The Vast

Frequently Asked Questions


Table of Contents

Abbreviations and Terms
I see many abbreviations and other terms used in the game and on these forums, what do they mean?

Class Special Abilities
Why does my animal companion disappear after a few seconds?
Why does my familiar disappear after a few seconds?
I made a ranger character, why don't I have the custom Tracking Ability?

Death, Dying, and Returning to Life
I died and went to the Fugue Plane. How do I get out?
I died and went to the Fugue Plane, and was stripped of my possessions. Where are my items?
My death corpse item is lost. How do I get another one?
What are the options when being raised from the dead by an NPC?
What NPCs are capable of bringing me back to life?

Dungeon Masters
Who are the DMs on this server?
Can I contact a DM outside of the game?

Items
How do I use the skinning knife?
What is the point of food items?
What is the Stone of History?
How do I get a Lobby Portal Token so I can start in a different area?

Logging Onto the Server
When looking on Gamespy, where will I find the server?
I keep getting a message that I am booted when I try to join, why?
Why was the server passworded the other day?

Miscellaneous
Where is the Vast?

Skills
Does the Appraise skill work in The Vast?


Abbreviations and Terms

I see many abbreviations and other terms used in the game and on these forums, what do they mean?

These are some game related abbreviations:

DM: Dungeon Master (the invisible people who hand out xp and set up quests and encounters, and direct the storylines)
NPC: Non-Player Character (all those people hanging around in the module not run by a player)
PC: Player Character (your character)

IC: In-Character (actions or words performed or spoken strictly within the lines of what your character might do or say)
OOC: Out-of-Character (player actions or words unrelated to the character)

DMG: Dungeon Master's Guide
(the Wizards of the Coast reference book)
PHB: Player's Handbook (the Wizards of the Coast reference book)
PnP: Pen and Paper (a referene to tabletop Dungeons & Dragons)

RP: Role-Playing (playing the role of your character, being IC)
XP: Experience Points (what your character needs to advance in levels, also called EXP)

And some game related terms:

Area: When you use a transition, and see the loading screen, you are entering an Area. As an example, Ralbon's General Store, and Dragon Dale South are separate areas. You can view the name of the area you currently occupy by placing your cursor over your PC's portrait.
Metagaming: Using OOC information (stuff your PC would not know IC) to benefit your PC in-game in some way, possibly financially, materially, socially, or to gain xp. This is frowned upon by both DMs and players.
Twinking: Getting items or gold to your PC through OOC means, typically used to give new PCs an early advantage. Examples: Using one of your characters to pass or drop items for another of your characters. Getting other players to do the same for you with their characters. We also classify looting your own dead PCs' possessions as twinking. This is especially frowned upon, and will get you banned. We feel most people know when they are cheating, and ask that all players respect the community enough to refrain from this sort of activity.

These are some common general abbreviations and terms you might see other players use (OOC if used in-game):

AFK: Away from keyboard
BRB: Be right back
BTW: By the way

top


Class Special Abilities

Why does my animal companion disappear after a few seconds?

We have modified the game so that druids and rangers must meet minimum level requirements to keep certain animal companions.

Animal Type/Minimum Level Required:
-Bear - Druid Level 6 or Ranger Level 12
-Boar - Druid Level 3 or Ranger Level 9
-Dire Wolf - Druid Level 6 or Ranger Level 12
-Panther - Druid Level 3 or Ranger Level 9

Why does my familiar disappear after a few seconds?

Wizards and sorcerers must be level seven or higher to keep the following familiars:
-Imp
-Ice Mephit
-Fire Mephit
-Hell Hound
-Faerie Dragon
-Pseudo Dragon

This is based on the Improved Familiar feat in the Forgotten Realms. These creatures were grouped together because of the similarities of their uniqueness and nature. All other familiars are available at level one.

Note: The Eyeball familiar is not available in this module, this was a DM judgement call made in the interest of reasonable "reality" (it was deemed silly for this type of familiar to be available to any PC within this setting).

I made a ranger character, why don't I have the custom Tracking Ability?

We do not give tracking to rangers until they have gained two ranger class levels. Tracking is accessed through the Crafting Radial Menu, and will automatically appear as an option once your PC gains two ranger levels.

top


Death, Dying, and Returning to Life

I died and went to the Fugue Plane. How do I get out?

When you die, you leave behind a death corpse object. Inside of this object is a body item (which weighs 130 lbs.) that a player can carry. Another player must use his character to bring your death corpse item to an NPC to be raised from the dead, or find a PC cleric to cast Raise Dead or Resurrection on your character's body. When you are raised from the dead, your spirit is pulled by divine magic back from the Fugue Plane to the land of the living.

Making friends IC is extremely important on any server that uses this sort of death system. Good friends will make sure your body is safely brought to a cleric.

I died and went to the Fugue Plane, and was stripped of my possessions. Where are my items?

When you die, your items are dropped in a bag object next to your death corpse. You will need your friends to collect and keep your items for you until you are brought back to life.

My death corpse item is lost. How do I get another one?

Visit our forums. You will find a sticky thread at the top of the General Discussion section in which you can request a new body from the DMs.

What are the options when being raised from the dead by an NPC?

It depends upon the NPC your body is brought to for revival. The higher level NPCs can cast higher level spells.

The three spell options are:

  • Raise Dead - Returned to life at one HP, with the loss of one level.
  • Resurrection - Returned to life fully healed (full HP), with the loss of one level.
  • True Resurrection - Returned to life fully healed (full HP), with no level loss.

Having an NPC cast any of these spells will require a donation of gold pieces. The cost varies depending upon the spell being cast, and upon the level of the NPC caster.

What NPCs are capable of bringing me back to life?

In Dragon Dale:

  • Shara Grayne, Cleric of Chauntea - Raise Dead and Resurrection

In River Vesper Landing:

  • Daelrin Jassan, Cleric of Tyr - Raise Dead and Resurrection
  • Healer Kessa Patsen, Cleric of Lathander - Raise Dead
  • Kalishana, Cleric of Tymora - Raise Dead
  • Osmunde, Cleric of Helm - Raise Dead and Resurrection

top


Dungeon Masters

Who are the DMs on this server?

Current DMs in alphabetical order are:
-Algernon's Ghost
-Merlette
-Onomat
-Psilax
-Taraxa Lionstooth

Can I contact a DM outside of the game?

The DMs may be contacted via private message on our forums.

top


Items

How do I use the skinning knife?

You may use a skinning knife to obtain Raw Meat items from killed animals. To use the skinning knife, you must equip it to your weapon slot. You must also be close to the animal upon which you wish to work. You must then use the unique power of the skinning knife on the corpse of the animal. Raw Meat items, and possibly a hide and sinews (used in crafting), will then be created in the inventory of the animal's corpse.

You may create a campfire with a Tinderbox, and cook Raw Meat items on it (using the item's unique power) to make Cooked Food items.

What is the point of food items?

Cooked food items and other food items (food rations, eggs, soup, etc.) are consumed when you rest; you will not be able to rest if you do not have food in your inventory.

Each consumable food item has a unique ability. When this ability is used, the food item will be consumed, and one Hit Point will be restored to your PC. The restoration of this HP will only function once between rest periods, though you may continue to consume as much food as you like.

You will not be required to remember to make your character eat and drink to avoid starvation and dehydration. We assume your character does this on a regular basis, though many players will even role-play sharing food at times.

If you have an animal companion (druids and rangers), you may feed it raw food items by using the unique power of that item on the animal, and it will consume them. Feeding an animal companion has no effect other than to provide flavor to the game - the animal will emote when it is fed.

What is the Stone of History?

This item stores persistent data concerning your character for the module to read while you are in game. As an example, some of the information it stores is related to quests and character "bank accounts". You cannot intentionally interact with it in any way, nor do you need to. It will simply stay in your inventory, and do its job as it is needed.

How do I get a Lobby Portal Token so I can start in a different area?

The token for the portal to River Vesper Landing is automatically created on every character upon entering the lobby after reaching level three. The other portal tokens must be obtained from a DM, or through scripted quests in game.

The Alternative Travel Coordinator offers alternate starting points based upon your character's level.

top


Logging Onto the Server

When looking on Gamespy, where will I find the server?

The Vast is listed under Role Play. The server name is, "Forgotten Realms", and the module name is, "The Vast".

I keep getting a message that I am booted when I try to join, why?

When the player spaces are full, you will be booted until there is a player space available. Please do not "hammer" the server in your attempts to join, as it can produce extra lag in game. It is best to wait between attempts to join.

Why was the server passworded the other day?

When we are manually restarting the server, we will apply a password so no more players will join during the process. Occasionally we also apply a password for a couple of minutes after a reset so that the module has a chance to fully load before everyone rushes on.

Additionally, on the rare occasion, we may password the server for a specific special event. In this case, you will either find the password in our forums, or you will be given the password by a DM.

top


Miscellaneous

Where is the Vast?

The Vast is located in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.

View a regional map in a new browser window (962KB)
Download the regional map .jpg in a zipped folder (961KB)

This map is taken from The Forgotten Realms Atlas, by Karen Wynn Fonstad, originally published in 1990 by TSR, Inc. (item #: 8442). We are using this wide region map as our official reference, and have digitally added notations for features we have invented such as River Vesper Landing and Dragon Dale.

top


Skills

Does the Appraise skill work in The Vast?

No, we do not, nor will we ever employ the Appraise skill in any of our merchants. It would conflict with our intended design, and merchant pricing structure. Keep this in mind when allocating skill points, as any points applied to Appraise will be wasted as far as that skill goes.

We do, however, use the Appraise skill to track bonus languages your character knows in-game. Each allocated point you buy in appraise earns your character an additional known language.

top


~  Home  ~  Role-Playing Resources  ~  Lore of the Land  ~  Server Details  ~  Downloads  ~