[Neus]

The Great Reckoning
Part 2

It's that time again. I'm knee-deep in upheaval, and this time, my target is the talent system. I mentioned this was almost certainly going to be something I did, probably sooner than later, and I was right. While I won't be done this week, I thought it would be best to give you a heads up what I'm working on and give you information as I finish work on this. Then, just like last time, we can move onto an independent beta test before finally pushing it to the live servers. So let's get right down to it.

Q. What is the Great Reckoning, Part 2?
A. This is the second edition of a series of overhauls to SL2, specifically to the talent system. Part 1 was the stat system, which left a lot of holes in the talent system, so it only made sense to approach it next.

Q. What's wrong with the current talent system?
A. The current talent system is rather shallow and simplistic. Some talents are mandatory, like expertise for your main weapon, while some are borderline useless, like Scout. Secondly, talents currently give a wide range of benefits that directly scale with your talent rank, meaning if you're going to put a point in them, it's often best to just max them out. Other times, it's your only option, if you want a specific benefit the talent gives, even if you don't want anything else.

Compounding this problem is the number of talents available. There's 26, which is a decent number, but probably not for the number of talent points you receive (60), and the interface as is doesn't give me much room to expand and add more easily, because it's full up. This means certain obvious deficiencies like some elements not having -mancy talents are harder to address. Another thing to consider is that talents currently don't help deepen your character. Part of this problem is that everyone can get almost every relevant talent, and part of it is that there just aren't enough existing areas to branch out to; which is to say, some character concepts aren't properly supported in the current talent system. If I'm a medic character, what are my options in the current talent system? 3 points in alchemy?

In short, the talent system isn't particularly bad, but it's shallow and could be so much better if it were expanded and offered more choices.

Q. My attention span is waning, please give me an image to re-focus me to what you are typing.

A. This is the new talent interface. As I said last time, I would be using the character box for most of the other interfaces, which I am. It works the same way the old one did, in a sense, in that it lets you shift between the different 'pages' such as character info and talents rather easily.

Q. How does the new talent system work?
A. It works similarly to the old one but also differently. There are still talents, but each talent is broke into several subpaths. For example, in the image:

Blade Expertise
1.5 SP per Rank

• Balance - Reduces the Battle Weight of Sword and Dagger weapons by up to SR * 1.5
  
• Adaptation - Allows you to equip any Sword weapon with a Rarity equal to or less than SR*2.
  
• Reliability - For Sword and Dagger weapons: increases Hit by SR * 1.5, reduces Durability consumption by SR * 5%.

Blade Expertise is the main talent, while Balance, Adapation, and Reliability are all sub-talents, or sub-paths. A main talent has a rank, just like it currently does, represented by the green circle, and every rank you put into the main talent gives you a number of Subpoints (which varies from talent to talent). These subpoints can be spent in the subpaths to increase their effects; this is referred to in the subpath's description as 'SR' (or sub-rank).

For example, if I put two points into Balance, its SR is 2, meaning the Battle Weight of my swords/daggers gets reduced by 2 * 1.5 = 3. The maximum subrank is shown by the number of orbs that appear; it's unique to each sub-path; in the existing ones, they go from any number between 1 and 10, but are usually around 5 or less.

The number of subpoints you can distribute is equal to the rank of the main talent * the number of SP it gives per Rank, rounded down. So, at Rank 2, my Blade Expertise gives me 3 SP to distribute. Again, this is unique to each talent; some give more, some give less. Also, the maximum rank of a main talent is now 10, instead of 3 or 5. Increasing the rank of a main talent still takes 1 Talent Point, and you still get 1 Talent Point per level.

Q. I have questions.
A. I know. If it's about specific talents, I will likely address them later. I'm still currently in the process of programming the effects of the talents, and some of them are a bit more ambitious than others, so I'd rather talk about them after I have finished the work. I will, most likely, make individual posts for each category (Weaponry, War, etc) as I finish them, detailing the talents, talking about them a little bit, and so on.

I also do not guarantee to go in order, since some categories have more... complex talents than others.

Q. Are you going to ruin even more things with this new system?
A. Yes.

[Neus]

WEAPONRY

The 'expertise' skills all got changed. All of them have two subpaths between them; Balance, which reduces Battle Weight, and Adaptation, that enables you to equip them regardless of your main class. However, they all have a unique subpath based on the type of weapon.


Blade Expertise
1.5 SP per Rank

• Balance - Reduces the Battle Weight of Sword and Dagger weapons by up to SR * 1.5
  
• Adaptation - Allows you to equip any Sword weapon with a Rarity equal to or less than SR*2.
  
• Reliability - For Sword and Dagger weapons: increases Hit by SR * 1.5, reduces Durability consumption by SR * 5%.

Swords are usually seen as the middle ground of weapons, balanced in most respects. Reliability helps keep them in shape.


Axe Expertise
1.5 SP per Rank

• Balance - Reduces the Battle Weight of Axe weapons by up to SR * 1.5
  
• Adaptation - Allows you to equip any Axe weapon with a Rarity equal to or less than SR*2.
  
• Deadliness - For Axe weapons: increases Critical by SR * 1.5, and Critical Damage by SR * 1%.

Axes have more destructive force than the other melee weapons and they have a strong emphasis on deadly blows, hence Deadliness.


Polearm Expertise
1.5 SP per Rank

• Balance - Reduces the Battle Weight of Polearm weapons by up to SR * 1.5
  
• Adaptation - Allows you to equip any Polearm weapon with a Rarity equal to or less than SR*2.
  
• Thin Tip - For Polearm weapons: increases Power by SR * 1.5 when attacking an enemy in melee range who is facing you.

One of the things I wanted to change about the weapon expertises is a less focus on generic power increase and go for situational power instead, to help the weapons feel a bit different. That's the general idea behind Thin Tip, giving you an edge against foes trying to attack into your spear.


Archery
1.5 SP per Rank

• Balance - Reduces the Battle Weight of Bow weapons by up to SR * 1.5
  
• Adaptation - Allows you to equip any Bow weapon with a Rarity equal to or less than SR*2.
  
• Close Shot - For Bow weapons: decreases close range Hit penalty by SR * 5%. Doubled for Shortbows.

Close Shot makes melee range bow shots slightly less punishing. For regular bows, instead of suffering from -50% Hit, you can get away with just -25% Hit, which is still pretty punishing. Shortbows don't exist in live but you can expect to see a few in the beta test, and they're better suited to close quarters, suffering from no penalty if you rank Close Shot up to SR5.


Unarmed Combat
1.5 SP per Rank

• Balance - Reduces the Battle Weight of Fist weapons by up to SR * 1.5
  
• Adaptation - Allows you to equip any Fist weapon with a Rarity equal to or less than SR*2.
  
• Dizzy - For Fist weapons: basic attacks that hit reduce the target's FP by SR * 1. 50% effective VS Light Armor, 25% effective against Heavy Armor.

Fists and MAs have always been very good at anti-mage roles and Dizzy helps that, since a lot of mages prefer to be unarmored. Armored opponents won't feel much of its effects, however, especially heavy armor users who will only lose 1 FP at most.


Marksmanship
1 SP per Rank

• Volley - For Bow and Gun weapons: Increases attack range by SR * 1. (Max SR: 2)
  
• Wind Read - Increases maximum range before Farshot Penalty is applied by SR * 1. (Max SR: 3)
  
• Adaptation - Allows you to equip any Gun weapon with a Rarity equal to or less than SR*2.

Marksmanship retains its role in helping long range weapons. Wind Read can be useful for archers with low/medium amounts of Guile, and more attack range benefits pretty much any Bow or Gun user.


Maintenance
2 SP per Rank

• Self-Service - For yourself: Restores Durability of equipped weapon(s) after every battle by SR * 1, up to 75% max. Durability. If you have two weapons equipped, half the effect is applied to both weapons.
  
• Squad-Service - Allows all other party members to receive the benefit of your Self-Service, at SR * 20% of its usual effectiveness. (Note: Only the highest Squad-Service in the party applies.)
  
• Mastery - Increases the maximum durability your Maintenance effects can repair up to, by SR * 3%. (90% at SR5.)
  
• Emergency Service - Grants a battle skill that can only target those with a broken weapon(s). On use, consumes 2 Murai and restores the broken weapon(s)' Durability to SR * 1 (has a 5 round cooldown).

Maintenance is similar but quite different. The talent is a good deal more powerful if invested in, going up to 5 durability repairs per battle (or 2 per weapon, if multiple). Not only that, but you can give everyone else in your party the same benefit. And, if your weapon snaps in the middle of a battle, you can avoid being up the creek without a paddle with Emergency Service. Maintenance is a very helpful party talent, and I thought it might be interesting to make it more impactful, perhaps for any squire-like characters out there.

---

Overall Thoughts: Overall my goal with the expertise category was to make them feel a little less mandatory, as they don't necessarily give you any Power or Critical anymore. That said, people will still probably want to invest in them, which is fine, but for some people they might only put in 4 points to max out the unique subpath and have one extra point over. Maintenance was expanded to let characters who heavily invest in that idea to be very useful party members, instead of everyone and their mother having it active all the time.

I suppose that isn't guaranteed to change, but at least people will have to invest more heavily in it to achieve that, and the ones who take the talent up to rank 10 will always have some edge on those who didn't.

[Neus]

WAR

March
2 SP per Rank

• Health - Every 15 steps while out of combat, if you are below 75% of your maximum HP, you recover SR * 1 HP.
  
• Stamina - The amount of Physical Stamina recovered every hour is increased by SR * 1.

March is the same as always. There isn't too much to say about it, really.


Bravery
1 SP per Rank

• Will - Grants resistance to the effect of Fear by SR * 25% (min. of -1 Hit). Reduces the duration of Fear of Death by SR * 1 rounds. (Max SR: 3)
  
• Determination - Unfaltering courage grants resistance to the effect of Hesitation equal to SR * 15%. (Max SR: 3)
  
• Heat of Battle - While not at the edge of the battlefield: Power increased by SR * 1, and Phys & Mag Def VS monsters increased by SR * 1%. Bonuses doubled if enemy is at the battlefield's edge. (Max SR: 3)

Bravery is a new talent and a required skill in war, because war is quite scary. It offers some good bonuses, but 1 SP per Rank is lower than most other talents. Heat of Battle can give you an edge over people who like to camp the edges of the battlefield and some small defensive bonuses against monsters.

Will mentions Fear of Death, which is a new mechanic. When you take damage that exceeds half of your maximum HP, or any damage that takes you to or below 15% of your maximum HP (even if you're already below that threshold), you receive a Fear status from the person who damaged you for 3 rounds. Any 'normal' person in that situation of getting cornered or suddenly taking such a massive blow would probably be shaken, and if your character isn't one of those, then Will helps you negate it.


Two-Hand
1 SP per Rank

• Full Swing - While you do not have a Shield nor Sub-Weapon equipped: increases the Scaled Weapon ATK of Swords, Axes, and Spears by SR * 2%. Doubled for Heavy weapons.

Two-Hand is a simple talent; it lets you use one weapon more effectively, giving you some reason to do so. Heavy weapons are a size classification that currently only applies to the Axe family; when the beta is live, people can post a suggestion for which Sword and Spear weapons should receive the classification, because there's probably more than a few. I could have gone through and changed them already but I am more concerned with finishing programming the talents first.


Chivalry
2 SP per Rank

• Honor - Recover SR * 1 FP when hitting an enemy with a basic attack from their front. (Does not apply if target is knocked down or your party outnumbers them.)
  
• Smite - Increases Hit by SR * 3 when attacking an enemy from their front. (Does not apply if target is knocked down or your party outnumbers them.)

Some might say that chivalry doesn't win wars, but... at any rate, these two subpaths are what Chivalry has to start with. They don't play nice with the things rogues like to do, for example, flanking. In fact, Smite's Hit bonus is probably a lot smaller than what you'd get from flanking, but for characters with low GUI, or who won't be trying to do so anyway, this offers a nice alternative.

Any new bonuses from Chivalry will probably follow similar constraints. Hit your opponent where they can see, don't hit them when they're down, don't gang up on them. It's not a knightly thing to do.


First Aid
1 SP per Rank

• Healing - At the end of a battle, all party members are healed for SR * 2 HP, up to a maximum of 90% maximum HP.
  
• Treatment - At the end of a battle, you automatically treat afflictions party members are suffering from, up to a certain severity based on SR. 1 = Minor, 2 = Moderate, 3 = Major. (Max SR: 3)
  
• Prevention - Decreases the chance of everyone in the aprty from suffering afflictions in battle, by SR * 10% of the normal chance. (Only the highest Prevention in the party takes effect.)

Detainment
1.5 SP per Rank

• Take Prisoner - Grants access to the Capture skill, which attacks an enemy in 1 Range with penalties to hit and damage. If it successfully reduces the target to 0 HP, they are captured. You can have a maximum of SR * 1 prisoners at once.
  
• Restrain - Grants access to the Grapple skill, which inflicts Immobilize on you and a target within 1 Range if successful. Success rate is equal to SR * 17%, plus 2% for every character level you exceed the target by.
  
• Convert - Monsters can be sold to interested parties such as arena masters. However, this talent allows you to convert monsters you have captured into mercenaries by paying a small Murai fee to them. Success rate is equal to SR * 20%; upon failure, you must wait 3 in-game hours to renegotiate.
  
• Seize - If prisoner space is available, there is a SR * 1% chance of automatically capturing defeated non_CPs after a battle, if the enemy's level is equal to or less than 1.25x of your level. (Rolled for each potential prisoner).

[Neus]

ELEMENTAL

The Elemental category is overall pretty simple. It contains all of the elemental -mancy skills that let you increase your performance with a specific type/domain of spell. I also added quite a few, since some elements were missing them due to space constraints of the old system. Like expertise skills, they all share two common subpaths; one that increases your elemental ATK and one that reduces the FP cost of spells of its appropriate domain.


Pyromancy
2 SP per Rank

• Potency - Increases your Fire ATK by SR * 1.
  
• Efficiency - Reduces the FP cost of Nerifian domain spells by SR * 3%. (Only the highest applicable Efficiency applies.)
  
• Scorch - Increases the duration of all Cinder tiles you create by SR * 1 round(s).
  
• Ignis - Increases the success rate of you applying Burn status effects by SR * 3%.

Pyromancy is still pyromancy. Scorch is another common theme in the Elemental category, boosting the duration of special effect tiles. I wouldn't be surprised if they need adjusted down the line, but for now...


Cryomancy
2 SP per Rank

• Potency - Increases your Ice ATK by SR * 1.
  
• Efficiency - Reduces the FP cost of Aquarian domain spells by SR * 3%. (Only the highest applicable Efficiency applies.)
  
• Freeze - Increases the duration of all Ice Sheet tiles you create by SR * 1 round(s).

Not too much to say for most of these, other than for some of them, appropriate status type boosts were rather hard to come up with. But since this system is easy to expand and add new subpaths to, there's always room for them in the future.


Geomancy
2 SP per Rank

• Potency - Increases your Earth ATK by SR * 1.
  
• Efficiency - Reduces the FP cost of Isespian domain spells by SR * 3%. (Only the highest applicable Efficiency applies.)
  
• Magnet - Increases the duration of Magnetize status effects you apply by SR * 1 round(s).

Geomancy extends the duration of the situational Magnetize status, which is nice.


Aeromancy
2 SP per Rank

• Potency - Increases your Wind ATK by SR * 1.
  
• Efficiency - Reduces the FP cost of Sylphid domain spells by SR * 3%. (Only the highest applicable Efficiency applies.)
  
• Air Shaft - Increases the duration of all Air Shaft tiles you create by SR * 1 round(s).

There's naught but air here.


Aquamancy
2 SP per Rank

• Potency - Increases your Water ATK by SR * 1.
  
• Efficiency - Reduces the FP cost of Aquarian domain spells by SR * 3%. (Only the highest applicable Efficiency applies.)

Aquamancy is the one that needs the most expansion in the future, mainly because it doesn't really inflict status effects and it doesn't have any special effect tiles. This may change in the future. Note that Aquamancy and Cryomancy's Efficiency bonuses don't double up, as the description says.


Altermancy
2 SP per Rank

• Potency - Increases your Dark ATK by SR * 1.
  
• Efficiency - Reduces the FP cost of Huggessoan domain spells by SR * 3%. (Only the highest applicable Efficiency applies.)
  
• Black Sea - Increases the duration of all Dark Water tiles you create by SR * 1 round(s).

Altermancy is for the dark mages and hexers.


Solmancy
2 SP per Rank

• Potency - Increases your Light ATK by SR * 1.
  
• Efficiency - Reduces the FP cost of Mercalan domain spells by SR * 3%. (Only the highest applicable Efficiency applies.)
  
• Eternity - Increases the duration of all Light Shaft tiles you create by SR * 1 round(s).

Finally, the priests and priestesses have their own little specialization.


Fulgurmancy
2 SP per Rank

• Potency - Increases your Lightning ATK by SR * 1.
  
• Efficiency - Reduces the FP cost of Nature domain spells by SR * 3%. (Only the highest applicable Efficiency applies.)
  
• Lowrath - Increases the chance of Lightning criticals by SR * 2%.
  
• Ampage - Increases the damage of Lightning criticals by SR * 3%.

Lightning is a little more unique than the rest of the -mancy talents, being able to boost the chance and damage of its unique elemental gimmick.

---

Overall Thoughts: This category is probably the most plain, overall, since most of the effects are rather similar to each other, but I think it's a necessity. Plus, this category can always be expanded in the future, so it's not a big deal; the core identity more or less made its way over. If I ever have to change the duration of field objects, I'd probably do it as SR * 20%, so SR 5 = doubled duration. But for now, we'll try it like this and see what happens.

[Neus]

ARCANE

Arcane is the category with the least number of talents in it, but at the same time, that makes it good for expansion later on. Still, it holds quite a few impactful talents.


Capacity
1 SP per Rank

• Depth - Increases your maximum FP by SR * 5.
  
• Absorption - Absorbing focus from the air increases your FP Regeneration by SR * 1. (Max SR: 3)
  
• Recycle - In battle, spells cast by other restore your FP by SR * 4% of its cost, or 3 FP, whichever is higher.

Capacity retains its core functions, as you might expect.


Enchantment
1.5 SP per Rank

• Whimsy - Increases your Status Infliction by SR * 2%.
  
• Efficiency - Reduces the FP cost of Enchant-class spells by SR * 3%. (Only the highest applicable Efficiency applies.)
  
• Prolong - Increases the duration of Enchant-class Spell status effects by SR * 1 round(s); half effective on enemies.

As does Enchantment, although now it helps inflict status effects as well.


Fluency
2 SP per Rank

• Basics - Allows you to read and write where appropriate. (Max SR: 1)
  
• Stamina - Long nights of reading have trained your mind, increasing the amount of Mental Stamina you recovery every hour by SR * 1.
  
• Spellbook - Use your book as storage space, increasing your maximum Skill Pool size by SR * 1, but only if you have a Tome equipped.
  
• Balance - Heavy books get less heavy the more you carry them around. Reduces the Battle Weight of Tomes by up to SR * 1.5.
  
• Adaptation - Allows you to equip any Tome weapon with a Rarity equal to or less than SR * 2.

Fluency doubles up as the Tome 'Expertise', a roleplaying talent, and some other useful bits, namely Spellbook. Even non-Mage characters can benefit from it, as long as they have a Tome in hand, which could be useful for Tacticians.


Invocation
1.5 SP per Rank

• Words of Power - Taking damage while invoking can cause the spell to fail, but this talent decreases the chance of your Invocations breaking in this fashion by SR * 10%. (At SR10, they will never break because of damage.) (Max SR: 10)
  
• Minor Glyph - While invoking only, a magical barrier will protect you, increasing your Armor and Magic Armor by SR * 1.

Invocation has gotten a power boost, allowing mages who are specialized for it to avoid having to worry about damage stopping Invocations, and get slightly tankier while doing so to boot.


Summoning
2 SP per Rank

• Tutor - Increases the EXP your Youkai gain by SR * 3%. If the Youkai is lower level than you, this bonus is doubled.
  
• Friendship - You have a good relationship with your Youkai, increasing the starting friendship you have with them by SR * 2, and the friendship gained from gifts by SR * 1.

These are mainly QOL benefits for Summoner, making it easier to level up your Youkai and become friends with them. Will almost certainly get other subpaths in the future to keep it from being a pointless talent to have once all your Youkai are full level.

---

Overall Thoughts: Arcane is rather slim at the moment but that's what you'd expect, since most of the talents are existing ones remade for the new system, and the elemental specializations have their own category. Like anything, there's plenty of room to expand it later.

[Neus]

OCCULT

NOTE: This category is not finished. The full list is still to come. However, I will be updating this when I post in the thread about finished talents..


Alchemy
1.5 SP per Rank

• Delivery - Increases the range of most item skills by SR * 1.
  
• Perfect - Increases the effectiveness and/or gives bonus effects to some consumable item skills based on SR.
  
• Gatherer - Increases the chance of collecting alchemy ingredients from plants by SR * 20%.

Alchemy is still a good talent overall. The boosts it gives to items are now more powerful if you increase the rank of Perfect. Gatherer is essential if you want to play alchemist, as well.


Astrology
2 SP per Rank

• Starsign - Adds a Starsign to the occult window in the character status screen. Selecting one grants a small bonus to one statistic and elemental ATK, but this effect is more pronounced during the month(s) the starsign governs. (Note: Once you confirm your starsign selection, it cannot be changed unless you respec your talents.) (Max SR: 1)
  
• Guidance - Grants guidance from the stars, increasing your trap detection range in Space dungeons only by SR * 1 tiles.
  
• Stargazer - Looking at the stars gives you a good feeling, increases your HP and FP recovery while in a camp with a campfire by SR * 3%, but only during the night.

Astrology is one of the many talents in occult that has some uniqueness tied to it.


Devotion
1.5 SP per Rank

• Divine Sign - Increases chances of successfully enchanting and increases the effects of Exorcism and Blessed enchantments. Success rate is increased by SR * 3%. Blessed bonus to hit is increased by SR * 2. Exorcism damage bonus is increased by SR * 5%.
  
• Prayer - Lets you use an altar or religious symbol to pray, granting a Prayer status for SR * 5 rounds that persists through battles. Praying requires some Mental Stamina.
  
• Intervention - While a Prayer status is active, grants a SR * 1% chance that any damage you take will be reduced by your Scaled Faith.

Spiritualism
1.5 SP per Rank

• Perception - Allows you to sense spirits in the area, the distance of which is based on SR. Spirits will appear as black or white, called 'paging', which shows if they are malicious (black) or not (white).
  
• Release - Allows you to release perceived spirits, exorcising them. Requires Mental Stamina. Success is based on SR and the spirit's page, and success grants roleplaying EXP. Failure may result in negative effects if the spirit is black.
  
• Possession - Rather than release, you allow a spirit to possess you temporarily, up to a maximum of SR. Depending on the page, the effect differs, which can be confirmed in the occult window. Having a spirit possess you treats you as Possessed race for certain effects. (Spirits will escape when you are reduced to 0 HP.)

More coming soon.

[Neus]

SURVIVAL

Survival is familiar territory. It doesn't have many talents that affect combat, but does have many convenience ones, as well as some related to crafting.


Preparation
1.5 SP per Rank

• First Move - At the start of a battle, except back attacks, you gain Initiative LV SR * 1 for the first round, which increases your Move by LV, as well as CEL (for the purposes of determining turn order) by SR * 2.
  
• Food Supply - You pack emergency food supplies. If you are hungry at the end of a battle, you will automatically eat one. You stock SR * 1 total, whcih refill when resting at an inn.
  
• Just In Case - Extra items come in handy sometimes. Increases your Item Belt size by SR * 1. (Max SR: 3)

Preparation has been expanded slightly, letting you get more emergency food supplies. Initiative was changed; before it lasted for turns equal to the rank of Preparation, but that was a little OP, I felt. Now it makes more sense, but it can also be stronger on the first turn.


Packrat
1.5 SP per Rank

• Hoarder - Increases your maximum carrying capacity by SR * 5.
  
• Hauler - Increases your maximum Battle Weight by SR * 2.
  
• Hider - Reduces the total number of items dropped upon defeat by SR * 15%.

Packrat is still what it is; an enabler for item addiction.


Scout
1.5 SP per Rank

• Keen Eye - Increases the range and skill of your ability to detect traps on the ground or on objects, based on SR.
  
• Solver - Decreases the Mental Stamina required to recover traps (including your own) by SR * 1, to a minimum of 1. (Max SR: 3)
  
• Trenchman - Digging trenches has made you fast at digging in general, decreasing the time it takes to dig holes by SR * 7% of the shovel's base speed.
  
• Landmarker - You have a good memory for places. Upon closing a treasure map, the spot the treasure is hidden at will be marked (for only you) with an X for SR * 5 seconds.

Scout has some more general use paths. Keen Eye is more or less what it did before. Solver and Trenchman make it easier to utilize the pit traps, and the latter also helps speed up things for farmers. Landmarker should make getting a treasure map full of sand a little less impossible to solve.


Security
2 SP per Rank

• Knowledge - Determines the base success rate for opening locks, which is equal to SR * 10%. However, a lock may be more or less difficult depending on the quality of the lockpick you use, as well as the strength of the lock itself. (Max SR: 10)
  
• Dexterity - Swift movements decrease the time it takes to attempt to pick a lock by SR * 0.5 seconds.
  
• Disarm - Lets you disarm traps and increases the success rate of doing so by SR * 15%.
  
• Failsafe - Decreases the chance that failed disarm attempts on a trap will trigger it accidentally by SR * 20%. (At SR5, you will never trigger them by accident.)

Security has gotten a lot of changes. Before, your CEL and SKI played a part in your success rate; that's no longer the case, neither for locks nor trap disarms. Dexterity is probably a largely welcomed addition. Since lockpicking takes 4 seconds to perform, if you have SR5 in Dexterity, it drops it down to only 1.5 seconds, which is a huge difference. I expect that will be very common for anyone who invests in Security.


Harvest
2 SP per Rank

• Miner - Boosts the chance of successfully finding items while mining ore veins by SR * 20%.
  
• Scavenger - Boosts the chance of successfully finding wood and food at old campfires by SR * 20%.
  
• Fieldworker - Decreases the time it takes to hoe dirt into farm soil by SR * 7% of the hoe's base speed.
  
• Lumberjack - Decreases the time it takes to cut down trees by SR * 7% of the axe's base speed.
  
• Experienced - Decreases the chance of suffering minor injuries while performing mining, scavenging, hoeing, or woodcutting by SR * 17%.

Harvest is a bit different now. First of all, all of the 'daily nodes' have been changed to work like the randomly generated ones, except they won't disappear. You'll need tools, if appropriate, as well as some physical stamina to use them. If you're heavy into non-combat activities this is probably your bread and butter talent, since it speeds up things (but if you like to take it slow that's fine too). As for what Experienced means by 'minor injuries', well, we'll touch on what it is when War goes up, but basically, a minor injury might be something like a pulled back or a rock hitting your head. It'll make sense at some point.


Cooking
2 SP per Rank

• Feast - Allows you to use Feast Table Kits to setup feast tables inside of camps. Feast tables require 10x of a single food item to setup; anyone can eat food off the table. The feast tables you set up will hold 10 + (SR * 2) servings, and the food will be SR * 10% better, and last SR * 1 longer.
  
• Camp Meal - Allows you to set up Cooking Pots in camps by cooking something at a campfire. Anyone may eat from the pot, and it serves 1 + SR *1 meals, which are SR * 3% better and SR * 1 more filling.

Cooking and food have undergone some overhauls. First of all, different food qualities no longer exist; when you log in to this version, all your food will get put on a meal ticket that you use to 'regain' it in stacks. Yes, food stacks now, so no more clogging up your inventory. Instead of having the quality determined when an item is cooked, instead, I'm moving more to it increasing based on how it's presented, like above. Not only will this make inventories easier to navigate, but it will help decrease the overhead caused by saving/loading a bit, since it won't be saving 20-30 different foods. I don't think the varying qualities had much significance either; the values were higher, yes, and randomized, making food more 'unique' per serving but that is of debatable value.

Instead, now, you can clear a dungeon and make a camp for you and your friends, eat something nice, or set up a banquet. This helps roleplay, as well; before if you wanted to feed your friends, you'd have to somewhat painstakingly trade with them. It is much simpler and more immersive this way, in my opinion.


Concealment
2 SP per Rank

• Sneak - When engaging a monster on the map, if they haven't been alerted, you and your party members gain Sneak for SR * 1 rounds. (Only the highest Sneak in the party takes effect.) (Max SR: 3)
  
• Plain - Obscures the appearances and names of your equipment when examined by other players, and prevents them from seeing its details. What is hidden depends on SR; SR 1 = Accessories, 2 = Legs, 3 = Hands, 4 = Torso, 5 = Weapons.
  
• Moneyboot - You start hiding some money in your boots, decreasing the amount of Murai you drop upon defeat by SR * 15%. (Still effective for Nagas, somehow...) (Max SR: 2)

As promised, I said you would be able to obscure your equipment in the examine menu, and here it is. Plain turns equipment into generic descriptions which varies based on what it is; for weapons, it'll still say the size of the weapon and the type it is, for example 'A large sword.' and for armor it'll say the armor type, 'A heavy armor torso.', etc. So if you're a real stickler for being looked at, here's your out. Sneak has also been adjusted mainly for the sake of sanity; it didn't make much sense to be chased down by a monster and somehow still be sneaking around. Now, you actually need to sneak up on them.

I debated making Moneyboot 0% effective for Nagas but it's such a random demerit for that race that I didn't bother. Besides, if you think about it, they can still wear boots on their hands.


---

Overall Thoughts: Survival gives you a bit of a peek at the kind of thing I'm going for with the last two categories, or at least, Cooking does. War is not wholely full of roleplaying stuff but there is a bit as well as a 'big' one that I previewed, and Occult is ambitiously full of new ideas that are more complicated than the rest of the talents. War is mostly done, with only two talents not being finished, and some of the stuff in Occult hasn't been fully written out yet, although I have a good idea of what I want to do for all of them in my notes.

Furthermore, War requires me to setup and program another interface for something, so if I host a beta any time soon, it will probably be with the understanding that a few of the talents will not be implemented fully yet. But we'll see what happens.

[Lolzytripd]

umm dev

Adaptation - Allows you to equip any Axe weapon with a Rarity equal to or less than SR*2.

does this mean If I don't pay the 5 subpoint tax into this I cannot equip 10 star axes, even if my class lets me equip axes?

If so, this is lame, needs to die in a ditch, and replaced with something thats good, and optional

[Snake]

umm dev

Adaptation - Allows you to equip any Axe weapon with a Rarity equal to or less than SR*2.

does this mean If I don't pay the 5 subpoint tax into this I cannot equip 10 star axes, even if my class lets me equip axes?

If so, this is lame, needs to die in a ditch, and replaced with something thats good, and optional

Sounds more like the current 'can use it with any class' (Magic Gunner main class wielding an Axe), but yeah, it's a bit ambiguous.

EDIT:
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T SHITPOST DEV EVER AGAIN-- My heart rate thanks you.

[Exxy]

I'll be looking forward to it, probably. Good work so far Dev.

Already fan-girling over Dizzy, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.