The Power Of Ten: Sama Rantha
Chapter 3 : Existing Skill Ranks. Expert/3 would be 24 points, with +3/level from Int, for 33 points

Existing Skill Ranks. Expert/3 would be 24 points, with +3/level from Int, for 33 points. Experts, all Skills were available.

Taking my Human Skills to 3 would cost 12 Ranks. I flicked a mental switch.

I was actually amazed when I clicked over the mental switch, and the existing s.p.a.ces in my head rolled back wider and further, deepening what I knew and applications thereof.

Importantly, it gave me 3d6+15 Soak. Hoo-ray for old life NPC Cla.s.s Levels...

Soak was the other cheaty thing monsters hated Cla.s.s Levels for. Hitting a human so hard their bones should break, yet they get right back up without even shedding blood or limping or whatnot. It was straight foundational magical energy, and absorbed and dispersed attacks like invisible ablative armor. Most of the time, you couldn't even tell it was working, aside from the fact you were alive instead of dead. Near misses, lucky dodges, sc.r.a.pes instead of stabs… Soak used whatever was most effective to keep you alive.

When you jumped two hundred feet off a cliff, landed on stone, got up and walked away, well, Soak was a little more obvious.

NPC Cla.s.ses never maxed Soak at Level One. In fact, I couldn't feel any other Level One benefits kicking in. But, I still had to choose my First Level Cla.s.s.

I might just be broken and have two Primary Cla.s.ses. If not, I had an Expert Cla.s.s that wouldn't be moving until I was a Six. Mmm. Oh well. Time would tell.

And I still had 21 Skill Ranks to allocate.

Martial Lore, Sense Motive, Knowledge: Math, Knowledge: Chemistry, Knowledge: Engineering, Calligraphy, Swim.

Martial Lore for the ki-based stuff I was going to need. Sense Motive so I could understand others more deeply and easily, something I was always lacking in my old life, and vitally necessary in a dream. The others were basically nods to the fact I was an eclectic learner in my past life, and I was pretty sure that these Expert Levels had to be treated like cross-cla.s.s Levels, and cater to both my old life and the strength of the Cla.s.s.

Martial Lore was also one of the knowledge skills, and Sense Motive was effectively people-reading. Swim was just something from my last life. Not knowing how to swim would just goggle my mind. 3 Ranks would make me a professional, easily able to be an elite lifeguard.

Calligraphy, 'cause I'd been a reader and a writer, and it was one of the artistic skills that would feed Flowing Waters Swordplay and work with Profound Artisan. My penmans.h.i.+p would be much, much better than my last life.

And they all hit, and opened up to 3. I just shook my head at the ma.s.sive amount of basic knowledge that was there, as if it always had been there and I'd just noticed it. More like it was knowledge returned to me then knowledge that was new. I didn't just know, I knew what I knew.

Favored Cla.s.s. It would have been my Favored Cla.s.s in my last life. I ticked a mental bar on Alchemy, and nothingness melted away and revealed the information. Bonus skill point per level Favored Cla.s.s bonus…

And I got a Feat at level One, and a Feat at Three.

As a Forsaken, that meant I got two at those levels.

There were many Feats that could only be taken at Level One. Most of these were Talents, some were Experiences.

Talent. It was stupid, but I was a swordswoman before, and I'd be one again. Natural Swordsman, +1 to hit with Swords, +1 to AC when wielding Swords, +1 to all skill-type rolls when using a Sword, such as Weapon Performances, Smithing them, identifying them, juggling them, etc. Doubled at Ten to +2. Required to become a Lord of the Sword.

Experience, Undaunted. Immunity to fear. Right on the boilerplate. I had already died once, and been eaten as a baby. I more then qualified for it on the 'trauma overcome' basis.

I opened my eyes and looked at the shadows around. They didn't look so threatening anymore. Indeed, the whole dreamscape seemed to s.h.i.+ver as I looked upon it. The little bits of dread and despair picking about the edges of my vision had evaporated.

A life without fear. That would be very different then the kind of person I was in the past…

Level Three Feats… would have to wait until Melee/1 was done.

Melee/1, my chosen Primary Cla.s.s in this life. Choices were Archer, Scout, Monk, Minstrel, Artificer, and Alchemist… and NPC Expert, n.o.ble, and Vizard, if so inclined. I was usually inclined.

Melee/1. I didn't need the armor profs here, and I might not ever. Remove all armor profs and keep s.h.i.+elds. Exchange for Int to AC as a dodge bonus; Expertise as a Bonus Feat; +1 to AC in light or no armor, all Melee options.

Very abruptly, I became Threat Aware. I started calculating angles, I s.h.i.+fted my feet to a more stable basis, measured s.p.a.ces and vectors of attack, how to move and how to avoid injury. As of right this moment, I should have an AC of 19, fairly impressive for someone totally nude.

Proficient in simple and standard melee weaponry, thrown weaponry; simple ranged weapons. So, I could use basically any hand to hand weapon I came across. Melees were also decent at throwing weapons, like javelins, spears, axes, hammers, and the like. Crazy s.h.i.+t like chakrams and boomerangs, not so much. I could also pop a crossbow or short bow, but not very well.

Start with IUS or Improved Grappling. Pick IUS, to go with the claws. Base IUS was 'Wolverine Style', meaning 'anything goes'. Mastery in Wolverine Style was Mastery in IUS, a general increase in unarmed fighting skill. I could pick up Improved Grappling later with Expertise, as a Melee.

Pick Primary Weapons, or Weapon Style. In the game, it had been Sword and s.h.i.+eld, Cla.s.sic Mitharn. No s.h.i.+eld, so I wouldn't be able to replicate my build there for some time. I picked IUS and Long Sword, making a Profound Swordswoman. +1 Damage with Primary Weapons, Weapon Mastery for the Cla.s.s.

Pick Good Saving Throw. Fort.i.tude, of course. Needed it for Forsaken. I'd boost the rest with Techniques.

Pick Favored Cla.s.s benefit. Melee Cla.s.s, pick two. Forsaken, pick an additional hit point or skill point. +2 to defending rolls pool against specific attack maneuvers, I picked Grapple/Grab and Trip for now, I could rea.s.sign the pool at Renewal. I grabbed an extra hit point, and extra skill point.

Pick Skills from the Cla.s.s List. Melees had 4 skill points per level, scaling as their Resolve increased, add Int bonus per level, FC bonus. So, 8 more skill points. Since I was an Expert/3, I could actually put 3 points into a Skill.

a.s.sign Skill Points: 2 into Heal, 2 into Blacksmith, 2 into Jump, and 2 into Weaponsmith.

Cover Your Weakness: 1 point into lowest physical Stat, 1 point into lowest mental Stat. Automatic, in case of tie, Charisma, Wisdom, then Intelligence. Inherent bonus, like my Forsaken bonus, representing a non-magic wielder's ceaseless self-improvement, covering his weakest points and rounding them out, raising the floor instead of the ceiling. So, +1 to my Strength, and +1 to Charisma. My body trembled again, and something like a fire in my mind ignited, stirring my emotions more easily.

Get awarded Soak. D6+4 HD, Adventurer = max, 10 Soak awarded. Replaces d6 of Expert/1. +5 Con, +1 FC = 16 Soak. Stacks with 2d6+10 of Expert, for ~33.

+1 Melee Attack Bonus. No Ranged Attack bonus, only progressed at 3/4 Levels for Melees.

Pick Techniques. Techniques were like double Feats, and they scaled. Taking Weapon Focus anyone could do, it opened up the Weapon Mastery Tree, granting a +1 bonus to hit with a specific weapon. They were the power of the Melee Cla.s.s, granting ever-scaling combat ability as we rose in level, consistent and fixed tactics that could work together with amazing synergy constantly, as opposed to the powerful burst effects of Chi-users.

A Melee got one Combat Technique and one Training Technique per Level. As a Forsaken, I also got an extra Feat, as these were Feat-Equivalents.

This was where the meat of building a character came in. I had to be firm on what I wanted to do this.

Weapon Specialization Technique, IUS. Opened Weapon Mastery Tree. Gave Weapon Focus, +1 TH with the chosen weapon. For Melee, Primary Weapons. Spec doubled Melee Cla.s.s damage bonuses for the chosen weapon. So, I'd be +1 to hit, +2 damage with IUS.

Cla.s.s Bonus Training Technique, Great Fort.i.tude. I needed to get that as high as possible as fast as possible, because it powered my Null. Being pathetically low Level now, my Null was virtually worthless at Level + Fort Save. Great Fort.i.tude would double from +2 to +4 at Ten, and would also scale with my Weapon Training Bonus, as well as adding other minor synergies with other Feats and Techniques.

Bonus Forsaken Feat, Toughness/1. +3 or +Level or +MAB Health, whatever was highest. +3 it was. Health to 18. This also opened the Toughness tree. That wasn't all so important, except that it tripped the Karma Allocation limits.

You could raise your Level only 1/day, regardless of how much Karma you earned. Likewise, you could take one Mastery advance, learn one spell, Invest/Infuse one magic item, learn a feat, train up a skill, or fortify a Health or Soak point towards your maximum.

Like I said, I had Karma floating around… and I was an Expert/3, so I could take a Toughness/2 advance, which I promptly did. Toughness Mastery/2, add Fort Save to Soak.

+1 Inherent bonus to Con for levels 2 and 3 went off, because now they were important. Con advanced to 23. Health now 19. Toughness/2, Fort Save was +2 Cla.s.s, +6 Con, +2 Great Fort, so +10 to Soak, +13 with revised Con bonus to HD. Soak was now 46.

Which made for a REALLY tough Melee/1.