Oddities

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Oddities
Item Action Effect
Altars and Pentagram Offer Gold If gold is set upon an altar/pentagram, it will disappear and make the sound of money being deposited. (Try the stone pentagrams in the ruins south of Trinsic, or the pentagram on top of tower inside of the hedge maze.
Anatomy Use on self “You know yourself well enough already.”
Axe (Any) Use on self “That is not a bad idea!”
Bad Circle Open Spellbook More and more reports are surfacing of characters opening their Spellbooks while equipped, only to discover hidden pages located either before the First Circle or after the Eighth (sometimes thepages are found in both locations). (Possible method of revealing the Bad Circle: “Open your paperdoll and double-click on the Spellbook to open it. Next cast Cure on yourself and then right-click the minimized Spellbook in order to re-open it again. Turn the pages of the Spellbook; you should see “Bad Circle” and 1st Circle near the beginning of your book.” -Beastmaster Mantis)
Banking Falsely Withdraw Gold Type “Withdraw XXXXXX gold” while standing next to a Banker NPC, where XXXXXX equals any number. As long as your
character has some gold in the bank (at least 1 GP), the Banker will reply
with “You have withdrawn XXXXXX gold.”
Baths at Buc’s Den Stand in The closest you will ever come to cleanliness in UO.
Bearded Ladies — Either a bug, or a result of OSI’s twisted sense of humor
(maybe both ;).
Begging Use on Self “Perhaps just asking would work better.”
Begging Use on Gold “There is no chance of getting money from that.”
Begging a Beggar Use skill, target NPC Beggar You’ll receive such heart-warming replies as “Ahh!
That color! That marvelous yellow! Please allow me to partake of that which thou dost seem to have in abundance, milord.”
Blade Spirits Double-click Brings up a paper doll for the spirit (paper doll has no picture, just a black space).
Bladed Weapon Use on ghost “But that’s not dead!”
Blanket
Poo & Blanket Ric		 — Now, these are not representations of someone’s childhood comforter. :) Thanks to the research of Grugnar, it is now known that these two items should end in “poor” and “rich”, respectively.
The strange names are courtesy of UO not being able to accept extremely long item titles.
Blood to Water Use Pitcher on Fills empty pitcher with water. (Freshly-carved corpses are good places to start.)
Boar Double-click After repeated double-clicks, the boar will squeal, turn its rump to you then sit down.
Book Authoring Write a book Lengthy player-written books will actually begin appearing all over Britannia on NPC shelves after a certain amount of time has passed.
Books and Generousity Give to NPC Hand an NPC a book and they will respond “Thou art giving me a *title of book*?”, regardless of the title of the book. So you can imagine the fun at parties when you get creative with a book’s
title.
Braziers in Dungeons Double-click The fires of Hell shall rise high… Deceit is a good place to look for these non-magical braziers.
Bungee Jumping (see to right) Stand on a roof (on top of the Moonglow bank, for example) and teleport to the edge, as if you were trying to walk off. If there is a person below you standing where you would land, your character will walk off of the ledge and get bounced back up. Just keep walking and you’ll continually be bounced up and down, from the ground to the ledge.
Chopping Wood Trick Switch items while chopping If while you are chopping wood you quickly switch your axe for some other item your character will appear to be cutting down a tree with that other item. Try cutting down a tree with a spell book or club.
Cobblers=Trash Can Give To When you give a backpack or bag to a Cobbler he/she will gladly accept it. He/she will also accept it when it is filled with items (no matter what is contained within it, including “No Draw” tiles).
This counts as giving and will increase Notoriety as normal.
Communication Crystal Use as a Ghost Characters may speak to Ghosts without using Spirit Speak via Communication Crystals. Link two crystals to each other (they can be in the same room). Then have a ghost begin to speak. You will see the normal “ooOOooo ooOOo O OOo” above the ghost, but the crystal will also announce “Ghost guy says…”
Cooking on Fire Field Cook, target Fire Field Kind of an expensive way to bake a pie… :)
Corpsers Wandering Off Cast Paralyze If you cast Paralyze on a corpser, it will move and follow you until it is struck in combat.
Credits.txt Open the File This is a text file located in your ‘uo’ directory.
Cow-tipping Double-click After repeated d-clicks, the cow falls over.
Death Cries Kill an NPC NPC’s will sometimes utter last words upon being killed by a PC. The messages, such as “I will be avenged”, “I shall haunt thee” and “I spit on thee…”, will appear in the bottom left-hand corner of your screen. Sometimes, as the rumors go, a monster’s death cry will summon 2 to 4 of his fellows to exact revenge upon its killer…
Diving (see to right) On certain steep embankments leading into the ocean, a character may fall off of the ledge and into the water below–and immediately bounce back up onto dry land.
Dizziness Move cursor in circle While holding down your mouse’s walk button, spin the cursor in a circle around your character as fast as is possible, so that the character begins to turn around without moving. Eventually, your character should begin spinning in place. The longer this is perfoemed, the further that character’s Stamina will drop.
Doormat (see to right) You can hide objects under the steps (doormat) of your house. To do this, turn on the circle of transparency and place the item where the steps are. When you turn off the circle of transparency, the item can no longer be reached or seen.
Dye Tub Do not alter color Using a fresh (un-colored) dye tub on an article of clothing will color it the lightest shade of gray available in the game. Using on a leather container or pair of shoes will restore that object back to its original brown or black hue.
Dolphin Feed/Talk to/Attempt to tame Dolphins have been known to perform tricks…
Drunken Polymorph Drink Alcohol, then Polymorph Cast Polymorph while drunk, watch while *hic*’ing.
Eating wood Double-clicking burnt wood After a campfire goes out, embers show up. after the embers go out, burnt wood shows up. The crisped wood disappears within about 5 seconds, and is edible.
Elementals Summon After summoning an Elemental, cast Earthquake or Fire Field on/near it and the Elemental walk towards and attack your character. Normally, summoned Elementals stay where they are summoned unless you command them to do otherwise, even when attacked. (Tested using Water Elementals.)
Escort Talk as Ghost If a ghost says “I will take thee” to an NPC waiting for an escort, the NPC will reply with “That sounded spooky”.
Evaluate INT Use on Object “It looks smarter than a rock, but dumber than a piece of wood.”
Evaluate INT Use on Self “Hmm, that person looks really silly.”
Evaluate INT Use on Towncryer “He looks smart enough to remember the news. Ask him about it.” This message appears for male and female Towncryers.
Evaluate INT Use on Player Vendor “That person looks like he can calculate change.”
Explodin’ Shrooms Walk Over Big, red-capped mushrooms will sometimes explode when a creature is in close vicinity. Try the third level of Destard…
Fame Transfer Target Self Say “I honor thee” and then target self with give a message “You flatter yourself.”
Forest of Love Radar view By checking the radar view of a clearing in the woods near Britain, you can find out which forest is the most compassionate. – Slug
Fruit tree Use Using an axe on an apple tree or peach tree gives “Use this on corpses to carve away meat and hide”. Simply double-clicking a fruit tree gives “There is no more fruit on this tree”, which indicates fruit trees should be spawning fruit.
Furniture Use Bladed Item on “Since you are the owner of the house, you can destroy the moveable furniture within”
Gate Hopping Use Gates Cast mark, then move a bit down the screen and cast Gate. Two gates will open on screen, and you can run in one and out the other. Do this three times, and at the fourth attempt you receive the message “Your spirit lacks the cohesion for gate travel at this time”
Goats Leave Bags on Ground Goats have been known to munch on more than just tin cans…
(Including items from corpses and bags.)
Goats=Trash Can Feed You may keep pet goats happy by feeding them literally anything inside of a leather bag or pack.
Great Heights Fall Falling from a great height (the roof of Trinsic’s second bank or the steps near the Tailor’s on the way to the park teleporter in Wind, for example) will cause you to say “Ouch” and lose HP but
will not kill you no matter how few HP you have. Try polymorphing into different creaures for varient sound effects.
Harpy Carve corpse Carving a harpies corpse will give two raw birds. Now where did those come from?
Heating Stand Cook on it You can cook on a heating stand, even when the candle inside is not lit.
Hedge Maze Follow footprints In the middle of the hedge maze west of Britain, you can find tiny footprints outside of the hill on which the house with the message-board is located.
After going through the hill, you go into an underground secret, which while interesting, is completely useless. After going through a series of teleporters, you end up outside a tower inside the hedge maze in a ring of mushrooms.
Iron
Maiden		 Double-click Double-clicking twice will activate the trap. (Try the Dungeon Wrong.)
Item ID Use on self “It appears to be [name].” (Where [name]=your character’s name.)
Item ID on Gold Use on Gold The skill will report a value of up to 5,786 GP on a pile of 5,000 GP, for example.
“jwilson”
Slimes		 — This particular type of slime was named after Johnny Wilson, the Editor of Computer Gaming World magaizine, after Mr. Wilson declared Ultima Online “Coaster of the Year” for 1997.
Karma Transfer Say “I honor thee” then target self “You flatter yourself”
Key Use on self “You don’t appear to have a key for [name].”
(Where [name]=your character’s name.)
Lamps in Minoc Double-click When double-clicked, the lamps in the corners of the room in the Barnacle Tavern in Minoc make a “heating of the forge” sound.
Large Shop Porches Use items Items left on the porches of large shops (such as a Large Blacksmithy) may be used by passerbys from outside of the building. Objects which may be used in this manner include books (both reading and writing), runes, boxes/packs, food, lanterns, wands and communication crystals.
Lava-walking Teleport Cast Teleport and target the very edge of a lava pit (such as the ones located near Hythloth, on Fire Isle). Once on the edge, you should be able to walk into the lava iteself.
Llama Vortexes Cast energy Vortex Ever since the Beta, summoned Energy Vortex’s will sometimes appear as wildly-flailing purple llamas–which apparantly attempt to kick your opponent to death.
Lord British’s Throne — Upon close inspection, one can tell that the throne is actually a half-buried UO symbol.
Lord British’s Throne’s Secret Walk behind throne Walk to southernmost corner behind the sheets of cloth behind the throne. You can Teleport from there into the wall behind the throne, and walk between the walls. This secret passageway has no known purpose (yet).
Mage Shop in Ocllo Give Item Give something to any NPC that works in the mage shop, such as a wand or potion, and they will give you either kindling, tarot cards, or a rune to Trinsic mage shop (worth 7 gold or a trip to Trinsic).
May not work if the NPC has run out of inventory.
Mage Shop in Magincia Fall through the floor If you go up to the second floor you will find a small room directly above the entrance. If you walk to the Southeast corner of this room (on top of a plant), you will fall through the floor.
Magic Braziers/Statues Double-click Sometimes produce magical effects, such as the healing of damage or the summoning of creatures. Must be allowed to recharge periodically.
Meditate Use Skill when drunk “Inebriation is not conducive to meditation.”
Midgets/Headless Players Sit on a Chair Sit on a chair, then pick up the chair without standing up first. An interesting graphical glitch results.
MIDI Files open These MIDI files are actually reworked versions of theme songs from Ultima VII (lbcastle.mid, dragflit.mid, and oldult01.mid) and VIII (intown01.mid). (Located in the /uo/music dir.)
MIDI Files Directory Replace files One can change the music played in the background during certain events, cities, etc. by replacing the .mid files located in the ‘uo\music’ directory. Just rename the files that you would like to replace
the exisiting MIDI’s with and overwrite the older files. (Note: sometimes doesn’t work if the song is long). Be sure to create backups of the original music files.
MIDI Soundtrack vs. Sound Card Improve Sound Each of the different midi directories also contains a specific “sound font” file (.sf2 extension) for use with the midi files in that directory. The subdirectory names under the Music directory
reflect the amount of on-board sound card memory that is required to load and utilize these sound fonts. So the better your sound card, the better the soundtrack that plays.
Mushroom Formations — Form an upside-down UO symbol. (One is located S of Trinsic).
Mystic Llama
Herders		 Open NPC Paperdoll Sometimes NCPC’s (including Blade Spirits) are generated with a strange professional title: “the mystic llamaherder”. What
can ya say? OSI just loves llamas.
Newbie candle Use The candle you start with when you create a new character will turn into a candlestick the first time you use it.
NPC Beggar Kill I killed an NPC beggar, while she was begging. After i lost the karma, every 10 seconds or so, the ghost would appear for a half a second then dissapear. No matter where I went, this beggar ghost would follow me.
Orc Fort — In the Shadowclan Orc fort on Catskills, if you go up into the central hut there is a bed in the upper left-hand corner.  Put a fur directly in the middle of the bed and then you can walk on it. Pull
the fur and you end up out in front of the tower, like a trap-door.
Orcs Talk to Orcs will sometimes respond with strange comments to certain words, such as “UO”, “ultima online” or “stupid orc”.
Party Invite NPC When invited into a party, an NPC will say “Nay, I would rather stay here and watch a nail rust.”
Party Command Use when not in Party If you are not in a party, but use a party command (prefix text with a slash) then you will see your entered text on screen prefixed with “Note to self:”.
Patches — “Perhaps Origin got a little too literal when it came to patching?” – Xanthos
Pet Naming Set Name If you try to set a Pet’s name to “your mother” you will get a message saying “That isn’t very polite”.
Pets Post-Mortem See to right If the last command you gave your pet before death was “follow me”, the pet will continue to follow your ghost after you die.
Polymorph (New Creatures) Polymorph, then Quaff Healing Potion The caster will transform into previously unavailable, different creatures. Click here for the creature to creature transformation key, courtesy of Lawst Prime.
Polymorphin’ Fun (see to right) If you train a skill from an NPC, attack, or perform an action your polymorphed form will move according to the animal that it represents (e.g., a polar bear will roll over). Also, equipping a weapon while polymorphed will sometimes result in a transformation following the creature to creature transformation key mentioned above. (See also “Drunken Polymorph”.)
Potty-Mouth Room Swearing ? “While talking with a Counselor I got a peek at the Potty-Mouth Room. Complete with soap for those dirty mouths.” -Calico
Provocation Use on self “Perhaps verbal taunts would work better.”
Regions.txt Open the File This is a text file located in your ‘uo’ directory.
Scales Use on Animal The scales will always indicate the animal weighs 10 stones.
Scorpion Carve corpse Carving a scorpion gives you cut of ribs, which is rather odd for an insect to have.
Sheep Use w/ Bladed Item Shears Sheep, producing Wool. (Wool is regrown after 1 UO day).
Shrine (Any Virtue) Double-click May cure stuck Stats, Notoriety or AR.
Shrine in Despise Double-click Refills Mana/HP/Stam. once per day.
Shrine in Destard Double-click Resurrects, cures poison.
Shrine of Sacrifice Offer Gold If gold is set upon the shrine’s symbol, it will disappear and make the sound of money being deposited.
Shrine of Spirituality Say “OM” 3 separate times “You will comprehend the universe…” (Chant on stairs outside shrine).
Sitting and Actions — If a character sits sit down on something while fighting or lumberjacking (any action with an animation), such as a log, that char will have no battle/swing or any other animation, although the battle/action progresses as usual.
Spirit-Speaking Town Cryers Speak to Town Cryer as a ghost If you are die, and as a ghost happen across a town cryer say “news”. The Town Cryer will respond–apparently they Spirit Speak constantly.
Stabling Humans Target Human When trying to stable a human, the stablemaster will reply with, “HA HA HA! Sorry, I am not an inn.”
Stealing Use on self “You catch yourself red handed.”
Swamp Water Walk Over Some confined stagnant water will make a human sick… Or even poison them.
Sweet Dreams Inn of Britain (see to right) Go to the 2nd floor, and proceed to the south eastern most room (the one right above the first room on the first floor). Place a fur on the bed. This will allow you to walk on top of the bed. Now remove the fur from underneath you. You will appear outside in front of the inn.
T2A Playguide See backside The runes that make the border of the back of the T2A play guide actually do say something. Starting at the top left with the book rightside up it reads as follows: The Incan monkey god peered through the leaves of the great book and saw the dawning of a new age (sign of the cross here) an age whose like has seldom been beheld by man.
Tamed Animals Use the “Transfer” Command Your character can actually transfer ownership of or “friend” tamed animals to NPCs or other animals. Trying to transfer or friend the animal to an object will make the pet look confused.
Taming Released Animals Release, then tame again If a character releases a pet and then attempts to tame it again, a message will appear in their journal: “This isn’t even challenging.” (The message does not appear if the animal went wild on its own.) This was apparently put in place in order to prevent tamers form continually releasing and re-taming pets for skill-gain.
Taste ID Target Self “You feel that such an action would be innapropriate”.
Teleporting by Items Target Item By casting Teleport and targeting an item lying on the ground, you will teleport to that item’s location, beit on water or elsewhere.
Tillerman Speak to him The tillerman responds with “Sir”, even if females give him orders.
Tillerman Speak as ghost Talk to the tillerman as a ghost and he will say “OOOO that sounds scary”.
Tracking Use Skill With a very low tracking skill, stand in the middle of a crowd and track for people. You will receive a message “You see no sign of those in the area”.
Trees of Wisdom and Rocks of Intelligence — For a while, GM’s would remove player-built structures if they were located in illegal spots (blocking the entrance to an NPC Inn, for example) and replace them with “Trees of Wisdom” or, more rarely, “Rocks of Intelligence”.
“Two-handed” Weapons Equip Some two-handed weapons–such as the battle axe and the war hammer–will allow your character to drink potions even while equipped, as if the character has one hand free.
Vendor Humor Say “vendor status” If you say “vendor status” to a vendor that you do not own, he or she will reply with an amusing, if not sarcastic, answer. For example, “Why would you care? You don’t run this shop.”
Wands Fight With They are treated as low-damage Mace-fighting weapons (equivalent to a practice weapon).
Water in Jungles Fish Yes, those tiny pools of water located in jungle regions may yield some fairly large trout!
Wind Box Look Inside Some of the gold colored boxes in the city of Wind have lanterns inside that say “an unmarked recall rune” when clicked.
Wisps Talk to Wisps will sometimes respond with strange comments to certain words, such as “Blackthorn”, “British”, “Death Vortex”, “Hail Wisp”, “Slay” or “Help”. They have also been known to assist those who are on the losing side of a battle…
Wizard’s Hat, Magical Wear (+5 INT, -5 DEX, -5 STR)
Yew Caves Click ground This extends from the Yew jail floor to this little mound I came across while doing some exploring. I have read that there is supposed to be a hidden cave under the Yew jail and would imagine this is part of it, but so far I have been unsuccessful at finding an entrance to it.
Yew Prison Open the Secret Doors Take a look around the prison located in Yew with your transperency circle on…
Yew Tree Stand behind A Yew tree (the really huge ones) are hollow, you can walk into one if you enter from behind. If you talk while standing there it seems as if the tree itself is talking.

Last modified: March 28, 2011

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