Ben (RPG)

*"The goal of any true revolutionary is not to take the throne, but to destroy it."*

**Ben** is a potential companion and party member in the fictional *Invidere* RPG.

Equal parts revolutionary and scholar, Ben is first encountered in the *Counter-Gambit* questline as a boss aligned with the Kokushi faction. He next appears in the *Battle of Ramona* as a temporary party member in a strategic alliance with the Templars to defeat the archmage Izahdera, unique in that he is the first possible ally with access to the Black Magus class. Later, he is recruited as a full party member on the isle of Morzog, only to depart once more with the conclusion of the *Fall of Gensokyo* questline, believing he could no longer call himself a hero after inadvertently sacrificing the lives of thousands of innocents.

Ben is absent until after the conclusion of the Moros questline, after which he becomes an optional party member late in the endgame *Return to Ophiuchus* series. The quest allows him to upgrade to the more powerful Archmage class, gaining a new appearance and overhauling his ability set.

## Gameplay

As the companion with arguably the highest possible damage output yet no healing or buff skills, Ben is optimal when paired with competent tanks and at least one medic. This setup allows him to play the "artillery" role in which he is placed far from the frontline so he can freely pepper adversaries with his potent magicks. Still, disregarding his utility as a high damage dealer, he is one of the physically weakest companions due to his low HP and ENDR, making him a gambit play extremely effective in certain encounters and a liability in others. He is one of two possible companions with the rare Black Magus class.

* Battle
* Personality

 Absolute Enflame
 Absolute Chain Lightning
 Solus Misera
 Dualcast
 Blood Magic
 Foul

The art of negotiation, influencing your ability to persuade and deceive.
The active skill of examination and inquiry, influencing your proficiency in searching for clues and succinctly piecing together evidence to decipher the truth of events; the practice of active rather than passive perception of events.

Proficiency for the dramatic arts, encompassing acting, singing, dancing, and/or speech-making.

General knowledge of the world's spiritual traditions, granting familiarity with various pantheons and the ability to learn spells.

The ambient ability to spot hidden things, revealing secrets and intricacies of the immediate environment without actively looking for them; spotting enemies, noticing traps, etc.

Ben is distinguished by his mercurial and histrionic personality, cavalier attitude towards grave situations, and his rigid sense of morality and justice. He considers himself a righteous intellect, believing that his ideals are the most enlightened and thus worth defending ad absurdum if necessary. Despite his privileged upbringing and penchant for exorbitant fashion and priceless artworks, he believes the rich and powerful of Aquila are a direct hindrance to the world, and that the lower elements of society are the key to their elimination. He believes the best society is one which constantly has its ideals and institutions under barrage so that only the very best ideas will survive, and considers his often radical ventures to sometimes be acts of necessary chaos-sowing. Ben's perfect world would be populated with intellectuals and artists, with its scholarly leaders (should such a society even deem government necessary) uplifting the masses and leading them towards philosophical enlightenment.

The fiery Valencian mage's weapon of choice is his arcane staff, Nathema, a near replica of the legendary Sotmr Shadowsong's famous golden scythe design gilded with priceless gems and wrapped in parchment papers containing powerful hexes. At max enchantment, Nathema may hold 8 spells at once with the potential to be cast around a dozen times each before needing to be "recharged," an arcane process in which ambient quintessence is carefully focused and imbued within inanimate objects to increase or maintain their magickal potential. The 8 readily available spells which the staff is commanded to remember are called "cantrips." Should Ben as a black mage run out of cantrips, or the situation demand it, he may switch to his Arcane Grimoire, gaining a new skillset of weaker and more basic black magick spells which do not consume mana. These standard black magicks are:

1. Scorch - Minor Fire damage to one target.
2. Glaciate - Minor Ice damage to one target.
3. Flash - Minor Lightning damage to one target.
4. Shade - Minor Dark damage to one target.
5. Twincast - Next spell is automatically cast twice.
6. Dark Flow - Upgrades the next basic spell to its Shadow variant, increasing its damage potency and adding Dark damage.
7. Energy Drain - Absorbs a small amount of HP from a target.
8. Radiate - Next basic spell gains an area of effect, damaging additional adjacent targets.

## Biography

Hailing from the prosperous and aristocratic city of Valencia, Ben is the youngest scion of the wealthy Holliday family which once monopolized the activities of the city's harbor. When the masses came knocking, he joined the revolution, striking against his noble bedfellows by spreading chaos and propaganda. He was exiled after the uprising failed, leading him to join the Kokushi cult in southern Ertdor and begin his training as a mage. He eventually betrayed his master Izahdera and joined the Outlanders, wishing to help people and uncover lost knowledge through adventure. His alliance with the Outlanders ended after the return of the Mad King, an event which saw Ben inadvertently sacrifice an entire city of innocents in a fraught attempt to defeat the evil Makrozoia.

Overcome with shame and anguish, Ben now seeks redemption, determined to make amends for his past failures and help the people of Aquila as he always intended. His patron is Zeralith, the Lightbringer, and his astral alignment is towards the star Ophiuchus, granting him an affinity towards Shadow.

Ben is relatively short and slight with a slender figure, a common physical disposition among the higher Valencian social strata due to their vegan diets and genetically heightened metabolism. He has fair skin and green eyes, though his left has lost color due to magick-induced blindness. Similarly, his naturally black hair has prematurely turned almost completely white.

*Boss theme in "Counter-Gambit"*

*Character Theme*