Vittorio nodded. Master Kahe once more reached out his hand towards the young man, his eyes once more going unfocused. A different kind of Interface window appeared before Vittorios mind.
“Let’s first go through an example.”
“Class name in the class name, of course. Compatibility is how well suited the System thinks you are to the class. Rarity is often misunderstood: Some people think a higher rarity means a more powerful class. Not so. What it really means is a more specialised or strange class. Common classes are all quite broad and can do many different things, while a Legendary class can typically only do one thing but does it very well. That of course means if they’re in a situation where they can’t do that one thing they’re not much use at all.
“Type is if the class has combat skills: It will say ‘Combat’ if it’s a more-or less pure combat class, ‘Non-combat’ if it has no combat skills, and ‘Hybrid’ if it has a mix of both. Tags give hints to what the class is about as well as Talent choices when you level up. Attributes are its linked Attributes: Whenever you use a Trait linked to one, you gain experience.
“Traits are the favoured Traits. Using them will get you more experience. Finally, Activities aren’t really part of the system but they essentially describe what to do to get the most experience. It should be pretty clear when we see the classes. Anything you're wondering about?”
"Uh, yeah. You said that Tags give Talent choices?"
"Yes, yes I did. Whenever you level up you get to choose a Talent, and there are different 'lists' you might say: There's the General list that everyone can access, and then there's one list for each Tag and one for the class. Similar to Rarity the General list is the broadest and the Class list is the narrowest, but in turn the Class list gives the most specialized and individually strong choices. We'll get into that a bit more later however. Anything else?" Vittorio shook his head. "Great! Then it's time to have a look at the first suggestion! Exciting, isn't it?" Even though he must have done this a hundred times, Master Kahe did seem genuinely excited. A new window opened to Vittorios mind:
Organiser Compatibility: Good Rarity: Common Type: Hybrid Tags: Leadership, Logistics, Teamwork Attributes: Mentality, Personality Traits: Attention to detail, Leadership (Any), Learning: Experience, Patience, Planning Activities: Assign tasks, make detailed plans, observe performance
“I suspected as much. An [Organiser] provides buffs to those they work with and gains skills to help evaluate the best person for a job, estimating upcoming needs and so forth.
“Very common in big organisations and workplaces: Government, military, on ships, in mines, working for merchant houses and so forth. Quite a few work for the Free Company to help assess if a group is suited to a quest. As for adventuring there are some but their lack of personal combat ability makes it a bit risky. Many [Organizers] who go into adventuring or combat will later consolidate it into a more focused uncommon class, like [Commander].”
“Consolidate? Is that, like, upgrading?”
“You could see it that way. Essentially, once you reach a high enough level and have focused sufficiently on one part of your class you might be able to turn it into a similar class of higher rarity which does what you’ve been focusing on. You do lose a lot from your original class however.
“Disregarding that, any thoughts on the class?”
Vittorio thought for a moment. “I don’t know, it sounds pretty good?”
“Speak plainly, my boy. You won’t be hurting my feelings and the System doesn’t have any. You’re not sold on it, are you?”
“Not really, no. Ordering people around isn’t really my thing, and I don’t like the idea that an adventuring party would have to look after me so much.”
“Perfectly valid”, Master Kahe said, nodding. “I do think you may be thinking of the leadership aspect a bit wrong, however: You do not need to tell people to do things against their will. You have an ‘Above average’ rating in Leadership: Mediation, which is about coming to joint decisions. Bear that in mind. But let’s move on.”
Carer Compatibility: Very good Rarity: Common Type: Non-combat Tags: Care, Emotions, Teaching Attributes: Mentality, Physicality Traits: Empathy, Learning: Experience, Resistance: Affliction, Resistance: Mental, Teaching: Example Activities: Help someone in need, maintain hygiene, teach
“Ah, a purely non-combat class. No adventuring if you pick this one I think. [Carers], put simply, look after others. They have skills to lessen pain, fight disease, teach, and keep things clean, among other things.
“Many work with children, the elderly, or the very ill, though some also work as in-house support among the wealthy. Militaries usually have a large number of [Carers] to look after lesser injuries or help healers.” He looked at Vittorio, who thought this sounded a bit too close to his current homelife. He didn’t really want to dedicate himself so fully to others.
“I don’t like it.”
“That’s good enough for me! Let’s ignore it. Next.”
Mediator Compatibility: Very good Rarity: Uncommon Type: Non-combat Tags: Deals, Emotions, Oratory Attributes: Mentality, Personality Traits: Elocution, Leadership: Mediation, Learning: Experience, Resistance: Deception, Trustworthiness Activities: Find common ground, make a deal, work towards peaceful understanding
“Uncommon already? Interesting. Another non-combat class, though some of the bigger adventuring teams have a [Mediator] to represent them. They make deals between two parties, argue for someone else, settle disputes and so on. They gain skills which let them evaluate those they speak to, calm emotions, find gaps in arguments and similar things.
“Most find work in merchant houses or representing businesses, organisations, nobles and so on. They’re also one of the most common classes in the Low Council.” Once more he stopped and waited for Vittorios thoughts.
“I would prefer a hybrid class I think, but it sounds pretty good. Don’t you need to study a lot for it though? Law and business and so on?”
“It would help, sure, but the core of the [Mediator] is discussion rather than arguments. Often they will work with [Scholars] of various kinds to cover everything.” Vittorio nodded. “Let’s have a look at the next one.”
Beastmaster Compatibility: Good Rarity: Uncommon Type: Hybrid Tags: Animals, Care, Leadership Attributes: Mentality, Physicality Traits: Animal empathy, Animal husbandry, Leadership (Any), Patience, Stamina Activities: Train an animal, heal an animal, bond with an animal
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“One of my examples! I do know a thing or two, you see? [Beastmasters], as you might have guessed, manage and control animals. They gain skills for training, evaluating, caring for, breeding, and commanding animals.
“Any organisation with lots of animals will have [Beastmasters] caring for them, but plenty work for themselves and rent out their services. There are a few highly specialised [Beastmasters] who work on ships to keep sea beasts at bay. As adventurers they bring warbeasts - magical or mundane - to command, either one or a group. Usually they pick up some archery or the like as well.”
“I haven’t spent much time with animals, really. I’m not sure I could bring myself to raising one and then sending it into danger though. It seems kind of callous.”
Master Kahe nodded. “Reasonable concerns, certainly. Battle-focused [Beastmasters] do have ways of aiding and protecting their beasts, and the ones focused on bonding with and training a single beast say it becomes more of a partnership - they cannot send their bonded animal into a suicidal situation even if they wanted to. It will simply refuse.”
Vittorio imagined going into battle with some tame, friendly monster. It rather appealed to him. “Then… maybe.”
“No need to decide before you’ve seen all of them.”
Empath Compatibility: Good Rarity: Rare Type: Hybrid Tags: Emotions, Enchantment, Intuitive magic Attributes: Awareness, Mentality Traits: Attention to detail, Concentration, Empathy, Leadership: Manipulation, Resistance: Mental Activities: Affect a crowd, bolster an ally, undermine a foe
“A somewhat controversial class, this. It is essentially a highly specialised mage-class focused on emotions. Most of their magic and skills centre on calming or stoking emotions, but also senses: Things like calming an upset crowd, or making an enemy feel intense pain. As part of that they also learn to sense emotions and lightly borrow senses. People generally don’t like having someone alter their emotions so careless [Empaths] tend to make enemies.
“Most, I believe, find work for nobility and rulers who wish to keep the peace, with healers to help keep patients calm and out of pain, as well as in some churches - Lidas’ in particular to help the [Clerics] maintain peace and calm. Some theatres, playhouses, bathhouses and other places of entertainment or relaxation employ them to enhance the atmosphere. As adventurers it’s a bit of a mixed lot. They can give buffs to their allies, help them fight through pain, counteract mental effects and so on. Offensively they can make enemies feel fear or stumble, get uncertain or overly brave. The problem is one of judgement and balance: Suppressing pain can lead to greater injuries, while making a foe afraid can cause them to call for reinforcements rather than stand and fight. And, of course, there are creatures who are immune.”
Vittorio was torn. “I can see why people might not like it, but it also sounds like it can do a lot of good. I think I prefer it to the [Organiser] at least, though I’m still not fond of the idea of being a weak spot on an adventuring team.”
“[Empath] adventurers are somewhat rare, but it is my understanding that they tend towards one of two things: They either train with heavy armour until they can at least stay mostly safe, or they focus a fair deal on instilling fear and just scare off anything attacking them.”
“That still doesn’t solve fighting immune enemies though.”
“True, that is often the case with the more specialised classes. If you pick it you’d have to do jobs using your chisel rather than a sledgehammer."
"I'm also wondering about one of the tags, 'Intuitive magic'?"
"That might need some context: Every spellcasting class has a magic tag which describes how they perform their spells and how they learn new ones. 'Intuitive magic' means that they know what they can do, though not how it works. Intuitive magic is the fastest and most assured form - it requires little thought or planning to cast the spell and it is always the same. On the other hand it is very difficult to get new spells. The reverse is 'Rune magic' which takes a long time to perform and can easily go wrong, but the wielder can come up with new effects fairly easily.
"Not to put too fine a point to it, it's for people who prefer learning through experience rather than studying" Master Kahe said with a gentle smile. "Ready for the last one?"
Pactmaker Compatibility: Excellent Rarity: Unique Type: Hybrid Tags: Deals, Occult, Transformation Attributes: Mentality, Personality Traits: Adaptability, Learning: Experience, (Varies) Activities: Form a pact, Negotiate, (Varies)
“Interesting. Very, very interesting. I will have to look this up.” The window vanished.
“Did that say it was a Unique class?” Vittorio asked.
“Yes, yes it did” Master Kahe answered. He reached out for the huge book on the table, placed his hand on the cover, and muttered “Pactmaker Unique”. As he withdrew his hand the book opened and turned to a page near the back. At the top of the left page Vittorio could make out ‘Pactmaker’ and then two pages of dense text with some charts and tables.
“This”, Master Kahe said, “is the Tome of Guidance. It contains the collected knowledge of the Society. I’m ashamed to say I’m not too familiar with the Pactmaker to speak on it without having a look - as you can imagine I didn’t exactly expect it.”
“What exactly does Unique mean?”
“It means what it says: There can only be one at a time. The most famous Unique classes are the Chosen Ones, granted by each god to one they deem worthy. They’re likely a majority of Uniques at any given time. One moment please, let me read this.”
A few minutes passed as the dwarf read intently. “Fascinating”, he said finally, looking up to meet Vittorios eyes. “A very strange class. The Pactmaker has very few inherent skills, and instead relies on entering pacts with things. We don’t know what they are, but they seem to embody concepts or ideas. The gist of it is that each thing - let’s call them ‘entities’ or this will get confusing - each entity gives temporary skills and Trait ratings in return for various services. There’s also some physical mark imposed on the Pactmaker. There’s not much information on what exactly they want but they are made clear before entering a pact.
“The class provides a way of contacting the entities and entering into pacts, with the System showing an approximation of what skills they grant. They won’t be willing to enter into pacts with the [Pactmaker] until a requirement has been met. For instance, one named ‘The Chasm Within’ will only commune with a Pactmaker who ‘has known the void’.
“As for jobs or adventuring… it seems it can do a great many things, depending on what pact is made. Known roles include warrior, teleporter, transmuter, scout, spy, merchant, odd kinds of elemental magic… a bit of everything.
“We also keep a record of all known possessors of Unique classes, that might be fun to take a look at! The last [Pactmaker]… reached level 5 and changed classes 84 years ago. Before that… died at around level 30 112 years ago. Before that… retired at around level 50 209 years ago. Before that… oh. Oh my.” Master Kahes eyebrows vanished into his hairline. “A Paragon. Level 100. They went by ‘The Breaker of Chains’ and was one of the leaders in the Holy Revolution.”
“What?” Vittorio asked. “That-that can’t be right. Didn’t the Church of Liberty do that? I’m sure it was Casyns priests, why else would it be a ‘Holy’ revolution?”
“That is what the Sacred States say, yes. It seems they had help from a Paragon [Pactmaker]. ‘Breaker of Chains’ is the title of the head of the Celestial Host. There isn’t much information on the Paragon, other than that they chose skills to deepen their bond and pact with a single entity. There are other skills to form pacts with more than one at a time.”
“There’s really nothing about what you have to do?”
“Not much, except notes that none recorded has asked for anything… well, ‘evil’ if you’ll excuse the term, nor anything beyond the [Pactmakers] capabilities.”
Vittorio got a bit lost in thought. [Organiser] and [Carer] were out. [Mediator] did sound interesting but he felt like he kind of needed a hybrid class - he had nowhere else to go but with Gloria and teaming up seemed like the right thing to do. [Beastmaster], [Empath], or [Pactmaker]... Getting an animal to bond with might be a problem. Presumably the class had skills to deal with the actual bonding and so on, but unless he wanted to start out with a rat or pigeon or something he just didn’t see how he would have a beast to master.
“Master Kahe, I have a practical worry. I think I’m leaning towards [Beastmaster], [Empath], or [Pactmaker]. My concern is with [Beastmaster]: I don’t know how I’d actually get an animal, much less one that can fight.”
“That is typically the first hurdle, yes, though it is something they share with many adventurers: [Beastmasters] need an animal, [Warriors] need weapons and armour and so on. The Free Company does offer loans for people getting started with adventuring, so getting something like a large dog shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I’d probably need to replace the dog later though, right?”
“Probably, yes. If you don’t like the thought of that I can’t imagine having an extra guard dog keeping watch at night is a problem.”
Vittorio considered. That didn’t solve the thing that really bothered him. He imagined getting a dog, bonding with it, training it, going on adventures. Eventually getting a second animal to do the fighting. That meant leaving his long-time pet and companion behind. Even if he could explain it to the dog, it still felt like abandoning it. And then, if they both survived long enough, the dog would grow too old to come along, and he’d have to find a home for it, abandoning it for real. Could he do that? Could he do that again and again?
No. Maybe if he’d been rich and could get some long-lived beast from the start [Beastmaster] would have felt better. [Empath] or [Pactmaker]. Both had good sides and bad sides, but ultimately there were two things that he just could not ignore:
Compatibility: Excellent Rarity: Unique
The System thought it was a great fit, and he’d get to do something nobody else in the world did. It was both scary and exciting.
“I choose [Pactmaker].”
Master Kahe gave him a big smile. “Wonderful! I will grant it to you right away. You may also be interested to know that the Society of Guidance will pay you for information on the class. Depending on detail and whether it is already recorded, the Society may pay quite well.” He once more raised his hand towards Vittorio, though this time it seemed much easier. Vittorio wanted to ask why he hadn’t said anything about getting paid - that would solve so many of his problems!
As the [Class Guide] began to lower his hands, Vittorio blinked - and found he could not open his eyes again.