Hey, let me take you aside for one moment. I know, I know, that’s a hell of a cliffhanger to take a step back from, but I thought you might be curious about what everyone else picked for their skills and evolutions at the end of Deijin’s Descent.
Now, maybe you’re saying “Arlo, you’re the big MCE (Main Character Extraordinaire) and everyone else is at best an ASC (Awesome Supporting Character). I don’t really give a shit what skills they picked!”
Alas, no man is an island and I am no exception. My allies are an integral part of my conquests, so an update on their abilities is in order.
However, if you really don’t care, feel free to skip ahead to 167. We won’t be advancing the plot here. Go ahead, I’ll sit in silent judgment while giving you a few seconds to move on. I’ll even add some line breaks so you won’t see me talking smack about you behind your back before you’ve clicked through or swiped away or tapped out or hit skip or sent a mental command to your implant or modified probability to access the next most appropriate story interval or altered your divination or constructed a new reality instance or whatever else you might need to do. It’s a big universe out there.
…
…
…
…
…
Still here? Great! I’m not actually going to insult the people who left. This kind of stuff ain’t for everybody, and I get it. Anyway, without further ado, here are the party’s skill selections, along with a basic rundown of their stats. I also added my own gains at the end, so they’re all in one spot.
ETJA:
Vitals:
Health: 473
Stamina: 220
Mana: 460
Stats:
Strength 10
Agility 10
Speed 10
Fortitude 22
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 46
Charisma 58
Luck 40
Passive Skill Gained:
Craving and Deliverance: The maximum number of Blessed stacks you can possess before decay is increased by an amount equal to your level.
Whenever you use an Active Skill governed by CHA, you gain 1 stack of Blessed. You can only gain 1 stack of Blessed this way per skill activation, even if that skill has multiple effects.
The bonus you receive when spending a stack of Blessed is increased to +10.
Active Skill Gained:
Repulsion
Divine
Cost: 40 mana
Make a CHA spell attack against all hostile entities within a number of feet of you equal to 10 times the number of Divine Magic evolutions you possess (Current range: 20 feet). Entities damaged by this attack are pushed to the edge of this range. If an entity is pushed more than 10 feet in this way, they must pass an AGI check based on the attack value or be knocked prone. This attack deals Holy damage and gains a bonus to damage equal to your Divine Magic skill level.
If you spend any stacks of Blessed on this skill, the affected area becomes difficult terrain for hostile entities and grants Celerity to allies. This effect lasts for a number of seconds equal to the bonus granted to this skill by Blessed.
An entity with Celerity has their movement speed doubled and ignores difficult terrain.
Evolutions Gained:
LCK 20
Guardian Angel: You are instinctively made aware of any skill or attack that would target you if the source’s CHA is lower than your LCK. Your first use of Nullify each hour has a maximum mana cost of 10.
LCK 40
Double Down: You have a number of Double Down charges equal to twice the number of LCK evolutions you possess (Current charges: 6). Whenever you are granted a temporary beneficial effect, you may spend 1 Double Down charge to double the benefits of the effect, and whenever you would be inflicted with a temporary detrimental effect, you can spend 1 charge of Double Down to negate the effect on you.
Each charge has a cooldown of 24 hours.
Performance 20
Godly Set: Whenever a non-hostile entity witnesses you perform for at least 1 minute, you may grant them 1 stack of Blessed. While Blessed in this way, the entity feels a greater sense of peace and contentment. All affected entities are aware of this effect and may eliminate it at will.
NURALIE:
Vitals:
Health: 473
Stamina: 220
Mana: 100
Stats:
Strength 10
Agility 52
Speed 40
Fortitude 22
Intelligence 52
Wisdom 10
Charisma 10
Luck 10
Passive Skill Gained:
Spiritual Lensing: You can activate your skills from the position of any of your party members instead of your own. If the skill has a range, the range is calculated from that party member’s position. If the skill requires you to perceive another entity, you must be able to perceive that enemy, but the party member does not.
Active Skill Gained:
Cordoning Arrows
Physical
Cost: 20 stamina
Cooldown: 1 minute
You fire a cordon of arrows into the air, creating a 15-foot radius ring of arrows on the ground within your bow’s range. Whenever an entity crosses the ring of arrows, you may instantly cause an arrow from the ring to magically fire itself at that entity. Attacks made this way are considered bow attacks made by you.
Evolutions Gained:
SPD 20
Adrenaline Rush: Whenever you gain haste, you may immediately react to take any action.
You gain a number of Haste charges equal to the number of SPD evolutions you possess (Current charges: 3). You can spend a Haste charge as a free action to gain Haste for 6 seconds. Each charge has a cooldown of 1 hour.
An entity with haste gains an additional action every 6 seconds and has Celerity.
SPD 40
Phasing: You can focus for 3 seconds to vibrate your physical body so fast you become incorporeal. You can remain incorporeal in this way for a number of minutes each day equal to the number of SPD evolutions you possess (Currently 3 minutes). You recover all of this time after resting for 8 hours.
CHA 10
Edge of Attention: Whenever a non-allied entity is Distracted, you are invisible to them.
Mercantile 10
Barter: Prices you receive when buying or selling are 1% better for each level of Mercantile.
Mercantile 20
Traveling Merchant: You have an intuitive sense of the fair market price for all goods and services in your current geographic region.
VARRIN:
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Vitals:
Health: 1220
Stamina: 400
Mana: 100
Stats:
Strength 46
Agility 40
Speed 40
Fortitude 40
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 10
Charisma 10
Luck 10
Passive Skill Gained:
Discerning Barbarian: Whenever an effect would cause you to gain a stack of Rage, you gain 1 additional stack. When affected by the Berserk status, replace the debuff’s normal effects with the following:
Berserk: An entity that is berserk must do everything within their power to make an attack against the closest hostile entity to them. If none are within range, they move to the closest hostile entity and attack, or sprint towards the nearest hostile entity if they cannot reach. If your Rage stacks exceed your WIS, your Rage stacks are reduced to equal your WIS whenever an outside effect ends the Berserk status.
Additionally, while Berserk, you gain 1 stack of Rage every 6 seconds and your Rage stacks do not decay. If there are no hostile entities that you can perceive, your Rage stacks are reduced to an amount equal to your WIS after 6 seconds.
Rage: Entities gain +2 to all weapon attacks for each stack of Rage they have. If an entity has more stacks of Rage than their WIS, they become Berserk for as long as their Rage stacks exceed their WIS.
Rage decays in two ways. If an entity does not make a weapon attack for 6 seconds, they lose 1 stack of Rage, and if they have more Rage stacks than their WIS for 6 seconds, their number of Rage stacks is reduced to equal their WIS.
Active Skill Gained:
Ghostwind Slash
Spiritual
Cost: 20 stamina
Cooldown: 1 minute
Strike out at the souls of your enemies, forcing them to follow your spiritual winds lest their animas be severed. Make a Blades weapon attack against all hostile entities within 20 feet of you plus an additional 5 feet for each Spiritual Magic evolution you possess (Current range: 30 feet). Entities hit by this attack are pulled to you. The damage dealt by this attack is Spectral.
Evolutions Gained:
AGI 40
Blink: Whenever you successfully dodge an attack, you may teleport up to 15 feet in any direction and make a weapon attack. Your ability to dodge is improved by X% where X is your AGI.
SPD 40
Sleight of Feet: Every 6 seconds you may dodge once instantaneously.
Whenever you would be forced to make a contest of any kind, you may dodge to avoid the contest, causing the opposing entity to fail. The difficulty of the dodge is based on the opposing entity’s check.
Additionally, your ability to dodge is improved by X% where X is your SPD.
You are immune to the Slowed status.
FOR 40
Test Subject: The toxicity of all potions you consume is halved. For every beneficial effect you have that is conferred by an external source (such as potions, the abilities of other entities, item effects, etc.), you gain +6 to all attacks.
CHA 10
Bad Cop: You gain a +1 bonus to intimidation for each stack of Rage you possess.
Educator 20
Adaptation: You have a deep understanding of different learning styles and can develop a curriculum best suited to the individual needs of your pupils. Your bonus to training speed from Educator is doubled.
XIM:
Vitals:
Health: 1220
Stamina: 400
Mana: 400
Stats:
Strength 40
Agility 10
Speed 10
Fortitude 40
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 40
Charisma 46
Luck 10
Passive Skill Gained:
Horrify: Entities feared by you take Psychic damage equal to your CHA and gain 1 stack of Cursed. This effect repeats every 6 seconds while the entity is feared by you. Whenever you would inflict Fear on an entity immune to Fear, that entity instead takes Psychic damage equal to your CHA and gains 1 stack of Cursed.
Cursed: For each stack of Cursed an entity possesses, they receive a -6 penalty to all attacks and contested checks.
If an entity has any stacks of Blessed when they would gain any number of stacks of Cursed, they instead lose that many stacks of Blessed. Any remaining stacks of Cursed after all Blessed stacks have been exhausted affect the entity normally.
If an entity has any stacks of Cursed when they would gain any number of stacks of Blessed, they instead lose that many stacks of Cursed. Any remaining stacks of Blessed after all Cursed stacks have been removed in this way are granted to the entity normally.
Active Skill Gained:
Sam’lia’s Warmth (Aura)
Divine
Cost: 20 mana + 2 mana/second
On activation, you and all allies within a number of feet of you equal to your Divine Magic skill level gain 1 stack of Blessed and heal an amount of HP equal to your CHA. This effect repeats every 6 seconds. (Current range: 47 feet, Current healing: 46)
Evolutions Gained:
STR 40
Holy Might: You gain +1 to all actions governed by STR for each stack of Blessed you possess. Whenever you gain any number of stacks of Blessed, you can react by making a STR-based attack against any valid target.
FOR 40
Biostatic Field: You gain Shielding equal to your FOR every 6 seconds. The value of this Shielding increases by an amount equal to your FOR each time it is applied, up to a maximum value of your FOR multiplied by the number of evolutions you have in FOR (Current maximum: 120).
If you are hit by an attack, this effect is interrupted for 6 seconds and reset.
As long as you have at least 1 shielding, you cannot be forced to move and are immune to the Immobilized and Paralyzed statuses.
Shielding: Whenever an entity with Shielding would take damage, they instead lose that much Shielding. If this reduces their Shielding to 0, any remaining damage is dealt to them normally.
Shielding does not stack. Whenever an entity with Shielding would gain Shielding from another source, that Shielding is only applied if its value is higher. However, an entity can choose to retain or accept the lower Shielding value if they wish.
WIS 40
Mindfulness: You’ve learned to manually optimize the pathways of your mana matrix through mindful meditation. You can meditate to regain an amount of mana equal to your WIS every minute you remain meditating. This meditation requires focus, and ends early if you take any significant action or have your concentration broken by an outside source. You can meditate in this way for up to 10 minutes total, which can be divided between multiple meditation sessions. This time limit is refreshed after resting for 8 hours.
Additionally, you are immune to Psychosis.
Unarmed 20
Holy Fist: Whenever you hit a hostile entity with an Unarmed attack, you gain 1 stack of Blessed.
ARLO:
Vitals:
Health: 1898
Stamina: 520
Mana: 500
Stats:
Strength 22
Agility 10
Speed 22
Fortitude 52
Intelligence 40
Wisdom 40
Charisma 10
Luck 10
Passive Skill Gained:
Auradilato: Your party members and Minions are always considered to be in range of your beneficial auras unless you choose otherwise, so long as they are on the same plane. Your auras and aura bonuses treat you as an ally to yourself, but this effect will not cause an aura to affect you more than once. You gain +5 to all attacks and defenses for each aura you have active.
Additionally, you exude an aura out to a number of feet of you equal to 20 + your INT. Allies within this aura gain +5 to all attacks and defenses.
Active Skill Gained:
Reverse Card (Aura)
Mystical
Cost: 100 mana reserved, Variable
You exude an aura out to a number of feet of you equal to your Mystical Magic level plus your INT. Allies within this aura gain Spell DR equal to your Mystical Magic level.
Whenever a hostile spell you can perceive targets an ally or space within range of this aura, you may react to seize that spell and change its targets to any valid targets of your choice. To do so, you must expend mana equal to the total amount of mana spent on the target spell by its original caster.
If the spell creates an AoE or targets a point in space, you may decide where the AoE is placed or which point in space the spell targets. The redirected spell maintains the statistics it had when cast, such as its attack, damage bonus, mana shapes, and other effects. The range of the redirected spell is equal to the maximum range as originally cast, centered on the original caster.
Evolutions Gained:
SPD 20
Bolt: Your sprinting speed is doubled, which also applies to flight. Whenever you move, you immediately begin moving at your full sprinting speed unless you choose otherwise.
INT 40
Arcane Geometry: You have learned how to manipulate skills to create effects that go beyond the bounds of their descriptions, but your mastery over this ability has been amateur at best. Now, your burgeoning intellect has caused an epiphany of profound insight, granting you familiarity with the following mana shapes and expanding their use beyond any single skill.
Immediately after acquiring this evolution, choose 1 mana shape from the list below. Whenever you use that mana shape on any skill, it does not apply the listed cost increase. This effect may only occur once every 6 seconds.
You can change the chosen mana shape with 1 hour of meditation once per day.
Biggus
If you use the biggus shape on a skill that causes an effect outside of your body, that skill becomes a spherical AoE with a radius of 5 feet. If the skill is already an AoE, its radius is increased by 5 feet if it is a sphere or circle, 10 feet if it is a cone, or 20 feet if it is a line. This does not increase the skill’s damage or other effects against any individual entity, even if those effects would normally increase based on size. (Looking at you, Oblivion Orb.)
This shape adds +20 to the original skill cost.
Bubble
If you use the bubble shape on a skill that targets or affects only you, it instead targets and affects all entities of your choice within 5 feet of you.
This shape multiplies the original skill cost by the total number of targets.
Devil Drill Beam!
If you use the Devil Drill Beam shape on a skill that requires touch, it instead becomes a 30-foot line that continues through all obstructions and entities along the line.
This shape triples the original skill cost.
Discretion
If you use the discretion shape on a skill that creates an AoE, you can cause that AoE to affect only enemies or only allies.
This shape adds +50% to the original skill cost.
Funnel
If you use the funnel shape on a skill that targets only one entity, the damage and healing the skill would cause is doubled. A skill shaped with Funnel can only target 1 entity regardless of any other shape, ability, or effect that would allow otherwise.
This shape doubles the original skill cost.
Jet
If you use the jet shape on a skill that requires touch, it can instead affect any target within 20 feet of you.
This shape doubles the original skill cost.
From Downtown
If you use the From Downtown shape on a ranged skill, its range is doubled.
This shape adds +50% to the original skill cost, with a maximum increase of +20 of the applicable resource.
Vertex
If you use the vertex shape on a skill that targets only one entity, you can target a second entity within range.
This shape doubles the original skill cost.
Wedge
If you use the wedge shape on a skill that makes a spherical AoE, it instead makes a cone with a length equal to twice the sphere’s diameter.
This shape adds +50% to the original skill cost.
If you acquire any additional mana shapes, they will be added to the list above. If you can augment a mana shape beyond the effects listed, further augments still carry a cost.
The resource cost of mana shapes is typically mana or stamina. If a skill requires a different resource, the costs of any applied mana shapes may be adjusted. If a skill does not have a resource cost, a cost for the mana shape will be added.
Mystical Magic 20
Countermage: Whenever you successfully negate a magical effect, half the mana you spent to negate it is refunded and you gain 1 stack of Potency. You can have a maximum number of Potency stacks equal to twice the number of evolutions you have in Mystical Magic.
Whenever you would use a mana shape to alter a skill, you can spend 1 stack of Potency instead of increasing the skill’s cost, up to a maximum resource savings of 100% of the cost of the base skill. Further mana shapes increase the cost as normal unless you spend additional Potency stacks for those shapes.