Shield
The Shield skill grants the use of shields in both defensive and offensive capacity. The shield skill relies upon the Strength and Constitution attributes. Primarily used to defend, a well-placed shield bash or edge strike can turn the tide and potentially stun the opponent.
Example for the Saa Race: Buckler, War Shield, Round Shield, and Tower Shield.
I liked the variety of weapons available, especially for a class normally relegated to the back lines. In Talion Online, Priests were limited to staves, clubs and other simple weapons.
The Agility based weapons were right out. I hadn't added any points to that stat and had no intention of getting close enough to use them effectively either.
I loved the look of the khopesh. Those Egyptian sickle swords looked deadly, but I wasn’t sure if that would align with my desired play style of a midline healer.
In the end I decided to take both spear and shield which would allow me to fight without being completely mixed up in the melee and have a nice defensive bunker to fall back to if I needed it.
Plus, spear and shield brought back memories of ancient Spartan warriors, destroying their foes and kicking enemies off of cliffs. I put one point in each of those skills.
I was a little concerned that I might need something to fight at closer range as well, but I could always learn more later.
I focused on the armor skill section and read through the options available.
*** The Saa Empire is a Desert Kingdom. Heavy Armor is shunned as it quickly leads to dehydration and death. Only the most resolute and hearty will even wear the heavier medium armors. ***
Light Armor
This skill allows for the wearing of armor woven of cloth, padded cloth, and soft leather. Light armor may be worn by arcane spell casters and stealth based characters without penalty to their skills. Light armor has no attribute dependency. Additional levels of this skill increase the amount of damage absorption provided by the armor as well as lessening the armor’s impact on any skills or endurance expenditures.
Example for the Saa Race: Robes, Soft Leather.
Medium Armor
This skill allows for the skillful wearing of Ring Mail, or armor crafted of hardened leather or equivalent material. Medium Armor imposes a slight penalty on stealth-based skills and a medium penalty on arcane spell casting. Medium armor is dependent on the Constitution attribute. Additional levels of this skill increase the amount of damage absorption provided by the armor as well as lessening the armor’s impact on any skills or endurance expenditures.
Example for the Saa Race: Ring Mail, Boiled Leather.
Well that’s a pretty easy choice, I thought and selected Medium armor. I put a single point into it and then looked back at the available skills. I had two points left, so I could either get a second rank in two skills or pick up two additional skills.
After a few minutes of consideration, I decided to stay focused and added a second point into spear and a second point into Medium armor; A little offense, a little defense.
Next, I turned my attention to the Divine skills. I was playing a priest after all.
Divine Magic Spells
Soothing Touch (1)
Channeled spell, Rank 1. Using yourself as a channel for the divine, you wield their power to heal the wounds of yourself or your allies.
Sunstrike (1)
Transform the power of the gods into a blazing column of holy fire to burn your enemies.
The Jackal’s Tooth (1)
Infuse a single weapon with the deathly power of the god of the underworld.
Beacon of Life (1)
Channeling the forces of life, the caster creates a zone around themself that the undead cannot enter without being consumed.
Divine Magic Skills
Combat Caster (1)
This skill allows the Priest to cast spells without having a free hand and reduces the chances of a spell being disrupted by damage.
Martyr (1)
When out of mana, the priest may cast their divine spells by feeding off their own life force.
Prayerweaver (1)
While wearing robes or lighter armor the priest’s mana regeneration rate is substantially increased.
Choosing was going to be tough. I wanted everything on the list and I only had five points to play with.
Well, Soothing Touch was a definite yes, leaving me with four. Sunstrike was another definite for some offensive oomph and I didn’t want to be juggling equipment mid combat either so Combat Caster was a must.
I had already decided on Medium armor, so Prayerweaver was out. That and the fact that it looked to be more geared for a dedicated heal-bot type.
Martyr was interesting too, but I didn’t really see myself burning through my HPs to cast more spells, at least not yet.
I had no clue how prevalent undead were going to be in this game, but the Beacon of Life spell was similar enough to the classic turn undead ability which was right in line with what I imagined being a cleric was all about, so I took it as well.
For my last point I chose Jackal’s tooth for some additional self-sufficiency.
That left miscellaneous skills. I focused on that category and an overwhelming list of hundreds of skills filled my view.
I blinked several times and wondered if there was a way to filter them down. The system complied.
*** Filtering to miscellaneous skills recommended based upon your Race, Sub-race and Class combination. ***
The list was still close to thirty skills, but at least it was manageable at that point. I read through and decided to take some basic survival abilities.
My friends and I had tried out the old school D&D Dark Sun setting when we were younger, and our party wiped within the first hour of playing from dehydration, so I decided that at least one point into Survival (Desert) was a must.
I grabbed First Aid as well when I read that it allowed for more efficiency with healing magic; something about directing the energy to work where it was needed in the target's body.
Another skill that caught my attention was called Discerning Eye which gave a bonus to your perception when examining enemies and appraising items. It also had the nifty side benefit of speeding up the looting process of fallen foes.
Lore (Saa Religion) was pretty much mandatory, since a Priest should know priestly things, and it gave a bonus to identifying creatures, ruins, objects and the like while in Saa lands.
And going along with my desire to be self-sufficient, I refined my search again to crafting abilities and took the basic ranks of Armorer and Weaponsmith so that I could repair my own gear, and Cooking of course….
With my last point I took Literacy (Saa). I'd initially assumed that literacy was a given, so I was quite glad that I'd noticed it in the massive skill list. Reading is fundamental, my friends.
I read through my general skill selections one last time.
Armorer (1)
You possess a basic understanding of the armorer’s craft and can learn basic light and medium armor recipes, as well as perform field repairs on those items with the appropriate materials and kit.
Cooking (1)
You possess a basic understanding of the cooking craft and can learn basic cooking recipes. This level of the skill also allows minor experimentation with unknown ingredients to produce new food items.
Discerning Eye (1)
The discerning eye applies a bonus to your perception checks when actively examining a person or object. This skill also allows you to tell what is useful on a fallen foe and thus speeds up the looting process.
First Aid (1)
This skill includes a basic knowledge of anatomy and medical science. This skill can be used to stop bleeding and speed up the natural healing process when bandages are applied. Wounds left un-bandaged may fester. When combined with healing magic, this skill provides a bonus to the mana efficiency of the healing spell as the wielder can more accurately direct the healing energy where it is needed.
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br /> Literacy (Saa) (1)
You can read and write the Saa common tongue and possess a rudimentary understanding of the ancient Saa pictographic language.
Lore (Saa Religion) (1)
You have been fully indoctrinated into the Saa religion and have a detailed knowledge of the Saa Pantheon. This skill also bolsters a character’s knowledge of the Saa pictographic language and provides a bonus to identification checks for creatures and objects found in the Saa empire.
Survival (Desert) (1)
You possess the knowledge required to survive in a desert environment. Navigation, water finding, fire-starting, and a basic familiarity with the native edible flora and fauna.
Weaponsmith (1)
You possess a basic understanding of the weaponsmith’s craft and can learn basic light and medium armor recipes, as well as perform field repairs on those items with the appropriate materials and kit.
I was satisfied, so I confirmed my selections.
The screen faded to black and a single question floated in the center of my view.
*** What is your name, chosen of the gods? ***
I thought on it for a bit, trying to think of something epic, yet not pretentious. Something that would fit an ancient Egyptian priest, but not be lame like Romuysis Darkwaker… in fact, descriptive names were right out.
I’d probably have a pretty good selection since the game had just released, but I wanted to make it something custom and not just a standard mythological or historical name. After a minute or two of brainstorming I had one.
“Kheph Sa’tep”, I answered. Kheph in homage of the ancient Egyptian god of the rising sun, and Sa’tep…. Because… well... it sounded Egyptian, and having a last name was required.
*** Confirm Kheph Sa’tep? (Y/N) ***
I mentally confirmed my choice and my completed character sheet popped up for my review.
*** Please review your character. ***
Name: Kheph Sa’tep
Race: Human, Saa
Class: Priest
Level: 1
Experience: 0/500
Hit Points: 52/52
Mana: 42/42
Stamina: 42/42
Divine Favor: 0
Attributes (Modifier):
--Strength: 13 (+2)
--Agility: 10 (+1)
--Constitution: 13 (+2)
--Intelligence: 12 (+2)
--Wisdom: 13 (+2)
--Presence: 17 (+4)
--Fortune: 12 (+2)
Racial Skills:
--Child of the Sun
--Martial Training
Class Skills:
--Blessing of the Gods
--Divine Blessing
--Temple Training
Boons and Blessings:
--Unknown Origins
Combat Skills: (Available: 0)
--Spear: 2 [0%]
--Shield: 1 [0%]
--Medium Armor: 2 [0%]
General Skills: (Available: 0)
--Armorer: 1 [0%]
--Cooking: 1 [0%]
--Discerning Eye : 1 [0%]
--First Aid: 1 [0%]
--Literacy (Saa): 1 [0%]
--Lore (Saa Religion): 1 [0%]
--Survival (Desert): 1 [0%]
--Weaponsmith: 1 [0%]
Divine: (Available: 0)
Skills:
--Combat Caster: 1 [0%]
Spells:
--Soothing Touch: 1 [0%]
--Sunstrike: 1 [0%]
--Jackal’s Tooth: 1 [0%]
--Beacon of Life: 1 [0%]
*** Would you like to enter the realm of Sosaku Online? (Y/N) ***
I grinned and selected “Yes” and watched as the screen faded to black once again, changing to the hyperspace loading screen.
*** Congratulations, your character has been successfully created.***
*** Loading Tutorial Instance... ***
*** Downloading Saa Racial data… ***
...
Chapter 3
A bright light flashed across my vision as a sharp pain lanced through my brain. It felt like someone had jammed an ice pick into my eye and stirred it around.
The pain grew so intense that I blacked out for several minutes, and when I finally came to, my vision was full of text.
*** Downloading Saa Race data………………... Complete! ***
*** Downloading Child of the Sun skill data……. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Martial Training skill data……… Complete! ***
*** Downloading Priest Class data………. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Blessing of the Gods skill data……. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Divine Blessing skill data…….. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Temple Training skill data……… Complete! ***
*** Downloading Spear skill data………… Complete! ***
*** Downloading Shield skill data………….. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Medium Armor skill data………… Complete! ***
*** Downloading Soothing Touch Spell data……. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Sunstrike Spell data……... Complete! ***
*** Downloading Jackal's Tooth Spell data………. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Beacon of Life Spell data….…. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Armorer skill data………. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Cooking skill data…………. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Discerning Eye skill data………. Complete! ***
*** Downloading First Aid skill data……..……. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Literacy (Saa) skill data………….. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Lore (Saa Religion) skill data…. Complete! ***
*** Downloading Survival (Desert) skill data……Complete! ***
*** Downloading Weaponsmith skill data…… Complete! ***
*** Downloading Unknown Origins character history…Complete! ***
*** Initializing Neural – Avatar Interface.…..Complete! ***
*** Welcome to the Sosaku Online Tutorial. ***
I squinted my eyes against a glare, blinking against the morning light. I tried to rub my eyes to clear them but found my wrists bound by shackles. I struggled to sit up and get my bearings, but another set of chains linking my wrists and those around my ankles forced me to remain in an uncomfortable crouch. How had I ended up in chains?
My stomach ached from hunger and my body was aflame with fatigue. Where was I? I'd just finished making my character and then there was that light and pain. I wracked my brain for answers but there was nothing.
*** Unknown Origins Boon – Recall Failed – Access currently disabled for Tutorial ***
I scanned the area and tried again to get my bearings. My eyes were finally beginning to come back into focus, revealing a glowing exclamation point hanging in the center of my view.
As I shifted my focus, it flashed and then faded as the world came to a standstill. Seconds later a disembodied voice began to speak.
“Welcome to the Sosaku Online Tutorial! This scenario has been designed by our cutting-edge artificial intelligence engines to teach you the basics of the game interface and get you familiarized with your character's abilities using a story driven and enjoyable adventure.”
I glanced down at my raw, shackled wrists and wondered what the AI’s considered fun.
“Sosaku Online was designed to include as much realism as possible while still maintaining the core MMORPG mechanics that people know and love.”
A small gadget appeared centered in my view composed of three crystal spheres mounted into a fancy looking artistic base. Each sphere was filled with a different colored liquid. The leftmost was blood red, the center was dark blue, and the right was deep green.
“These three spheres are a visual representation of your current ability pools. Sosaku online utilizes three main pools.”
The red globe began to glow as the voice continued, “The red g
lobe displays your current hit point level. Hit Points are a measure of your character’s physical health. As you are injured, your hit points will decrease until they reach zero at which time you will shed your mortal coil and begin your adventure through the underworld towards resurrection. Your total hit points and hit point regeneration rate are directly related to your Constitution attribute.”
Crimson Sands Page 5