After picking a Native Trait, I looked over the list of basic traits. These didn't seem as strong, but they still changed how my build fundamentally functioned. I got to pick two of these.
There were a lot of specialization options. Trading growth rate at one skill for increased rate and efficiency in the other. As a Mage, the best options seemed to divide the main schools of magic - six schools split across three divisions: Destruction vs Purification, Manipulation vs Conjuration, and Divination vs Amplification.
I found some options that changed how I cast my spells. Blood magic would remove my mana pool and I'd cast using health. Or a lesser version that I could augment my spells with something called a 'blood pool'. I could make all my spells silent, only using gestures to cast. Or even make them telepathic, but I'd lose my ability to speak.
I could change how I used elements, change how my abilities could chain together for greater effect, increased the effects of specific types of metamagic, or even unlocked certain abilities sooner and cast them at lower tiers.
There were options that added skills outside my Archetype to my Archetype growth progression. I briefly considered picking up a crafting skill with one, but decided that I wanted to focus on things that would synergize with Non-Combatant.
For my first trait, I chose:
[ Utilitimancer (Magic Trait)
Prerequisite: Mage based archetype
You are the swiss army mage, the ultimate magical toolbox, and there is no problem that you can't spell away. A wizard with time to prepare can always win. Plan out your destiny as a Utilimancer to find creative solutions to all your problems.
Your Conjuration, Manipulation, Divination, and Amplification schools of magic are more powerful. They cast with greater effect, grow faster(++), and cost less mana. In exchange, both Destruction and Purification are forbidden skills(x). ]
Forbidden didn't mean I couldn't ever cast them. But it dramatically increased the time and effort to level the skill, limited how much the NA would assist, and removed my Mage Archetype bonus so they started at unlearned.
I got the sense that most mages would take the single specialization choice. That way they could have one thing they're good at, and still have plenty of mediocre skills that they could use to fill the gaps. With Utilimancer, I would gain more options that I could be particularly good at, but forfeit two whole schools. Since Destruction had to do with dealing damage, I wouldn't be able to get much use out of that with Non-Combatant anyways.
Purification was a shame to lose access to. It was the arcane school that allowed for healing wounds, shielding, curing disease and poison, and generally contained counters to a number of the more malicious elements. Healing would've been the easiest way to get around the Non-Combatant restrictions, but that would just be shoring up weaknesses. By taking Utilimancer, I would be able to throw more power at the additional options I got from Non-Combatant.
This led directly into my next choice of trait:
[ Respecialist (General Trait)
Prerequisite: Native
You are no longer constrained by the choices of your past. Rebuild your abilities as you need them. Be free to experiment as you optimize your skills.
You may change your abilities at any time using a short meditation. Required meditation time to change abilities depends on the tier of abilities being changed, and your Memory stat.]
At first glance, I'd passed over this. It didn't give any direct bonuses, and didn't increase my abilities. But as I thought about it, I realized something very important. Utility was all about the options, it was about having the right tool for the job.
I could only have 10 active abilities at a time, and the only time I could update them was once a day during the evening. That meant that I had to know what I was planning to do the next day to be able to select the right abilities.
That wouldn't be a problem for most classes or builds, they only needed to find the right skillset to get their numbers as high as possible. They could find synergies for the best rotation to hit for massive damage.
But as a Non-Combatant Utilimancer, I needed to have the right solution for the problem that I would be facing.
Abilities like fly were a godsend in an open forest, but were useless in a cave where tunneling would be superior. It may not pay off for some time until I fully built out my repertoire, but with a full arsenal of utility spells I would become unstoppable. At least, as much as someone who couldn't actually hurt anything could be.
I was curious why Respecialist had a prerequisite of Native while Utilimancer didn't. Were there NPCs? Or could monsters have traits too?
[ Please select starting bonuses. You may increase three stats and six skills by one tier. ]
The three physical stats were Strength, Agility, and Fortitude, the three magic stats were Faith, Mana, and Memory, and the three fundamental stats were Awareness, Presence, and Resolve.
While I was tempted to put a point into Fortitude because that would directly correlate with my survival, I decided to put my bonuses in Mana, Memory, and Awareness. They seemed the most relevant for a utility mage. Mana to increase how often I could cast, how quickly I regenerated mana, and how big a spell I could cast. Memory for how complicated of a spell I could cast, and how many components I could remember. And finally Awareness, because I couldn't change the world around me unless I understood the world around me.
Most skills started at zero and had to be unlocked by use. My Archetype gave me a handful of skills, mostly related to magic unlocked and at tier one. With the bonuses, I could add them to any skill. Since I already had some skills at tier one, it was far more efficient for me to boost those rather than unlock new ones.
I selected Manipulation, Conjuration, Divination, Mana Regeneration, Concentration, and Metamagic. I wanted to take Amplification as well, but I thought out of the four schools that one wouldn't have as much early game application. Mana Regeneration to get my mana back quicker, Concentration would let me sustain more spells at a time, and Metamagic would give me more options for my spells.
Finally, I was faced with the hardest choice of them all.
[ Please select a name. ]
With being a woman now, I couldn't pick my old life name. I briefly debated picking a simple mundane name, like Rachel or Rebecca. But it was a moot point, the System rejected it before I could try to submit it.
Apparently it had standards for what it thought a female elf's name should be. It wanted the names to be flow-y and something that would fit in naturally into the world. Fortunately, the System provided me with a list to choose from.
I scrolled through the list until I found one I liked -- Aisling.