Chapter IV

Paths are interesting. They are ways, which help one reach their goal. A path comes into existence by people or animals walking along the same route, the same path. Slowly, but surely destroying vegetation, eroding the ground and in the end, you have a path. A path eases travel. It can be a massive boon to a society, or only a fairly minor one. And sometimes, it can be harmful.

How can a mere way be harmful?

For example by giving forces of nature, for example water, an easier route. By eroding so much that a collapse might happen. Or by showing an enemy the way to your town, your city, your settlement.

And if a path is destroyed, danger might follow. It might have been the only easy way to reach the next settlement, which your settlement needs to survive. Or the destruction of the path could force some animals to take a different, a new route, which more endangers the people you care about.

And by now, you are certainly wondering why I talk about this. It seems rather weird to talk about pathways in a Guide intended to be about Systems, right?

It is not as weird as you might think, thanks to the existence of System that are build around a concept called Paths.

And in some ways, thats actually a reasonable description of what they actually are. In other ways, it is an utterly useless and horrible description, of course, but we are talking here about Systems. Expecting anything else is just stupid.

They are Systems after all. They cannot help themselves. It is not in their nature to be anything else but a mess of contradictions, incomplete information and pure stupidity.

At least there are a lot of really fascinating Systems out there. One of the more fascinating Systems out there are the Path based Systems.

They come in a variety of shapes and forms, but there are a number of core aspects that tend to be very similar. Of course, there are outliers, but again, thats par of the course with Systems.

So lets talk about the first of these core aspects, the one which gives them their name.

The Paths.

A Path is essentially a way for the System to grant power. Here is a point where it really depends on the specific System, but in general, levels are gained outside the Path, but are somehow still an accurate measurement of power.

While most power comes from Paths, who are in turn progressed through leveling up Skills. Like Weaving, just to give an example.

Yeah, I do not get it either. Now, there are a few Systems of that kind that make it a bit better. They limit the amount of Skills by level, and leveling up a Skill also tends to give general leveling experience, which makes levels a far moe accurate measurement of power. Not perfect, but far closer to it.

Why? Pretty simple. If you have a high leveled Skill, you also have more levels. High leveled Skill equals both more power from that level, which can be of dubious use, and more Paths. More levels mean more Skills, equal more Paths.

But Paths have different qualities in their rewards. Which means that if you follow a very powerful Path, you can be far more powerful than someone who has spent exactly the same amount of points in weaker Paths.

So what actually are Paths?

Paths are ways for the System to guide your power. Paths are interesting because you often are not entirely sure what you get. Well, this makes them interesting for an outside observer, actually needing to use a Path sounds horrifying.

So, in most of these kinds of Systems, for every single level you gain in a Skill, you gain one Path point. There might be a few differences here and there, like for example Skills of a certain level or rarity giving more points.

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Oh, damn, I have not even talked about that weird concept of rarity until now. Well, I will deal with that latter.

Back to where I was.

Right. So now you have a number of Path points.

No wait, first you need Skills. You gain those through a variety of ways, but in these kinds of System you generally can learn Skills, although it is not uncommon for there to be more sources for them instead of just learning them.

So now you have your first Skill levels, and thus Path points.

So what now? What can you do with these Path points?

Well, obviously follow a Path. Now, how do you gain a Path and what does it exactly mean to follow a Path?

Paths are gained through a variety of ways, which also influence the quality of the Path. One of the more powerful ways to gain a Path is to fight powerful enemies and be victorious, or otherwise solve impressive challenges.

It could be something peaceful, like creating an impressive table, or it can be something violent, like poisoning everyone.

Systems are not nice.

Combat Paths tend to be stronger on average, which also means that those going into combat are the elite.

But they then tend to be missing specific boni and Skills to deal with social issues, like diplomacy. And the System is a crutch. If it does not help, many are useless, for they have never learned to act without it.

Paths are powerful. They are not always set in stone, but tend to give fairly consistent rewards.

Of course, depending on the System.

So how does that rewards gaining generally work?

Every Path has a set amount of Path points that need to be put into it to complete it. Every Path is then split into stages, which the user cannot see, but which tend to be very consistent in the amounts of Path points required to reach them.

At every milestone, the user gets some sort of reward. That can be Stat points, Skills, or Perks. Sometimes one can even gain items and similar things through that.

And at the end of the Path he gets a big reward.

Well, big depends on relation to the rest of the Path and of course the quality of it.

So, someone affected by a Path based System has two missions. First, challenge himself to ever more impressive tasks, so that he gains good Paths. And second, gain Skill levels, so that the user can actually use the Paths he has. It does not help him if he has thousands of the most impressive Paths in existence, if he only has enough Points for nothing, not even the first milestone in any of the Paths.

So, where does the System gets the Paths from?

No idea. Some of the Paths are obviously the beaten Path, the one everyone follows, because the System gives those out merely for existing.

Depending on the System those Paths can either be relatively good, if a bit basic, or utterly worthless.

Those Paths are often the source for the analyze, observe or identify Skill. Or whatever else that thing is called in this particular System.

And we remember from the introductionary chapter that those Skills are relatively important to gain and level.

Paths also build on each other, and a lot of Paths have prerequisites beyond merely doing that one impressive thing.

There are two main types of prerequisites I care about in this Guide. The first is having a certain Path at least unlocked.

Only if you have that Path unlocked, the other Path can also be unlocked.

Although it is not uncommon for that nearly unlocked Path to only be visible and accessible after you completed the prerequisite Paths.

That is the nice prerequisite type. The other is far meaner.

That one is essentially, if you do not have the prerequisite Path completed, you also will not unlock the new Path.

Which makes early farming for Paths far, far more difficult and annoying.

And because the powerlevels at the beginning are not as widely different as they latter, and it is always more impressive if a child, or someone new to the System in some other way, does something, it is generally easier to unlock Paths at the beginning. But if you first need to complete a lot of them, things get far more complicated suddenly.

And if a System is mean in one way, it often is mean in other ways.

And considering how dependent a user of a given System tends to be on that System that is bad news.

But there is one glimmer of good news in that situation. With the exception of the first Systems I have talked about, Systems do not tend to play favorites.

Oh, and there are the people bound Systems, those also play favorites. But let us ignore them until we talk about them, shall we?

Paths are a way to power. A way walked by others before you, or designed with intent by the System. No one really knows, besides maybe the System in question. They are a great boon for their users, for they give power and other useful things.

They are also a great danger for their users. They can lead their users onto a dangerous path, requiring more and more impressive, and increasingly, dangerous actions, simply to unlock a powerful Path.

They can lead their users into their doom, by telling them that they are impressive for reaching this or that, even if that is not the truth.

And they can affect the skills that identify the power of someone else adversely, making it more difficult to reach an informed decision if a fight against someone is even a remotely smart idea.

Paths are a source of power, of knowledge and of hope.

But at the same time, they are a danger, insidious and all consuming.

You need that Path after all. It is here irrelevant for what you need that particular path, but you need it.

And if you need to die in the process, never able to use your new, not gained Path, because you failed in its acquisition.

Why would anyone do something so stupid?

There are multiple reasons. But they boil down to, find a large enough group of humans or similar beings, and you will also find a number of really stupid individuums.

As well as, say it with me, Systems love mind controlling their users. It is their greatest hobby.

Systems are annoying like that.

How exactly do Systems mind control their users?

No idea. But I know what they want to reach through that.

They want combat. Very, very few Systems do not want combat.

Those Systems, well, maybe I will use a chapter for them at some point.

Maybe not.

But back to the mind control.

So, Systems want combat. They also want to see rapid improvement with the tools they offer. Although what exactly constitutes as rapid is different from System to System.

It wants to see outstanding individuals, who fight above their level, sometimes far above their level.

They also want control.

Nothing but control.

Systems controlling little bastards.