Mercenary

The mercenary system is designed to add a new dimension to Ragnarok Online, allowing players to have an NPC henchman to fight at their side. Players will be able to support, party with, and control a mercenary using an updated version of the homunculus system. Different from homunculi, any player can use mercenaries, but instead of a creature that grows alongside you, mercenaries have fixed stats based on the level of mercenary summoned. A contract is made with a mercenary and scrolls are used to call them into battle. Both homunculus and mercenary can be used by a player at once. Mercenaries are all of the Demi Human race.

Initially to make use of the mercenary system, you must visit one of the mercenary guilds across the Rune-Midgarts Kingdom. The Spearman Mercenary Guild is located in Prontera (prontera 41, 337), the Bowman Mercenary Guild is in Payon (pay_arche 99, 167), and the Fencer Mercenary Guild is located in Izlude (izlude 47, 139). To invoke a contract with a mercenary and summon one to your side, you must purchase scrolls. The cost of scrolls increases with higher level mercenaries, and the maximum level of mercenary that can be summoned is limited by a character's base level. Some high-level contracts require a certain amount of Loyalty Points to purchase, and the Superior Mercenary Scroll (Level 10) can only purchased in exchange for loyalty points. Scrolls cannot be sold, transfered, or moved into storage or carts.

The stats of the mercenary summoned is based on the scroll used and they come with fixed skills which are different depending on the type of mercenary summoned. Once a mercenary is summoned, it will last either until it dies or the contract expires.

The mercenary system is very similar to that used by the homunculus, as both are run by an AI on the client side. Mercenaries by default use a non-aggressive AI and only attack targets hitting the player or targets the player is attacking. The AI itself is located in the /AI/ folder in the RO directory. Where as homunculus normally executes AI.Lua, mercenaries use a separate file AI_M.Lua. Users can and are encouraged to customize their mercenary AI by modifying the files in the /AI/USER_AI/ folder. Instead of configuring it with /hoai command in-game, players use /merai instead to configure custom AI.

The following are keys used to control mercenaries.

Base Stats A mercenary's level and statistics are fixed when summoning, based on the level of scroll used. However, based on one's Loyalty Points with that mercenary's guild and the kill count, additional bonuses can be received. Skills Mercenary skills are based on the level of the mercenary summoned, and one's Loyalty Points with the mercenary guild. Skills act as if they have been used by a Party member; for example, the sacrifice skill will not function if the mercenary's own level is not within 10 levels of the summoner. Supportive Skills The mercenary is considered very much the same as a player and all supportive magic should function, with the following exceptions:

The following are the 4 conditions in which a mercenary will leave its master. In each case, the game will display a message in the chat box as to why the mercenary left.

As a player fights along side with mercenaries, that player can gain Loyalty Points. More points gives the player faster Killcount Bonuses and allows the player to contract higher level mercenaries. Number of Loyalty Points is specific to each guild of mercenaries, so for example if a player gains a large number of points with the Bowman Mercenary Guild, the amount will have no effect on their standing with the Fencer and Spearman guilds.

The following conditions affect one's Loyalty Points.

As either the player or their mercenary kills monsters (monsters higher than 1/2 the base level of the owner), their killcount will increase. At fixed killcount intervals, a mercenary will receive a random boost to one of their stats. The number of kills required goes down based on the player's reputation with that mercenaries guild. The mercenary can obtain multiple bonuses, which will increase another stat randomly or boost the same one further. There's a total of 5 increases that can be received to each stat.

Killcount bonuses do not stack, and if a player receives a higher level bonus it will replace the existing bonus of that type.

In the case that the mercenary receives a boost to its HP, their HP will be completely recovered. Likewise, if SP is increased they will fully recover their SP.

The boost to stats that are received is not permanent, and is lost at the end of the contract, regardless of how it ends.

Mercenaries have access to a wide variety of skills, both new skills and skills that are currently used by player classes. The exact skills a mercenary receives varies from mercenary to mercenary, but usually they get anywhere from 2-4 skills. Stronger and higher level skills are usually only available to high level mercenaries. Skills from summoned mercenaries can be cast from the AI code or manually by assigning it to a hotkey for you to target.