Skills

[Gaea]

• Skills define how far beyond human your character is at something - 0 is "faceless NPC," 3 is "LU BU IS HERE"
• Level 4 is Legendary - the realm of heroes, the power to change the world - or break it.
• Levels 1-3 always cost 1 point per level; you can get one lvl4 ability at 500 posts
• How many points you start with and how fast you earn them depends on what growth rates you pick at registration
• After the 500 post mark, everyone gets 1 skill every 100 posts regardless of start, and an extra Legendary point at 1000, 1500, etc

Skills
Magic Power
Covers the raw power of all unnatural magic-type abilities, from magic bees to sword shockwaves or dragonbreath or punches that cause massive shockwaves
1: severe damage to a normal human body
2: overcoming plate armor
3: penetrating reinforced structures
4: fuck that castle in particular


Range
Allows you to extend an ability's effects beyond melee range
1: 10 meters (basketball court)
2: 100 meters (football field)
3: 1000 meters (~2/3 of a mile)
4: eyesight


Area
Determines the maximum area that an attack can affect.
1: Squad (~10 men)
2: Platoon (~30 men)
3: Company (~100 men)
4: Battalion (~1,000 men)
Notes: Note that this is the max, not the default - area 1 abilities will generally be able to hit a few people at most, up to 10 with some effort effort. Regardless of your level in Area, abilities can be centered no further away than your Range. Area 3 range 0 means you're holding the nuke you just set off.


Summoning
What relative power level of creatures an individual can create or bind to their will.
1: Lesser creatures (revenants, lions, gargoyles, small golems, lesser elemental spirits)
2: Powerful creatures (Gwyllgli, Deathgoyles, Baels, Mogalls, etc)
3: Mythical creatures (Elder Baels, Cyclops, Dracozombies, etc)
4: Legendary creatures (Draugr, Nether Dragons, Cyclops Patriarchs, Broodmothers, Chimeras, Bone Golems, blatant Final Fantasy summon ripoffs, etc)
Notes: Can summon a few (generally 1-3 depending on proportional power) of your highest tier at once or much larger numbers of weaker tiers (10+ 1 tier weaker, 100+ 2 weaker, 1000+ 3 weaker).


Healing
The ability to heal the wounds of yourself and others through magic.
1: Heal moderate wounds
2: Heal serious or even potentially fatal wounds
3: If even a shred of breath remains in a tattered body, you can fix it
4: Gain the ability to resurrect the dead at immense personal cost
Notes: Much less mana-efficient than offensive magic, but it won't 'miss' or fail like they can. Scales with magic area/speed as usual, but NOT power - you get that from this skill


Strength
A measure of the raw physical power behind nonmagical attacks
1: Punch through a person, bend iron weapons, lift wagons and the like
2: Punch through plate armor, break weapons with your bare hands, hurl boulders, etc.
3: Punch through castle walls, turn a sword into spaghetti, rip off a castle gate, etc.
4: Punch through anything


Durability
The level of impacts that can be shrugged off.
1: Can mitigate hits that would pulverize a normal human body
2: Durability above heavy plate armor; can facetank hits that would blow a hole in a house
3: Durability beyond reason; strikes that could shatter castle walls are barely sufficient to move you
4: Durability that can only be compared to near-total invulnerability. Power capable of deforming the landscape and obliterating entire armies is necessary to stop you.
Notes: Directly counters the effects of offensive upgrades on the opponent; level 4 durability can take level 4 magic power/strength without serious damage, but not forever. Offensive abilities a level below can still do significant damage with repeated hits.


Speed
Represents the maximum speed an individual can sprint at.
1: 50 mph
2: 100 mph
3: Ability: Flash Step (Bursts of movement so intensely fast to be comparable to short-range teleportation)
4: Ability: Long Step (Flash Step can now be used long distance; everything above is now a natural ability rather than a major exertion)
Notes: Sustaining speeds 1-2 or repeatedly flashstepping gets exhausting fairly quickly without the level 4 upgrade



Utility Skills
Transformation

• Gain the ability to assume another form entirely - giant dragon, hulking werewolf, tentacle monster, oversized housecat, etc
• Transformations are skilled separately from your normal form using your entire points pool, but do not offer new weapon/magic masteries.
• The point used for this skill is 'wasted' in human form
• Can be purchased multiple times for multiple alternate forms

Regeneration

• Naturally increases healing rate and resistance to poison
• Once a topic, can be used to negate a major but not instantly fatal injury - regrowing an arm is fine, regrowing a head is not
• Legendary Upgrade: Wolverine level BS. You can regenerate from just about anything that isn't instantly fatal.

Mount

• Anyone can ride a horse, but the creatures provided by this skill are a weapon in their own right
• Required in order to ride a Pegasus, Griffin, or Wyvern in battle, or a dedicated war horse, which tend to be well armored in return for lack of flight abilities
• These creatures scale with your physical abilities and unlike a normal animal, aren't likely to die instantly in high-level combat
• Legendary Upgrade: your mount can now be any Mythical tier creature and a powerful combatant in their own right. Bitchin' dragon, FF summon ripoff, chimera, golem, etc.

Teleportation

• Gain the ability to move yourself or a willing target to a destination without crossing the intervening space.
• Requires a bit of chargeup, focus, and a fair bit of mana; it's not free.
• Legendary Upgrade: allows the movement of larger groups as as well as removing the cooldown/chargeup

Illusion

• Gain the ability to craft illusions that visually appear mostly real, tricking the unaware or confusing those more competent
• The scale and distance from yourself that you can craft these illusions scales with Magic Area and Range
• Legendary Upgrade: you may now craft illusions that fool multiple senses simultaneously, though they are still extremely fragile to touch.

Flight

• Whether via wings, levitation magic, or anger-fueled jetpacks, you gain the ability to fly
• Speed is limited to your Speed stat
• The accuracy of ranged weapons and magic suffer while in motion
• Generally tied to natural wings or one of your magic types - fire wings, riding the wind, surfing a wind magic sword, etc.

Barrier

• The ability to create temporary magical barriers to protect yourself or others. Can be fluffed as a personal shield or an area defense.
• Scales with all magic stats normally, but larger barriers take much more mana than similar-scale offensive magic
• Generally tied to one of your weapon types - Fire magic might use molten barriers, or a Sword user might create a momentary wall of swords