Sohei

The Japanese fighting monk, a sohei.

Class

Sohei

Description

The sohei is a warrior-monk of Eastern mythos, a member of a militant order of religious soldiers whose purpose is to defend large monasteries from attack, or advance their order's interests in the outer world. They are less effective in combat than a warrior, but they have the added benefit of their mystical powers. Sohei's possess what is considered the oldest and most primitive form of magic on JediMud. Drawing upon powers from deep within themselves they find many of their combat skills to be magically enhanced. In addition to enhanced combat skills it is said that their body has been enhanced and is rumored to be the reason why Sohei's often prefer their own fist over steel and iron. The primary statistics for a sohei are STRENGTH and DEXTERITY. A high CONSTITUTION is always a good thing to have. A sohei can be of any alignment. Like all classes, the sohei can increase his skills by using the PRACTICE command.

Background

Sohei (pronounced: /soʊhɛ/ soh-heh), sometimes called yamabushi "mountain warrior", were special warrior-priests that could be found in Kara-Tur and the Hordelands. In Shou Lung, they were called no-sheng (pronounced: /noʊʃɛŋ/ noh-sheng) Sohei were similar to paladins found in Faerûn.

Culture

Sohei usually served as guardians for monasteries. While they were clerics similar to shugenja, they focused more on their military training. They structured their lives around religious principles but not as strictly as a shugenja. These principles included vegetarianism and discipline. Sohei were often dedicated to their duties to the point of fanaticism. An individual from any caste might train to be a sohei. Upon entering the service of a monastery, they shed all family or clan connections. A sohei's status was based on the power and importance of the monastery, and honor was very important to a sohei, similar to ninjas. Most sohei were human or hengeyokai, although some monastaries had accepted korobokuru into their orders.

Abilities

To defend their monasteries or temples from attacks, Sohei trained extensively with weapons as well as martial arts. They also possessed limited magical powers. Sohei can access their ki abilities to go into a berserker-like frenzy. Sohei were able to cast some divine spells, but did not have access to as many divine spells that a shugenja had.  A sohei who was dismissed from their order lost the ability to cast divine spells.

Spells

Check out the Sohei Spell Table page for an in-depth look at the updated set of sohei spells and skills.

Equipment

We've put together some pages to cater to striking gear mix collection: a +TO_HIT bonus gear page and a SACRIFICE stat bonus gear page. Have a look and see what works best for you.

Strategy

Okay, so you've decided that the only way to solo Ogaan in the Golden Pagoda is to grow a sohei, and grow he or she into multi-remort grandeur.  It's a good idea because now that strike is enhanced to accommodate multiple remorts, your sohei is more powerful than ever before.

But how do you play a sohei?  What the heck are all these weird skills?

BARE HANDS

Bare hands is a passive skill that allows your sohei to fight effectively without a weapon.  (You cannot use the strike skill while wielding a weapon.)

Level     Dice     Average

---------------------------

1         7d1          7
3         8d1          8
5         6d2          9
7         5d3         10
10        6d3         12
13        7d3         14
15        5d5         15
20        6d4         15
25        4d7         16
28        7d4         17.5

FOCUS

The level 2 focus ability allows a sohei to enhance the effects of specific melee combat skills in the following ways:

Detail of the benefits of the focus ability.

Focused Ability	Level	Mana Cost	Enhanced Combat Effect
Spinning Bird	2	15	Kick
Tiger Paw	10	25	Pound
Enhanced Endurance	11	3	Reduced Movement Cost
Resilience	16	10	Reduced Damage
Dancing Monkey	17	30	Pummel
Counterstrike	22	20	% Chance of Return Hit
Fists of Fury	25	15	Double Hit

When focusing on a particular melee skill, the sohei is charged a focal mana cost.  The cost is deducted PER USE, or whenever you employ the skill.  For example, with Bird, Paw or Monkey, you are "charged" the focal cost per discharge of the skill.  In the case of Endurance, Resilience, or Fist, you are charged per move or per round accordingly.

Note: in order to make the best use of FISTS OF FURY or COUNTERSTRIKE, disable your pound or pummel melee triggers. These focused abilities must be exclusively firing for full benefit.

In order to make best use of focus in melee (before level 27 and mana channel) use the MEDITATE skill in conjunction with your favorite cleric.  Because meditate will take your current hit point, mana and movement stats and average them accordingly, have the cleric heal, rejuv or restore you (as needed) prior to meditating.

ENLIGHTENMENT

At level 24, your sohei can practice the ENLIGHTENMENT spelll which provides bonus experience per melee round and mob kill. The length and amount of bonus experience provided is dependent on your intelligence stat. At level 26, your sohei can acquire the GROUP ENLIGHTENMENT spell which will provide additional experience bonuses to your group.

INT	BONUS
18	3%
25	3%

MANA CHANNEL

At level 27, your sohei can practice the spell MANA CHANNEL which will provide a large amount of mana to your sohei upon successful cast vs. a mob. Mana channel, if used on the right mobs, will provide up to 1000 mana for redistribution to hp, mana and moves using the sohei's MEDITATE skill.

Here's is a list of mobs that will provide the best opportunity to single cast a large amount of additional mana for use with your sohei's focus ability: {| class="article-table" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 500px;" |- ! scope="col" |Mob ! scope="col" |Area ! scope="col" |Mana Gain |- |Female Minstrel |New Thalos | 422 |- |Male Minstrel |New Thalos |500 |- |Female Minstrel |Midgaard |500 |- |Male Minstrel |Midgaard |500 |- |Adept |Midgaard Temple |400 |}

STRIKE

A highly experienced sohei can channel all of his or her energy (hp, mana, and moves) into one spectacular strike to a victim.  The sohei cannot be wielding a weapon when using strike.

The formula for the maximum damage from strike is 1,000 + (25 * # remorts)

So, for example, Qigong is a 40 remort sohei and his strike delivers 2,000 (1000 + 40 x 25) damage on non-glowing, non-!phys mobs that fail their save.

!STRIKE MOBS

Strike is extremely effective against most mobs with the following exceptions:

Mob	Zone	Notes
Ancient Fire Dragon	Skara Brae
Andrus the Master Mage	Trog Caves and Outpost
Ares	Hellas	100
Beholder	Old Thalos
Angelina**	Cedar Estate Mansion	100
Count Cagliostro	Sieged Castle
Don Vargano	Cedar Estate Mansion
Forever Lost	Cedar Estate Mansion
Augustus**	Imperial Ravenna	600
Celfivl Prantroc	Drake Island	600
Antitheton	Drake Island	600
Helmanos	Dragon City
Huge Muscular Man	Cedar Estate Mansion
Jupiter	Rome
Ares, God of War	Hellas
Kenji	The Golden Pagoda
Kermit	Sesame Street and Muppet Theater
Optimus Prime	Andrus' Toy Land
Shahallah	Dragon City
Siawyn	Trog Caves and Outpost
Toykenstein	Andrus' Toy Land
Vansilmo	Dragon City
Zareef	Dragon City

** damage capped -- this is a per round figure, as strike will magically hit 3x / round?   

When striking, equip your remort Sohei with +HITROLL and +DEX equipment, since +DAM bonus has little effect on the algorithm used to calculate strike damage.  Increasing your chance of a successful strike is a key factor. 

When remorting past perfect, consider boosting all regen factors evenly:  HP, MANA and MV.  

A well-remorted, high +HIT bonus Sohei should be able to place multiple strikes in a row without rejuvenate or restore.

Basic Good Aligned Sohei Damage Gear ( <lev 29)

<used as light>      the Sceptre of Might (invisible) (glowing) (humming) (insured)
<worn on finger>     a man's diamond ring (invisible) (glowing) (insured)
<worn on finger>     a man's diamond ring (invisible) (glowing) (insured)
<worn around neck>   a black ivory serpent necklace (invisible) (humming) (insured)
<worn around neck>   a black ivory serpent necklace (invisible) (humming) (insured)
<worn on body>       a suit of diamond armor (invisible) (glowing)
<worn on head>       a garland of deep red roses (invisible)
<worn on legs>       Moorish bracers (invisible)
<worn on feet>       the Titanic Hooves of Taurus (invisible) (glowing)
<worn on hands>      a pair of spiked, black-scaled gauntlets (invisible) (humming) (insured)
<worn on arms>       some iron sleeves (invisible) (insured)
<worn as shield>     a tower shield (invisible) (insured)
<worn about body>    a chameleon cloak (invisible) (glowing) (humming)
<worn about waist>   a mahout's loincloth (invisible)
<worn around wrist>  a tightly-woven bracelet of silky auburn hair (invisible) (insured)
<worn around wrist>  a tightly-woven bracelet of silky auburn hair (invisible)
<barehands>
<held>               the Page of Power (invisible) (glowing)

Basic Evil Aligned Sohei Damage Gear (<lev 29)

<used as light>      a platinum orb (invisible) (insured)
<worn on finger>     a man's diamond ring (invisible) (glowing) (insured)
<worn on finger>     a man's diamond ring (invisible) (glowing) (insured)
<worn around neck>   a black ivory serpent necklace (invisible) (humming) (insured)
<worn around neck>   a black ivory serpent necklace (invisible) (humming) (insured)
<worn on body>       a suit of diamond armor (invisible) (glowing) (insured)

<worn on head>       the Augustan Diadem (insured)
<worn on face>       two streaks of brilliant silver warpaint (invisible) (glowing) (insured)
<worn on ears>       a Communications Headset (invisible) (humming) (insured)
<worn on legs>       a pair of striped stockings (glowing) (humming) (insured)
<worn on feet>       a pair of Mohican boots (invisible)
<worn on hands>      a pair of spiked, black-scaled gauntlets (invisible) (humming) (insured)
<worn on arms>       some iron sleeves
<worn as shield>     a tower shield (invisible) (insured)
<worn about body>    a Samurai Cape (invisible) (insured)
<worn about waist>   a blackened cinch (invisible) (insured)
<worn around wrist>  a bracelet of human finger bones (invisible)
<worn around wrist>  a bracelet of human finger bones (invisible)
<wielded>            a jewelled skull spike (invisible) (glowing) (humming) (insured)
<held>               a Blood-Red Broadsword (invisible) (glowing) (insured)

Hitroll Bonus Gear

After experimenting with different DEX and STR sets, the JediMUD uber-Sohei, Pump, has determined that the more +HITROLL bonus you have on your striker, the better.  Here's a basic, non-quest, hitroll bonus gear setup for your JediMUD camping pleasure: 

      <used as light> a platinum orb (invisible) (insured) +4
      <worn on finger> the One Ring (invisible) +2
      <worn on finger> the One Ring (invisible) +2
      <worn around neck> a feather boa (invisible) +2
      <worn around neck> a feather boa (invisible) +2
      <worn on body> a blue, cowled robe (invisible) +1
      <worn on head> a garland of deep red roses (invisible) +1
      <worn on legs> leather mage pants (invisible) (glowing)
      <worn on feet> the Titanic Hooves of Taurus (invisible) (glowing)
      <worn on hands> leather cestus (invisible) (glowing) +5
      <worn on arms> a pair of flesh arm greaves (invisible) (glowing) +1
      <worn as shield> a spiked buckler (invisible) +2
      <worn about body> a leather apron (invisible) +3
      <worn about waist> a mahout's loincloth (invisible) +1
      <worn around wrist> Boba Fett's Targeting Computer (invisible) +3
      <worn around wrist> Boba Fett's Targeting Computer (invisible) +3
      <held> a swordbreaker (invisible) +4
     

TOTAL: +36 hitroll bonus

Level Gains

Expect fairly average level gains in hit points and mana with a sohei.  For some odd reason, soheis do not benefit from +dex movement gains.

Some examples:

CON	HP GAIN	WIS	MANA GAIN
19	7	12	6
23	13	23	12