TT:E C10

And we're back with Maeve's story! More starter classes...!

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Maeve decided to work through her options in a logical order stepped up to the frozen figure of herself on the far left. The other her was frozen with her torso held parallel to the ground, knees bent and one leg stretched forward like she was sneaking toward something. There were a pair of daggers hanging from a thing belt and she was wearing a mixture of generic looking clothing and what she thought was leather armor. She knew both from her job and talking to Alex and Ed that leather armor wasn’t historically accurate, but who knew how this greater multiverse they’d been dragged in to worked. She concentrated on the sneaky version of herself, and a screen appeared just as she expected.

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Class Option: Rogue

Rarity: Common

One of the common starting classes available to most humans, rogues are known for being quick, stealthy, and never doing what anyone expects them to. Rogues can specialize in doing damage, becoming fast attackers that do lots of damage in short bursts while working to avoid retaliation, stealthy saboteurs and assassins that aim to do massive damage in single blows, or sly tricksters and fast talkers, able to convince many to look the other way, just this once.

Rogues gain the following stats per level:

+1 Agi, +1 Dex, +1 Cha, +2 Free Points.

Please note: Mentioned specialization paths for classes are merely the most common available options, they are by no means the only available avenues forward.

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“Tell me about stats, System.” There was no way she was picking a class without knowing how such an important concept worked in this new existence. Stats could make or break a character in a game, she wasn’t going to let it break her life.

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Statistics are a numerical means of displaying how infusions of Quezeuq Energy have changed a living being. There are nine statistics, each governing a variety of facets do to with one’s body, mind, and ability to influence the world around them. As part of controlling how Quezeuq Energy impacts a sapient’s body different classes provide locked points into the class’ holder upon gaining a level, although all but a handful of classes allow a number of free points available to be put in to any stat as well. The stats are:

Strength (Str) - How much can lift and pull. How strong one can hit. Use of one’s body for feats of strength. (Average Starting Value for Adult Humans: 9-11)

Constitution (Con) - How much damage one can resist, including direct and environmental. How long one can exert their body. Resisting and healing from injuries, diseases, poisons, and venoms. (Average Starting Value for Adult Humans: 10-13)

Agility (Agi) - Moving one’s entire body. Moving quickly, jumping, running, sprinting, swimming, or climbing. Making acrobatic maneuvers or crossing long distances quickly. (Average Starting Value for Adult Humans: 9-11)

Dexterity (Dex) - Moving specific parts of one’s body in the intended way, often with small and precise movements. Moving slowly and carefully. Doing things unseen or unobtrusively. (Average Starting Value for Adult Humans: 9-11)

Intelligence (Int) - Learning new information at speed. Processing new and old information. Solving puzzles. (Average Starting Value for Adult Humans: 8-10)

Wisdom (Wis) - Making choices consistent with one’s morals and personal ethical code. Evaluating choices and circumstances to find the optimal outcome. Learning from the past. (Average Starting Value for Adult Humans: 8-10)

Charisma (Cha) - Convincing others to agree with a stated position. Swaying others into making specific choices. Successfully displaying oneself in a certain manner. (Average Starting Value for Adult Humans: 9-11)

Willpower (Will) - Pushing through pain and exhaustion. Withstanding harsh environments and circumstances. Resisting against hostile magical effects. (Average Starting Value for Adult Humans: 10-13)

Luck - Being Lucky. (Average Starting Value for Adult Humans: N/A)

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Maeve nodded along as she read through the explanation on stats. She wasn’t too surprised at any of it, although some of the examples were unexpected, generally from the last few stats. Luck was interesting on its own, both because she had no idea how luck could be quantified and because there wasn’t an average starting value for it like the other stats. After reading it twice and making sure she got everything she moved on to the next class option. There was no way she was going to make a choice without seeing every possibility after all.

The next her in the line was completely decked out in leather, although it was less fantasy leather armor style this time and more thick leather clothing. She had a big knife hanging from her side and a bow in her hands. One her back was a quiver with arrows in it. This version of her was also positioned mid movement, but walking instead of sneaking. Her eyes were pointed at the ground, and Maeve got the feeling that this potential version of her was tracking something.

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Class Option: Ranger

Rarity: Common

One of the common starting classes available to most humans, rangers are long distance attackers, using bows, crossbows, or more esoteric weapons to strike their prey from afar. Rangers can choose to become snipers or seek other version of ranged weapon mastery to attack from even greater distances or with additional effects, scouts that can move swiftly while tracking a quarry and accurately identifying dangers and enemies, or stealthy masters of traps and ambushes, capable of taking out an enemy without them ever knowing they’re there.

Rangers gain the following stats per level:

+1 Agi, +1 Dex, +1 Will, +2 Free Points

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She immediately noticed the similarities in stat gains and the “trapper” path the ranger class could take sounded a lot like the “assassin” path of the rogue, just from farther away. What she was really interested in though was the total number of stat gains per level. Already forearmed with knowledge of game mechanics, she had a theory, but she could just ask for the answer instead of trying to test it.

“Do all classes of the same rarity get the same number of stats per level?”

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Mostly, yes. As in all things there are deviations from the norm, with some classes getting more stats per level and some less. Generally total stats per level per rarity of class are:

3 for Base Rarity

5 for Common Rarity

7 For Uncommon Rarity

10 For Unusual

15 For Rare

20 For Epic

30 For Fabled

40 For Legendary

50 For Mythic

Also, these values are only for first order classes. Higher order classes gain more stats per level.

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“What are ‘orders’ in this context? Different versions of the same class? More powerful versions?”

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Detailed information about higher orders is restricted at this time. All classes a sapient can gain to start are of the first order. Upon reaching a specific level, it is possible to upgrade one’s class by one order. This upgrades the class as a whole as well as providing other benefits.

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She tried to ask a few more prying questions, but the System just kept replying that that information was unavailable at that time. Eventually she gave up and moved to the next class option. The third out of five, her motionless doppelganger was dressed in full armor this time. Looking at it closer, it appeared to be a chain mail getup similar to the one Ed had had to leave behind, with a helmet on instead of the coif she had on right then. Thinking about it, the weight on her head was a lot lighter than when she’d sat down to rest. Glancing down at herself she finally realized that she was wearing completely different clothing. Instead of a gambeson pulled over her work uniform she was wearing a light weight and comfortable set of unremarkable clothes in the same gray color the space around her was. Embarrassed, she blushed, glad that no one was around to see her so focused in that she hadn’t noticed her entire outfit changing. She knew she tended to tune things out when she was focused, but it was never pleasant to tune back in and realized she’d completely missed something.

Turning back to what she assumed was a warrior class version of her she saw a shied in one hand and a raised war hammer similar to Ed’s in the other, ready to swing down on some unseen enemy. She quickly brought up the screen and her guess was immediately proven right.

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Class Option: Warrior

Rarity: Common

One of the common starting classes available to most humans, warriors are basic “hit things that are close to them” fighters ready to dish out damage and take it as necessary. Warriors can seek to become stalwart tanks that focus on protecting themselves and others from damage over dealing damage to enemies, focused damage dealers that sacrifice protection to kill the enemy quickly, and balanced fighters that don’t chose one path over the other but instead seek to keep the best parts of both directions and respond to circumstances as they come.

Warriors gain the following stats per level:

+1 Str, +1 Con, +1 Will, +2 Free Points

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Maeve grunted as she read the last line of the warrior class description. It was a little bland. The three options for the first two classes were all different enough, even if there was some overlap between some of the directions each class could take. This one was different. You could do one option, or the other, or not really pick either and stay in the middle. That wasn’t three different options, it was two and also you can chicken out on making a decision. Even if not everything Maeve knew from games and books translated into this real life System she could think of five hypothetical paths a warrior could go down right off the top of her head. Once again, she realized she could just ask, since the System was nice enough to answer most questions.

“What’s with the three path options brought up for the warrior? There’s two options and then ‘I don’t want to pick’.”

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While the System does its best to be helpful, handing people the answers to things can often be detrimental to future growth. The available paths mentioned in the class descriptions you have read are not the only available paths, they are merely the most commonly followed and the easiest to deduce.

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“So what, you don’t mention the better options so that we have to figure it out for ourselves?”

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Other potential options are not necessarily better, merely less obvious. A very large amount of study regarding sapient beings has taught the System that sapients value things more if they earn it themselves rather than receive it for free. Also, those that struggle thrive more than those gifted everything.

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“You’re here to help, not to babysit, basically?”

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Exactly.

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“Alright, I kind of get that, and it fits in with what you said to us earlier right after everything went down. Or, I guess you’ve just been saying the same thing, haven’t you? We have to work for ourselves to survive, because you’re here for the most people, not specific individuals.”

The System didn’t respond, but that was alright. She already knew what her goals were and some of the steps necessary to achieve them. She was going to live, and she was going to make sure her friends did too. And if it was possible, maybe she could find her brothers someday. Steeling herself, Maeve turned to the last two options she had for her first class. She was already more interested in them that the first three just based on looks. If the outfit and the glowing bits of energy held in her frozen copies’ hands, these classes could do magic.