Necro: A few newb questions

[BruenarSZ]

Hello all,
I have recently been introduced to SoD through a friend, and am currently attempting to roll a Necro. For race, I will more than likely choose Dark Elf. While I am familiar with the play style of Necros, I have a few questions concerning alignment/religion as well as the initial starting point and attribute distribution. Based on what I have gathered, I am assuming (and we all know what happens when one assumes) that I will be Chaotic Evil; however, I do not know which Chaotic Evil god to swear to. Once again assuming, I figured Gradalsh was the appropriate deity based on his desire for decay and entropy, as well as his preferred weapon being a scythe. Is this the only option? And if not, are the other options (read any alignment) as easy or beneficial as Gradalsh?

My second question deals with the starting city. Dark Elves are allowed to begin in Oggok or Newport. Does one have any particular advantages over the other? I have noticed there are a few more initial quests in Grobb (according to wiki). That being said, is the distance between Oggok and Grobb or Newport and Grobb the same as EQLive, or are the zone connections and therefore traveling distances completely changed in this version?

Concerning initial attribute point distribution, I've read that it best to put the maximum amount of points into Charisma, and the remainder into Intelligence because Charisma is far more difficult to raise at higher levels. I'm unclear on the reasons behind this. Could someone briefly explain why Charisma is so important?

Last question is about SoD in general. Does this server support any form of PvP combat? And if so, how open is it (i.e. is it based on alignment/race? are there level ranges in which PvP can take place?) Also is Roleplaying encouraged, demanded, and or simply up to the player's wims?

Thank you for your time in reading (I know, I'm long winded) and answering this question.

 

[Dinadass]

As far as which god to pledge to- If you want to go chaotic/evil, Gradalsh and Tarhyl are your two choices. If you pledge to Tarhyl you're locked out of one of the best high end raid zones in the game, so I don't advise doing that. Sivyana and Marlow are other popular options for evil characters because, again, you are only locked out of a lowish tier plane that is not a big deal to skip once you're 65 and raiding.

The easiest means of transportation on SoD for non-porters is the Mansion of Portals. Most starting cities (Oggok and Halas being the exceptions) have a portal located in them that will transport you into a zone where you can run to any of the other portals. You do not want to idle in the Mansion because it can randomly dispel you, disease you, poison you, or nuke you for 75% of your max health. Running from one portal to another is generally safe; while people do die on occasion, it is pretty uncommon.

As a necro honestly I'd advise putting most of your initial stat points into stamina, but it depends on your intentions with the character and how well geared you expect to become. Charisma is important in SoD because it affects how often creatures resist your spells. Intelligence and Charisma are both very easy to max for int-casters though, even if you're still wearing dropable gear at level 65. Because of this, I'd advise having more stamina (especially as a necro, since your hp tends to bounce up and down due to leach, lifetaps, etc). At the end of the day though, starting points will never make or break your character, so don't stress over it too much.

PVP is only available if you choose to flag your character. The vast majority of players are not flagged, but there are some people around with red names. Roleplaying is fairly minimal from my experiences.

 

[stickupkid]

Short answers:

Best choice as god is shojar and 2nd best syvyana (not sure if that locks you out from shout of agony spell though). So choose shojar imo =)

Spend all ur points in charisma since that determines spell resists. Look up top 5 necros how they spent their points, and what is their lowest "useful" stat. Probably agility or stamina.. so points into cha and if you have leftovers sta or agi.

And for race: I would go gnome, they got the best racial trait for casters, giving them extra 10% of all their focii.

 

[Boehm]

In my experience, DE necs start in Grobb. The swamp run to the oggok isn't bad as a level one. You will want to mop to newport and the guild is in the sewers. all this should be familiar. The gm has some quests starting at level 4 that you will want to do. It leads to one of the better gate necks in the game considering level of acquisition and pure convenience.

I really wouldn't worry about alignment until after 50. You can choose whatever diety you want. But the Newport quests are basically all chaotic evil and the master is gradalsh. Its a pretty easy road to that alignment. Also, though entropy drops gear necs would be interested in, it wont hurt you to skip it. Don't pledge tarhyl. You will want to pledge pariah later.

CHA is supposed to give you the increased chance to penetrate resists. its your primary stat by far until cap since all your others basically depend on it.

I would go 20 in charisma and 10 in stamina for the reason cha in any amount doesn't show up til after forty and stamina doesn't show up until d maps and t2 raid gear really. You will want to look into the charm of vanity and probably some + cha and sta jewelry. If you solo a lot you will want higher cha and probably sow. Int is not in short supply.

Now this all said, the way you put these stats isn't going to make or break your total game, just maybe make the first few levels less frustrating. I would try to stay with groups leveling in the preferred areas anyway, and few spell parsers properly parse necro dps. ;P
These are

1. North newport and newport sewers 'til about 8
2. blackburrow - to about 14
3. warrens - to about 21 or 22
4. warpstone - to about 31
5. kaladim - to about 42 ish? (can't remember)
6. Heartlands - and robots until 49 - 50 ( if you hang out at the silver crown camp in the NW corner waiting for a group, there are gobbies who drop a few pp per around. Keep the beads they drop for the blackscale quest turn in. )
7. Lasanth - 55
8. great divide harthuks - 60ish
9. labyrinth, east wastes orcs and dragon necropolis to 65.

There are a lot of other fun areas besides these though don't feel restricted to them. You should be able to find them on the wiki or asking in Dalaya's beginners.

There isn't much pvp to speak of, though there are pvp events on occasion that are fun. Its more a break from the norm then anything else. Flagging yourself will be frustrating as most flagged parties are near end game.

RP is up to the player. The server is friendly to role players but it is not a requirement.