0xReki's Misadventures Choosing My Initial Traits and Skills
published on , last updated on , written by q. Thai “0xReki” Chung, checked with ProWritingAid, edited by notKeoni. As always, a big thanks to all Patrons for their support.I sit down and take a look at my character information.
Character Info
Name: Swift Mittens Age: X Species: Neotes/Ailuranthrope Titles & Blessings
Traits
- Menu (Hidden Trait)
- Mystic Eye of Analysis (Menu Trait)
- Mystic Eye of Knowledge (Menu Trait)
- Infinite Storage (Menu Trait)
Skills
That's a very bare character window. As I said before, there are no character levels. Currently, I have no traits but Menu, Mystic Eye of Analysis, Mystic Eye of Knowledge and Infinite Storage. I have no titles or blessings. I guess the Menu traits are functions in my gaming interface. From reading the glossary entries of my races, I would have guessed I'd have some racial traits. So they didn't even choose those for me. But that just means I don't have any existing traits to consider when choosing my initial traits and skills. So let's have a look at the racial traits I can choose from.
Book of Choice: Racial Trait
Choose one racial trait from this fixed selection.
Ailuranthrope Racial Traits
- Accelerated Recovery:
increases recovery speed of all kinds- Adaptability:
temporarily increases status of choosing- Feline Form:
provides ability to shapeshift into a felineNeotes Racial Traits
- Mastery Obsession:
increases maximum skill level to level 10- Quick Learner:
increases learning speed- Lucky Devil:
increases luck by greatly
Neat! Let's see. Since I have four books, I can choose four of those. To maximize my survival chances, I'm going with Accelerated Recovery, Feline Form, Quick Learner, and Lucky Devil. Let's have a look at the regular traits I can choose from next.
Book of Choice: Trait
Choose one trait from this fixed selection.
- Adrenaline Rush:
boost increases speed when health is low- Appealing Charisma:
increases charisma by a big amount
- ⋮
- Book Smart:
increases understanding of theories
- ⋮
- Nimbleness:
increases agility- Nimble and Precise:
increases agility and dexterity
- ⋮
I can choose two of these. Again, to maximize my survival chances, I'm going with Appealing Charisma and Nimble & Precise. The latter sound like a typical trait that thieves have, though in this day and age, you'd rather call them specialists for spontaneous involuntary ownership transfer. I can't say I dislike the sound of the latter term. Every job sounds better if it's called a specialist! Let's have a look that the skill I can choose from.
Book of Choice: Skills
Choose one skill to gain at level 1 from this fixed selection.
⋮
Meta-Skills
- Fighting Skills
- Magic Skills
- Production Skills
- Survival Skills
I quickly scroll over the categories to get an overview. Meta-skills? Wait a minute… I cancel the selection and try choosing a skill to master.
Book of Choice: Skill Mastery
Choose one skill to gain at maximum level from this fixed selection.
⋮
Meta-Skills
- Fighting Skills
- Magic Skills
- Production Skills
- Survival Skills
I can choose two skills to master and it looks like I can master meta-skills. I grin. I guess I've found my cheat! It'd been even better if I had chosen Mastery Obsession earlier… I mean I finally get to live in an RPG world and completely forgot about min-maxing! Something I tend to do. I should have put more thought into that… Well, It's no use crying over spilled juice! So which ones do I choose? Survival Skills sound good. Let me check.
Book of Choice: Skill Mastery
⋮
Survival Skills
- Camping
- Danger Sense
- Fishing
- Foraging
- Presence Detection
- Presence Isolation
- Trap Detection
- Trap Disarming
- Trap Setting
- Stealth
- Weakness Detection
⋮
For some reason, half of the skills in this skill tree sound like thief skills. Anyway, I'll go with that. I think I'm good with survival chances, so I should be choosing some other skills as well. Magic sounds nice.
Now that I've spent my skill masteries, I spend the remaining books to get all fighting and production skills at level one. I should take a look at my character window now.
Character Info
Name: Swift Mittens Age: X Species: Neotes/Ailuranthrope Titles & Blessings
- Master of Magic (Magic Skills Level X)
- Survival Artist (Survival Skills Level X)
- Jack of All Trades (Fighting Level 1, Magic Skills Level 1, and Production Skills Level 1)
Traits
- Menu (Hidden Trait)
- Mystic Eye of Analysis (Menu Trait)
- Mystic Eye of Knowledge (Menu Trait)
- Infinite Storage (Menu Trait)
- Accelerated Recovery (Racial Trait: Ailuranthrope)
- Quick Learner (Racial Trait: Neotes)
- Feline Form (Hidden Racial Trait: Ailuranthrope)
- Lucky Devil (Hidden Racial Trait: Neotes)
- Appealing Charisma (Trait)
- Nimble & Precise (Trait)
Skills
Fighting Level
1
- Blunt Weapon Mastery Level
1 - Short Blade Mastery Level
1 - Long Blade Mastery Level
1 - Spear Mastery Level
1 - Hand-to-Hand Combat Level
1 - Bow Mastery Level
2 - Shield Mastery Level
1 Magic Skills Level
X
- Mana Perception Level
X - Mana Control Level
X - Fire Magic Level
X - Water Magic Level
X - Wind Magic Level
X - Earth Magic Level
X - Lightning Magic Level
X - Light Magic Level
X - Dark Magic Level
X - Familiar Magic Level
X - Space Magic Level
X Production Skills Level
1
- Alchemy Level
1 - Carpenting Level
1 - Compounding Level
1 - Cooking Level
1 - Leatherworking Level
1 - Smithing Level
1 Survival Skills Level
X
- Camping Level
X - Danger Sense Level
X - Evasion Level
X - Fishing Level
X - Foraging Level
X - Presence Detection Level
X - Presence Isolation Level
X - Riding Level
X - Trap Detection Level
X - Trap Disarming Level
E - Trap Setting Level
E - Weakness Detection Level
X
What's this? While most of the maximum level skills are level
I have magic skills now, plus I have the Camping skill on level
“Compaction!”
A cloud of sand forms in the shape of a ring around where I touch the ground. I feel it'd too small and shallow for a campfire if that sand were to compact to stone. So I imagine a slightly bigger and higher stone frame. The ring changes size and the sand slowly compacts to stone. Yeah, this looks like the stone frame of a typical campfire. Is it done? No, something in my mind tells me it's not. So I keep at it. After I get the feeling it's finally done, I stop and put in some wood.
Now I need to light it. I could just ignite the wood directly. What could go wrong? I put my hands over the wood and imagine fire: hot and blazing. I mutter the word that suddenly comes into my mind.
“Blaze!”
Oh! I get startled and flinch. Good thing I do. The next moment I see a flash and all the wood I put in has combusted. The smell of burnt wood fills the air. That was dangerous! I should be more careful. Let's try again. I put in some more wood. This time I put in some tinder as well. I should light it carefully. I put my hand over the tinder and imagine it smouldering.
“Smoulder!”
After a while, it starts glowing and smoking. Now, I can either fan it until it turns into a fire or I pour more energy into it until it turns into a fire. Let's do the latter. I imagine slowly putting in more energy into the smouldering. It intensifies. The wood also starts smouldering on the place where it touches. After spreading for a while, it starts burning. Neat, I have made fire! I sit down and admire my creation. It was surprisingly difficult. Good thing I started early.
Due to the mishap just now, I'm almost out of wood. I need to gather more. I go back into the forest and gather lumber. I can't help but notice the animals in the forest now, I guess it must be because of to the skills I gained. Since I'm not feeling any danger from them I ignore them for now. I like the atmosphere of this forest. Maybe I should settle down here! The cliff where my tent currently is seems to be a good place to dig a cave. Let's do that tomorrow!
