Character Creation and Class Guidelines

1. Subraces must be requested. Standard races can be played without prior consent, but subraces or other non-standard characters need approval before they can be played. RDDs and Drow are exceptions to this rule.
2. No child characters are allowed to level. They must start out and level 1 and will be deleveled back to level 1 should they advance. All stats of a child character will be reduced to 8, gold shall be reduced to 5, and all soul runes will be removed from the character.
3. Monk can only be taken as a primary class. If you desire to play a monk, you must start the character out as a monk, and if for some reason you multi-class, you may not take additional monk levels after choosing the additional class. The reason for this is that becoming a monk takes years of training mind and body to the point where their abilities manifest. One does not simply decide to become a monk one day and then does it, it takes years of study and practice and the student often starts his training from a very early age. And once you leave a monk order, to pursue another course of training, you are not welcomed back as you have decided that your training has reached a level where you no longer require it.
4. No Monk/caster combinations. Because of the years of training of your martial abilities, honing your body to follow your will, it is very difficult to yield that to another power. Therefore monks are not allowed to pursue any profession that would grant them arcane/divine spells or abilities. They are just not able to yield their mind to another, though greater power.
5. 'Fallen' Paladins must be rerolled. If for some reason, a Paladin longer follows the god whose favour she once had, the Paladin loses all benefits of the divine favour she was once granted and is reduced to becoming a fighter (rerolled). Should the character regain their God's favour, they may once again take the paladin levels, but their fighter levels remain. In addition to this, the Paladin-Sorcerer combination is not allowed.
6. You must, by 20th level, have at least 5 levels in each of the classes to be taken by your character (PrCs inclusive). If you choose to take a PrC, you must have 10 levels in it by 30th level.
7. You are restricted to 1 PrC only. All PrCs are available, but there should be some rp reason to have them. It is also expected that you role play any changes in your character do to the PrC. Please note that some of the PrCs might have been adjusted, and if you are uncertain please ask. For example, the HiPS ability of Shadowdancers has scripted limitations to prevent it from being used excessively. RDDs are considered to be chaotic because of the manifestation of the dragon blood, and all PMs are evil in nature, being subject to Nerull's will at all times.
8. Avoid using names of famous origin or names that have titles in them. Lord Elrond is and example of the violation of both those guidelines. Titles should be earned through RP, and using names of existing fictional/well-known characters is disallowed for obvious reasons. If your character wishes to have a nickname, the name, included in double quotes would be great. An example would be Angie "The Hammer" Lightbringer.
9. Play your alignment. As a rule of thumb, you should play within the boundaries of the alignment you choose for your character. If you feel you need an alignment shift to reflect changes in the way your character behaves, ask a DM to apply it for you. You must not choose an alignment purely for the purposes of satisfying a class prerequisite, although an Assassin's alignment need not be strictly adhered to as long as you have sufficient IC explanation for it.
10. Play your stats. If you have a low intelligence, then you would not be the best planner, if you have a low charisma, you will not be a good leader. This also plays into choosing your stats wisely; min/maxing will be frowned upon.
11. And please, no offensive names, specifically those of a racial or sexual nature. This is both for your log in name and your character names.
12. Devastating Crit and Epic Dodge are not allowed to be taken here.
13. No lightsabres! Some of the CEP sword models resemble lightsabres and are disallowed.

Character Interaction Guidelines

1. Treat other players and DMs with respect and be considerate.
2. No abusive language is ever allowed and will be dealt with quickly and harshly. Any racial or sexual abuse will have you looking for some place else to spend your time. Any intimate contact with a child character will result in immediate action. While sometimes the RP calls for some abusive measures, please refrain from graphical or explicit language. There will never be a time where forced sexual relations or rape (implied or otherwise) will be allowed.
3. No twinking is allowed. Twinking is that act of giving gold and or items to other characters without a firm reason to do so. Giving a small amount of gold or some extra items to some one new is allowed, but to hand over several thousand gold and a few +2 and +3 items to some one you just met is unreasonable.
4. No transferring gold or items between your own characters. This eliminates two problems, twinking as stated above, and muling, where a character holds onto items for your main character for later use.
5. Be sensible with your choices in RP. While we hope that people will conduct themselves in a mature fashion, things do not always work out. If you decide to RP the more intimate details of a relationship, please do so in a way that does not intrude on others, and try to keep it within IC reason. As in life, this is an area where some people have a great deal of sensitivity, so please be respectful of your partner(s) and those around you. In addition to this, roleplaying intimacy with a minor is forbidden and can easily lead to a ban.
6. There must be a reason for engaging in PvP. Your character being a maniacal killer will not suffice to warrant this. If there is an encounter that results in a death requiring a respawn, the players involved must avoid each other for the next 24 (RL) hours. An agreement by both players involved can override this restriction however. Raising people from the dead merely to kill them again is also not allowed.
7. No Player Killing without consent. Any PvP action that involves subduing the opponent may be taken at any time without the consent of the opposing player(s). Any action that involves the killing of another player must have the consent of both players. Anyone including themselves in a fight is considered as giving consent. This involves any and all aid given to either or all of the combatants. If consent is refused, the character that has refused must then immediately leave the area.
8. Do not switch characters to overcome a situation. Any player that logs in as another one of their characters to take action against a character, or any of the other characters of a player that has defeated them in combat is considered in violation of our harassment policy. Repeatedly killing or subduing a character or different characters of the same player will be considered violation of our harassment policy and dealt with accordingly.

Scrying Specific

1. You cannot scry any PC without the necessary knowledge. In order for your character to scry on someone, he/she must, in the very least, know the name of that person and what they look like.
2. You cannot scry NPCs without consent. Aside from this being an actual limitation of the scrying system, you cannot scry any major NPCs (such as the king or NPCs involved in events/plots) without first seeking permission from a DM. A DM must be present during one of these attempts.
3. Repeatedly scrying on someone is inappropriate. Remember that scrying attempts operate on the spell's duration for a reason. You should avoid scrying a single target any more than four times per RL hour.
4. You cannot metagame a PC's location during a scrying attempt. Your character must gain sufficient indication as to the target's location to find out where it is.
5. The target player of a scrying attempt cannot metagame the scryer's location or identity. As the target of a scrying attempt, you may or may not receive notification that you have detected the attempt (this depends on a roll). You must RP within this boundary (you cannot immediately know who attempted it, where they are, etc).

General Rules

1. Use common sense. If you feel something is wrong then it probably is.
2. The DM is always right! If you feel that you have been treated unfairly by a DM, feel free to contact GMShadowswift or GMInfinitum in private. Interrupting gameplay to resolve a dispute is simply not the way to handle it, and as always, screenshots are a very useful way of explaining your point.
3. This is a role play server. Stay in character at all times. Please refrain from using the various OOC forms to communicate to others, try coming up with an IG reason for being AFK or use tells to inform others of your needs or impending inactivity.
4. No metagaming. Defined as your character using information that he or she does not or could not have is forbidden. Please stick to what your character knows. There is an exception to this when metagaming can initiate RP and no harm is done in doing so (e.g. agreeing OOCly to meet up with someone).
5. No exploiting. The known use of any method to increase your experience, gold, or item production above normal is considered exploiting. Logging out to prevent negative aspects of either character or environmental interaction is also considered exploiting. If you happen to find something that you do not feel is right, then please contact a GM or DM to let them know about it. It is the only way to be fair to everyone involved.
6. No bug abuse. In line with the above rule, if you find a bug, report it to a member of staff as soon as possible. For example, un-equipping and re-equipping a shield will grant you an additional attack round. This is a game bug and is considered an exploit.
7. No harassment. Harassment is defined as the abuse or debasing of another player through either IC or OOC means. This includes, but is not limited to, sexual or racial remarks directed at the player, and either abusive or foul language directed at the player. The first offense of this will usually be a warning by a DM if no evidence is presented. If someone is bothering you OOCly, don't hesitate to report it. PM a GM or DM with screenshots and/or chat log (where possible) so that it can be dealt with quickly.
8. Maximum of two guilds per player. By default, characters may only be in one guild each, and there is a maximum of two guilds per player (account). This is necessary to avoid metagaming that may damage a guild's plans or even the guild as a whole, and also to maintain guild activity, but if you have a character who wishes to join a second guild, or an alternative character who wishes to join a third, it is open for review by the Guild Leaders involved and a DM.
9. Leadership of no more than one guild per player. For similar reasons to the above rule, you may not assume leadership of any more than one guild at a time.
10. Be active! This is not so much a rule, but an encouragement. If your character has been made a significant character within the Arvale world/lore (e.g. a Guild leader) or owns a home/area, then we expect that character to remain active and played mostly. Otherwise these resources can be made available to others, and in case of housing/shops, they are automatically relisted based on lack of activity.
11. Last but not least, have fun! Arvale was and always will have a strong focus on roleplay and a fun environment for all - don't try to ruin it for others and you should get along just fine.