Character Builds

You cannot do everything in Britannia with one character. Your character has 700 skill points, and a skill goes up to at most 100. So you can master seven skills. Your stats are limited too: Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence add up to at most 225, and a single stat can be at most 125.

Which seven skills you choose and how you spread your stats is called a build (a template in old players' words). In a good build the skills complement each other: one hits, one binds wounds, one protects against magic. In a bad build your points go to skills that do nothing for you.

Read first: how skills rise and how the total cap works → Skills · what stats give → Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence · starting professions → Professions

Reading a build

Each build below lists:

• Skills: seven skills and their target values. They always add up to 700.
• Stats: the spread to have once you reach 225 (Strength / Dexterity / Intelligence).
• Where to start: which profession to choose at character creation. The profession gives you four skills at 30 points each; you complete the rest by playing.
• First steps, strengths and weaknesses, and notes specific to this server.

These are not strict rules but skeletons tested for years. If you want to swap a skill, first look at what you lose: most skills work in pairs (Healing with Anatomy, Magery with Evaluating Intelligence, Animal Taming with Animal Lore). Take one out and the other weakens too.

If you are just starting

The two most forgiving builds for your first character:

1. Shield Warrior: does the most with the least equipment. Bandages, a weapon and a shield are enough. Mistakes cost little.
2. Animal Tamer: your animal does the real work while you stay back and heal it. The stablemaster's "First Companion" lessons take you step by step, and the first lesson's reward is a horse → Animal Tamer

Magic builds (Battle Mage, Necromancer-Mage, Bard) are stronger but bring the trouble of reagents, mana and armor. Save them for your second character, or start with one straight away if you remember UO.

1. Shield Warrior

For: new players, and anyone who wants to go into dungeons alone. New-player friendly.

Stats: 100 / 80 / 45. Do not leave Intelligence at 25. A weapon's special moves spend mana, and most need 30 mana. Once your weapon skill plus Parrying go above 200, moves cost 5 mana less. Even so, with 25 Intelligence you cannot do most moves → Combat

Where to start: Swordsman or Mace Fighter. Both start with Healing, so you bind your wounds from day one. Buy a shield from a blacksmith; Parrying does not rise without one. Guardian starts with a shield but has no Healing.

First steps:

• 0–25: training dummy. 25–45: rabbits, deer, rats. After 45: orcs, skeletons → Combat Skills
• When your weapon skill reaches 30, start taking hunting contracts from the warriors' guildmaster. They bring both gold and skill → Warrior
• Raise Healing and Anatomy together. At 60/60 you cure your poison, at 80/80 you resurrect the dead.
• Resisting Spells does not rise by itself; it rises by taking spells. It develops while fighting spellcasting creatures → Combat Skills

Strength: cheap, sturdy, useful everywhere. A mace lowers the opponent's stamina, a sword offers a wider choice of weapons. Weakness: cannot attack from range or teleport. Needs a runebook and friends for travel → Travel

Variant: if you will use an axe, take Lumberjacking instead of Focus. 100 Lumberjacking gives axes extra damage and counts toward the mana discount on moves.

2. Paladin

For: those who like the warrior but want some magic too. Medium difficulty.

Stats: 100 / 70 / 55. Chivalry spells need mana too.

Where to start: Paladin (Chivalry, Swordsmanship, Tactics, Focus; comes with ringmail and the Book of Chivalry). You add Anatomy and Healing later.

First steps:

• Chivalry needs tithing, not reagents: you tithe gold at a shrine, and spells spend those points → Magic Skills
• Start with Close Wounds, then come Consecrate Weapon, Divine Fury and Enemy of One.
• The strength of chivalry depends on your karma. Stealing and killing innocents weaken a paladin.

Strength: hits creatures very hard with Consecrate Weapon and Enemy of One, and can heal itself. Weakness: every spell burns tithing. Your armor is heavy and your mana regeneration slow.

Variant: taking Focus instead of Resisting Spells raises your mana and stamina regeneration, but leaves you open to spellcasting creatures.

3. Archer

For: those who like fighting from range. Medium difficulty. Since you cannot shoot while walking, you need to learn positioning.

Stats: 90 / 85 / 50. Archery alone is not enough for the mana discount on moves: you have no Parrying because you cannot hold a shield. So keep Intelligence a little higher than a warrior's.

Where to start: Archer (Archery, Tactics, Anatomy, Healing; a bow and 100 arrows). If you also want hiding, Ranger.

First steps:

• A dummy does not train archery. You need a live target from 0: rabbits, deer, then orcs → Combat Skills
• Arrows keep running out. You make them yourself with Bowcraft/Fletching → Crafting Skills

Strength: brings down a creature that does not get close without taking a scratch. With the Moving Shot move it fires even while walking. Weakness: no shield, weak in melee. Depends on arrows and the bow.

Variant: Chivalry instead of Bowcraft/Fletching (more damage), or Hiding with Stealth (an ambush archer; since that is two skills, you need to cut something else).

4. Battle Mage

For: those who want a sturdy mage, or a magical warrior. The veterans' classic ("tank mage"). Medium-hard.

Stats: 100 / 25 / 100.

Where to start: Battle Mage (Magery, Swordsmanship, Tactics, Resisting Spells; a sword, leather armor, a spellbook).

First steps:

• Raise Magery circle by circle. A spell cast from a scroll is two circles easier, so the first points come cheap → Magic Skills
• Raise Meditation along with Magery. Waiting when your mana runs out is the biggest waste of time.
• Wear leather or use pieces with "mage armor". Metal armor stops meditation → Armor and Resistances

What you need to know: when you cast, the weapon in your hand goes into your backpack; you have to equip it again. If your weapon says "spell channeling", it stays in your hand. If you pick Wrestling, this is no trouble: with empty hands, Anatomy and Evaluating Intelligence together protect you like a good wrestler.

Strength: both hits and casts. Goes anywhere with Recall and Gate Travel. Weakness: has no Healing; its healing depends on mana. Carries reagents, and reagents run out.

5. Necromancer-Mage

For: those who love dark magic. Hard. The spell list is long and you need two separate reagent bags.

Stats: 100 / 25 / 100.

Where to start: Necromancer (Necromancy, Spirit Speak, Magery, Meditation; two spellbooks and two reagent bags).

First steps:

• Necromancy does not rise when cast from a scroll; you only learn by casting from the book → Magic Skills
• Spirit Speak raises the strength of necromancy spells and draws health from corpses. Raise the two together.
• The book and the dark reagents are sold by the mage merchant.

Strength: deals damage in many ways with spells such as Pain Spike, Wither and Vengeful Spirit. Lich Form raises your mana regeneration. Magery also brings travel and healing spells. Weakness: a crowded, complex build. It needs reagent and mana management.

6. Animal Tamer

For: solo players and the patient. New-player friendly, but the skills rise slowly.

Stats: 100 / 25 / 100.

Where to start: Animal Tamer (Animal Taming, Animal Lore, Veterinary, Magery; a shepherd's crook, 20 bandages, raw meat).

First steps:

• Left-click a stablemaster → Ask for a Quest. The reward of the "First Companion" lessons is a horse → Animal Tamer
• The taming road map and thresholds → Nature Skills
• Only 3 attempts in 5 minutes count toward gains in the same place. Do not get stuck on one animal; walk along the herd.
• Do not go into danger without bonding with your animal. An unbonded animal does not come back when it dies.

Strength: your animal fights while you heal from behind. The stablemaster's zoologist's orders bring a steady income. With Veterinary and Animal Lore at 80/80 you resurrect your fallen bonded pet yourself. Weakness: one of the slowest builds to train. Strong animals take several control slots; your total is 5 → Animal Tamer

Power scroll note: the strongest animals, such as the greater dragon, have thresholds above 100 (the greater dragon is 110). You need an Animal Taming power scroll for them.

7. Bard

For: those who play in groups and like to fight cleverly. Medium difficulty.

Stats: 100 / 25 / 100.

Where to start: Bard (Musicianship, Provocation, Peacemaking, Resisting Spells; a lute and a drum) or Discordant (Musicianship, Discordance, Magery, Meditation).

First steps:

• Musicianship first. It is tried first in every bard skill. Below 100, some of your attempts are wasted by "playing poorly" (one in five at 80 Musicianship) → Bard and Shadow Skills
• You can take Musicianship to 100 on your own by playing an instrument.
• Your instrument's uses run out; carry a spare.

Strength: makes two creatures tear each other apart, calms a crowd and slips away. At a champion altar, every successful provocation or discordance gives you participation points → Champion Altars Weakness: low damage on its own; if the instrument breaks, nothing is left in hand.

On this server: to take hunting contracts, a combat skill such as Magery must be at least 30; bard skills do not count. Once Musicianship goes past 100, the excess makes provocation, peacemaking and discordance easier. That makes the Musicianship power scroll the bard's most valuable scroll.

8. Crafter (house character)

For: those who love making things, trading and furnishing their house. Most players open this as a second character.

Stats: 100 / 75 / 50. Strength is for carrying: ore and ingots are heavy → Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence

Where to start: Blacksmith, Tinker or Tailor.

First steps:

• The "what to make from 0 to 100" table for every craft → Crafting Skills
• Merchant orders bring both gold and rewards → Crafter
• Around Magery 65, Recall almost never fails. You travel between the mine and your house by rune.

Why Arms Lore: it adds +1% damage increase to an exceptional weapon for every 20 points of Arms Lore, and 1 resistance point to exceptional armor for every 20 points. At 100 that is +5% damage or +5 resistance.

Power scroll note: Blacksmithy and Tailoring scrolls do not come from champions; they are rewards for large bulk orders (BODs).

9. Treasure Hunter

For: those who love exploring and reward chests. Medium difficulty: guardians come out when a chest is opened, and you have to defeat them.

Stats: 100 / 25 / 100.

Lockpicking to open the chest: depending on the chest's level you need at least 36 (level 1), 76 (2), 84 (3), 92 (4), 100 (5 and up) Lockpicking. Decoding the map and digging → Crafting Skills

Traps: a treasure chest has an explosion trap whose strength rises with the chest's level. There are two ways:

• Taking the blast: a mage's health and healing spells are usually enough.
• Remove Trap: to use it you first need Lockpicking 50 and Detecting Hidden 50. With 100 Remove Trap you always remove the trap on level 1 and 2 chests and usually on level 3; the trap on level 4 and above cannot be removed with 100 skill. This route costs two skills (Detecting Hidden needs 50 too), so most treasure hunters take the blast.

The Remove Trap spell only removes traps set by magic; it does not work on a treasure chest's explosion trap.

Strength: gold, items and rare rewards per map. Magery both defeats the guardians and provides travel. Weakness: the guardians of high-level chests are strong; alone you will struggle.

What is each skill for? (frequently asked)

• Focus: speeds up the regeneration of your stamina and mana. Meditation does not work in metal armor, but Focus is not affected by armor; that is why it is the skill of armored warriors and paladins. For a mage it does not replace Meditation.
• Chivalry: warrior spells that run on tithing, not reagents → Paladin, Magic Skills
• Detecting Hidden: finds hidden players and creatures. It must be at least 50 to use Remove Trap.
• Remove Trap: removes traps on chests; needs Lockpicking 50 and Detecting Hidden 50 → Treasure Hunter
• Spellweaving and Imbuing: cannot be used on this server; do not put points into them → Builds not in this era
• Fishing nets: not made with tailoring. A special fishing net comes from a sunken chest found with an SOS bottle, or as a legendary net from old SOSes; krakens also drop them. Tailoring does not get a fisher nets.
• Cooking: the crafting table and cooking fish → Crafting Skills

Other paths

These are not full builds, but pursuits added into a build or played on a second character:

• Thief: Stealing, Snooping, Hiding, Stealth, Lockpicking. To steal from players you must join the Thieves' Guild → Bard and Shadow Skills
• Fisher / gatherer: orders and weekly contests with Fishing → Gatherer

Builds not in this era

UORoots is in the Mondain's Legacy era. Some builds you know from other servers or today's UO cannot be made here:

• Builds needing Bushido and Ninjitsu (samurai, ninja, "sampire"): their books are only sold in closed Tokuno.
• Builds needing Spellweaving: the Heartwood quests that unlock its book do not work at the moment.
• Mysticism, Imbuing, Throwing: skills of the next era. They show in the list but do not work.
• Elves: only human characters can be created for now.

Do not put points into these skills → Skills

Planning on this server

• Young protection ends at 450 skill points, and for all characters on your account. If your second character (e.g. your crafter) reaches 450, your main character's protection ends too. You get warnings at 400 and 440 → Young Players
• When you die in Felucca your items stay on your corpse. Insure your expensive pieces → Economy. If you want to train without player attacks, Ilshenar and Malas run on safe rules → World and Basic Rules
• Power scrolls take a skill to 105–120, but the 700 total does not change. A skill at 120 takes 120 of the total. If you take five skills to 120, there is no room for a seventh → Champion Altars
• A small gift for being human: even skills you have never trained count as 20 when used. These 20 points do not add to your 700 total.

Changing skills: the lock arrows

Press the SKILLS button on your paperdoll. Next to each skill is a small icon. Click it to change:

What you need to know:

• The down arrow does not wait for 700. The chance of a drop is your total's share of the cap: at a total of 350, a down-arrow skill drops on about half of your gains; at 630, on nine in ten. Do not set a skill you do not want to lose to down — lock it.
• If your total is at 700 and no skill has a down arrow, no skill rises. To learn a new skill, first set one to down.
• A locked or down-arrow skill does not rise when you use it either.
• The only way to get a lowered skill back is to train it again. Think before you decide.
• Stats work with the same arrows: at 225 a down-arrow stat falls and an up-arrow stat rises → Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence

Other pages: Skills · Professions · Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence · Combat · How Magic Works · Armor and Resistances · Traveler's Road · Earning Money