Chapter 1-2: Assay and Limitations... (1/2)
Three Mastery advances, plus a Feat, were all part of the limits of a Level. I thought about what to do as I murmured another Faith Healing, and the raw ugly, nasty scar on my belly became a cold, dark scar. I had an intense feeling of wanting to piss and shit, except there was nothing there to do so. Blood was pumping through my veins again, replicated out of nowhere, and from bleeding out I was suddenly back to full Health and a little bit of Soak.
Healing Magic is what defined magical worlds, in my opinion. No other place could abuse healing so easily, and make it so wonderful to have. You could replicate offensive and utility powers with science or psionics or whatnot, but magic ruled on healing effects.
Assay, Detect Time, Elemental Dart, Prestidigitation, and Visual File joined Detect 0, my Favored Class choice of an extra spell, and Ghost Sound, the Arcane Bloodline Cantrip, as my permanent Sorcerer Cantrips. They couldn’t be swapped out like the Wizard ones could.
The Wizard Cantrips I filled in with Write, Minor TK, Firefinger, and Hologram 0. They could be changed after my Renewal.
I cast my Assay on myself, and hooked it into Detect Time, auto-Casting themselves on expiration if I wasn’t doing anything else. Prestidigitation I used to clean all the gore off myself as I swung my feet over to one side of the table I’d been laying on, avoiding the mess on the floor.
I recast Prestidigitation softly as I studied the Assay, and the somewhat surprising information on it. It began to clean up the mess on the floor. I didn’t want to leave my genetics around for some diviner to exploit.
It gave me my Stat Line, of course, and my current status, scanning my whole body, rendering that information down into universal standards, and enumerating them for my quick comprehension.
There was a double Karma bar there; one was much, much longer than the other.
I was a sliced-off Ten Levels worth of Karma, enough Karma to take me all the way to Ten several times over if I did nothing but Ironskull up one Class. That would be nice if I could just DO that, but gaining Levels was never that easy.
At this point, I was ‘reorganizing’ or filling in the abandoned blank Feat, Level, and Mastery Slots of the girl who used to use this pair of naked legs. When I took Sorcerer/1, that smaller bar of usable Karma had depleted, buying another Level, the equivalent of advancing to Two...
It wasn’t letting me buy any more. Either the girl was very low Level, or the rule of one Level a day was in solid effect.
I’d been a hunk of solid Karma, and I couldn’t even spend all of myself?! This was blatantly unfair! Ten Levels of Karma to play with could have made me an instant ass-kicker, even if I restricted myself to not passing Four!
Argh! I could only fume as I studied the Assay results.
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The Traveler, Halvyri/1
Classes: Expert/1, Wizard/1, Sorcerer/1
Strength: 8 (6) -1(-2)
Dexterity: 18 (12) +4 (+1)
Constitution: 16 (12) +3 (+1)
Intellect: 22 +6
Wisdom: 14 +2
Charisma: 14 +2
Health: 11 (9)
Soak: 10 (5)
Talent: Naturally Centered
Racial Benefits: Low Light Vision, Keen Senses, 2 Favored Classes (Wizard/Sorc); immune to Sleep Effects; Dual-Minded; Skill Affinity: Wary
Traits:Experienced Warrior (Racial, Elf); Mark of Doom (Quest)
Karma: Current Two, Reserve Ten-B (100%)
Base Abilities...
Feats/Class Abilities...
===
The results of an Assay were specifically designed to look like a Stat block, because that was the best way to interpret something.
It was the subtle things I was looking at that were giving me odd hints.
I had retained an Expert Level I wasn’t expecting. That meant an extra Feat and Mastery... I promptly slotted Banespell and Arcane Toughness /1. The former would give me a +1 Metamagic that would do +2d6 to the creature type of my choice on casting, one of the best low-cost Metas at low level. The second would give my Intellect bonus instead of Constitution bonus at level One, and give me +1 HP/Level cumulative of Metamagic Feats I possessed, up to +4 scaling... which Signature Spell and Banespell made the +0 and +1 Levels.
+6 HP was no joke at my Level.
Naturally Centered and Wary were Skill-enhancing Feats, and should be giving me a message of doubling their bonuses at Ten... and were not. When I focused on them, there was nothing - +3 Concentration and Meditation for the former, +2 Concentration and Perception the latter - as if the doubling didn’t exist? Or just wasn’t known here?
Keen Senses was a flat +2 bonus to Perception, ‘elven senses’... Dual-Minded was a +2 bonus against Charm and Enchantment effects, as a dual magical lineage made it harder to lock me down...
Traits were something completely new. They didn’t have them in Power of Ten. When I focused on them...
Your breadth of experience carries over from life to life. +2 Trait Bonus to Initiative.
You have been marked by the power of Doom, and your struggle against it has birthed incredible mental focus. +2 Trait Bonus to Concentration.
And there was a linked Feat for gaining access to more Traits!
Both of them definitely drew on my past. Doom was what Curses were based on. I was still under a Death Curse...
I looked back at the top.
There was no name there, only a title... The Traveler.
The Curse was not letting me claim a name. If I tried... mmm. Let’s not go there...