New Player Guide
Welcome to Renaissance Britannia
Ultima Online: Renaissance recreates the legendary peak of classic sandbox gaming. On our shard, the world of Britannia is unified under a single facet — the Trammel land split does not exist.
Danger, thrill, reward, and camaraderie are the hallmarks of our realm. Outside town guard lines, players can freely engage in combat, monsters provide real challenges, and the economy is 100% player-driven. Whether you choose to become a valiant warrior, an arcane grandmaster, a wealthy merchant, or an elusive dungeon explorer, this guide will walk you through your first steps.
Character Creation & Starting Attributes
When forging your first character, your choice of starting attributes and skills significantly impacts how quickly you can establish yourself.
Recommended Starting Attributes
Your total starting stat pool is 80 points:
- Strength (Str): Sets your maximum Health and carry capacity. Strongly recommended at 50 to 60. Having higher health at creation prevents premature deaths from wild beasts and gives you carry capacity for loot.
- Dexterity (Dex): Governs weapon swing speed, bandage application speed, and stamina. Recommended at 10 to 15 (Dexterity trains very quickly through basic skills).
- Intelligence (Int): Governs total Mana pool. Recommended at 10 to 20.
Recommended Starting Skills
You may choose up to three starting skills totaling 100 points:
| Character Archetype | Recommended Starting Skills | Why Choose This |
|---|---|---|
| Mage / Scholar | 50 Magery, 50 Resisting Spells | Magery and Magic Resist are among the most expensive and time-consuming skills to train. Starting with 50 Magery provides immediate access to Recall, Cure, and Heal spells. |
| Warrior / Dexxer | 50 Healing, 50 Resisting Spells (or 50 Anatomy) | Healing and Magic Resist require thousands of reagents and bandages to raise. Weapon skills (Swords, Fencing, Maces) raise rapidly through normal combat. |
| Bard / Provoker | 50 Musicianship, 50 Provocation | Provocation allows you to force monsters to battle each other, turning deadly dungeon encounters into high-profit gold mines with minimal equipment investment. |
| Craftsman / Gatherer | 50 Blacksmithy, 50 Tailoring (or Mining) | Direct jumpstart on high-tier crafting, allowing you to produce armor and weapons for sale to players and NPC vendors immediately. |
The Young Player System
New accounts on UO:Renaissance are automatically granted Young Player Status.
Benefits of Young Status
- Monster Protection: Monsters will not attack you unless provoked or attacked first.
- PvP Immunity: Murderers and other players cannot attack you, steal from you, or loot your corpse.
- Island of Ocllo Sanctuary: The beginner island of Ocllo is specifically designed for Young players, featuring guarded mines, farm fields, sewer dungeons, and comprehensive training facilities.
- Corpse Teleportation: If you perish, your items remain protected in your backpack upon resurrecting at any town healer.
Losing Young Status
Young status is removed when any of the following occur:
- Your character accumulates 40 hours of in-game playtime.
- Your character attains a total skill sum of 450.0.
- You explicitly type the command "I renounce my young status" (irreversible).
Essential Commands & First Steps
When you first log in, you will find yourself in the central bank of your starting town with a handful of starting gold, a dagger, and basic supplies.
Core Game Commands
- `bank`: Open your bank vault (must be spoken near a Banker NPC). Your bank box is 100% secure and holds up to 125 items without weight limits.
- `balance`: Check your total stored gold bank balance.
- `withdraw <amount>`: Withdraw physical gold coins from your vault.
- `guards`: Summons town guards to instantly strike down any criminal or murderer within town borders.
- `vendor buy` / `vendor sell`: Initiates buying or selling goods with shopkeepers.
NPC Skill Training
Before you begin training skills manually, visit local NPC shopkeepers. You can pay NPCs to train your skills up to approximately 30.0 immediately:
- Click once on an NPC (or say `[NPC Name] train`).
- The NPC will list skills they can teach you.
- Say `[NPC Name] train [Skill]` (e.g. `Alchemist train alchemy`).
- Drop the requested gold (usually 300 gold) onto the NPC.
Making Your First 10,000 Gold
Acquiring initial capital allows you to purchase a horse, reagents, a full spellbook, and better armor.
| Method | Requirements | Strategy & Profit |
|---|---|---|
| Cotton & Wool Farming | Scissors & Shears | Visit sheep pens in Yew, Moonglow, or Jhelom. Shear sheep and pick cotton from farm fields. Use spinning wheels and looms to create cloth bolts. Sells to tailor NPCs for steady starting gold. |
| Lumberjacking | Hatchet / Axe | Chop trees around town borders. Cut logs into kindling or craft wooden clubs/bows to sell to bowcrafters and carpenters. |
| Graveyard Hunting | Basic weapon or spells | Graveyards in Britain, Moonglow, and Jhelom spawn skeletons, zombies, and spectres. Great for training combat skills while looting gold, bones, and minor magical items. |
| NPC Escort Quests | Mount recommended | Talk to Seekers of Adventure or Townspeople outside taverns. Escort them safely to their destination town for 500 gold and positive virtue karma per quest. |
Britannian Survival & Open-World Risk
Because UO:Renaissance is a single-facet realm, every player outside town guard lines must stay vigilant:
- Always Carry Escape Runes: Mark a recall rune to your home or a safe town bank inside a locked Runebook.
- Bandages & Cure Potions: Poison is deadly. Keep Orange (Cure) potions and Yellow (Heal) potions accessible on hotkeys.
- Pouch Traps: In PvP and criminal encounters, magicians use the Paralyze spell. Carrying a small trapped pouch (created via Tinkering + Magic Trap) and opening it deals 1 damage, instantly breaking paralysis!
- Bank Your Earnings Frequently: Never venture across Britannia with your life savings in your backpack. Drop off loot and gold regularly.
Next Steps & Community
Now that you have taken your first steps:
- Set up your hotkeys and macros in Razor & Client Setup.
- Review the full list of 55 abilities in Skills.
- Study the Housing System to plan your first home and vendor shop.
- Join the Official Discord to connect with veteran players and find an active guild!