The Power System Glossary

Since the power system in this novel is a relatively novel concept (lol), I decided to write this for folks to check out if they ever feel confused, or forget important details. The power system will be properly explained in the story, in case you were wondering.

The Basics:

The players of Leigthaven earn Talent Points, which they can spend to increase the rate at which they learn certain skills. What they specifically spend these Talent Points on is increasing the level of a Discipline. For an example, a player could put three Talent Points into the Melee Discipline. This would make it so they more quickly learn any skills that involve Melee Combat, such as learning to fight with a sword, or a spear.

Skills:

Important to note, skills are not strictly defined. So, if you put 3 Talent Points into the Melee Discipline, you are not getting an "exp boost" on specific skills you can look at on a stat screen. Instead, think of it as you becoming a natural genius at training with the sword. (I say training, because putting points into a Discipline does not make you "smarter", it just makes you learn faster)

Disciplines:

Disciplines are categories of skills. The 7 Disciplines are: Melee, Ranged, Spell, Physique, Aura, Roguery, and Utility. These 7 Disciplines are also grouped up into 3 categories.

Combat Disciplines: Melee, Ranged, Spell

The Combat Disciplines all relate to the player's combat skill with weapons and spells. This one is rather self-explanatory.

Physical Disciplines: Physique, Aura

The Physical Disciplines both help the player train their body. Physique will help them get stronger, more flexible, and generally more athletic. It will also help them with any skills that involve the human body, such as acrobatics or rock climbing. It could even help a player learn to dance!

Aura, however, helps with circulating Aura throughout the body, training to increase the amount of aura the player has, and increasing their control over their aura.

The Physical and Combat Disciplines are deeply connected: Physique gives the player more physical power and flexibility, and the Melee and Ranged Disciplines give them the skill to apply it. Similarly, the Aura Discipline gives players more aura to work with and makes them more efficient at using their aura. The Spell Discipline allows them to make better use of it in combat.

Personal Disciplines: Roguery, Utility

The Personal Disciplines are the two that provide the most benefit outside of combat, although they can still be useful in combat as well.

Roguery applies to stealth and criminal endeavors. These include skills like stealing, moving undetected, and lockpicking.

Utility applies to skills useful outside of combat that don't involve stealth or are morally dubious. These include skills like painting, cartography, and crafting.

These Disciplines don't cover any "mental" skills, so they cannot make you smarter. That includes strategy, tactics, or interpersonal skills such as Negotiation and lying. That also means a player cannot exploit the system by putting all their TP into the utility and then practicing the ability to "learn skills", even though that would've been funny.

Supernatural Abilities:

After 4 or more talent points are put into a Discipline, the player is able to learn Supernatural Abilities. So, someone with 4 Talent Points in Melee could develop the ability to have aura extend from their blade, or someone with Roguery could become able to blend into the shadows. What sort of abilities a player develops is dependent on their playstyle.

After 4 Talent Points are put into a Discipline, players will begin to have diminishing returns on the learning boost. Instead, it will become easier to develop Supernatural abilities, and those abilities will be stronger. Also, increasing your Discipline beyond 3 requires 2 TP, and beyond 5 requires 3 TP.

Power Tier List: Equipment, Spells, Perks, and Ardor all use the same tier system. Having a higher tier, generally, makes them more powerful and more likely to be unique. The tiers are:

Plain

Basic

Common

Rare

Supreme

Legendary

Mythical

Perks: Perks are rewards players can earn throughout the game. They can be rewards for completing quests, or performing significant feats. Earning a higher tiered perk requires accomplishing a more difficult task. Perks can also come with Rank up quests, which allow the player to power up their Perks. Each perk acquired makes it exponentially more difficult to earn more. Earning more perks after 5 becomes an almost impossible task. Perks a player doesn't want can be turned into Perk Gems and slotted into equipment.

Equipment: These include armor and weapons. Equipment have Perk Slots, and higher tiered Equipment has more Perk Slots (basic have 1, Mythical have 7) . Equipment can also only equip Perk Gems of the same rank or lower, and Perk Gems cannot be unslotted after being placed in Equipment. The higher the tier of the Perk Gem, the more lots it takes up (basic through common take 1, Rare through Supreme take 2, Mythical takes 3). Slotting Perk Gems also increases the durability and power of Equipment.

Spells: Found on magical scrolls, a player can study the scroll to learn the Spell. Higher tiered spells are harder to learn, and take more aura to use. A player must also train their aura before they are able to use spells. Spells are stored inside a player's aura core, which is developed through training Aura. Developing the core allows learning more and higher tiered spells.

Ardor: The Ardor is a unique ability gained through the Ardor Trials. The Ardor is developed by the player, and the better a player does during the Trials, the more energy they are allowed to work with when creating the ability. It requires less energy to create an ability that reflects their gameplay experience, and putting restrictions on the ability can amplify its' power.

Player Tiers: A player's Ardor, aura core, and body all have tiers. Increasing the rank of the aura core and body are accomplished through training, while the Ardor ranks up through completing the Ardor trials. There are seven tiers of power, the same as the rest.

Monsters: Monsters populate the world of Leigthaven, and also follow the same tier system. The system is not strict with monsters, however, and only gives players a general idea of how powerful the monster is.

Penalty For Death:

A 1 day timeout from Leigthaven. So, you cannot play the game for 1 day after death (Annoying for casuals, and a severe setback for pros)

All active quests will be failed.

All supernatural abilities learned through the player's disciplines will be lost.

The rank-up quests of Perks will be reset, and fragile perks could be lost if no progress was made on its' quest.

All equipment and items are lost (if you know where your corpse is, and it wasn't already looted, you can get your items and equipment back)