Begging

Begging is the skill by which one acquires gold and items from NPCs simply by asking. It is one of UO's archetypal Useless Skills — the gold rewards seldom amount to meaningful sums even at GM, and the item drops, while occasionally interesting, are not enough to justify a skill slot for combat or commerce. Most players who undertake Begging do so for roleplay purposes, with one notable exception: the Heartwood elves and Darius the Wise in Moonglow give interesting items (decorative, "Acquired by Begging"-tagged), and Halloween events historically have made unique seasonal items beggable from special NPCs. For a roleplay-driven character, GM Begging is a real pilgrimage worth completing.

Mechanics

Active-use the skill, target an NPC. The skill check resolves immediately:

Karma penalty: every successful Begging attempt lowers Karma by a small amount. Keep this in mind for paladin-style or virtuous roleplay characters; sustained Begging will tank Karma over time.

The negative-gold bug

It is possible — by reducing Karma low enough — to receive a negative amount of gold. These bugged stacks display as "A Gold Coin" and, when moved, show ~65,535 coins (the indicated value being negative — your "intended" total minus 65,536, classic 16-bit underflow). The stack cannot be divided and is worth the same as a single coin when used in NPC purchases or check creation. Curiosity items only.

Items received from Heartwood and Darius

Heartwood elves and Darius the Wise in Moonglow (only) drop non-stackable, "Acquired by Begging"-tagged items rather than gold. Three drop tiers, with rarity chances:

• Level 1 — 75% drop chance
• Level 2 — 24% drop chance
• Level 3 — 1% drop chance

Note: items with both a normal-orientation and reversed-orientation graphic count as two separate items.

Level 1 (75%)

Level 2 (24%)

Level 3 (1%)

The Level 3 Bedroll's tag-erasing-on-open behavior is a known curiosity. Collectors specifically chase the untouched "Acquired by Begging" Bedroll because the tag itself is the rarity, not the bedroll graphic.

Halloween events

Historically, Halloween events have introduced special seasonal items that could be obtained only via Begging — pumpkin-themed decoratives, costume parts, occasional rare collectibles. These vary year-to-year. The Begging-NPC pool during Halloween events is broader than just Heartwood and Moonglow; any participating NPC across the realm may drop the seasonal items.

Training

Buy Begging from any Gypsy found in Britannia or at any Gypsy Camp. Activate via macro or skill button and target an NPC.

The standard training loop is to walk through a city with a NPC-rich layout (Britain, Vesper, Yew) and target every NPC in turn — the gain rotation handles itself.

Karma management for Beggars

Sustained Begging tanks Karma. For pure-Begging roleplay characters, this is acceptable (the "scoundrel" archetype is Begging's lore home). For mixed-template characters who want the skill and want to maintain positive Karma:

Rotate Begging-then-Karma-recovery cycles to keep yourself near neutral.

See also

• Karma — direct interaction with Begging
• Heartwood — primary Begging-tagged-item source
• Moonglow — Darius the Wise, secondary tagged-item source
• Gypsy_Camp — training NPCs
• Stealing · Snooping — sibling rogue skills