Difference between revisions of "Talent"

Revision as of 04:17, 30 December 2013

Talents are all of the skills and spells your character can learn. Most are available based on your class or race, although some can be learned from escort quests or other quests.

Learnable talents are divided into two broad groups: Class talents and Generic talents. Class talents are specialized skills that only specific classes may learn; Generic talents represent more general knowledge and are usually available to several classes. Some (but not all) Generic talents may be purchased in stores, or acquired as quest rewards. Racial talents are also Generic.

Certain equipment may bestow a talent on you, including talents not available any other way (for example, Block). These talents exist only while you have the item equipped.

Using Talent Points

For every character level gained, a character receives:

• 3 stat points (2.5 in insane and madness game modes) that can be used to increase Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Magic, Willpower, and Cunning.

• 1 Class talent point and 1 Generic talent point that can be used to increase Class or Generic talents, respectively. At intervals of five levels (levels: 5, 10, 15 ...) you will receive instead 2 Class talent points and zero generic talent points.

Talent points are used to gain new abilities and skills, or to increase to power of those skills. Most talents have requirements of character level or stats which much be met in order to train that skill further. For example, the common talent Armour Training requires Strength 16 for level 1, Strength 26 for level 2, and on up to Strength 44 for level 5.

Each talent point can be used to increase the Talent level of one particular talent. Only Generic points can be used for Generic talents, and only Class points for Class talents. Increasing the level of a talent will increase the effects of that talent, or unlock new abilities for that talent. All talents start at zero talent level and have a maximum level of five. There are a few special exceptions to this rule.

The number of talent points invested in a talent is not the final talent level, but a raw talent level. Your class and race will determine additional mastery multipliers which can increase or decrease the final effective talent level - and therefore effectiveness - of your talents.

For example, a Brawler has access to the Combat Training tree with a x1.10 multiplier. One point invested in any skill in this tree will make an effective talent level of 1.1. With five points invested, the effective talent level is 5.5. Meanwhile a Berserker has a x1.30 multiplier for the Combat Training tree. With five points invested, the effective talent level for the Berserker in any of those skills would be 6.5. The Armour Training skill of this tree grants a 10% bonus to armour hardiness based on talent level. A Brawler would have a maximum hardiness of 55%, and the Berserker would have a maximum hardiness of 65%.

Using Category Points

Characters also receive 1 Talent category point at character levels 10, 20, and 36. These can be used to learn a new talent category (grey in the talent list), to increase the mastery of a known category by x0.2 (only once per category), or to add an additional infusion/rune slot (up to a maximum of 2 additional slots). The Cornac subrace of humans will start the game with one additional category point for the player's free use.

Prodigies

At characters levels 30 and 42, a character may learn Prodigies. These are separate from talents and do not cost any type of talent points.

Character Maximums

Finally, at level 50, a character earns 10 stat points, 3 class talent points, and 3 generic talent points (in addition to the normal level rewards).

Therefore, not counting quest rewards, a character will receive a total of:

• 190 stat points
• 63 class talent points
• 43 generic talent points
• 3 category points (4 if Cornac)
• 2 prodigies

Alternative Points and Talent Sources

Other sources of points:

• Weapon stores in Last Hope teach how to shoot and reload a ranged weapon (cost: 8 gold), and open the Combat Training tree for classes that start without it (cost: 50 gold).
• Completing The agent of the arena quest in Derth will grant 2 Generic talent points.
• Some of the Alchemist Quest rewards grant Class or Generic talent points.
• Eating the Heart of the Sandworm Queen grants 3 stat points, 2 Class talent points, and 1 Generic talent point.
• The Wyrm Bile from the backup guardian in the Sandworm Lair grants a category point.
• The mindstar store in Zigur teaches Mindstar Mastery (100 gold to buy it locked, 750 gold to buy it unlocked and save a category point).
• Similarly, the staff store in Angolwen teaches Staff Combat (100 or 750 gold, as above).

Talent Types

Talents are organized into trees (or category) and category types. A 'tree' is a set of four talents which have a similar mastery level (how effective the player is with those talents) and which have a similar focus. A 'category type' is a collection of talent trees with similar themes, usually for use by a particular class or group of classes.

For example, the 'Chronomancy' category type contains the trees: Age-manipulation, Chronomancy, Energy, Gravity, Matter, Paradox, Spacetime-folding, Spacetime-weaving, Speed-control, Temporal-combat, Timeline-threading and Timetravel.

All Category Types

• Celestial
• Chronomancy
• Corruption
• Cunning
• Cursed
• Psionic
• Race
• Spell
• Technique
• Undead
• Wild-gift

Categories not directly accessible by players:

• NPC Only
• Objects

Talent Use Mode Details

There are three basic ways of using talents, often called "use mode": Passive, Active and Sustained.

• Passive talents are always in effect once you know them; you don't have to do anything to make them work, and they cannot be deactivated by enemies. An example of a passive talent is Combat Accuracy.

• Active talents have to be triggered, either by pressing a hotkey or clicking an icon on the talent/hotkey bar at the bottom of the screen. There is often (but not always) a resource cost to activate the talent, and a cooldown period before the talent can be used again.

Most active talents cost 1 turn to activate, but some are instantaneous (notably, wild infusions and shielding runes and most of the basic racial talents). Some active talents affect only the character using them (e.g. healing, teleport, shielding, ...), while others are targeted at a single opponent (Dirty Fighting, Assault), or a selectable area of the map (Fire Breath), or the tiles around the character (Death Dance), etc. Some of them produce effects that linger for a while (on the map, or on characters); others are resolved immediately. Each talent is different.

• Sustained talents are triggered like active talents, but they remain in effect until deactivated. Most of them produce an effect that benefits the character using them; for example, Icy Skin gives armour and cold retaliation damage. Most sustained talents have a resource cost associated with them, which decreases the total available pool of that resource for as long as the talent is in effect. For example, Blur Sight is a sustained talent with a Mana cost of 30. If your character has a pool of 200 Mana, activating Blur Sight will decrease your Mana pool to 170. Stamina-using sustained talents work similarly.

Sustained talents that use Equilibrium or Paradox work a little bit differently, since those resources operate in reverse. Icy Skin has a sustained Equilibrium cost of 30. Normally, your Equilibrium level will drop toward 0 when Meditating or walking on the world map. When Icy Skin is in effect, your Equilibrium level will not drop below 30. Likewise, Weapon Folding has a sustained Paradox cost of 75. When it's in effect, your Paradox level cannot drop below 75. Sustained talents, and effects obtained from active talents, can sometimes be deactivated by enemies. Be careful out there!

For more details on how talents work see Talent mechanics.