Strength – Strength is the heart of the Warrior, Paladin, and Dark Paladin class. Strength has a direct correlation to damage done by all hand held weapons. Additional restrictions on larger type weapons, used only by Warriors, Paladins, and Dark Paladins, will be determined by the character class and level of Strength. However, all characters will find strength a valuable skill to increase over time. The reason for this falls to the weight a character can carry as worn items or in their inventory. Pure Casters will find the weight restrictions of their items to be minimal, but their ability to carry items from gameplay could impede their movement speed should they be over loaded with weight. Over loaded characters will also lose vitality faster, drawing them closer to fatigued status where all types of damage will be reduced.
Constitution – The constitution skill is a direct correlation to the number of Hit Points (hps) a character has. All races will receive 100 hps for each point put into the constitution skill. Constitution also has a direct correlation to each character’s vitality. Characters will lose vitality while fighting or while moving while overloaded. Caster classes will lose minimal vitality for casting spells. The larger your weapon, in relation to your strength skill, the quicker your vitality will decrease during combat. Characters who become fatigued due to a loss of vitality will deal only 25% damage during battles and will have a movement speed of only 25%.
Agility – Agility is the main skill for classes that utilize a ranged attack. Rangers will find the agility skill their mainstay in Resurgence. Increased agility will have a direct correlation to the ability to hit a target with a ranged attack while also increasing the range which an attack has the ability to be successful. Each weapon in Resurgence with a “ranged” classification will have a base range that will be augmented by the agility statistic. Additionally, agility has a direct correlation to the ability of each character to avoid incoming melee attacks. Increased agility gives a greater chance of dodging an attack or using your weapon to parry an incoming attack. It has no correlation to avoiding magical attacks. Fatigued status reduces your agility to 25%
Dexterity – Dexterity is the essential skill for the damage dealer. Dexterity has a direct correlation to the chance for critical hits against a target. Certain classes, such as Rogue, Brawler, and “Tanks”, immediately start with the critical strike skill, while others will open this skill as they progress. Dexterity also has a direct correlation to the activation of special abilities on a weapon during the course of combat. The Chance skill provides a slight modifier to activating these abilities as well. Fatigued status reduces your Dexterity to 25%
Wisdom – Wisdom has a direct correlation to learning certain skills for all classes, such as languages. However, the non-intelligence based casters, such as Clerics, Druids, and Shamans, base mana regeneration and base mana pool will also be directly correlated to Wisdom. Wisdom does not increase a caster’s ability to learn spells, this is based on a characters Intelligence level. Fatigued status reduces the ability to regenerate mana for Clerics, Druids, and Shamans to 25%
Intelligence – Intelligence has a direct correlation to learning certain skills for all classes, such as trades. Classes such as Elementalist, Lich, and Wizard, utilize Intelligence as their primary skill and Intelligence directly correlates to their base mana regeneration and base mana pool. Intelligence is also directly correlated with all caster’s abilities to learn spells. Fatigued status reduces the ability to regenerate mana for Enchanters, Elementalists, Dark Casters, and Wizards to 25% and will not allow a character to learn new spells while in the fatigued state. Learning new spells will at times require knowing different languages.
Chance – Chance has the same effect on all classes and races. There are no racial or class bonuses for Chance. The Chance skill has a direct correlation to the percentage of chance a character has to finding rare items following combat. Each increase in Chance adds to this percentage. Additionally, the Chance skill creates a diameter, or “bubble” around each character where the chance of a rare spawn increases based on the character’s Chance skill. The bubble for each character increases as the Chance skill increases. Chance also adds a modifier for activating special abilities on weapons. Chance skills are not cumulative for rare items and rare respawns and in a group the character with the highest Chance skill will be the base for the group. Fatigue does not affect Chance.
After reading through each of the skills I was very impressed with how AltCon was able to weave the skills together. In other games I had seen, players would pick each skill according to their Class only, and focus only on those. For instance, your Tank only picked Strength and Constitution, and your Intelligence based caster only picked Intelligence and Constitution. But in Resurgence, if an Intelligence caster wanted to learn new spells, he would need Wisdom. I still think the basic build outs would be the norm for each class, but there would be greater spreading of skill points based on these descriptions. Each character started with a base of 1 in each of the seven, so to get to 5 Strength, one needed to add four skill points.
“Ok Wayne, you are up first. You have 25 skill points to distribute. How do you want to do this?” I asked.
I had watched Wayne scribbling away on his scratch pad for the last ten minutes. He was taking his build out very seriously. “I’ve been looking at this like a classic Tank. Lots of Strength and Constitution. But I am finding it difficult to decide how I should balance Strength and Constitution. Plus, it doesn’t say if we need Wisdom or Intelligence to earn levels in our melee skills. Tricky bastards.”
“Well let us see what you have right now and we can discuss it as a group. And since we are going to be a group for a long time, I would say we do this for each person,” Jason said to all of us.
“Ok. So as of right now I have 10 Strength (+9), 8 Constitution (+7), 3 Agility (+2), 3 Dexterity (+2), 2 Wisdom (+1), 2 Intelligence (+1), and 1 Chance. About that, I think one of us should decide on who will be the Chance master and be our group Chance modifier. So I have three skill points left and I was thinking about putting them into Constitution. What do you think? “
“Dude, I’m impressed man. That is a really good idea about the Chance thing. And I totally agree. And I think it should be someone who’s name doesn’t rhyme with Dan,” said Dan.
“I hate to say this, because he will remind me often, but I agree with Dan. It shouldn’t be him. I want him having all his skill points to make him a CC master,” Jason said.
“Five,” Dan said.
“Five what?”
“Five times he has agreed with me. I’ve been counting.” Jason smacked his forehead. This had become a common occurrence around Dan. And even the stoic Jason had begun doing so. It just made Dan feel loved.
“Well before we get into the whole Chance thing, let’s talk about Wayne’s build. I like it too. But I am thinking instead of what you have now, you try it like this. Strength 9, Constitution 10, 3 Agility, 5 Dexterity, 2 Wisdom, 2 Intelligence, 1 Chance. Dexterity will add to your ability to Critical Strike and maintain aggro while you tank. And you are going to want those hps at first since it will take a bit for you to solidify aggro before we join the fight,” I said.
Jason looked at the build some more and then said, “I disagree, but only a little bit. I think one of you guys, Alex and Wayne, should put 1 point in Intelligence and the other one in Wisdom. Since you guys will likely be leveling up the same skills in melee, we see which one goes up faster. Based on that you can add extra after your next level. And this way we aren’t just guessing.”
“Brilliant idea Jason! And then add that extra one into either Strength or Constitution. Or whatever you want,” I said.
“Good call Jason. I’ll do Intelligence if you want to do Wisdom Alex?”
I nodded and said, “Ok, so what is the final build out. And if you guys are ok with it, I will be our “Chance master” as Wayne put it.”
Everyone nodded and Wayne said, “Works for me. Ok, so now I am Strength 9, Constitution 11,
3 Agility, 5 Dexterity, 1 Wisdom, 2 Intelligence, and 1 Chance.”
“Now that’s a tank! You gonna be unstoppable bro. You should wear an eyepatch!” Dan said.
“Why the hell would I wear an eyepatch Dan?”
“Bro, have you ever seen anyone in history that didn’t look more badass than dudes with eyepatches? No. Case rested.”
* * *
We talked through our character build outs at length and I found that not only was it good for making our classes, but it also added yet another level of bonding between myself and my group. I really felt like I knew these guys, and working so closely with them I felt like I knew their quirks. Not yet their weaknesses and strengths in game, but I was way more comfortable with them.
In the end, each character was as follows:
Dan – 6 Strength (+5), 6 Constitution (+5), 10 Agility (+9), 3 Dexterity (+2), 5 Wisdom (+4), 1 Intelligence, 1 Chance
Jason – 3 Strength (+2), 6 Constitution (+5), 3 Agility (+2), 1 Dexterity, 13 Wisdom (+12), 5 Intelligence (+4), 1 Chance
Alex – 6 Strength (+5), 6 Constitution (+5), 5 Agility (+4), 7 Dexterity (+6), 2 Wisdom (+1), 1 Intelligence, 5 Chance (+4)
Dan figured he would be classified as a non-intelligence based caster and therefore put points into Wisdom in order to establish a mana pool that would be able to handle more than one spell being cast before having to regenerate all his mana. The addition to Agility was obvious. Jason’s build was a classic Cleric build. Unfortunately, we didn’t know about the skills and how they worked together the previous day when we picked our races. I asked Jason if he questioned the High-Elf and if he wanted to change as High Elf got an intelligence bonus and not a Wisdom bonus. But Jason was happy as he too saw that AltCon was weaving the two disciplines together and that he didn’t have to beef up Intelligence much with his High-Elf Racial bonus. I was also happy he put points into Constitution and Agility. Never underestimate the Cleric that can avoid and/or take a hit.
My build was slued slightly because of my agreement to be the character with the highest Chance. Being the rogue I would normally have a higher Dexterity so I could land Critical Strike more often. But I also needed to have Agility and Constitution because if the Tank went down, there was a good chance my level of damage would make me next on the target’s aggro list and I would need to survive long enough for the Cleric to start landing heals on me. But I was still happy with my build.
There was only one more order of business. And my teammates were far more excited about this part of the game than I was. It wasn’t that I was or was not excited. I just didn’t care. But to them, this was to become their identity.
“Come on dude! You can’t just call your character Alex! That’s dumb! You need to have a bawler name like Hotboy Escobar or something. Who calls their avatar Alex?” Dan ranted on while walking around the table.
“It’s a game, and it’s a Beta, so these characters won’t even be around when the game goes live. Alex will be just fine. What are you guys going to choose?” I asked the group. And just like that they all became tight lipped. They looked like they would more likely tell me their Social Security Numbers and their bank account numbers than they were willing to tell me the names for their avatars.
“Well since you guys aren’t going to spill, I say we call it an early day and go home and get some rest. Tomorrow is the big day and I know I want to be well rested for this,” I said.
For once, Wayne wasn’t the only one with that twinkle in his eye. They all had it. Myself included.
CHAPTER 7
August 8th, 2043
The download was now at 94%.
ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.
I wasn’t getting out of my RAC, what with the emergency latch not working. And I didn’t know what would happen if I kept panicking. I needed to calm down.
In my third year of college I had taken two classes on meditation. One was through Yoga, which also satisfied a PE credit. The other was an elective tied to my Philosophy major. Yeah, third year was the “free your mind” and “all viewpoints are the right viewpoints” phases of my life. That one I am not terribly proud of. However, I did take away one thing from that year. And that was how to slow my respiration and heartbeat through meditation.
I didn’t know what would happen if I entered into the game with me in a complete panic, but I also didn’t want to start finding out either. I started using a breathing technique where you breathe in for seven seconds and exhale in eight seconds. You do this four times. I didn’t really have that much time, so I modified it a bit and breathed in for four seconds and out for four seconds. The rhythm and the effort seemed to do the trick. My heart slowed down and my breathing became less rushed.
ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.
I laid flat in the RAC and just tried to ease all my muscles and focus on my breathing. The red light wasn’t helping. Nor the alarm. Or the blinking messages.
The download was at 99%.
ERROR.
And then as before when I was at the AltCon building, what I can only describe as hyperspace lines raced past my eyes, and the next thing I knew I was in the middle of a forest. And I was cold. And I was alone.
* * *
On that last day at AltCon, Dylan had told me that all of us would be logging in to the main starter town for “Light” alignment. Those with “Dark” alignment like Dark Elves or Trolls would start in a different town. So I was surprised that I was in the forest and not in Port Town as I thought I would be.
I took a moment to just look around. It was night time so the forest wasn’t perfectly clear, despite my innate ability to see in the dark. However, I could see the trees in front of me and the realism was amazing. I could see the growth of the bark. I could see each individual leaf on the branches. The loamy smell was reminiscent of forests I visited as a child. I continued to walk around and tried to take in as many sensations as I could. I felt the roughness of the leaves, and the granularity of the grass. I let the pine needles that had accumulated at the base of one of the trees run through my fingers. A pine cone nestled by my foot had prickly ends, just like they would in the real world. It wasn’t that the game was making a fantasy world seem real. It was that the virtual world seemed almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
Turning my attention away from the flora, I took a prolonged look in my area not recognizing any immediate threats. Which, to be honest, was the reason I should have been gauging my surroundings to begin with.
I looked around some more and could see what appeared to be a different coloration in the night sky off to my right. At this point I didn’t know what was east or west, so I just headed in that direction. After several minutes of walking through the forest I heard someone yelling my name.
“Alex! Hey, Alex! Stay there, we are coming to you.”
Dan, Jason, and Wayne arrived a few minutes later. It was easy to figure out who was who based on their races. Dan was wearing a light colored tunic, had a bit of a bowl cut hair style, and had very pronounced pointy ears. Jason likewise had very pointy ears, but was much taller than Dan, who I could now see was the shortest of our group. Jason also had a light colored tunic on and had a regal look about him. High Elf fit him very well. The last of our party, Wayne, was so much taller than the rest of us. If this were real life, I would have put Wayne at just under seven feet tall. And while all of us seemed to be wearing a tunic of some sort, Wayne only had a loin cloth. And a mullet. I tried to focus on the mullet and not the other item of note.
“Dude, how did you end up out here? We all popped online and started looking for you. After a bit it was Jason’s idea to come out to the forest and look for you. I guess my Class comes with a much better map and I was able to spot there was a character out here. I’m glad we guessed right and it was you,” Dan said.
At this point Jason cleared his throat and looked pointedly at Dan.
“Oh right, sorry, I mean to say that Allister, in all his High Elfiness, had that great idea.”
&n
bsp; It was at this time that I noticed over their heads were their names. None of them said Dan, Jason, or Wayne.
“I like it. Allister suits you very well my friend. And Naugha seems like a fitting name for a Barbarian. And then there is Dan.”
“Yeah man.”
“Dan, Dan, Dan.”
“I know man, wicked right?”
“Dan, you are actually calling your character TheClaw?” I asked.
“Dude, TheClaw is an awesome name! I will strike fear in the hearts of man and all will know TheClaw!” Dan yelled.
A forehead slap seemed appropriate but I could tell Dan wouldn’t appreciate it. He was really proud of the name. Despite it being totally and completely ridiculous.
“I’m calling you TC from now on. I’m not saying “TheClaw” every time I need to get your attention,” I said.
“TheClaw doesn’t appreciate his name being shortened to just two letters bro,” Dan said while looking my way.
“Jesus. He’s going to start talking in the third person. Please Alex, please, do something!” Jason said.
I was laughing too much to really intervene, and I could see that Jason’s reaction was just what Dan was hoping for.
“Don’t worry Alli, TheClaw totally has your back! No one is going to mess with our cleric as long as TheClaw is on the prowl.”
“It’s Allist…you know what? Forget it. Let’s just get to the game.” Jason replied.
If nothing else, Dan was sure to provide us with more moments of levity in the year to come. And while Jason seemed to dread every time Dan opened his mouth, I found it all quite entertaining. And if Dan ended up being good at his class and could handle the CC like we hoped, I suspect we would all forgive quite a bit of his quirky personality. I thought this was a good time to get everyone focused back on the game and away from Dan’s antics.
Wayne was thinking along the same lines as myself. “Alright, let’s get back to Port Town and start figuring out where to go from there.”
Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1 Page 4