Next, I put three points into Wisdom since it was the other stat that related to divine magic, and raised Constitution and Strength by three as well. Being able to survive was important, and the play style I wanted to explore was more of a battle cleric and less of a back line heal-bot.
For my final four points, I raised Intelligence by two for the bonus to learning skills, and put the final two into Fortune.
Unassigned Points
0
Strength
-
13
+
Agility
-
10
+
Constitution
-
13
+
Intelligence
-
12
+
Wisdom
-
13
+
Presence
-
17
+
Fortune
-
12
+
I glanced over to the reflection of my avatar and saw that I had bulked up a bit. My earlier thoughts had been correct. Stats did influence your appearance.
My arms and legs had gained some mass and muscle tone, and my body was broader with a deeper chest, but the most striking thing was my eyes.
I couldn’t quite describe it, but there was a sense of purpose and confidence reflected there that wasn’t there before. I'd wondered how Presence would be represented, and now I had my answer.
The attributes pane returned to its place on the right of my view, and a list of classes appeared in the center, with an accompanying message.
*** Select your starting class. This selection will determine the skills that are available to your character at the start of the game. Additional skills can be gained during play through either trial and error, or from a sufficiently skilled teacher. ***
This selection reflects a general path. Specialized classes become available based on play style, skill levels, and storyline actions.
For example:
A character selecting the Warrior base class and specializing in one-on-one melee combat may be offered the Duelist specialization, while another who focused on holding the line and keeping the attention and focus of multiple enemies might instead become a Guardian. ***
A list of the starting class paths followed the system description:
Warrior, Rogue, Priest, and Mage.
Four base classes was a lot less than I expected. I'd thought the system would be a lot more complex, but I guessed that if your eventual career was based upon game play it would make sense to start it off with a basic set.
I had already decided that I was going to play a priest, but I decided to read through the other class paths for the benefit of my audience.
First up was the good old meat shield:
Warrior
Warriors are the masters of physical combat. They are skilled in all basic weapon forms, and all types of armor and shields. Typically found on the front line of any conflict, Warrior are the most common adventuring class.
Potential roles: Tank, Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Tactical Support.
Basic Training
Warriors begin the game with 8 skill points that can be spent on weapon skills.
Warriors begin the game with 4 skill points that can be spent on armor and shield skills.
Warriors begin the game with 4 skill points that can be spent on utility or general skills.
Weapon Aptitude
Improved chance to learn new weapon skills and to increase weapon skills.
Second Skin
For purposes of carrying capacity, equipped arms and armor are reduced.
True Grit
Warriors are taught to fight through pain and gain a minor bonus to all checks regarding pain and exhaustion.
Warriors got a good start with weapon and armor skills as you would expect from the normal Tanking class, and an improved ability to learn the skills central to their role.
Second skin was interesting. If you spent most of your time wearing armor you'd eventually get used to the weight and it would stop feeling like a burden. It was a nice addition.
The ability to shrug off pain and keep going would be a good thing to have in your meat shield as well. I wouldn’t want my tank to falter at a critical moment and get our healer shanked.
I read through the potential roles listing again and wondered out loud, “What does Tactical Support do?” The system decided to answer.
*** Query Received: “Tactical Support.” ***
*** Answer: Tactical support characters are those who have specialized in command skills and abilities, issuing orders to PC and NPC forces. These characters provide both passive and active bonuses to members of their party. At higher ranks, these abilities might expand to cover entire battlefields.
Example Advanced Classes – Sergeant, Commander, Overseer. ***
I had a couple friends from Talion Online who would eat that up. People who enjoyed being the group leader, organizing raids and the like. Advanced classes that let them provide benefits for the job they were already doing would be right up their alley.
Next, I took a look at what Sosaku offered in terms of roguery.
Rogue
Rogues dwell on the edges of combat, raining death with ranged weapons, or flanking to deliver deadly surprise attacks to an unaware foe. They are the masters of stealth, scouting, and utility.
Potential roles: Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Ranged Support, Utility Support.
Shadowplay
Rogues begin the game with 4 skill points that can be spent on weapon skills.
Rogues begin the game with 1 skill point that can be spent on armor skills.
Rogues begin the game with 12 skill points that can be spent on utility or general skills.
Stealthy
Minor bonus to all stealth based skill checks.
Improved chance to learn new and increase all stealth/utility skills.
Sixth Sense
Rogues have a sixth sense. Sixth sense grants a small chance based on rank to avoid surprise attacks and traps.
Rogues didnt get as many weapon skill points as a warrior, which made sense. The player would have to choose a specialization where a warrior could branch out a bit more while achieving the same level of skill. They had limited armor skills as well, but a metric crap-ton of utility skill points.
This class seemed to have a lot of options, many of which would require multiple support skills. Playing a thief would need at least four with Pick Pockets, Lock Picking, Disarm Traps, and Climbing. And who even knows what other abilities were available.
The rest of the package seemed pretty standard as well. Sixth Sense was a useful skill, especially for a class that would be at the forefront of exploring new dungeons and the like and keeping their party from dying to traps.
Next, I focused on the Mages.
Mage
Wielders of the arcane, Mages come in many flavors. Blasting apart their enemies with elemental forces, bending the opponent’s will to their desires, or even mastering the forces of creation itself.
Potential roles: Ranged DPS, Ranged Support, Ranged Utility.
Students of the Aether
Mages begin the game with access to Arcane magic with 10 skill points that can be used to purchase Arcane magic spells.
Mages begin the game with 1 skill point that can be spent on weapon or armor skills.
Mages begin the game with 5 skill points that can be spent on utility or general skills.
Improved chance to learn new arcane magic skills, and to increase arcane magic spells/skills.
Increased maximum mana.
Scholar
Improved chance to learn new knowledge-based skills and increase knowledge-based skills
Mages pretty much followed the trends established in the other classes, gaining small bonuses to their specific field of steady with some minor bonuses to related f
ields. There was nothing that I would call "extrordinary".
The last option I looked at was my intended selection: the Priest.
Priest
Servants of their chosen gods, priests harness divine magic to heal and enhance their allies, or to call the wrath of the gods down upon their foes.
Potential roles: Healer, Ranged Support, Melee Support, Ranged DPS.
Blessed of the Gods
Priests begin the game with access to the Divine magic with 5 skill points that can be used on Divine spells and abilities.
Improved chance to learn new divine magic skills, and to increase divine magic spells/skills.
Temple Training
Priests begin the game with 5 skill points that can be spent on weapon or armor skills.
Priests begin the game with 8 skill points that can be spent on general skills.
Divine Blessing
Minor bonus to resist to all effects that would impact free will.
From the roles listed, priests seemed to be pretty versatile. Of course, there were the standard back line, fragile heal and buff bots, but it looked like there was a potential for priests who spent their days raining holy flames upon the wicked as well.
The fact that Temple Training included weapon and armor skills gave me some hope that my dream role was possible, and extra protection vs mind control was all good in my book.
I locked in my choice and watched as the character creation screen faded into the background to be replaced by another menu.
*** Human Racial Boons – Select 1. ***
I read through the list and some of the descriptions, waiting for something to catch my fancy. The Racial Boons seemed very story driven, providing some sort of character-specific quest that would make your character different than every other character in the game.
The descriptions themselves were pretty generic, but they all seemed to end in the same two lines. For example, the first choice on the list:
Aristocrat
You were born into the ruling class of your people, never wanting for any basic need, and often indulged. Before leaving your family’s dwelling this morning, you found a note hidden among your things.
**Personal quest: Each racial boon is the seed of a personal quest for each character. Each quest contains the potential for great reward, guaranteed to be relevant to the character’s abilities and class path.
The servers had to be running on some top of the line hardware to be able to generate unique quests for each player. I wondered if it was actually true.
With the number of players involved in this type of game, there would have to be some overlap. I was sure the internet would call them on it if duplicates ever showed up.
I read through the list, seeing typical origin story type tropes. “Veteran of the Line” which involved an old military friend of your father’s seeking help of some sort.
Several involved a missing love interest or a friend or relative who had met their untimely demise. Each of these included the Personal Quest tag, except the last selection:
Mundane
You were born to an average family and raised according to the customs and norms of your people. To date, your life has been uneventful, allowing for extended periods of reflection and study.
**In lieu of a personal quest, players selecting this Boon will gain a +1 bonus to the stat of their choice, or 5 skill points that may be spent on general skills.
Choosing that seemed like a bit of a cop out. It was probably geared for those who didn’t like to take any chances. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and all that.
Personally, I would rather take my chances with an interesting story and go for the personal quest and find one that called to my soul, like the one that had caught my eye:
Unknown Origins
As a child your grandmother once told you stories of a mystical ancestor. When your parents found out what she had told you, they forbid your grandmother from ever mentioning it again. Your grandmother recently passed from the lands of the living, and in her last will she left you a sealed letter, rumored to have some clues as to your mysterious ancestor.
**Personal quest: Each racial boon is the seed of a personal quest for each character. Each quest contains the potential for great reward, guaranteed to be relevant to the character’s abilities and class path.
I was a sucker for voyages of self-discovery, so I selected that Boon and my view faded to black.
My character information appeared before my eyes.
Name: *Undefined*
Race: Human, Saa
Class: Priest
Level: 1
Experience: 0/500
Hit Points: ???/???
Mana: ???/???
Stamina: ???/???
Divine Favor: 0
Attributes(Modifier):
--Strength: 13 (+2)
--Agility: 10 (+1)
--Constitution: 13 (+2)
--Intelligence: 12 (+2)
--Wisdom: 13 (+2)
--Presence: 17 (+4)
--Fortune: 12 (+2)
Racial Skills:
--Child of the Sun
--Martial Training
Class Skills:
--Blessing of the Gods
--Divine Blessing
--Temple Training
Boons and Blessings:
--Unknown Origins
Combat Skills: (Available: 5)
--None
General Skills: (Available: 8)
--None
Divine: (Available: 5)
Skills
--None
Spells
--None
*** Select your starting skills. ***
For my race and class combo, I had five skill points to spend on my weapon and armor skills, five for my divine magic, and eight for general skills.
Bringing up my character sheet, I focused on the weapon skills section and scanned through the available options.
Short Blades
The Short Blades skill relies primarily on the speed and agility of the wielder while also benefitting from Strength. Small blades are the preferred tools for extreme close combat fighters and provide extra damage benefits when used for surprise attacks.
Example for the Saa Race: Knives, Daggers, Gladii, and Sickles.
Long Blades
The Long Blades skill relies upon the Strength attribute. Covering both the one-handed and two-handed varieties of swords, this skill provides both offensive and defensive capabilities.
Example for the Saa Race: Spatha and Khopesh.
Axes
The Axes skill relies upon the Strength attribute. Covering both the one-handed and two-handed varieties of Axes, this skill provides bonuses to damage against enemies wearing light, medium, or nature-based armors.
Example for the Saa Race: Adze, War Axe, and Crescent Axe.
Blunt Weapons
The Blunt Weapon skill relies upon the Strength attribute. Covering both the one-handed and two-handed varieties of maces and clubs, this skill provides bonuses against constructs, skeletal type undead, and wearers of light, medium, or bone armors.
Example for the Saa Race: Mace, Club, Maul, and Warhammer.
Archery
The Archery skill relies upon the Agility attribute. Depending on the arrow types utilized, Archers are able to adapt to overcome almost any opponent.
Example for the Saa Race: Short Bow, Horse Bow, Horn Bow.
Spear
The Spear skill relies upon the Strength attribute. Covering both one-handed and two-handed versions of spears, this skill allows the wielder to fight from a distance, and thus provides a small defensive bonus.
Example for the Saa Race: Short spear, Pilum, and Pike.
Flexible Weapons
The Flexible Weapons skill relies upon both Strength and Agility, requiring coordination to wield with the precision needed. Flexible Weapons do reduced damage and are primarily used to impose status effects such as pain, slow, and binding to
the enemy.
Example for the Saa Race: Whip, Net, and Lasso.
Crimson Sands Page 4
