The Power Of Ten: Sama Rantha

Existing Skill Ranks. Expert/3 would be 24 points, Experts' 'big thing' being getting 8 Ranks a level and able to choose from ANY skill. With +3/level from Int, that was 33 points. It was an 'NPC' Class, for the most part, but people grabbed it as a Secondary Class just for all those unrestricted skill points.

Taking my Human Skills to 3 Ranks each would cost 12 more Ranks. I flicked a mental switch.

I was actually amazed when I clicked over the mental switch, and the existing spaces in my head rolled back wider and further, deepening what I knew and applications thereof. A direct download from the Akasa of the human Overmind, and suddenly I knew stuff as if I had all along...

Importantly, being an Expert/3 gave me 3d6+15 Soak. Hoo-ray for old life NPC Class Levels...

Soak was the other cheaty thing monsters hated Class Levels for. Hitting a human so hard their bones should break, yet they get right back up without even shedding blood or limping or whatnot. It was straight foundational magical energy, and absorbed and dispersed attacks like invisible ablative armor. Most of the time, you couldn't even tell it was working, aside from the fact you were alive instead of dead. Near misses, lucky dodges, scr.a.p.es instead of stabs… Soak used whatever was most effective to keep you alive.

When you jumped two hundred feet off a cliff, landed on stone, got up and walked away, well, Soak was a little more obvious.

NPC Classes never maxed Soak at Level One, so it was a random number, and I could only work with averages. In fact, I couldn't feel any other Level One benefits kicking in. But, I still had to choose my First Level Class.

I might just be broken and have two Primary Classes. If not, I had an Expert Class that wouldn't be moving until I was a Six, when I could finally raise it to Four as a Secondary Class Level. Mmm. Oh well. Time would tell.

And I still had 21 more Skill Ranks to allocate.

Martial Lore, Sense Motive, Knowledge: Math, Knowledge: Chemistry, Knowledge: Engineering, Calligraphy, Swim.

Martial Lore for the ki-based stuff I was going to need. Sense Motive so I could understand others more deeply and easily, something I was always lacking in my old life, and vitally necessary in a dream. The others were basically nods to the fact I was an eclectic learner in my past life, and I was pretty sure that these Expert Levels had to be treated like cross-class Levels, and cater to both my old life and the strength of the Class.

Martial Lore was also one of the Knowledge skills, and Sense Motive was effectively people-reading. Swim was just something from my last life. Not knowing how to swim would just goggle my mind. 3 Ranks would make me a professional, easily able to be an elite lifeguard.

Calligraphy, 'cause I'd been a reader and a writer, and it was one of the artistic skills that would feed Flowing Waters Swordplay and work with Profound Artisan. My penmanship would be much, much better than my last life. Since I doubted this was a world where typing ability was applicable, it was basically just converting one to the other.

And they all hit, and opened up to 3. I just shook my head at the massive amount of basic knowledge that was there, as if it always had been there and I'd just noticed it. More like it was knowledge returned to me then knowledge that was new. I didn't just know... I knew what I knew.

Favored Class. It would have been my Favored Class in my last life. I ticked a mental bar on Alchemy, and nothingness melted away and revealed the information, virtua months and years of putzing around labs, manipulating esoteric devices, identifying materials, refining them, purifying them, mixing them... Bonus skill point per Level Favored Class bonus…

And I got a Feat at level One, and a Feat at Three.

As a Forsaken, that meant I got two at those Levels.

Talent. It was stupid, but I was a swordswoman before, and I'd be one again. Natural Swordsman, +1 to hit with Swords, +1 to AC when wielding Swords, +1 to all skill-type rolls when using a Sword, such as Weapon Performances, Smithing them, identifying them, juggling them, etc. Doubled at Ten to +2. Required to become a Lord of the Sword.

Experience Feat, Undaunted. Immunity to fear. Right on the boilerplate. I had already died once, and been eaten as a baby. I more then qualified for it on the 'trauma overcome' basis.

I opened my eyes and looked at the shadows around. They didn't look so threatening anymore. Indeed, the whole dreamscape seemed to shiver as I looked upon it. The little bits of dread and despair picking about the edges of my vision had evaporated.

A life without fear. That would be very different then the kind of person I was in the past…

Level Three Feats… would have to wait until my Melee/1 choices were done.

Melee would my chosen Primary Class in this life. My other choices were Archer, Scout, Monk, Minstrel, Artificer, and Alchemist… and NPC Expert, Noble, and Vizard, if so inclined. I was usually inclined.

Melee/1. I didn't need the armor profs it granted in here, and I might not ever. I removed all armor profs and kept Shields. I exchanged them for Int to AC as a dodge bonus; Expertise as a Bonus Feat; and +1 to AC in light or no armor, all Melee options.

Very abruptly, I became Threat Aware. I started calculating angles, I shifted my feet to a more stable stance, measured spaces and vectors of attack, how to move and how to avoid injury. As of right this moment, I should have an AC of 19, fairly impressive for someone totally nude.

I was now proficient in simple and standard melee weaponry, thrown weaponry and simple ranged weapons... at least, that's what the virtua hundreds, no, thousands of hours of practice, dueling, pelt-smiting and getting my a.s.s handed to me was telling me. So, I could use basically any hand to hand weapon I came across. Melees were also decent at throwing weapons, like javelins, spears, axes, hammers, and the like. Crazy shit like chakrams and boomerangs, not so much. I could also pop a crossbow or short bow, but not very well.

On the side, I could with IUS, Improved Unarmed Strike (i.e. being able to kill with no weapons) or Improved Grappling (being able to wrestle in combat without throwing myself onto their weapons). I picked IUS, to go with my new nail polish. Base IUS was 'Wolverine Style', meaning 'anything goes'. Taking Mastery in Wolverine Style later was taking Mastery in IUS, a general increase in unarmed fighting skill. I could also pick up Improved Grappling later through Expertise, as a Melee.

Next choice, pick Primary Weapons, or Weapon Style... In the game, it had been Sword and Shield, called Classic Mitharn. No Shield, so I wouldn't be able to replicate my build there for some time. I picked IUS and Long Sword, making a Profound Swordswoman. Benefit, +1 Damage with Primary Weapons, and Weapon Mastery from Melee Class.

Pick Good Saving Throw... Fortitude, of course. Needed it for Forsaken. I'd boost the rest with Techniques.

Pick Favored Class benefit, a universal choice for all Favored Classes... For the Melee Class, you instead picked two. Forsaken, pick an additional hit point or skill point from the choices. That left picking +2 to my defending rolls pool against specific attack maneuvers, I picked Grapple/Grab and Trip for now, meaning I'd be that much harder to jump on or throw down. I could reassign the pool bonus at Renewal. I also grabbed an extra hit point, and an extra skill point.

Pick Skills from the Class List... Melees had 4 skill points per level, scaling as their Class Ability of Resolve increased; then add Int bonus per level, and FC (Favored Class) bonus. So, 8 more skill points. Since I was an Expert/3, I could actually put 3 points into a Skill.

Assign Skill Points: 2 into Heal, 2 into Blacksmith, 2 into Jump, and 2 into Weaponsmith.

Cover Your Weakness Class Bonus: 1 point into lowest physical Stat, 1 point into lowest mental Stat. Automatically applied, in case of tie, Charisma, Wisdom, then Intelligence. Inherent bonus, like my Forsaken bonus, representing a non-magic wielder's ceaseless self-improvement, covering their weakest points and rounding them out, raising the floor instead of the ceiling. So, +1 to my Strength, and +1 to Charisma. My body trembled again, and something like a fire in my mind ignited, stirring my emotions more easily.

Get awarded Soak... Melees had a D6+4 HD, or a d10 with a higher floor. Adventurer = max at first Level, 10 Soak awarded. Replaced the d6 of Expert/1. +5 Constitution bonus to Soak, +1 FC bonus to Soak= 16 Soak. Stacked with the 2d6+10 remaining of Expert, for ~33.

+1 Melee Attack Bonus. No Ranged Attack Bonus, only progressed at 3/4 Levels for Melees.

Pick Techniques... Techniques were like double-power Feats, and they scaled. Taking Weapon Focus anyone could do, it opened up the Weapon Mastery Tree, granting a +1 bonus to hit with a specific weapon. Techniques were the power of the Melee Class, granting ever-scaling combat ability as we rose in level, consistent and fixed tactics that could work together with amazing synergy constantly, as opposed to the powerful burst effects of Chi-users.

This was where the meat of building a character came in. I had to be firm on what I wanted to do with this.

Combat Technique, Weapon Specialization, IUS. Opened the Weapon Mastery Tree. Gave Weapon Focus, +1 To-hit with the chosen weapon. For Melee, Primary Weapons. Specializing doubled Melee Class Weapon Mastery damage bonuses for the chosen weapon. So, I'd be +1 to hit, +2 damage with IUS.

Class Bonus Training Technique, Great Fortitude. I needed to get that as high as possible as fast as possible, because it powered my Null. Being pathetically low Level now, my Null was virtually worthless at Level + Fort Save. Great Fortitude would double from +2 to +4 at Ten, and would also scale with my Weapon Training Bonus, as well as adding other minor synergies with other Feats and Techniques.

Bonus Forsaken Feat, Toughness/1. +3 or +Level or +MAB Health, whatever was highest. +3 it was. Health was now 18, making me probably tougher than any Human back home, ever. This also opened the Toughness Mastery tree. That wasn't all so important, except that it tripped the Karma Allocation limits.

You could raise your Level only once per day, regardless of how much Karma you earned. Likewise, you could take one Mastery advance, learn one spell, Invest/Infuse one magic item, learn a Feat, train up a skill, or fortify a single Health or Soak point towards your maximum.

Like I said, I had Karma floating around… and I was an Expert/3, so I could take a Toughness/2 Mastery advance, which I promptly did. Toughness Mastery/2, add Fort Save to Soak.

+1 Inherent bonus to Con for levels 2 and 3 went off, because now they were important. Con advanced to 23. Health now 19. Toughness/2, Fort Save was +2 Class, +6 Con, +2 Great Fort, so +10 to Soak, +13 with revised Con bonus to HD. Soak was now 46.

Which made for a REALLY tough Melee/1.