The Perma Novice FAQ

Good morning, good evening, and good night, whatever it may be...

Here are some answers to commonly asked Perma novice questions, simply because a) I'm bored, and b) hopefully by reading this people will spam me in game less :sweatdrop


Q: What exactly is a perma novice? And how does it differ from a super novice?

A: This answer is a little tricky. As of now, the two are TECHNICALLY the same thing, as the Super Novice job has yet to be implemented on iRO (This FAQ answers iRO related questions, as it is the version of RO that I am familiar with). A Perma novice is essentially a novice who, for one reason or another, has decided to remain a novice and does not take an advanced job. In the future, novices who reach the level 45/10 will be allowed to change to the Super Novice job class. Then, a perma novice will be those few novices who refuse to change to any job at all, even the Super Novice.

It's confusing, yes. So, to simplify:

Perma Novice = high level novice.

Super Novice = upcoming new Job for 45/10 novices.


Q: What's the point of making a Perma Novice?

A: This can have many answers - everyone who is a perma novice has their own reasons for creating one, be it the challenge, the fame, the humor of beating people in PvP/WoE with a novice, pre-Super Novices, etc, etc. In the end, it's all about people playing the game the way they want to have fun.


Q: What skills does a Perma Novice get?

A: Aside from the Basic Skills, Novices can get the basic First Aid skill, and the Play Dead skill (useable only by Novices). These can both be attained in Prontera, and there is a short guide on how to get these skills in these very forums. Novices can also get skills from accessories, such as L1 Heal (Vitata Card) L3 Envenom (Poison Spore Card) etc, etc. But aside from the Basic Skills, Novices cannot get any new skills from Job levels (which stops at 10).

Super Novices will be able to use the majority of 1-1 job skills, but, let me restate, they are NOT implemented yet.


Q: What kinds of equipment can Novices use?

A: Novice equipment is extremely limited, moreso after the Juno patch. We cannot equip most headgear, and cannot use any level 3 or 4 weapon (there are some exceptions/bugs with this. Orcish Swords can be used by Novices. 1s Morning Stars are also shown to be useable by novices, but in fact are not useable by them. I have tested this).

Novices also cannot use Ring Pommel Sabres or Chains. They can use the remainder of the level 1/2 one-handed Swords, Daggers, Maces, and Axes.

Armor wise, they are also limited. The best armor available to them is a slotted Novice Breastplate purchaseable in Juno for 89,000 zeny. Hoods, Sandals, Guards, Novice Armlets and Clips round out the rest of the "optimal" Novice gear.

Most of the upper-end Headgear is also off-limits to Novices. The highest defense headgears are the Munak and Bongun hats, and the Wonder Nutshell at 5 def. Sakkats are useable by Novices, but most of the other stat-increasing headgears are not. Novices cannot use ANY lower-headgear only gear, and the mid and mid/lower choices are also very limited. Yes, that means no Elven Ears for 70+ Perma Novices :blank:


Q: How about stats? What kind of benefits do Novices get from stats?

A: Well, I'm not good with numbers, but here are the basics:

Novices have EXTREMELY low HP and SP. Furthermore, the amount of extra HP/SP they get from VIT and INT respectively is also pitiful - for example, a level 99 Novice with 99 VIT will have barely over 1k max HP. Which makes it rather difficult, and costly, to make a VIT novice. Also, due to the lack of available magic attacks and the removal of Firebrand(Fire Bolt) and Ice Falchion(Cold Bolt) from the list of useable Novice weapons, INT novices are seldom seen, if seen at all.

AGI novices fare better, but Novices still suffer from the second-slowest base aspd of all classes (only Mages are slower, who have access to Berserk potions, while Novices are limited to Awakening potions).

DEX, STR, and LUK work for the most part normally, with little difference between the effects for it as compared to other classes. Regardless, it is difficult to create a Novice with high survivability in the upper level maps.


Q: How does the community-at-large react to Perma Novices? Are people generally supportive?


A: Yes and no. Most people are still surprised to see Novices that are able to kill tough monsters. Some people are respectful of Perma Novices. Some are pretty much indifferent, and will leave you alone. MANY people will probably stop you and ask you questions. Others, are not so supportive. Perma Novices are usually harrassed for information, nearly, if not more than, support Priests. Having played both to reasonable levels, I would say that I get nearly as many people asking me what level my Novice is, why I have not changed jobs, why I have no life :furious3: etc. as my old Priest did for heals and buffs. Trying to level is only half the challenge of playing a Perma Novice. Dealing with players who constantly harrass "Super Noobs" is the other half. Hopefully, a few people will read this FAQ and change their general opinion of novices for the better, or at the very least, stop asking so many questions :singer: :smash: :smash: :smash:


Q: Where, exactly, can you level Novices? Can they fight well?

A: Most of this is dependent upon build and equipment. Generally, though, a Perma Novice will be fighting in areas weaker than other, stronger job classes are capable of fighting in. Given the equipment, build, knowledge of the player, and plenty of healing items, though, a well-seasoned novice can tough it out on some pretty ugly maps. But they do have their limits :laugh3:


Q: What's the highest level Novice? What's the hardest thing a Novice can kill?

A: Well, as rumors go, I've been told that there is a level 99 Novice on both Chaos and Loki. No idea about Sakray, and of course, these are rumors - I have not personally seen Aura endowed Novices myself, but I wouldn't doubt their existence. As for the "A Novice killed bapho!" rumors, well, some rumors are best left for the imagination, I suppose :laugh3:

Theoretically, it is possible for a Novice to MVP some things, but nowhere near the efficiency of standard 2-1 or 2-2 MVP builds.


Q: Any other interesting things I should know?

A: There are some things that are kinda quirky about novices.

Novices do not suffer any exp penalty upon death. Base or Job. No loss.

When Novices die, and return to their save point, they resurrect with 50% of their hp (in addition to however much SP they had as usual). No other class can do this, with the exception of using an Osiris card (100% hp/sp resurrection).

Technically, the highest job level attainable by a Novice is Job level 10. However, I have recently found that the exp bar does not remain stopped even when you hit Job level 10, and that it continues progressing towards Job level (11, I guess?). Mind you, this progress is EXTREMELY slow. You'd only get 0.1% into job 10 by about base 53, just as an example. It may or may not be possible to hit Job level 11 as a Novice....but even if it was, it would likely take the exp to hit 99 a couple times over. And there is most likely NO benefit to doing so. It may even be a bug. Who knows?



Well, that's about it. If you have any extra questions, feel free to ask here.

(5/16 - some edits for clarity purposes. -Deuk-)

(5/23 - added some stuff, more edits for clarity. -Deuk-)

(9/26 - I am back on iRO after leaving for a good while. While I did delete my old novice after getting harassed to the point of having no fun, I've since returned, and I'm working on a new Novice. I did make the Orcish Sword edit, thank you. Also, I greatly appreciate both the sticky and the feedback. Now that I am back, I will attempt to keep this post as updated as possible with the new Super Novice implementation on the horizon - however, I'm not making a Super Novice guide. This will still be the place to hopefully answer the Perma Novice questions. -Deuk-)