Nobles are pretty much all the same. Petty, greedy squabblers. Sometimes you get some fool hung up on honor and righteousness. Let's be real. That never goes well. M60 has 1 or 2 kingdoms with nobility like that but most places are of a more realistic cast. Roman and Slavic nations are both famously corrupt and that stereotype is very accurate for M60. Arnor's capital is a cesspool. All the social buffs from Phase 1 of Performance are directed towards the lower classes but as a high level member of the Mages Guild with Charismatic I do get the conditional bonus from Ebulliant which puts me at +3 to Nobility. I haven't ever interacted with them so my personal reputation is the same as my base rate.

I wander around town talking to the commoners and hearing all about some good old class warfare. Now normally I would side with the people in real life but this is a video game. As I'm walking about I get approached by some guy who was watching me entertain the masses for gold. He feels me out about some shady activities and I trigger some bonus dialogue options from my abilities. I can only imagine how strong Tier 1 and Tier 2 Talents from a truly Social focused template would be.

I benefit from Historian and Perception in knowing that a certain high level noble in the city is deep into the underworld as are some vassals and associates and Perception and my social traits recognize this guy as an employee which is how I get bonus dialogue. I rant about how the commoners are fools and rubes who deserve to be separate from coin they'll blow on junk anyways and pop my CHA boosts. This guy himself is not a noble so Fascination is in play. He tells me his boss is looking for someone to do a job.

A couple days later I get ushered into a room deep in the center of the city that is full of corrupt nobles. They recognize my ability to get friendly with the common people and they want me to work on a job. The lower classes are getting super pissy about noble promulgated crime and it is time to reset the mood of the city so to speak. With some extra bonus dialogue we discuss the mood and leanings of the masses and how best to alleviate the tension. Anyone who follows history and has appropriate contempt for humanity knows the best solution.

The just world fallacy. Everyone wants their leaders to live up to their circumstances. If one class is in charge and its at all possible the oppressed classes want to feel like this is the way things should be. No one wants to accept that the world is random and chaotic and justice and fairness are lies. Justice and fairness are lies.

The plan is simple, sacrifice a pawn as a scapegoat. Not only would the people easily be persuaded that the scapegoat was the one responsible for their problems but anyone who is familiar with medieval Europe knows one things. Peasants love a hanging. Bring the kids, break out the picnic basket, chat with the neighbors and then sate your blood lust on the misfortune of a superior. Honestly you could probably just grab some random foreigner on the way to the city, trump up a charge, and hang him and the mood in the city would improve for a few days. Even better when its someone people know and hate.

Now for maximum effect you want to pick someone with pull. The impact is very significant if you throw an unexpectedly powerful subject to the wolves. Someone no one would expect means that people are less likely to believe it was just a play to placate them. I tell them to pick a guy and have him in a certain place in a secluded but public space at a certain time commiting a reprehensible act. I'd make it look like his discovery was an accident to keep them from being the target of revenge and I'd rile up the people so they would be forced to act.

I don't know who this guy was or what he did or why they didn't like him. I do know he was a bad guy, although it hardly matters. Once you engage in nefarious dealings you have to let go of any sense of honor or else you'll get dragged under. In any case I sparked a street celebration and carried of my chav dupes in an impromptu parade through the streets. We just happened, through sheer coincidence to pass by a certain alleyway just as the current song was ending. A scream cut through the air. Into the alley marched the celebrants with their prayer candles lighting the way. A man in scarlet and citrine stood over the dead body of a child, his rapier crimson with blood, and it makes a slick and wet sound as it slips out of the fresh corpse. Got em.

Too bad about the kid but street urchins come and they go and who even remembers their names. Murder hobos may be reviled by all but as members of a profession who gain strength primarily from slaughter, after a while you would probably become inured to the cruelty of the world. As such I lose not a second in ginning the crowd into an uproar that can be hear for blocks around. Chants and yells and so forth, perhaps magically enhance a bit by illusion.

The city guard pours into the streets and surrounds the riot marching right to the alley. Afterall someone probably tipped them off, and tipped them some gold, too, to handle the situation as ideally as possible. The captain of the guard gives a short speech and Wladyslaw Tharquard, the Marquis of Tharquard is led away in irons. Shit, a marquis? I might have to lie low and blow out of town pretty soon. I was expeting something like a baron or a count at the most. Still, good to see they took my argument about betraying a real mover and shaker seriously.

The crowd is baying for blood and I use my Performance talents and social magic to keep them from going to far. As we march behind the guard to the jail chanting for justice commoners flood into the streets sensing a bloody and entertaining post-prayers weekend event. I need to max out the motivation of nobility who aren't part of the plot because frankly getting a marquis executed is a bit of a reach for my partners in crime.

The marquis's city residence and person are searched and he is found to be in possession of some highly illegal things as well as missives from some slimy characters. He hosted a party last night so I'm pretty sure not all of that stuff is really his. Regardless he has some incriminating stuff on his person and the city blood mages and truthseekers determine that he did indeed snuff out a child in cold blood. The hundreds of enraged witnesses and a local Mages Guild representative certainly helps the case.

After the hanging, a quite gruesome affair where the common children kicked the head around for sport, everything quiets down for the night and I am contacted in the streets and led to the a meeting of the conspiracy. Luckily for me I was very public in my actions. The Mages Guild wasn't too pleased but that was balanced out by the fact that I couldn't be easily disposes of without anyone noticing.

As such, it was time for my reward. Someone higher up the food chain must have been involved given the target of our little game and my reward was certainly further evidence of that. I received a large sum of gold, roughly 40 pieces, as well as enough exp to hit level 13 and reach half way to 14. Taking the highest risk dialogue options really paid off. I was also blessed with 5 stat points and 5 skill points. 7 after factoring in abilities. And I gained 8 from leveling since I had risen 2 levels and had 2 bonus points per level. My bonus skills were only for magical talents but given that I was a heavily magical build that never had much of an impact. I immediately buffed CON to 20. I had enough MEM coming anyways, especially since I was starting to Phase boost. Time to prepare to take some hits.

+900000exp (910000/204800) (705200/409600) Lvl Up!!!

You have gained 20HP, 70MP, and 3 stat points!

You have gained 2 skill points + 2 magic points!

+102400exp (112400/102400) (10000/204800) Lvl Up!!!

You have gained 20HP, 70MP, and 3 stat points!

You have gained 2 skill points + 2 magic points!

I was now up to 440 health and well over 1000 mana. Nice. I dropped 6 points into MEM so I could handle my 15 new skill points. Awesome quest. I guess I'm a bad person now though. The common people of the city love me, giving me a regional only boost of +2 reputation. Not bad but not amazing.

So now I had to make the decision on what to boost. I had so many Talents that it was insane. Warping and Bosonist were Tier 1 magic Talents from a Secret Background. Great options. I was also tempted to look into Performance and Illusion. At Tier 3 with a cost of 5 I would save 2 points from my ability, so 8 to level them and then I could pick 7 of the 14 available options. Not bad.

I could also head straight for Archivist. That was a pretty good talent with unique bonuses. It mostly focused on bending the growth curve rather than combat or social interaction. Such a hard choice between boosting my overall options vs getting a kick in the pants right at this moment. Another option was to boost Pyromancy and Miasma again. Phase 3 was pretty awesome and I'd get a significant boost to all existing skills. Choice paralysis! And I still hadn't used skill points to empower existing skills.

In the end I went for Archivist. For a lot of reasons. One was that I suspected, and was right, that Tier 2 would have a lot of nice min-maxing options. Another was that I wanted to spend less time in combat. It was difficult and complicated and I feared the death penalties. Let's see what happened.

Archivist Phase 1 Skill List:

Steel Mind: +14 MEM | Self | Perk

Anthropology: +28 WIS on spell saves _ 10s | Self | Cast 2s | 40 mana

Research: Training: -1 silver per Phase and Level| Self | Perk

Above we have the unboosted skills with no training levels. In fact only Anthropology could be trained anyways. Below are the Phase boosted Phase 1 skills.

Archivist Phase 1 Skill List:

Steel Mind: +21 MEM | Self | Perk

Anthropology: +42 WIS on spell saves _ 10s | Self | Cast 2s | 60 mana

Research: Training: -2 silver per Phase and Level | Self | Perk

Steel Mind got way better. Woohoo more skills. Research is mostly gold savings which many people don't value but as someone not in a gold flush profession it helps a lot. Now for the big stuff.

Archivist Phase 2 Skill List:

Brilliance: +1 Mind Stat per level | Self | Perk

Ambient Mana: +100 Mana | Self | Perk

Ancient Languages: +1 Reputation to uncommon Races and all Intellect related Factions | Self | Perk

Preparation: Instant Cast 1 spell for +unmodifiable base cost | Self | Perk

Arcane Theory: +25% primary effect on Arcane Spells _ +10% Mana cost | Self | Perk

Study Skills: Fasted use based skill training | Self | Perk

Ancient Rituals: +20% stronger Rituals| Self | Perk

So I've actually got 8 skill points after raising my Archivist Phase. There are 5 skills I want here. The Talent based Perks will be more useful once those Talents are at Phase 2. I don't even have Ritualist. More stats, more Rep, more Mana, faster use based skill training, and that extra instant cast spell are a huge boost for me. 100 mana is enough to essentially even out the static cost modifier for the Instant Cast. That sucks that I have to pay a minimum of the full original base cost.

I am sitting on an extra 3 skill points. My current plan is to save those, plus the 8 I'll get from my next two levels, to combine with the 15 from Paragon/Insight when I pick up my next Template. This works out pretty well even though I only end up with an Extraordinary Template. Those have reduced choices and options compared to Legendary but luckily in the beta you still got 2 Free Points per template so I can grab some skills from my older Templates.

After all my slimy work in the city I'm ready to go out and slaughter some monsters till I hit 15. Vampire girl will probably be up to no good so if I want to bleach my brain now is the time. I head over to the Mages Guild and grab a few quests but I *really* load up at the Adventurers Guild.

Both Guilds give me a single quest that involves something besides monster hunting to various purposes. These quests are okay but neither of them give me a chance at a Template, though obviously that is not something I knew at the time. A later Mages Guild quest after I talk to the Vampire girl does eventually set me up with my second, or first if you discount my Secret Background, Unique Template. But its a quest chain that takes me to distant lands. A quest from the King of Arnor, honestly everytime I read that name I get annoyed, sets me on a quest for my next Legendary Template. As I noted at the start I had 3 Unique, counting my Secret Background, 2 Legendary, and 2 Extraordinary Templates when the beta ended.

In any case I am sure people have been missing the crunchiness and math of combat, even if they haven't missed the complicated thought processes related to spell chaining. Sometimes I wish I was just a big dumb barbarian. This blog entry was rather short but this seems like the natural resting points. Next we'll have an entire chapter, or two even, of fighting and adventuring. Then we'll get back to the city for our interview with a vampire. I wouldn't be shocked if people needed a breather from all the point buy stuff.