners have no offensive abilities Commoners by far have the slowest kill speed. Meaning less skins to sell, less trunks to open. They're also penalized in the crafting arena, so having a Commoner as your only character is not very recommended.

Join a Guild, or Don't

After a while you'll realize a Commoner is not for everyone. See New player guides for more information about guilds and try out those J O I N keys.

Alternatively, embrace the challenge and slowly, painfully, unnecessarily climb to 1750 in every skill while staying circle 0. If you do go this route, here are some things to keep in mind:

• Your stats are often the only thing keeping you from dying. Train every skill you can for the TDPs to increase stats with, and maximize your TDP use early. If you are doing combat (you should, more TDPs) remember Reflex is the most important stat for staying alive while hunting. Neglecting your mental stats is ok, although Wisdom is useful for absorbing experience slightly faster.
• You can still use Heroic Tattoos for stat boosts, gyres to store and use spells, and wands for all the utility they offer.
• Nets can be used to cause immobilize status using your Light Thrown or Heavy Thrown skill.
• You cannot Dissect, as you can never reach circle 10. This means you should get used to using a Textbook for learning First Aid.
• You work off armor hindrance as an armor tertiary guild, so a chain-primary clown suit of all four armor types (remember the first bullet?) is your best balance between avoiding what hits you can and surviving the rest. For Player vs. Player, full chain.
• The most important command to type once you decide to abandon JOIN forever: TITLE PRE CHOOSE OTHER COMMONER

fin