(N)EverQuest Scrolls

Classic PL rules

• kill mobs that are high dark blue, white or yellow to your PLee, exp is faster than killing higher mobs that your PLee can’t damage;
• use a DS on either you or the PLee;
• someone in the party needs to be able to heal the PLee (for most methods);
• you want mobs that don’t run; undead are perfect, but you can get by with killing snared mobs that turn if you have to.

Then it comes down to techniques; I can think of 4 different ways to PL.

1) Damage shield on PLee. PLee is buffed as best as may, and has a damage shield – druid, mage, cleric or potion, they all work (so does wiz DS, but it is a lot weaker than the rest). A regen buff of some sort helps a lot, too. PLee pulls multiples, and switches to do (usually melee) damage on each mob to claim the experience, although spell casting and cermaic band damage can work. Getting this damage in can be hard, which is why having mobs at a close level helps, minimising resists. The PLee will need healing. Advantage is that PLee will get decent melee stats, especially defense. The only disadvantages are that you can’t do this with casters at high levels, and that exp is slightly slower than technique 2.

2) DS on PLer. DS yourself, cast non damaging spells or taunt to lock aggro on you, and have your PLee do 1 point of damage by melee, spell, or ceramic band. You have to turn your back to avoid riposte damage on the mob, and can only readily hold aggro on singles. Don’t have a pet up unless you have pet hold. If the PLer has AE spells (rains, tremor, etc), this makes damaging a large group easier. This is fastest, but not effective for keeping up melee skills.

3) Mem wipe. Kill the mob down to < 5% however you can; then mem wipe the mob and let the PLee finish it. It is best to have mobs that turn when low and don't run, or have a root/snarer (this has to be a non-damage root or snare if it is from the PLer). You need good judgement to get the mob low enough. Bards can use fading memories, necro/SK/monk can FD, enchanters mem wipe and clerics Atone. This can be slow, as multiple casts will be needed, and mobs regen fast when it succeeds; some mobs cannot reliably be mem wiped by spell or FD. Pet classes can tell their pet to get lost when the mob gets low enough; this has the same effect.

4) Buffing. Max buff the PLee, then heal as he kills normally. This is slow at low levels, but becomes effective at higher levels. You will need a large HP buff at a minimum, mana regen for casters, hp regen, and str/dex/agi for meleeing. Note that a pet is not level restricted for buffs; they can take Virtue and other high level buffs.

5) Grouping. Group with the PLee, provided they get experience, and kill green mobs quickly that are at least dark blue to the PLee. The PLee can cast or melee normally, or just sit back and soak up experience, depending on the mobs. This works well if the PLee can contribute effectively and safely – as a priest class healing a pet, for example. A 49 PLer can group with a 33/34 PLee – 49, because that is the highest level you can be and still cast all your buffs on someone much lower. A 65 PLer can group with a 44 PLee.

The first four techniques work up to about level 40 or so, possibly 45 to 50 depending on class, after which you really want to try to group the PLee while you kill greens; your share of the exp will be lost when doing this, but is generally faster than having the PLee do the killing themselves. A caster PLed with a DS to level 40 has a big advantage over casters levelled normally: maxed defense. Be aware that only spells up to level 49 can be freely cast on low level characters. Spells above level 49 follow the rule: (spell level)/2 + 15.

Best Technique

For low levels, a DSed PLee works the best for fast experience and melee skills, up to about 40-50. The DS can be cast by the PLee or PLer, or applied by a potion. From 46 up, grouping in PoP zones is the most effective, thanks to PoP ZEMs.

Powerlevelling by class

Classes that can cast a DS: druid, ranger, mage, wizard, enchanter. Necros have a self DS at level 16. Some items provide a clickable DS, but may not be easy to attain for a low level character – 8th coldain ring and up, humming orbs (no drop require smithing skill 188+), golem shards from Ssra (lore), etc.

For a druid, cast Skin Like Nature, Storm Strength, Chloroplast and Shield of Thorns (24 point DS). Share Form of the Great Wolf is a good idea for outdoor zones for the attack increase. If you are powerlevelling a pet class, cast your highest available HP and strength buffs on the pet; unlike players, pets are exempt from the level 51 buff restrictions. Try to only heal between pulls; if you heal during a fight, you are very likely to pull one or more mobs onto you. If this happens, just cast Skin of Thorns (which you will already have memmed) on yourself, and wait for it to die. If the mobs run, snare the last one of a group when it is low.

A cleric can pull mobs with Mark of Retribution (level 54, 20 point DS) or Mark of the Righteous (level 65, 34 point DS), then optionally put Mark of Karn (level 56, 6 point reverse DS) or Mark of Kings (level 64, also 6 point reverse DS) on the mobs (it isn’t certain that MoK actually does anything other than remove some types of damage shield from its target – but it should). Buff with Temperance, and any pet with Virtue. Heal as appropriate. This is remarkably effective, provided that you are using mostly single target fights; which really means from level 30+.

Shamans and beastlords have similar capabilities; the main difference is that beastlords can use Spiritual Light (minor mana/hp regen), but not any more powerful HP regen, and shamans vice versa – plus shamans can haste low levels. Buff the PLee with everything possible; HP, sta, dex, agi, str; then slow the mob and heal. This isn’t as fast as druid/cleric methods at low levels, say below 10/20, but the haste/slow combination pays off very well at high levels – 45+.

Enchanters are overlooked for PLing, but have some excellent tools for the task. Haste and slow, of course – but the level 29 (research only) damage shield Feedback (?? points) makes the low levels easy. Mana regen helps for casters, but the lack of healing, beyond runes and the Berserker Strength line, makes priest classes the best bet for PLees, as they can take care of themselves to a degree. At higher levels, they can use charm to knock down a string of mobs to very low hps, then mem wipe for the PLee to kill. This has to be handled very carefully, both because charm is risky, and because many mobs regen extremely rapidly once mem wiped; so the PLee must be careful to actively take aggro as the mob is wiped.