Once you choose a character race, you must divvy out a few statistics. Before you do that, you must choose a class, which effects your base statistics. Characters have the ability to move far through the map every day, making them travelers and adventurers. Parties obtain 2-4 characters to start with, dependent on a random dice roll. Remember that your character can learn spells/skills that are not specific to your class, but they are simply more expensive. Every class can research every type of spell/skill, but there are cost advantages to certain spells/skill types depending on your class.
Samurai: Attack-specific
skills (not magics) are half the cost (always round up)
Samurai are an ancient profession in Sekai and they hold much honor. One is not a samurai unless they are obviously heroic and wish to perform great deeds. "Great" does not mean good or evil, but simply magnificent. The strength that a samurai possesses is not only within his body but also in his mind, for a Sekaian samurai must always have fortitude. Even so, samurai primarily focus on bugei, or their attack skill during battle.
Ninja: Skill Class, Defense-specific
skills (not magics) are half the cost (always round up)
Ninjas can be thieves, assassins, spies, or any combination of these. They are well-known for their cunning and their ability to sink unnoticed into the shadows. Their profession is respected, for it requires much skill to be able to move undetected in even the most difficult of situations. Often ninjas are also skilled at hand-to-hand combat.
Hunter: Skill Class, Terrain-specific skills are half the cost (always round up)
Hunters are well-versed in the ways of nature and their workings. While shamans worship nature and draw from nature's inner spirit, hunters have a more practical love for the land. They are renowned for their speed in certain adverse terrains and conditions and their ability to track almost anything to its source. They are often naturalists and ecologists as well, knowing many species in the wild and their origins.
Sorcerer: Spell Class, "Attack" magics are half the cost (always round up)
Sorcerers have an unknown origin in Sekai but what is known is that Sekai's finest sorcerers are born into their profession with a certain power and spark in their eyes. Not anyone can just pick up sorcery easily, and this birthright is needed before more spells can be learned. Sorcerers have a natural inclination towards the magic arts, specifically, the arts of offensive magics. They specialize in harnessing the magical powers of the earth and releasing them into powerful attacks.
Shaman: Spell Class, "Summoning" magics are half the cost (always round up)
Shamans worship Sekai and its natural features and lands. They know much about the spiritual aspect of nature and its inner-workings on this level. As such, they are able to command a host of spirit forms that resemble natural creatures (called Shikigami), speaking to them as if they are family. Shamans are always inclined to channel the spiritual energy from Sekai into great power.
Monk: Spell Class, "Healing" magics are half the cost (always round up)
Monks see their natural inclination towards magic as more of a duty to project the spirits of Sekai as a pure force. They have become wise and well-versed in the arts of healing wounds and curing diseases. Skilled monks may even discover secrets to prolong life and safely resurrect those who have died without turning them into undead monsters.
Budojin: Spell Class, "Defense" magics are half the cost (always round up)
Budo-samurai (Budojin for short) thrive off of virtue and duty. They have not learned to fight for war, but rather defense. In addition, they have honed their minds and channeled their energies to learn powerful defensive magics. Even chaotic races can become budojin, as they are defined by devotion to any cause and a willingness to empty oneself and learn defensive spells. Their cause can be both good or evil, human or oni, etc. The "budo" in budojin means a mastery of the way, or the daoist art of channeling energy for a protective cause. Budojin are thus skilled protectors and wizards.
Necromancer: Spell Class, "Necromancy" magics are half the cost (always round up)
Necromancers are monks that have strayed from the monastery (also called Yadokai) and have decided to worship the spirits of Yomi. They have an inclination to use the magical prowess they were born with in an attempt to discover the dark secrets of the afterlife. Sekai's necromancers can be both good and evil, like all other character classes, but the purpose of their profession is of somewhat chaotic disposition. Powerful necromancers eventually learn to command a small army of powerful shadow-spirit minions, called forth from Yomi, the land of the shadow.
Alchemist: Skill Class, Alchemy-specific skills are half the cost (always round up)
Alchemists are intelligent chemists focused on the creation of items that contain magical properties. They are adept at finding materials, herbs, and other ingredients for their powerful concoctions. The items that an alchemist creates serve several different purposes, depending on the specific item. Alchemists have long believed that the perfect combinations of certain ingredients can be more powerful than any weapon or armor.
Each character is allowed to divvy out 10 initial points to spread across these areas:
- Attack
- Defense
- Movement
- Hit Points
Each character is also connected to the
Five Elements:
- Earth: Represents your abilities on lowland hexes.
- Water: Represents your abilities on all water/coastal hexes.
- Fire: Represents your abilities on all mountain hexes.
- Wind: Represents your abilities on all forest hexes.
- Void: Represents your abilities on all Yomi hexes.
The Five Elements
Earth/Water/Fire/Wind/Void. Earth represents the unmoving world, farms, and the like. Water represents the seas and rivers. Fire represents the constantly forceful and energetic mountains and volcanoes. Wind represents things that are growing, expanding, and enjoying the freedom of movement. Each character begins with these listings as Earth0/Water0/Fire0/Wind0/Void0. Every turn, when the turn ends, you will receive +1 to an element that you are currently within. For example, if the current turn ends and you are in a forest, you will have +1 to Wind. This represents the time you will spend in that hex and your growing proficiency in that terrain. This will positively effect your combat in that terrain. For Turn 0, you will be able to allocate one point to any of the five.
Hit Points
Characters and parties are the only players that have to deal with hit points. Hit points are drained when you are attacked or when you attack something. When your hit points hit 0, you die. You can be resurrected with some magics like Resurrection (though this spell is most often used as an immediate protection against death). The only places you can heal are at towns or cities in friendly kingdoms or city-states. That makes hit points incredibly valuable, because if you exhaust them all without resting, you will be in trouble.
Healing
Healing magics are also unique to characters. Instead of healing magics actually healing after damage, they have a one-time advantage of upping permanently your hit point count (which sort of acts as healing anyway). A party's hit points are cumulative as long as all characters in the party are in the same hex territory. This effectively acts as a game mechanic to represent a healing character with several hit points healing the other characters in the party.
Difference Between Experience Points and Spending Points
The amount of points characters get every turn are to be spent on magic and skills, and are not the same points divvied out for your character stats. Your character experience points come every turn as well (or sometimes in between turns), but this number is a different number. If your party or character quests successfully, the moderator will give you
experience points that you can divvy out between your various stats in whatever combinations you see fit (and are not to be spent on spells/skills). You always get 10
spending points every turn for each character, unless otherwise notified. The 10 spending points that each character receives each turn are to be spent on spells/skills, and are not to be confused with experience points, which are given to you by the moderator during your quests.
Spells/Skills
Each class is designated a "Spell" class or a "Skill" class. You can only learn spells if you are a Spell Class, and you can only learn skill if you are a Skill Class. For example, samurai can learn any skills listed in the skill listing (though attack skills cost less for them, as mentioned).
Remember...
As a character, you can go up against armies. You have a good chance of winning if your attack levels are higher than the army combined. So a character with an attack of 50 could feasibly go up against 50 standard infantry soldiers.