Having learned from his previous mistakes, Jasper opened up his menu, intending to spend all his points.
With the two left over from his last session and the 9 he had just gotten, he had 11 points to work with in total, almost twice the amount he had in the beginning.
With lesser powers costing one point, greater powers costing two, and new Domains costing three, he could buy many different things, though that was needed given how things ended last time.
Jasper knew that he wanted at least one more Domain, but before he could choose one, he made sure to do two things.
The first was to open up the Magic Domain and choose the power Greater Pavis of Rule.
Greater Pavis of Rule [https://i.postimg.cc/RZVt6Sq1/image.png]
For a moment, Jasper was confused.
He had wanted this power for some time. It was strictly better than his counterspell, though he was pretty sure an additional effect had been layered onto the power.
"What is Ur-magic?" He mumbled under his breath.
This power was no longer just a neat upgrade, though. With Ewen as a god, Jasper would need some way to protect against lower forms of magic.
His Omniscient Scholar power was currently processing all written texts, allowing him to cast almost any spell he wanted.
If Ewen had the same ability, which was very likely, then Jasper would need some kind of defence against what could be a potential enemy.
Since Greater Pavis of Rule was a lesser power, Jasper was left with 10 points.
Next, Jasper focused on his Endurance Domain and expanded it so he could review what powers were available to him.
Instead of using the command he had used during the first iteration, he simply ticked a box that he had implemented just a couple of days ago, allowing the AI to present him with the top 5 options that it thought were relevant and interesting to him.
Power name Summary Read more? Type Amaranth Vitality Every fifteen minutes you heal one lost hit point per three character Ranks, rounded up, as long as you are still alive. (Currently 2 hitpoints per fifteen minutes.) See full description Lesser Unbreakable Commit Energy for the day, and during the next ten seconds you have an invincible defence against any physical, tangible attack or spell effect. See full description Greater Untiring Impact Pick one project that you have spent Impact on. Add 1 to the Impact effect. As an action, Commit Energy for as long as you wish to refresh allies around you. See full description Lesser Elemental Scorn Pick an element. You have an invincible defence against it. You can spread this effect to allies by committing Energy. This Power can be taken multiple times. See full description Lesser Endurance of Energy Increase your maximum Energy by one point. See full description Lesser
Jasper was an idiot. His wife didn't tell him that enough. Why had he kept the two points in reserve? To use on a rainy day like some unspent full healing item?
There was no doubt that these effects would have helped him out. They were terrific, even if the AI was basing the suggestions on what had happened during the last iteration.
Jasper had sustained quite a few injuries after the fun in the mine, which would explain the suggestion of Amaranth Vitality.
The fight with the ork boss, apparently named Orlek, would explain Unbreakable. It was probably the only way that Jasper could have survived the opening volley of that attack.
He was unsure why Untiring Impact was on there. It was likely due to the second effect of revitalising allies.
Elemental scorn took Jasper a second to figure out, but it was due to his battle with The Scribe. Plenty of the veils had given elemental damage, which would have been nice to mitigate.
The last power just seemed generally useful. Endurance of Energy was something that he could always use.
In Jasper's opinion, only three of these powers would be a good idea to pick for his build.
He would pick the regeneration ability and the ability to withstand any hit for ten seconds, and finally the upgrade to energy.
These powers would cost him 4 points in total, which would bring him to 6 unspent points.
With a new Domain costing 3 points, he would have 3 points left to spend in his new Domain.
All in all, this was a good plan.
However, Jasper couldn't bring himself to pick the powers without reading them over first. Who knew? There might be some kind of hidden effect or downside that would make him change his mind.
He started with the first power, pulling up the full description.
Amaranth Vitality [https://i.postimg.cc/4ykRFqZ3/image.png]
Amaranth Vitality didn't provide any surprises. It was essentially what Jasper had expected. After all, it was a passive ability that would slowly heal him from any wound as long as he survived. He picked it, spending a single point on getting some regeneration powers.
He continued to the next ability, looking it over before picking it.
Unbreakable [https://i.postimg.cc/1tKrLN1N/image.png]
Jasper looked over the power. It made sense that the ability would only block physical aspects of attacks. However, combined with his Magic Domain, this was becoming incredibly powerful. He would be able to block just about any attacks thrown his way, no matter the type.
He picked the ability.
While Energy dedicated for the day was a heavy downside, he also knew that this effect was much stronger than it appeared. He could have taken down the ork with little to no problems with this thing.
He moved on to the last power in his endurance Domain.
Endurance of Energy [https://i.postimg.cc/5tstTxk2/image.png]
The last power seemed to be pretty much what he had expected.
It was a generally helpful ability that allowed him to throw his powers more often, which would be especially useful with his latest Unbreakable power.
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He picked Endurance of Energy, determining it would be worth the points.
That left him with 6 points.
Even after reading the full description of the powers he still wanted another Domain.
Jasper pulled up the view of all the possible Domains he could pick from.
After being overwhelmed by the long list of options, he narrowed it down to the top five Domains he thought would be a good fit.
Domain name Domain Description Alacrity Quick bursts of explosive speed. Loyalty Leadership and organisation Luck Fortune both good and bad Passion Feelings and inspiration Wealth Prosperity and manipulation of goods
Jasper had a hard time choosing which Domain to pick next.
He knew he didn't want one of the more combat-focused Domains, since he had already picked Magic, and the various mage schools were quite a big help with his combat prowess.
He also knew that while the Elements could be fun, he would want all of them if he was supposed to make an exciting build. As such, he was left with just a couple of options.
Alacrity had some overlap with endurance. Often, a build would focus on either dodging attacks or blocking them, but usually not both.
However, it was a contender since it was a nice compliment to Celeste's Journey word. There was something poetic in Celeste having long-distance travel, while Jasper focused on travelling short distances.
Loyalty was neat, as it provided some much-needed organisation to people. However, they couldn't run a country or town since they would only check in every 100 years. A leader who was only around their country every century wasn't a leader.
Luck was one of those Domains that was probably a lot of fun. Thinking about real-world examples, gods of Luck were usually fickle or tricksters. Jasper couldn't help but wonder if it was the kind of build he wanted.
Passion would be good to have. Neither Jasper nor Celeste had been focused on social interaction with some of the people around them, and it would be a good idea to get something for that.
However, Passion didn't necessarily provide any other benefits. In that way, it was like his Knowledge Domain. It was hyper-focused. Jasper wasn't sure if he could afford to take another focused Domain. It wasn't like Celeste's Tinkering domain, which applied to all kinds of situations.
Lastly, there was the Wealth Domain. It was one of the more versatile Domains, allowing Jasper to earn quite a bit of money.
He grumbled a little and then looked over to his wife. It was one of the more fitting Domains for her as well. She could probably pick it too, and there would be too much overlap between them. It wouldn't fit into Jasper's original concept for his character, the shield mage, but it would make things a lot easier.
Jasper sighed and cleared his throat, though Celeste was in her own little world, and didn't pay him much attention. Jasper didn't blame her. She was finally getting a taste of the whole analysis paralysis that plagued most of his decisions.
Jasper finally just picked something, he could spend days analysing all the potential options that he had, but honestly, there was no wrong answer.
He picked Luck, deciding that combined with Knowledge and Magic he could probably go for some kind of Fate theme, which would compliment Celeste's Domains nicely.
Luck Domain Gained [https://i.postimg.cc/KYVYmmtc/image.png]
Jasper had to admit that the Luck Domain seemed powerful. By default, the option to see rolls was disabled, ensuring smoother gameplay for the pair of gods. However, Jasper would have to be informed when he failed a check to ensure he knew when he was close to getting an automatic success.
A quick overview of the powers within the Luck Domain also showed that they were compelling, even if Jasper was just viewing the top 5 options.
Power name Summary Read more? Type Impossible Victory Exactly once, you automatically win a conflict through blind luck. It may not be a total victory, but you obtain the main goal. You then lose this Power and you are refunded the cost. See full description Greater Nine Lives Automatically reroll saves or enemy hit rolls that would result in your death or mortal injury. See full description Lesser By Chance By committing Energy you can dictate an event within your presence that isn't utterly improbable, and it happens. See full description Greater Blighted Luck Curse a target with bad luck. See full description Lesser A series of unfortunate events By committing Energy, target opponent is hit with a series of unfortunate events, each one creating a chain event with the intent of killing the target. See full description Lesser
These were all great. However, Jasper knew a trap when he saw one.
If the last iteration had taught him anything, it was the fact that he was not good at managing limited resources, meaning that Impossible Victory would be something that he would hang on to for the subsequent ten iterations before using it at a stupid time. He sighed and decided not to pick the Impossible Victory.
The next one was Nine Lives. It would give the god more sustainability, ensuring he wouldn't go out in a fight as quickly as if he had been just blocking whatever came his way.
Jasper wondered if the reroll would happen before or after he activated his Unbreakable ability. If it was before, then there would be quite the synergy, saving him energy in the long term.
However, based on the wording, it was probably based on how much damage the attack dealt, meaning that activating Unbreakable would effectively nullify Nine Lives. Jasper discarded this ability as well.
By Chance was actually what he had been looking for, hoping to dictate fate through random events would be quite fun.
Blighted Luck and A Series of Unfortunate Events sounded pretty good, though they overlapped.
Jasper picked the one that intended to kill someone, as he could probably use it in some offensive way, rather than simply cursing someone.
Pulling up the descriptions of the new powers before picking them, he read them over carefully.
By Chance description [https://i.postimg.cc/Wz2rkM1b/image.png]
This power was a lot worse than Jasper had expected. Or at least that was what he assumed at first glance.
The power to manipulate things in the environment might be useful. However, was it worth 2 points? He wouldn't be able to use it to manipulate people's thoughts and feelings, though he would be able to damage enemies to some extent.
The god sighed, deciding that this wasn't worth the two points.
Instead, he looked at A Series of Unfortunate Events.
A Series of Unfortunate Events Power Description [https://i.postimg.cc/RhpFZYp9/image.png]
This was much more in line with the power that Jasper had been looking for. A series of Unfortunate Events was a lot more powerful than the spells that he had been slinging.
While he couldn't use the ability in a row, it was still one of the more insane damage potentials he had seen. It made him wonder what they would be able to do if they picked some actual combat Domains.
He chose the power, though thanks to him not picking By Chance, he had two points left.
Jasper wouldn't let them sit around and not benefit him, not after last time, so he looked into his Knowledge Domain, hoping to spend them there.
While the top 5 options were interesting, they weren't really what Jasper was looking for. He dismissed them after having already reviewed them during character creation.
Instead, he looked over each ability, finally finding one that fit him.
A truth that Burns Description [https://i.postimg.cc/PqZnL7Jh/image.png]
It was a lesser power, meaning that it only cost one point, but it was one of the more interesting powers. It would allow him to determine what people were hiding from him.
Jasper would have loved to have this with King Marcus to know what the man had been thinking.
The god picked the power and decided to look over his Magic Domain as well. However, something strange had happened to the Domain.
A lot of powers within the domain mentioned something called Ur-Magic.
It seemed like someone had been messing with the domain, and Jasper had a feeling that Ewen might have done something he shouldn't.
The system had adapted to accommodate a power that could literally elevate a mortal to a god by creating a new type of magic.
Since Jasper didn't know anything about Ur-Magic, it meant that nobody had written anything about it, which was both infuriating and good to know.
Even so, Jasper found another Lesser power that he liked in the Magic Domain. Allowing him to use his last point.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/rsgkVtmr/image.png]
Jasper smiled. With his points spent he was ready to head out in the world.
Looking around, he could see that the sun had moved quite a bit, leaving him to think that he must have spent at least three hours reviewing stats and comparing them with his current loadout.
Celeste was nowhere to be seen, and Jasper couldn't blame her. She had probably wandered down into the town, but they really shouldn't be spending more time in Marcusburg.
The town seemed self-sufficient to some degree, and they would have to fix the bugs elsewhere in the world.