Asheron's Call

Asheron's Call develops a heroic fantasy setting familiar enough to draw you in yet mysterious enough to draw you onward. A varied host of monsters populate the benighted, medieval terrain; mysterious artifacts of great power embellish vast treasure hoards; and sorcerers, fighters, and rogues plot both heroic alliances and base villainy. However, Asheron's Call retains a strong flavor all its own, with an original backstory and creatures, and unparalleled flexibility in character creation and development. After selecting your attire and facial features from millions of possible combinations, customize your skill set to make your character truly unique. As you defeat foes, you can allocate experience to not only specific skills but also the base attributes like strength and intelligence.

Dereth is swarming with nasty creatures. Close to your starting town you'll encounter the tamer scavengers and hatchlings, but the farther away you roam, the stronger your foes become. Ridding the countryside of the feebler monsters near town might make a good first adventure, or better yet, enter the training hall. In any case, try to find some allies to join before fighting anything for the first time. As you fight and quest, you will gain experience and grow as an adventurer. Practicing rigorously will improve many skills, but mainly you'll advance your skills by spending experience points on them or on your base attributes, which each affect the scores of a wide range of skills. Unlike many traditional role-playing game systems, Asheron's Call permits you to fully customize your character, pinpointing exactly those traits you want to improve.

Armor does not decrease the probability that you'll be hit; it decreases the damage a given body part sustains. To get better at dodging attacks, improve your Melee Defense and Missile Defense skills. A particular monster will tend to attack you low, middle, or high, and each of your body parts within that region has a varying probability of being targeted. An attack passing through the middle of the body will be more likely to target a breastplate than a hand, for instance; however, don't neglect to armor every part of your body if you can afford it. Generally speaking, it's better to armor your entire body with mediocre armor than to wear great armor on your torso and leave the rest undefended. Note that shields afford no protection to the rear, so you'll want to avoid getting into a pack of monsters if you rely heavily on shield protection.

Asheron's Call