Young Writers Society

I'll assume you all subscribed to this thread, so. NOTIFICATION.

Like previously stated, the class system in this Storybook (which is really more of an RPG, let's be honest) first breaks into melee, ranged, and magic; and then further into the classes, and those classes receive spells/powers/abilities/techniques from two pools. Beyond that, each class earns a prestige ability every 10 levels. The classes, their schools of training, and weapons of choice are as follows:

Melee
Blackguard (Mavors + Primordium)
Longsword
Paladin (Sanctuary + Psion)
Sword + Shield
Rogue (Mavors + Daedal)
Daggers
Monk (Adamantium + Sanctuary)
Fist Weapons
Demon Hunter (Mavors + Thaumaturgy)
Glaives

Ranged
Hunter (Adamantium + Daedal)
Bow, Crossbow
Engineer (Daedal + Thaumaturgy)
Pistols, Gunblades, Devices

Casters
Aethermage (Thaumaturgy + Primordium)
Staff, Cudgel
Druid (Primordium + Adamantium)
Bo Staff
Pontifex (Psion + Sanctuary)
Healing Staff, Wand
Necromancer (Psion + Thaumaturgy)
Scythe

The schools of training have flowery names for lore flavor (and because I let Lou off his leash good lord). They basically break down as such:

Mavors: a stylized form of fist fighting with quick reflexes and snap judgments.

Adamantium: A style that requires cold blood and unflinching nerves. Counter-attack based. Students of the Adamantium style seek to be like the eponymous metal, and master discipline.

Sanctuary: A sober combat style designed to protect others. Practicioners of the Sanctuary style aim to neutralize threats cleanly and quickly, employing submission holds and similar techniques.

Daedal: A style that favors intellect over brute force. Scholars of the Daedal style create weapons and tools that aid them in combat. Thus, they prefer to avoid engaging the enemy directly.

Primordium: Casters who draw from the Primordium school employ the devastating power of the elements to smite their enemies.

Psion: Casters of the Psion school seek magic to enhance their mind and dominate those of others. This school is considered the most dubious way to cast, even though most use it for good.

Thaumaturgy: The most popular school, Thaumaturgy taps into the essence of magic. Those without previous knowledge of it use it to enchant inanimate objects, while casters from other schools study it to strengthen their powers.


In the end, the classes will be balanced, but not homogenized. Use this information to start theorycrafting your character, and I'll have the profile to fill out before next Friday.

Mmm sounds cool. Do we get more information about Prestige Abilities or the movepools of each class? It could sway which class I settle on

The idea is to present you with the styles that compose the class--by which the powers will follow--and understand & love your class as it is instead of trying to out-god another player.

For instance, you would find a Blackguard likely playing dirty with lots of tricks up his sleeves, but also having an arsenal of slower slugs of energy. But that's just a possible fighting style. That gives you an idea of what to expect, but not before the game is released. I am going to make sure that each class is adequately balanced at each level of gameplay (or maybe we'll stumble into a late bloomer situation--those are fun!), so we'll see.

Tho if you really want, just tell me the schools you want a glimpse of and I'll take snippets without the damage calculators.

Oh, c'mon. Daedal. COME ON, you even named that stuff with an incredible similarity to my beloved Ocean Dragon Lord, Neo-Daedalus.
It's like you accidentally grabbed a few passengers and shoved them in a hype train, me included XD

In all seriousness though, I'd like to know more about the Daedal school, if that's okay with you. Ah, and about our creative freedom - or lack of, as this is an rpg with established rules to follow - regarding the twisting of the battle styles of the schools we belong to to make our characters have variants of said style.

For example, if I'm a Rogue that uses the Daedal style, can I use another melee weapon with similar capabilities that with the daggers? Or can I have throwing daggers as a side item to use against ranged fighters if I'm in throwing distance? If I'm a Mavor Rogue, then can I fight with gauntlets instead of my bare fists? And can these gauntlets be upgraded to have elemental properties to deal more damage, or even have an inbuilt engineer-type of equipment to become gun gauntlets?

Sorry for all these questions, btw, just wanna make sure I understand the system well.

Creativity will be looser than it seems at the moment; however, PvP battles will strip this away and rely on the stats of your character, the spells you know, and the strengths and weaknesses of your character.

To answer both Twaggy and Deskro (from whom I heard in a PM):

The weapons listed in the...list...are default, and those with which you will have a quicker affinity, boosting your combat prowess within the realm of reason.

Monks are Adamantium and Sanctuary for the reasoning that they're soothed and calculated, as well as a bit spiritual. They'll end up possessing some magic abilities later on in progression.

Rogues are more cutthroat and impulsive, so Mavors favors them more.

Also, there was a Berserker class that was Mavors and Adamantium, but it was culled due to class bloat. Also it was VERY vanilla compared to the remainder of the selection.

RIP berserker, you will always have a place in my heart.

hello friends, lou here with the first patch note. Though it isn't even a patch, as we haven't started.



- changes were applied to the Paladin and Blackguard's power pools. they now look as follows.

Blackguard (Mavors + Psion)
Longsword
Paladin (Sanctuary + Primordium)
Sword + Shield

-the psion school was given a change of aesthetics. it now reads as such.


Casters of the Psion school seek magic to enhance their mind and dominate those of others. This school is considered the most dubious way to cast. This reputation is not aided by that of most of its disciples.

The only law aligned Psion caster is the Pontifex.



and also, @Tortwag, get your filthy yugioh out of my Lucretius references. ;D

Hmm. But I see that Rogues can still be either Mavors or Daeval, so I guess some Rogues can still be kinda cunning or more calm than impulsive...
Unless I'm totally in the wrong here, of course.

@Caesar NEVAAAAAAH

conceptually, the classes are a mix of both the power pools, because they draw from both. So the way I see Rogues, they're pretty impulsive, but they're also smart/creative.

you're all going to have a fair amount of freedom in character creation though, as far as I understand. So I wouldn't stress it too much.

Okay. Well then I guess it'll all be especially clear once we start and get the hang of the whole system, but so far so good already.
Thanks already for makin' all of these precisions for us mere mortals, both of you!

While I continue to terraform, I need all those interested to whip up a doc, excel sheet, or something you'll like to use as your inventory. 100 spaces maximum. Key items will be kept track of by the GMs.

On the front page of the DT will be the quest log, displaying the flavor text, objectives, and rewards for completion. For example:

My Faire Lady [4]
Lieutenant Carden has his suspicions regarding the strangely-behaving troupe of carnies in Talvary. In exchange for your investigation, he has agreed to sign off on your passports to the south. You follow the trail of peanuts and dubious animal dung to the valley in the north of Talvary.

♦ Objective: Scout the fairgrounds for signs of unorthodox sorcery.


I know this isn't my style, but as soon as things get off the ground, I'll actually be giving each of you as much control over the story as I take. Now that is unorthodox sorcery.

Your 10-day update to keep you thirsty for some action.

Much of the skeleton has been formed in the background, but a majority of the work remains to be done. To keep you sated, I wanted to give you the alpha build of the Mavors skill tree. But first, a note about the difference between classes! Taking mavors as an example, the flavor and execution will change depending on your class' affinity with discipline, elements, tactics, etc. But the base of the skill book looks like such, so you can get an idea of how I want you to think about your construction going through the story. The numbers before each skill represent the level at which the skill is unlocked.


1. Dust - A strike while foe is blinded. Minor damage + blind. Quick recharge. Combo strike #1.

2. Kidney Shot - A strike to critical areas. Minor damage + moderate damage over time. Quick recharge. Combo strike #2.

4. Domitor - A combo finisher. Major damage. Long recharge.

6. Flick The Nerve - A non-lethal tap to a vital nerve, causing momentary unconsciousness. Effect is nullified upon spurring enemy.

9. Muscle Memory - Doubles your attack speed and increases damage by 5% per combo chain executed in sequence. Effect increases inversely proportional to remaining health.

12. Mind Over Matter - A combo strike that deals moderate damage and prevents an enemy from casting spells for 5 sec. The debuff applied may stack, though damage dealt in succession decreases by 50% each successful hit. Combo strike #2.

16. Stance of the Three Beasts - Your mastery over abusing physical anatomy allows you to apply a permanent stance to your abilities:

Hellhound Stance - All damage dealt is increased by 15% while all damage taken is increased by 10%. Your combo strikes apply a stacking fire debuff that deals burning damage over time.

Felhawk Stance - Attack speed is increased by 10% and evasion is increased by 5% while defense is lowered by 7%. Your combo strikes generate a Felhawk buff that increases attack speed by 4% per stack. All stacks are spent upon ending a combo chain.

Chaosbuck Stance - Increases defense by 10%, reduces movement speed by 5%, and applies buffs and debuffs to individual attacks. Each combo-building move will grant you a stack of Rancor that will increase attack power by 8% per stack to a maximum of 10 stacks; however, all stacks of Rancor are spent upon finishing a combo and transferred to your opponent in a minor form: Vengeance. Vengeance increases the enemy's attack power by 2% per stack, and may increase to a maximum of 22%, or 11 stacks. Each attack the enemy deals directly to you will reduce their stack of Vengeance by 1. Combo finishers provide you with a unique buff: Rampart. Rampart increases your defense by 4% and your attack power by 4%. Rampart gains a stack upon every combo finisher and may stack up to 8 times.

20. Unleash Hell - A combo finisher that deals extreme damage at its base to a single target. Damage is increased by 5% per buff active on the player, as well as each debuff active on the enemy. All buffs and debuffs are eliminated upon execution. Major recharge time.

When 10 Day up dates turn into 30 day plus updates...

b-b-b-bump

The revised version is going up today, though I've gutted a bunch of the hypermeta material to better allow character development in content.

Aether will be much better than what I had planned.

Also, graphics are a thing. @Nutty was kind enough to make custom class icons for each discipline.