Final day of training pt 7: Talents

When you think about your Talents, a window opens up in your mind with a large sphere labeled "Exalted Mage", with four narrow silver threads leading to smaller spheres labeled "Jack of all Schools", "Weave the Strands", "Blending of Schools", and "Familiar-ity Breeds Contentment". More silver threads lead off of each of them, but you can't see where they lead to. Inspecting each of the smaller spheres, which you assume are your actual Talent choices, you can see the details.

Jack of all Schools I -- Requirements: None. Effect: +10% bonus to earned skill experience in each magic school with a level lower than that of your highest level magic school. Cost: 5 points
Weave the Strands I -- Requirements: None. Effect: When casting a multi-school spell, +5 spell power for each of its schools. Cost: 3 points
Blending of Schools I -- Requirements: None. Effect: +10% to the chance to successfully create a multi-school spell. Cost: 5 points
Familiarity I -- Requirements: Having an active Familiar. Effect: Your familiar earns +10% experience. Cost: 2 points

Well, not a lot of choice to start with, especially with Blending of Schools not actually doing anything for you until you get more levels in Magical Theory. With a mental shrug, you select Familiarity and spend two Talent points on it. Regardless of anything else, you're sure that you're going to want to level your new familiar, and it is the cheapest option. Instantly, the text on the Talent changes and one of the silvery lines leading from it leads to a new Talent option.

Familiarity II -- Requirements: Familiarity I. Effect: Your familiar earns +10% experience [+20% total]. Cost: 4 points
As Above, So Below I -- Requirements: Familiarity I. Effect: Your familiar gains 10% of your own Attributes. Cost: 10 points

More good information. Talents can have multiple ranks with cumulative effects but escalating prices, but unlocking the next tier of Talents only requires the first rank. You go ahead and unlock the other tier 1 Talents you can actually make use of, Jack of all Schools and Weave the Strands. This time, six strands light up.

Jack of all Schools II -- Requirements: Jack of all Schools I. Effect: +10% bonus to earned skill experience [+20% total] in each magic school with a level lower than that of your highest level magic school. Cost: 10 points
Weave the Strands II -- Requirements: Weave the Strands I. Effect: When casting a multi-school spell, +5 spell power [+10 total] for each of its schools. Cost: 6 points
Strength in Diversity I -- Requirements: Jack of All Schools I, Apprentice rank in at least one magic school. Effect: +1 spell power to all magic schools for each magic school you have achieved Apprentice rank in. Cost: 2 points
Firepower I -- Requirements: Weave the Strands I, Level 1 in Fire Magic. Effect: +5% fire damage dealt with magic. Cost: 2 points
Lifeforce I -- Requirements: Weave the Strands I, Level 1 in Vivimancy. Effect: +5% healing with magic. Cost: 2 points
Soul Caliber I -- Requirements: Weave the Strands I, Level 1 in Animamancy. Effect: -5% experience cost for magic. Cost: 2 points
Altered Beast I -- Requirements: Weave the Strands I, Level 1 in Beast Magic. Effect: +5% effectiveness of alterations made to creatures’ physical form with magic. Cost: 2 points
Ad-Libbed Admixture -- Requirements: Jack of all Schools I, Weave the Strands I. Effect: Grants the Ad-Libbed Admixture Ability. Cost: 25 points

The first thing which draws your attention is that it looks like there will be a Talent associated with each individual magic school once you unlock them; you go ahead and take Firepower I and Lifeforce I, as more damage and more healing are both great for 2 points each.

Firepower II -- Requirements: Firepower I. Effect: +5% damage [+10% total] fire damage dealt with magic. Cost: 4 points
Lifeforce II -- Requirements: Lifeforce I. Effect: +5% healing [+10% total] with magic. Cost: 4 points
Spark of Life -- Requirements: Firepower I, Lifeforce I, Fire Magic level 5, Vivimancy level 5. Effect: Grants the Spark of Life ritual. Cost: 5 points

The second thing which grabs your attention is the Ad-Libbed Admixture Talent, and now the Spark of Life Talent. All of the other Talents so far have been valuable but fairly boring passive bonuses; these two appear to offer something more active. You focus on each of them and the information fills your mind.

Ad-Libbed Admixture: When casting a spell, you may add components from esoteric magic schools you know to enhance the spell beyond its normal performance. The effects of this Ability are variable each time it is used, even for the same spell and admixture. Spells affected by this Ability are considered multi-school rituals for the duration of their effects and give skill experience for every school involved. Cost: Variable.
Spark of Life: Fire Magic and Vivimancy, level 5. This ritual summons the spark of life into a creature of death, such as undead or manikins. This will consume them from the inside, dealing 50 fire/life damage initially and inflicting them with the Burning Life status, which causes them to take 25 fire/life damage per second for 5 seconds. Because of the unique mixture of the two damage types, this is affected by vulnerability to either fire or life damage, but can only be resisted by creatures with resistance or immunity to both fire and life damage. This ritual has no effect on creatures which are not aligned with death. Cost: 25 Concentration. Duration: Instantaneous. Casting Time: 1 second. Cooldown: 5 seconds.

Ad-Libbed Admixture is one of those Talents which seems enormously powerful but hard to rely on; it seems obvious that the cost to splice Animamancy onto a spell would be experience, but of what amount? And what would the cost to add Vivimancy? You have access to four different Vivimancy rituals and they all have a different secondary component: Patch Wounds uses a physical reagent, Pulse of Life drains your Stamina, Phoenix Pyre drains your Health, and Spark of Life doesn't actually seem to have a secondary component. Maybe the secondary component is the targeting restriction? Either way, you don't feel comfortable spending a quarter of your Talent points on it just yet.

Spark of Life, on the other hand, seems tailor-made for what you're about to do. A single cast of Spark of Life would kill something equivalent to the Boar Manikin instantly, given how much your Attributes and Skills have grown since then, and it will continue to damage stronger enemies. And, assuming that the Manikins are also weak to life damage since they're death creatures, it would actually deal over 100 damage per second to any of them, over 700 damage total, just from base damage and vulnerabilities. You spend the 5 points with no hesitation. The text on the Talent does not change this time, nor do any new Talents reveal themselves.

You return to looking at your other options. You don't really want to put any points into Soul Caliber or Altered Beast yet since you don't intend to make much use of either benefit right away, and the only other new option is Strength in Diversity. It's only worth +1 spell power now, but eventually it could be worth 5, 10, or even more to every single spell and ritual you cast, just for two points. Easily worth it in the long run. Interestingly, despite it being a numbered Talent, you don't immediately get the option to increase it to level II; it must have another requirement. A new Talent does appear, however.

Crown of the Exalted -- Requirements: Strength in Diversity I, Weave the Strands I. Effect: Grants the Crown of the Exalted Trait. Cost: 40 points
Crown of the Exalted: You may maintain one spell or ritual of each magic school without using Concentration. While you maintain any magic this way, a crown-shaped aura of shimmering light surrounds your head, capped by points of light representing each school being maintained. You must still have enough Concentration to cast the spell or ritual in the first place.

Whoa, Nelly. 40 Talent points is no joke, but being able to maintain potentially dozens of buffs without using any Concentration is enormous. You briefly debate spending points on it now when you have so few buffs, but from what you have seen, function follows form frequently in the Realms; having the capacity to maintain thousands of Concentration worth of spells and rituals may well mean you get access to ones worth maintaining for long periods. Spending so much hurts, but you still mentally press the button. No further Talents open up, but that's OK by you. You take a moment to cast Kindle the Hearth-Flame on yourself, then decide to let your Crown maintain it. Brighid looks up from putting the finishing touches on dinner when you start to cast the spell, and her eyes widen when a glowing silver-gold aura capped by a single deep red point manifests around the top of your head.

"What in the Realms...?" She wonders. You explain the Talent and Trait to her and she just shakes her head, saying, "That is truly a Talent worthy of legends. It may have been premature to take it now, but I cannot fault your reasoning. You are not going to be able to hide anywhere with that active, though, and keep in mind that wearing a crown, even one which is not actually a crown, around others may not make you many friends." She finishes putting the food all together and carries three plates over to the table, placing salads in front of herself and you, and a smaller plate with several scraps of meat to the side of your plate for your familiar. You eye the salad dubiously and reach out to snag some meat from Riama's plate, but she makes a threatening sound and sends a pulse of <territoriality> and you decide better of it. Brighid just laughs at you and digs into her salad. "You do not want a heavy meal before a battle, trust me. Just eat your salad like a good boy."

As you eat your surprisingly tasty salad, you finish spending your points for now. You go ahead and take the second level of Jack of All Schools, Weave the Strands, Familiarity, Firepower, and Lifeforce for a total of 18 points, leaving you with 11, then As Above, So Below I, taking you down to a single Talent point remaining, for now. As expected, new ranks for each of those Talents open up, as well as new Talents branching off of As Above, So Below.

Jack of all Schools III -- Requirements: Jack of all Schools II. Effect: +10% bonus to earned skill experience [+30% total] in each magic school with a level lower than that of your highest level magic school. Cost: 20 points
Weave the Strands III -- Requirements: Weave the Strands II. Effect: When casting a multi-school spell, +5 spell power [+15 total] for each of its schools. Cost: 12 points
Familiarity III -- Requirements: Familiarity II. Effect: Your familiar earns +10% experience [+30% total]. Cost: 8 points
Firepower III -- Requirements: Firepower II. Effect: +5% damage [+15% total] fire damage dealt with magic. Cost: 8 points
Lifeforce III -- Requirements: Lifeforce II. Effect: +5% healing [+15% total] with magic. Cost: 8 points
As Above, So Below II -- Requirements: As Above, So Below I. Effect: Your familiar gains an additional 10% of your own Attributes [Total 20%]. Cost: 10 points
Fire Link I -- Requirements: As Above, So Below I, Firepower I. Effect: While you are maintaining a Fire Magic spell or ritual, including with Crown of the Exalted, your familiar's attacks deals an additional 10% damage as fire damage. Cost: 5 points.
Life Link I -- Requirements: As Above, So Below I, Lifeforce I. Effect: While you are maintaining a Vivimancy ritual, including with Crown of the Exalted, your familiar heals 1% of her total Health and 2% of her total Stamina per second. Cost: 5 points.

You mentally berate yourself for spending all your points before taking the new level I Talent and so not having the opportunity to pick up those two juicy new Talents for Riama, but you resolve to take both with your next level then focus on finishing dinner. It only takes the three of you a few minutes to eat your meals, then you help Brighid into her armor and vice versa, and you head out of her home. You intended to leave your level 1 familiar behind, but Riama runs out the door between your feet, then jumps up onto Brighid's back and gives you a flat, As if!, look. Clearly, she does not intend to allow herself to be left behind, and you don't have time to argue with a cat; you know you won't win anyway. Instead, you just jog alongside Brighid as you head out the north entrance of the village.

You arrive marshaling field and Brighid leads you to a place near the front and center of the assembled centaur warband. She kneels for you to mount her and you do so, then she rises to her feet again. As you settle into place on Brighid’s back, a series of notifications fill your mind.

You have been added to Fionn Ironhide’s Warband

As a member of a Warband, you will receive a small portion of the experience any member of the Warband receives, and vice versa. While you are in the Warleader’s Command Radius, you will receive various bonuses from their Skill level, Talents, and other factors.

Crushing Charge IV: When making a charge attack, damage dealt is increased by 20% to 1,000%, depending on the momentum of the charge. This is in addition to the normal bonus damage from performing a charge.
Mobile Archery III: You suffer 30% less accuracy penalty from making a ranged attack while moving.
Highlands Movement V: Your movement speed is increased by 25% while in Highlands terrain.
Increased Attack V: Your melee and ranged attacks are 15% more accurate and deal 15% more damage.
Increased Defense VI: Your protection is increased by 18%.
Guerillas in the Mist IV: Concealment provided by mist or fog is increased by 400%.
Guiding Star II: While under a starry night sky, your melee and ranged attacks deal 20% more damage, your evasion, parry, and shield block chances are increased by 20%, and your movement speed is increased by 20%.
You do not qualify for Longer-winded.
You do not qualify for By Hoof and Spear.

You have been designated as a Lieutenant in Fionn Ironhide’s Warband

Your Leadership Skill level of 5 allows you to act as a Lieutenant in the Warband, extending the Warleader’s Command Radius to encompass up to 5 creatures in your party, regardless of the range to the Warleader, so long as you remain a participant in the same battle as the Warleader and are actively following their orders.