Skill Trees

## Skill Points

As each character levels up, they gain skill points that they can use to purchase skills. Each level they gain a single skill point to spend on a skill. Each active ability they purchase can be upgraded in two different aspects. They can purchase skills from both of their skill trees until they specialize in a subclass, after which they will be limited to skills from one tree but will be allowed two upgrades per active ability.

## Skill Trees

Skills are contained within skill trees. Each tree is made up of nine active abilities and four passive abilities, arranged in three interconnected paths that all lead up to a subclass upgrade at the end of the tree. It also allows access to three passive fighting styles that will automatically unlock after the character invests a certain amount of points into the tree. These fighting styles are free use passive modifiers than can be swapped out instantly at the start of a turn to change the outcome of that turn. The first style is given to the player at start (considered in the game as a 1 point investment), and the other two are unlocked after investing an additional 5 and 10 points respectively.

Each character has access to two skill trees, as dictated by their chosen class. There are currently ten skill trees and fifteen classes, as listed below.

## Tree Configuration

If one were to enumerate the active ability nodes with the numbers 1-9 and the passive ability nodes with the letters A-D, each skill tree would be mapped out in the following the configuration:

where S stands for the default starting node and U is the final upgrade node. Each character starts with the S node already activated, and the game counts that as 1 point already invested for the purpose of unlocking the initial fighting style.

From the S node, the character has access to the three main pathways through nodes 1, 4, and 7. These nodes are Tier 1, as the shortest path length to invest in them is just one, the point to invest in the node itself. The character always has access to Tier 1 nodes, as the given S node activates pathways to all three.

From any Tier 1 node, the character has access to any adjacent Tier 2 nodes (2, 5, 8, A, C). *For example, a character who decides to invest 1 point in node 1 will have then access to nodes 2 and A, but not nodes 5, 8, or C.* Assuming the character completely invests in all three Tier 1 nodes, they will have access to all Tier 2 nodes.

Tier 3 node access is determined by which Tier 2 nodes are active. If the character only invests in Tier 2 passives (A, C) without investing in Tier 2 actives (2, 5, 8), they will not have access to Tier 3 nodes, as Tier 2 passives are placed behind Tier 2 actives in the map ordering. From any Tier 2 active node, the character has access to any adjacent Tier 3 nodes (3, 6, 9, B, D). *For example, if the character has invested 1 point in node 5, they will have access to nodes B, D, and 6, but not nodes 3 or 9.* Assuming the character completely invests in all Tier 2 active nodes, they will have access to all Tier 3 nodes.

Investing in any of the Tier 3 active nodes will enable the player to promote the character to a subclass if they so choose, after which they will be barred from investing in other trees but will be allowed to invest an additional point in an additional upgrade per active ability.

Note: The arrows are bidirectional, and as a result the player can move backwards in the chain. *For example, a character that has invested in skills 1, 2, 3, 6, and 9 can still invest in skill 8 despite not investing in skills 7 or C which precede it.*

## Equipment

In addition to dictating which skills a character can learn, skill trees also determine the equipment a character is eligible to use. Some equipment, such as spears and staffs, can only be used by a small number of classes due to a lack of permitting trees. Others, such as maces and swords, can be used by many but are barred to a few trees. Some trees are more weapon-friendly than others; *for example, the Battle tree allows the use of almost all melee weapons, and the Divine tree prevents the use of many melee weapons.* Sometimes a tree's permissions will clash with a different tree's restrictions, creating classes that have widely varied eligibility for weapons use.

Weapon/armor/equipment permissions and restrictions are diagrammed below. 'O' signifies *permitted*, '-' signifies *not permitted*, and 'X' signifies *restricted*.

A character can still use an item even if one of the trees in their class does not permit it, as long as the other tree does. However, a restriction overrides a permission. *For example, the Battle tree prevents the character from using magical weapons, causing a Spellwarden (Battle/Sorcery) to be unable to use staffs despite having one of only two staff-permitting skill trees.*

## List of Skill Trees

Archery - Ranger (default) / Nemesis / Scout

Arcana - Mage (default) / Ascetic / Hermit

Battle - Warrior (default) / Battlemaster / Enforcer / Spellwarden

Blades - Rogue (default) / Battlemaster / Underboss

Command - Warrior (default) / Mage Lord / Underboss

Divine - Cleric (default) / Ascetic

Nature - Ranger (default) / Hermit / Tracker

Retribution - Cleric (default) / Enforcer / Nemesis

Sorcery - Mage (default) / Mage Lord / Spellwarden

Trickery - Rogue (default) / Scout / Tracker