Tunnel Rat

Chapter 91: Leveling Up

Reminder: You must allocate 18,000 experiences to Tier 1 skills, and 102 Core Skill Points to Tier 1 Core Skills or Foundation.

Any unallocated points will be lost.

-The restriction on spending only 27 points on increasing your stats with CSP is removed. For Tier 1 only. Someone gave me a sticky note that said "A debt is owed." Any idea what that is about?

I'd really like to know the whole story someday. Interested in some experience in Storytelling? Just a thought.

18,000 experiences seemed like a lot. Some skills were already at their maximum, but others sadly lacking. Did he concentrate on skills? Or on the stats they raised? The hint about special abilities if he raised one or more to level 10 was interesting.

The logical answer was his skills. Those were what he would need to survive. He should focus on raising the best of those, and then take a look at where that got him. Maybe he could tweak a few things.

Identify, Hide, Sense Danger, Skulk, and Fleet of Foot were survival skills. And some of them were hard to raise tertiary skills. That used up 6650.

Poison and Disease resistance he was undecided on. He'd circle back.

Dodge for 400 and Tail Fighting for 1800 he bought. He might need tail fighting a lot more now, with his weapons broken. And his tail always surprised the people he was fighting. Small blades and Throw Sharp Things would be good for raising his DEX, but he would have spells for ranged combat.

Acrobatics he maxed out.

Claws of Alta Viator stumped him. He didn't feel a connection to the skill. Would that come in Tier 2 as a Rune-Boned Scout? That only made sense. He put 1800 experience into the claw fighting skill.

He still had 5900 experiences. He decided to ignore skills he hadn't used such as skinning and scrimshaw. Cheesemaking was tempting, but he needed to be somewhere that he could make cheese. Rocky caves didn't provide milk.

3350 went into Poison and Disease Resistance.

Bone Carving and Rune Lore took another 2500.

The last 150 was put into Cheesemaking. You just never knew what you might find.

Skills

Stat

Level

experience

P/S/T

Bonecasting

INT

5

2000

Primary

Poison Resistance

CON

5

2000

Primary

Disease Resistance

CON

5

2000

Primary

Skulk

WIS

5

2000

Primary

Climbing

AGI

5

2000

Primary

Dodge

AGI

5

2000

Primary

Small Blades

DEX

3

575

Primary

Tail Fighting

DEX

5

2000

Primary

Mining

STR

5

2000

Primary

Acrobatics

AGI

5

2000

Secondary

Throw Sharp Thing

DEX

0

0

Secondary

Fleet of Foot

AGI

5

2000

Secondary

Claws of Alta-Viator

DEX

5

2000

Secondary

Sense Danger

PER

5

2000

Secondary

Forage

PER

2

500

Secondary

Skinning

DEX

0

0

Tertiary

Manipulate Locks and Traps

DEX

5

2000

Tertiary

Hide

INT

5

2000

Tertiary

Identify

PER

5

2000

Tertiary

Mycology

INT

1

500

Tertiary

Combat Block

DEX

0

0

Tertiary

Bone Carving

DEX

5

2000

Crafting

Scrimshaw

DEX

0

0

Crafting

Rune Lore

INT

5

2000

Lore

Cheesemaking

WIS

1

150

Crafting

Rune Crafting

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Black Smithing

STR

2

500

Crafting

Trap Making

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Mechanic

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Hydraulics

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Engineering

INT

5

2000

Ore Processingocessing

INT

5

2000

Pulley-Systems

INT

5

2000

Chemistry

INT

5

2000

Physics

INT

5

2000

Fluid Systems

INT

5

2000

Metallurgy

INT

5

2000

Skills done, he looked at his stats. His INT was at 15, but the only other stat that had a chance of going that high was DEX. PER was at 10 and AGI could be raised to 10. DEX was going to stop at 14. Some of his choices were poorly made, in retrospect. He had no other skills that he could use to raise CON by 200 points and get a total of 10. But, if he lowered Disease Resistance by 1500 points, and used that to raise up Small Blades to Rank 5, then he could hit a total of 15 DEX after spending his CSP. He'd have two stats at 10, and two at 15. He made the changes. It cost him 12 points to raise caps on stats. Another 33 points went to raising STR, DEX, AGI by three points and PER by 2.

This left him with 57 CSP to spend on skills.

Stat:

Rank

Cap

experience

Bonus

Total

STR

5

5

2500

+3

8

DEX

10

10

1025

2+3

15

AGI

9

9

8000

2+3

14

CON

6

6

4000

0+3

9

INT

10

10

I quit counting.

2+3

15

WIS

5

5

2150

0+3

8

CHR

0

5

0

0

0

PER

7

7

4500

2+2

10

TOU

0

5

0

+3

3

Milo wondered what "A debt is owed" meant. His best guess was some sort of apology from Wally.

His list of Core Skills had changed slightly. There some new options to look at. But the first one he bought was two levels of regeneration for fifteen CSP. He was acutely aware that he had something inside him just waiting for a chance to dissolve him down to goo. He didn't like the wording on Mutant Regeneration, and stopped at taking the third level of regeneration.

Unlimited Dark Vision was next. He could already see in the dark a little, and he was aided by glowing lichen and mushrooms that seemed to be everywhere. But there would be dark places in the world where no light would touch. At least he hoped so. Another ten points spent, leaving him thirty-three.

Never lost seemed essential, and the 2nd and 3rd levels of Skilled Provider looked good. Any miner would take a better chance at gems or rare ores being found now and then. Eight more spent, twenty-four to go.

He considered Strong Claws and Slashing Tail. He had bought his tail fighting skills early on, but not increased the damage. Shadowblight had always been enough to kill nearly anything, and now without the magical weapon, he realized he'd become reliant on it. He bought all of the levels of Slashing Tail which would add +40 damage to his tail attacks and the first two of Strong Claws adding +20 to his claws.

He was done and could head up to Tier 2

Tier 1 Core Skill Lists. These have been up before. In Tier 2 Milo gets access to upgrades and different skills depending on what he does.

Generic Core Skills: Any player has access to these Core Skills. Many more skills can be learned by finding teachers, reading books, completing quests, or doing mighty deeds. The cost of Generic Core skills will increase with each Tier. Choose wisely. Putting off a skill today may cost you more tomorrow.

Name

Description

Cost

Increase Health 1

+50 points to health score

2

Increase Health 2

+100 points to health score (Must have level 1 first.)

5

Increase Health 3

+150 points to health score (Must have level 2 first.)

10

Increase Mana 1

+50 points to Mana score

2

Increase Mana 2

+100 points to Mana score (Must have level 1 first.)

5

Increase Mana 3

+150 points to Mana score (Must have level 2 first.)

10

Increase Stamina 1

+50 points to Stamina score

2

Increase Stamina 2

+100 points to Stamina score (Must have level 1 first.)

5

Increase Stamina 3

+150 points to Stamina score (Must have level 2 first.)

10

Identification 1

Gives information on an item or creature of levels 1-5 even if you are a lower level.

3

Identification 2

Gives information on an item or creature of levels 6-10 even if you are a lower level.

5

Tier 1 Stats Cap Increase.

Increase the cap on a statistic. You may buy this ability up to 5 times, to raise a cap on a stat to a max of rank 10 in Tier 1. Hard cap of rank 10 in any stat.

1

Tier 1 Foundation Increase

Add 5 pts to one of your foundation skills

1

Purchase Bonus Points:

These abilities add to your stats. Gaining bonuses does not affect stats gained by ranks.

Spirit of the Ox 1

+1 Bonus to STR. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Bear 1

+1 Bonus to CON. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Monkey 1

+1 Bonus to DEX. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Owl 1

+1 Bonus to INT. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Cheetah 1

+1 Bonus to AGI. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Pig

+1 Bonus to WIS. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Hawk

+1 Bonus to PER. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Swan

+1 Bonus to CHA. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Second Wind 1

Once per day, regain 20 Health/Mana/Stamina.

1

Second Wind 2

Once per day, regain 50 Health/Mana/Stamina.

3

Second Wind 3

Once per day, regain 100 Health/Mana/Stamina.

5

Breathless 1

You may hold your breath 3x as long. (3 minutes.)

1

Breathless 2

You may hold your breath 10x as long. (10 minutes.)

1

Scout Core Skills

Name

Description

Cost

Smugglers Stash

Storage Skill. Summons/Dispels a magical chest. Size increases with rank. (3 cubic feet, 9 cubic feet, 27 cubic feet.)

3/5/7

Skilled Provider

Your gathering skills have an increased chance of finding better quality items

1/2/3

Abundance

Your gathering skills return more resources than normally expected.

(+10%/+25%/+50%/+75%/+100%)

1/2/3/4/5

unnoticed 1

You have a stealth like skill that makes you unnoticed in normal settings by Tier 1 creatures. Combines well with Skulk

2

Silent Step 1

When trying to not be noticed, your steps make only 40% as much noise as normal. Combines well with Skulk

2

Unlimited Dark-Vision

You see in Darkness and Magical Darkness as normal, but in shades of gray. No limitations on distance.

10

Bounding Leap

You may leap twice as far as normal.

2

Fast Talk 1

Slightly increases the chance of someone believing your BS.

2

Fast Talk 2

Greatly increases the chance of someone believing your BS.

5

Never Lost

Vastly increased memory for keeping track of the routes you've taken before, reading maps, and following clues on treasure maps.

3

Twist the Knife

When your opponent is not focused on you, you have an increased chance of a critical hit. Knife not required.

2/5/10

WereRat Core Skills Tier 1

Name

Description

Cost

Strong Claws

Increased Claw Damage. Amount increases with rank.

(+10/+20/+40)

2/5/10

The Unseen Tail

Disguise/Illusion in Were form. By using Skulk and staying in the shadows you will pass for a human.

3

The Invisible Tail

Improved Disguise/Illusion in Were form. You may openly walk among humans even in wereform, and pass for one of them. Creatures much above your level, or with a good sense of smell, or who can see through illusions may not be affected.

3

Whip-Tail

Your tail becomes a weapon equivalent to a small mace.

2

Slashing Tail

Your tail does increased damage and can slash.

(+10/+20/+40 Damage.) Requires Whip-Tail

2/5/10

Many small eyes

Make friends with local rats who will (maybe) do some scouting for you.

2

See through small eyes

Increased control of your small scouts and you are able to use their eyes instead of your own.

3

Cheesemaking

An honorable tradition! So tasty! INT crafting skill

1

Poison Resistance

Gain the CON skill Poison Resistance. Cost depends on whether the skill is Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary

1/2/5

Disease Resistance

Gain the CON skill Disease Resistance. Cost depends on whether the skill is Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary

1/2/5

Extra Stabby!

All of your attacks have an increased chance of a critical hit.

2/5/10

Extra Clever Traps

Your traps and machinery almost always work, and in fiendish ways no one suspected. Even you are surprised at times. This core skill affects Mechanic, Trap-Maker, and other such skills.

3/6/9

Not-so-fast Regeneration

Grants increased, (x2), health recovery. Slowly regenerate scar tissue, and missing body parts. A steady diet of cheese speeds the process.

5

Pretty-Good Regeneration

Grants increased, (x4), health recovery. Regenerate scar tissue, and missing body parts in less than a week. A steady diet of cheese speeds the process.

10

Mutant Regeneration

Grants increased, (x12), health recovery. Regenerate scar tissue, and missing body parts in less than a day.

Warning: As with all mutations, there can be significant side effects.

20

Magical Aspects open up options to learn more mage skills. Each additional aspect has an increased cost. Gaining an aspect does not automatically give you spells.

Chill of the Grave

You have a high Death aspect. Training will let you learn Death magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells.

5/10/25

Deeds in the Dark

You have a high darkness aspect. Training will let you learn dark magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells.

5/10/25

Storm Born

You have a high Storm aspect. Training will let you learn Storm magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells.

5/10/25

Individual Abilities: You have earned these through quests or adventuring.

Spirit of Durgi Forefather

+1 Bonus to TOU (Dwarves only.) May be taken 3 times.

3

Blessing of Hekate: Canine Speech

You can almost understand dogs, and they understand you.

2

Increased Pudding Based Regen

Convert bones and cartilage to essential components, heal and absorb faster.

5