All these numbers... what do they mean??

One of the first things you will want to get to grips with in MUD2 are your STATISTICS. These tell you how much life you have left, how strong you are and how dextrous you are. Your stats also list how much magic you have (if you have any). This information, and understanding it is vital to your continuing gameplay, so firstly, lets look at how we retrieve this information.

There are 3 ways:

STATS (or STATISTICS)

*stats
stats
name: Pandora
sex: female
strength: 49
dexterity: 59
stamina: 72 max: 72
score: 200 points this game: 0 points value: 115 points
level: 1 protector
weight carried: 1kg max: 49kg
objects carried: 1 max: 7
games played: 2
You are carrying the following:
a cup of tea.

Stats or Statistics gives you the most indepth Stat command. It shows all the numerical data that you need and also gives your inventory.

SCORE

*score
score
name: Pandora
sex: female
strength: 49
dexterity: 59
stamina: 72 max: 72
score: 200 points this game: 0 points value: 115 points
level: 1 protector
weight carried: 1kg max: 49kg
objects carried: 1 max: 7
games played: 2

Score gives you only the facts about your persona, leaving out the inventory listing.

QS (or QUICKSCORE)

*qs
qs
Pandora the protector
eff str 49 eff dex 59 sta 72/72 pts 200 gam 2

QS or QUICKSCORE is the most common command to use to gain information about your stats. It doesn't take up much screen space and is very easy to read. Also, it gives your effective STR and DEX instead of your normal STR and DEX, as your effective ones are those which you need to know.

Ok, so I know how to look at this - but what does it mean?

STRENGTH (STR)

Strength (STR) is how hard you hit, how heavy a weapon you can use - basically how strong your persona is. Strength doesn't change until you go up or down a level, but your effective strength - that which is listed on QS will change by what you are carrying (you can check the weight of items by using the WEIGH command - heavy objects will lower STR)

DEXTERITY (DEX)

Dexterity (DEX) is how agile you are, how likely you are to hit someone - and how well you will defend yourself. A higher DEX will let you hit better, and defend better. Dexterity doesn't change until you go up or down a level, but your effective DEX - that which is listed on the QS command will change by how many items you are carrying - as more luggage will hinder your attempts to hit and block.

STAMINA (STA)

Stamina (STA) is the lifeforce of your persona. If at any point during your game, your stamina equals zero your persona will die (and you will have to start over from Novice). Stamina is the easiest number to spot on your QS - and it is the most important. This is the number you want to keep track of throughout play. If your stamina is getting low you can sleep to regain stamina, eating things such as wafers will also regain your stamina.

Other points of interest...

If you are looking for a similar article, Foddy wrote one for the June 2002 issue of Muddled Times. His article helped me write this page :-) His article is highly informative and goes further indepth on each of the above persona traits, I would recommend it as further reading:

Vital Statistics: Muddled-Times, June 2002