Even before you enter the game - before your first kill, or your first steps, there are many important decisions you must make that will guide your destiny on Deathwish.
You can get info on all the classes before choosing yours, from the MUD itself, but I figured I'd throw my own little opinions in here -
WARRIOR - warriors get more exp (due to the fact that every blow landed gains exp for you, and warriors get 3 swings eventually), have less restrictions on eq they can wear, and are the easiest class to learn. If you've never MUDded before, a warrior is a good place to start.
CLERIC - Clerics are a vital asset to any MUDder. They are eventually able to learn every helpful spell in the book - heal spells, creating food and water, and protective spells such as armor and sanctuary. Every group out to kill anything needs a cleric or two. Clerics only have a single round of combat, and their eq usually does not provide for large amounts of damage to be done. If you are only playing one character, a cleric may not be the quickest or easiest to get going, but a good cleric is important for multiplaying.*1
MAGE - Mages are the big spellcasters (duh!) They can learn various powerful (and some not so powerful) offensive spells, and also a few spells like armor and invisibily to round them out. Mages get very few hitpoints, and thus are limited in their solo abilities. Once they gain levels, though, the spells more than make up for that. Mages are also valuable in groups.
THIEF - Thieves are very fun to play. They have a few more eq restricitons than Warriors, but can amass massive damrolls. With skills such as circle and backstab, they are fierce fighters. Their other fringe benifits include lock-picking - important if you just can't find that key - haggling in shops for lower prices, stealing (keys, items, or gold) from monsters, and seeing the inventories of monsters.
PALADIN - Paladins are a kind of Cleric-Warrior mix, with better fighting skills then clerics, and also spells such as power heal and sanctuary. Paladins MUST maintain a good alignment, and also donate a portion of the gold looted from kills to their church. Although this may seem detrimental, Paladins have the ability, once at a high enough level, to be the most self-sufficient class on the MUD - they even get to make their own food and water!
ANTIPALADIN - As the name implies, Apals are the evil counterpart of paladins. They maintain an evil alignment, and do not tithe to a church. They can learn warrior skills such as bash and double, and also have some of the offensive spells of a mage. They have armor spells, but no other protective spells. They are not as self-sufficient as paladins, in that respect, but if you want a good fighter class with spell casting abilities too, Apals are a good choice.
Deathwish offers four remort only classes - after you have achieved level 50, and fulfilled the requirements of immortality, you have the option of returning as a Monk, Bard, Pirate, or Ranger. I have only personally used a monk so far, so more info on these classes will be posted as I remort more characters. For now your curiosity will have to be satisfied with the online help files ;)
*1 - Deathwish MUD allows you to have any number of characters - you can have one or more of each class if desired - Only TWO characters can be online simultaneously.
After choosing your name, class and gender, you are presented with a "roll" of stats. This is simply a random number in each statistical category. These numbers cannot be changed once they are selected - you will have to supplement your weak stats with equipment that improves that category - so choose carefully. For your information, 18 is the highest (18/100 in STR), and a roll of all 18's is proabably as likely as winning the 50 million Lotto jackpot, so bear that in mind while rolling. You will be asked if you want to keep the stats or choose to reroll. You can reroll an infinite number of times. Here is some info on each individual stat -
STR - Strength determines how many items (the maximum weight) you can carry, and whether you can wield some of the heavier weapons in the game. Also, the higher your strength is, the harder you hit (higher damroll). Strength is important for all classes, but moreso for the fighting classes.
INT - Players with lower INT will require more practice sessions to learn a spell or a skill. INT also affects the amount of mana gained per level.
WIS - Wisdom allows you to gain more practice sessions per level. This is important for all classes, but moreso for the spellcasters. Wisdom also affects the amount of mana you gain per level.
DEX - Dexterity is vital for armor class. Perfect dexterity will allow your player to be well protected, without focusing all your equipment on Armor Class (you can go for more mana and higher damroll!)
CON - Constitution determines how many hitpoints you recieve per level. While it is good for all classes to have as many hitpoints as possible, this category is especially important for warriors, thieves, pals/apals, as they will be the ones fighting, thus needing more hitpoints.
CHA - Charisma affects your ability to charm mobs into following you (Pals and Apals with "enlist" and Mages with "charm person")
All stats can be raised (and lowered - eek) by equipment. The first thing you should do after entering the game is ask a Newbie Helper if they can aid you in rounding out your stats to 18s (or very close) by giving you some "level eq." If you gain 5 or 6 levels with a low stat, it can affect the hp, mana, or practices that you get - causing your character to be weaker than he could be if you always level with good stats. You can wear the eq that improves your stats right before you gain a level, then remove it and replace it with your normal eq after you level. That way you recieve the maximum benefit of your improved stats, but can also use your most effective eq during most of your combat.
There are three choices for hometowns - Asgaard, Agrabah, and New Thalos. All three have helpful maps, a Mud School, areas for new players to get started killing, stores, a bank, and guilds. The only difference in the cities is the layout. Thanks to hours of work by Chrysalis and Myst, all three cites are now easily accesible from the other two by quick water routes, or by walking. If you choose a hometown and decide after exploring a little, that you'd rather choose another, that can be done in the main menu for 10,000 coins.
Eqsets are simply helpful ways of changing equipment quickly, I E for levelling, without having to remove and replace each piece of equipment one by one.
An example of using eqsets would be - when you are fixing to gain a level, you put on all your level equipment. After levelling, type "eqset save level" You then put on all your normal eq. Type "eqset save main". From then on, by simply typing "eqset level", or "eqset main" you can switch back and forth - much faster than piece by piece.
There's obviously stuff I'm left out, some intentionally, so you can learn on your own (what fun would it be if I told you everything?), and some because I have no memory. The best feature of Deathwish is it's players. Those who wanted to be designated as "Newbie Helpers" have (NH) after their titles. Simply type "who" for a list of who's on, and talk to one of the people who is a newbie helper. We'd be glad to answer your questions about anything.
One last note. My chars on Deathwish are as follows - Kervorkian, my Immortal character, and Quessedilla, Dason, MikeD, Helum, And Beffi - My mortals. Feel free to bug me more than the others - after all, it's my fault you're there, right? And if you want to find something out on your own, Deathwish has TONS of help files. You can just type "help" to look at a list of all of them, or type "help (whatever you need help on)" to find specific info.
