Category:Black Circle Initiates

The Black Circle is a secretive cabal of lizard and Dragon-kin assassins under the service of the Great Dragon Kahbyss. The Circle teaches a small repertoire of psionic spells, including some unknown outside the circle. The Circle as a whole has a certain measure of Reputation, although individual Initiates cannot raise this, like an Assassin can.

Like all Prestige Classes, they retain the original class's Prime Requisite, in this case, Dexterity. As a Psionic class, they possess a Psion's higher degree of success with spells such as deception. Joining the Circle is for life. Initiates cannot become Assassins or Berserkers like Rogues can.

Rumor says the Circle maintains a base in warmer climes, where Masters can often be found.

Requirements:
* level 50 Rogue
* Reptilian or similar race
* Have an impressive "resume"
* Avoid trouble with the law
* Complete one "job" for the Circle

Abbreviation: Bci.

Base Class: Rogue.

Prime Requisite: Dexterity.

BCIs in General

The Black Circle Initiate, is a Rogue-like assassin with some unique psionic abilities. BCI do not get a lot of arcane spells but they have access to some impressive psionics that only the psionicists and Mnd can learn like overconfidence, anger management and death field. Also BCI can learn a couple skills unique only to the initiates like sense weakness and killer instinct.

BCI gain stats identical to a mage. This means a balanced ratio of HP and mana, that makes them able to use their abilities (namely Death Field) in combat.

Black Circle Initiates also get a certain reputation (20%) due to the nature of the Circle but, unlike Assassins, this is not earned and can not be lost.

BCI Creation

BCI is a possible class option only for lizard-kin (and fake lizard-kin) races: troglodytes, draconians, firedrakes, lizardmen and miraar rogues. Remort races that can become BCI are dragons and tuataurs. Imps can become a BCI whilst a Dust Imp since they have the racial characteristic 'Scaled Race'.

The BCI master can be found at the bottom of the Valley of the Sun. Requirements are:

• One of the races listed above,
• Spotless criminal record - ie. NO arrests,
• A large kill counter - about 333 at lvl 50, 359 at hero 1, and rising fast afterwards (433 at hero 5).

With this in mind, linger in lower xp areas when leveling at lowmort and try to rack up the kill counter. Remember that kills need to give xp to add to the counter. Once ready and level 50, the BCI master will give you a quest. If you try to prestige and the Master replies: 'Yeah, I've heard of you, but I haven't heard much. How do I know you've got what it takes?' it means you still need more kills.

The Quest

A Black Circle Master says 'Yeah, maybe you do have what it takes.
Maybe you could do a little job for us, hrmm? Those two bunglers I 
sent on the Audis job are taking too long...'

From Lord Audis go: w, d, s, s, u, e.

In the second-to-last room there is a large mob with sanc and poison and that stabs. The item you're looking for is the Audis family crest. It's on Nikoli. Murder Nikoli and return the item.

This is a ticket quest in Lord Audis' Villa where it is easy to get arrested so be careful. The aggressive assassins there stab hard and fighting them in the presence of a guard will give you an outlaw flag. If the servant spots you there, you'll get an outlaw flag too, even without any fighting. Outlaws might find a reprieve from the Black Circle Master, but once you are arrested, he will ignore you forever. You are required to do this quest with the alt that wants to go BCI.

Once you give the required item to the master, you can use the prestige command and become BCI.

BCIs at Hero Tier

While it might appear there is little difference between BCI and Rogues at low hero, except that BCI receive less of the useful spells, this is not quite accurate. At hero 33 BCI can learn Deception which can be very handy against mobs that wield. Also, starting at hero 11 they learn a series of six psionic damage spells, starting with Psychic Drain and culminating with Ultrablast at hero 91. Coupled with Surge (hero 49) these spells can add noticeable damage during a fight. Overconfidence can also be useful against mobs that flee, particularly flying ones (which can't be tripped).

After 101 they come into their own, as they are able to both stab as a rogue and to use Death Field for tremendous area damage, to name but a few of their primary abilities. They can also use Quickcast and Shadowcast to add certain psionic spells to a mid-round vital shot or an opening surprise attack. Max bci surge is 3.

Training

Train wisdom first and then intelligence, for the increased prac and mana gains. Next comes constitution for better hp gains, and finally train strength and dexterity at your leisure.

Practicing

It is important to practice the following skills and spells at hero:

• Nightcloak - increase stealth of a race, potentially making certain races immune to failing stealth checks,
• Backstab - the bread and butter of rogue skills, required for stabbing,
• Death Field - incredibly potent area attack with a nasty potential for backfire,
• Overconfidence - useful for dealing with wimpy mobs,
• Sense Weakness - only marginally useful at hero tier due to the speed at which mobs usually die,
• Quickstrike and Killer Instinct - useful when soloing to increase damage dealt.

You may want to look into the following spells:

• Enhanced Strength - Useful replacement for Giant Strength,
• Ectoplasmic Form - Useful replacement for Pass Door,
• Heighten Senses - Since you are psi-like, this lasts the full duration of spells

Spells BCI do not get require special attention:

• Portal, Nexus,
• Awen, though they do receive the spells of the Awen stack.

Worship and Devoting

Where rogues had a relatively easy dilemma between Shizaga and Tor, BCI have a much harder choice to make.

Shizaga is great for "smart" races - those wishing to maximize their mana gains, and that will rely on death field to do damage. This in turn leads to ability to solo akin to mages - using surged death field and a charged shield to clear large amounts of enemies at once while relying on tank gear and not using melee abilities. Alternatively, "strong" races such as Black Dragons can still do significant melee damage with a Shizaga worship, and thanks to large hp pools and good racial armor run in full hit gear. Shizaga gives bonuses to spell damage, better mana gains, bonuses to rogue skills like backstab and is far better for poisoning weapons.

Tor will nerf mana gains and spell damage while boosting melee, making it more suitable for the "brutish" BCI - those seeking to maximize stab damage and hitting power, and that will use death field only sparringly.

As with worship, each devotion suits its particular gameplay style.

Shizaga will give bonus AC useful for soloing or tanking, where Tor devotion will increase damage and HP gains while further reducing mana gains.

Fighting

Soloing: Soloing might be a bit tricky until after level 101, but follows two routes:

• Fight in mixed gear by blinding mobs (vs eye) or later by backstabbing them. Augment damage by quickstrikes or ultrablasts.

• Alternatively, after 101 go into full AC with a charged shield, and fight many mobs at once using Death Field.

Tanking: BCI tank rather well with bs or vs eye to open up combat. At low hero you will need full ac gear and then slowly blend in hit to suit your playing style. Be sure to include someone in the group who can portal and sanc.

Hitting: BCI don't really start hitting well until they get third attack and enhanced damage. When in groups they should be stabbing in full DR gear (and immediately rescued by actual tanks), and using DF for rooms with 3+ mobs.

Healing: Since BCI do not get Arcane Knowledge they cannot brand or zap. They do have access to Heal in emergencies (but not Augment).

BCIs at Lord Tier

BCIs continue to be powerful characters at the lord tier, although overshadowed by assassins and especially by rogues. Nightcloak will insure your continuing high stab rate, and in-class Regeneration can be nice. In addition, BCI can cast Steel Skeleton on group members.

Unfortunately the BCIs do not receive Slip or Disengage but they can still open with a stab and let another rogue or assassin slip in for later damage.

Depending on your race, you can either Sense Weakness and Vital Shot midround, or Mindwipe the mobs for a nice little boost in damage.

BCI Remort Options

BCI has no class remort options; BCI is for life.

Strong, otherwise non-sneaky races such as minotaurs, dragons and trolls make great remort choices for BCI, as the skill nightcloak allows them to rarely miss their stab.

Dragons do exceptionally well, with their mix of high racial damage and strong casting abilities, excelling at all aspects of BCI, and in addition, are able to become a BCI even if not originally BCI. After all, Kahbyss founded the Circle, and he is a black dragon.

For those shy of a dragon's TNL and death-field related deaths, tuataurs are also a good option - good sneaking, powerful casters, but without the damage modifier and not as armored.