Well, I've been back in UO for almost 2 months now and am still figuring out what has changed while I was away (in the past year and a half).

I was looking around stratics at Chivalry template discussions. It took me a while to figure out how everyone was cramming parry and bushido into their paladin templates, when mine is cramped and I'm currently dropping what's left of my 36 parry, so I can use it for 100+ scrolled weapon skills.

It was because I've still got 100 focus! From what I can tell, people are just using mana leech weapons and not even bothering to use this skill anymore.


I'd love to have room for 100 parry, or even 100 arms lore if it's need later, but I'm pretty much maxed out.

100 Chivalry
110 Swords
110 Tactics
110 Anatomy
91 Healing
100 Focus
90 Magic Resist
36 Parry
(more or less, with 710 points available.)

Are there any paladins that still use the focus skill, rather than rely on leech weapons? Any thoughts on the above template? It seemed to work well for a while after AoS.

I've tried the mana leech weapons, but even a 40% leech chance doesn't always give the mana back when I need it the most.

Leech weapons are a huge help, but they are not what is used to replace Focus, mana/stamina regen on armor is used to replace Focus.

As for your template, Chiv can be dropped some, and depending on how much you rely on it, you can drop it for a fair amount of points. I've kept mine at the 80 range and will drop it to 70 which is still effective for anything I need PvM wise and more than enough for PvP.

Suggestions

If you mainly PvM:

70 Chiv
120 Swords
110 Tact
110 Anat
90 Heal
110 Magic Resist
100 Parry (jewels to 110 or higher if possible or take 10 from Anat to take to 110)

If for PvP:
60 Chiv
120 Swords
120 Tact
120 Anat
90 Heal
110 Magic Resist (use the ML minor arty with +10 Magic Resist (aegis of grace) or Jewels, 120 would be choice, could take away from anat if needed)
110 Parry (use Tokuno minor arty with +10 Parry (ancient samurai do) or jewels, 120 would be choice, could take away from anat if needed)

Here is my Paladins template:
70 Chiv
110 Parry(120 in the end)
110 Tactics
110 Anatomy
110 Swords(120 in the end)
100 Focus(dropping this for either Arms lore or Magic Resist after P40).
90 Healing(GM with my Bracelet)

I have soloed the Dark Father with this template before. He kicks the crap out of me right now though with no MR.

But its just a suggestion.
If I were you with your template I would go:
70(maybe 80 and have 90 Healing) Chivalry
110 Swords
110 Tactics
110 Anatomy
GM Healing
GM Magic Resist
110 Parry

How do these templates allow for the changes that are coming? I am still trying to find away to add "armslore" or what ever they will call it.

That's IF they implement it, and they stated it won't be mandatory to have. It is a give and take situation if they do implement it, try it out on test if you want to see what's worth giving up.

I wouldn't worry TOO much about the changes right now. Looks like the Arms Lore change is getting a lot of static, so it may not even go threw. But if it does, you won't NEED it to survive threw battles. Monsters will be readjusted to make it so 40 resists act kinda like 70s do now.

Ah, that must be it.. Thanks for the replies and template advice everyone.

Now I have another couple of questions :grin:

Is 12 mana regen the cap on suits? Is 12 MR equal to the regeneration rate of GM focus, or GM meditation?

Incidentally, I have a character I'm redoing to be a GM scribe (96 right now), and I had plenty of points to spare, so I GMd both focus and meditation so I wouldn't have so much downtime in scribing scrolls. My mana regens pretty fast, and I ended up putting together a mage friendly +12 MR suit to wear while training inscription.

I noticed that when I don't have that suit on, there's no noticeable difference in regen rates. I'm guessing I'm pretty much capped out by having both GM focus and meditation? (After I GM Inscription, I'm going to drop focus to make room for other stuff)

My other question is about Chivalry. Doesn't higher chivalry affect casting speed? I usually heal with bandages, but find the cleanse by fire spell really useful for curing poison... remove curse, as well. And my paladin heal spell also comes in handy for a quick heal, in addition to bandaging.
At GM chivalry, those spells seem to work really fast and almost never be interrupted -- with or without my faster casting shield and rings.
How much would that change at 80? I wouldn't want to have to rely on FC or FCR equipment.

As for my Paladin, I should probably drop the focus... and lower Chivalry. Parry would be a great help. But, I just don't like having to rely on equipment when it comes to mana regeneration and stuff. I could try it out though... focus is probably the easiest skill to train, so it's not painful to drop. I wouldn't even waste a charge on my soulstone fragment for focus.

12 Mana Regen is equal to 120 Med.
Focus gets 1 mana regen per 20 points. So if you can build a suit that has 5 mana regen on it it is equal to Focus(as for Mana Regen).
Focus also adds 1 stamina regen per 10 points of focus.
So to have the full benifits of focus on you without using the skill you need 5 mana regen and 10 Stamina Regen. Which is pretty easy.

As for your suit, there should be a noticeable difference. Are you actively medding? or passive? And all the pieces are meddable right? lol

As for Chiv.
The level of skill your chivalry is at does not affect casting times or speeds.

Ya basically you can drop GM focus and if you find you really wanted to keep it you can just "train" it back up.

Thanks for those numbers! That helps a lot. Stamina regen isn't a problem on my paladin, since one of the spells (can't remember the name) refreshes your stamina... So, at least for PvM, there's no problem there. I think I'll go ahead and drop focus.. I have plenty of +2 MR/Mage armor pieces with high resist.

For my scribe.. I have a +12 suit -- all leather and mage/med friendly. But I also have 100 Focus and 100 meditation. When I put it on, I don't notice much difference (if any) in passive meditation compared to not having it on. With active meditation, there's only a very small difference with the suit on.

Either way, having 100 focus and 100 meditation makes for fast mana regeration, which really helps me train Inscription.



Oh, I always thought it speed or recovery rates.

I know karma is the only factor that affects damage or amount of healing, etc.. And that higher Chivalry increases your success chance.. But since the most useful spells are easy to cast, I could see bringing it down to 80 or 90.

Thanks again for the info!