New Player - Questions About First Character (Paladin)

So some 23 years after its release I'm finally getting around to playing this game. That not entirely true, I have on occasion messed around with it very casually. Honestly now that I'm giving it a go I'm a little lost. I've done some reading/researching but still have some questions.

My first character is a Paladin with the initial goal of:

STR: 110
DEX: 90
INT: 25

Anatomy: 100.00
Swordsmanship: 100.00
Healing: 100.00
Tactics: 100.00
Parry: 100.00
Resist: 100.00
Chivalry: 100.00

Now for my questions:

1. Once I've reached this initial goal what is the typical fighting rotation?  Right now as I'm training I typically use Enemy of One up on whatever I'm farming and then spam Consecrate Weapon and Divine Fury as needed to keep them up. I will cast Holy Light if the fight last long enough or I become surround by multiple enemies at once. I'm using bandages as my primary heal and I don't think I've every had  the need to cast Close Wounds.

2. I'm just entering 90.00 on all my skills right now and have been farming lich's. Anything better to farm skill gain wise, or more lucrative in terms of gold?

3. As I've progressed I've been upgrading my armor and weapons from mob drops, but I don't fully understand the system. I've read that I should work towards an armor set that has 70 resist on every type of damage but what other modifiers should I be looking for?  I assume Swing Speed Increase, Life Leech, and Mana Regen would be most beneficial. 

Thanks in advance for taking the time to help probably the truest newbie you can find playing a 23 year old game. 

 

Welcome to UO @Astolfo!

It sounds like since this is your first time playing UO, you're on the correct path. UO is big, and it's systems can be complex. Take it easy as you play and learn your character and you'll be fine.

Some short, possible answers to your questions (these answers will change as you get further into the game and learn more of both your own and your characters skills):

1. You'll almost always use Enemy of One (EoO), no matter what you're fighting. You can continue to use Consecrate Weapon, or you can find weapons that do 100% damage to the lowest resist of the monster you're fighting, saving you from having to cast Consecrate Weapon (although it is still useful in certain cases). 
1a. If a creature has low resistances, use the weapon special move Double Strike.
1b. If a creature has high resistance, use the weapon special move Armor Ignore.
1c. If you are surrounded by creatures, use the weapon special move Whirlwind (cast Consecrate Weapon first).

Most of the time you'll be using your mana for weapon special moves, rather than casting Paladin "spells".

If you can find another player to heal with (you heal them, they heal you), you will heal in a fraction of the time. With a good x-healing partner, two paladins can take down everything in the game. No joke.

For creature resistances look to:
Monsters - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia


2. Check out:
Melee Training Guide - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia
and
Melee Fighting – Ultima Online (uo.com)


3. All 70's resist for sure. Swing Speed Increase (SSI) also. With a Paladin, you can easily get 10% SSI on your ring, bracelet, and shield, so that'll be 30% SSI. With Parry you're probably using a 1-handed weapon and a shield. You can use the following calculator to determine how much SSI you need to swing at maximum speed (1.25s) for your weapon. Don't stack more on your suit than you need. (There is a new item in game that gives 10% SSI on the robe slot as well, but those are probably going to be out of your price range for awhile.)
Swing Speed Increase - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia

Try to get armor that is either Studded or Bone (these have a built in lower mana cost) or Plate (some built in Lower Mana Cost, but also stamina protection so that you lose less stamina if you take damage).
Lower Mana Cost - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia

Armor priorities will probably be something like (adjust as you see fit):
HP Increase
Stamina Increase (till you get enough stam to swing at max speed)
Lower Mana Cost 
Str (more damage)
Dex (faster swings, faster heals)
Mana Increase


Since you're using Swordsmanship:
Double Strike: Scimitar
Armor Ignore: Longsword
Whirlwind: Bladed Whip
Swordsmanship - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia

Look for "Slayer" on your weapons, these will do 2x or 3x damage to the specified creature type (at least until you can afford a slayer talisman).
Slayer - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia

Life Leech and Mana Leech are also things you'll want on a weapon. Mana Leech especially, since more mana = more weapon special moves. You'll leech back far more mana than you ever regen, so don't worry about mana regen.

So, for starting weapons, you're probably looking for:
Slayer (if it exists for the creature you're fighting)
Mana Leech
Life Leech
Damage Increase (unless you can fit it on your armor, giving you extra space on the weapon)
Hit spell (lightning, etc.)

Hit Chance Increase, Damage Increase, Defense Chance Increase, Hit Lower Defense, and Hit Lower Attack are all also things you can work into your suit/weapon as you progress. Look for rings/bracelets with SSI/HCI, SSI/DI, SSI/DCI as those are pretty easy to find. Without HCI you'll miss alot, so that's probably the most important of the "extra" stuff.

Good luck!

Awesome! Thank you @Arroth_Thaiel. A lot to take in there, plus all the great links. Time for me to dive deeper.

Sounds like you are doing really well.  Don’t overlook vender search for pieces you might need.  Often armor, weapons and jewelry with really great modifications and resists sell for very little gold.  The post above does an excellent job of showing you what to look for.  Once you know what you are looking for I would recommend spending a few minutes every time you logon searching vendor search.  You will not believe some of the deals you will find.

holler in general chat on whatever shard you are on folks will hook you up with Gear !

If you use discord, this is a good place for asking questions https://discord.gg/vRw36e2VMm

Thanks @dvvid I joined the discord.

I played around with the vendor search a little last night and snag a better weapon and ring. Most things are still well outside my price range. I’ve only farmed around a million so far. 

Just keep checking you never know when something great will show up for a more than reasonable price.  And, you get to travel a lot of different areas looking for the vendors.  Good luck in the game.  Glad you got a couple of good deals.  Remember that vendors set there own prices. You will often find the same or very similar items on vendors that charge 500 to 1,000 gold for sale for 10,000 or more gold on other vendors.  I always look for items with a durability of 255.  You can be pretty sure those have never been used.

I would suggest going into the Samp side of this template. The paladin is a hard template to equip as chiv works off 4/6 casting. Finding the right jewels is pretty expensive for a newer player.

Samps use vampiric embrace for life leech and confidence as a primary heal since it's so much faster than using a bandage. Chiv heals are strictly for backup. 

As with all melee templates, the more and faster you hit the better. Look up Knuckleheads swing speed calculator to fine tune what weapon you can use at max or near max swing. With lower dex you'll need a faster weapon that won't hit as hard. A katana is an excellent armor ignore weapon that can be used with lower dex.