ACT 1 - Maximus the Blacksmith

**Maximus The Blacksmith**
In spite A rather humble upbringing, Max eventually rose to be a smith for royalty. As his work was quickly noticed through ought the land, it appeared samples of his work would pop up across the cosmos, gaining the attentions of the cultists for their unnatural strength and shine

, Max was raised as a blacksmith and an orphan in a simple world, within a simpler village, where hand to hand weapons had still regularly settled matters of both Law and War.

***Beneficial Relics***

Vulcans Hammer - Each personal buff gains 10 power.

Smiths Training - Toughness increases by 15% whenever using a buff, lasting 3 turns.

William's Penance - Each buff cast boosts every attribute by 5%, up to a cap of 125% this way.

Brands Rosary - Power is boosted by 1/3 Focus and Focus by 1/3 power.

*Teachable Skill -* *Whetstone -* Use with the Smith in the party to target all allies over a single one. This skill boosts damage, critical chances, and defense penetration of weapons employed in a attacks.

**Connections**

**Innate Skills**

**Smash -** Making use of his expertise with a hammer, the smith smashes a foe for an extra 33% pwr added to damage. The same amount is dealt as stun damage, which through their sheer sheer strength always dealt as critical stn/dmg. The foes concussive ringing continues to stun them for the sane amount for 3 turns.

**Forgeborn -** Not only can Max dissipate most fire damage (90%), but he can convert it into mana as it cools. This energy is such a part of his make up that rather than leave his body this damaging force is added to all of his attributes (up to 2x original values). He has learned to exploit this further by cauterizing his own wound when depuffed.

**Sturdy Frame -** His muscles are built on the energies of the flames and the earth, as such during lengthy campaigns his own stamina only has half it's impact upon his overall endurance, toughness, then finally his power.

**Smithing Tools -** Maximus is able to use 3 particular skills, developed during his time as a blacksmith, in order to boost his team mates and himself.

1. Whetstone - Helping bring his allies weapons to maximum condition boosts both critical chance and penetration by 50%, while improving all such attack damage,
2. Flame coat - While no spellcaster, Max is able to resonate his mana with that employed within allies weapons. Doing so allows them, through focusing on an echo of energies present at their creation, draw out a portion of the volcanic origins of most metals. This heat is capable searing foes both approaching and ones being struck, This affinity boosts all flame damages done by35%.
3. Temper - By using his connection to the carbon in everything from coals to steel, Max can connect and resonate with the makeup of allies armor. This resonance boosts damage reduction to a value mirrored by the armors increase in weight/density. While this density can theoretically grow with no upper limit, the power level cap (at 1/2 of total power) regulates this boost while growing fatigue eventually breaks this effect.

**Cauterize -** Learning to handle fires unharmed, the forge born smith became adept at searing superficial debuffs from the surface of allies. While himself quite tolerant of flames, this painful process drops allies hp by 10% of max the longer this goes on for. The accompanying toughening of their dermal layer grants a brief increase in both toughness and endurance by 15% of total.

**Pummel -** Repetitive hammering at the forge allows the smith to accurately land several weaker hits on a foe. Learning how to hammer flesh over metal has it's own technique and nuances, mastering which allows Max to target all the right places with stunning efficacy. This stunned delay grows longer with training, allowing Max to chain up to 10 strikes in the same period.

**Artisan -** As his buffs benefit from the use of his tools and tremendous experience they only cost half as much energies to deploy. Having those tools ever ready and prepping the team on his methods, allows their quick employment a across the entire team.

**Shake off -** As a reflexive action, he can shake off most long lasting negative effects. Eventually able to recycle the energy of that effect to boost his own attributes. Finally , as he draws back these formerly negative energies, those of the earth around him get drawn in as well, used to replace the damaged sections of his rock like outer body.,