Rules-Free VRMMO Life: Book 1 - Tutorial Page 4
You have 30000 points left to spend.
I’m not even going to try and list out all the Perks and Skills. Just too damn many of them. Fortunately, I have a ton of points to spend, thanks to Torgan. Even if I’m going full ‘Face’, I want to be able to survive, no, THRIVE in this world. So that means I need to get a ‘survival kit’ together.
What do you need for a survival kit? Skills are the first thing. I got that started with the swords and cooking. The magic will help some, too. But I need other skills as well. I need to be able to navigate, and gather materials, and crafting would be helpful, too. Oh, sure, I may never get past Basic in them, but if you find yourself alone in the middle of the wilderness, those are useful skills to have.
Talents are another key thing. I don’t want to be a jack-of-all-trades, but being a Face alone is suicide. So I need a secondary role. Maybe not to the extent of hybrid classes, but at least being able to defend myself if need be. For instance, only a very stupid mage doesn’t plan for how to attack his enemies if he runs out of MP. In the old days before VR and the Chip, you could just spam attacks, but that won’t always fly when you’re living the game.
Same time, I want to reinforce my specialty. A Face is the guy who can talk his way into and out of trouble. So roll with that. Diplomacy and other such skills are a given. But you also need to be able to read people, and gather information on the sly, or you won’t be prepared.
The list of perks and skills is pretty much endless, and there’s a whole range of costs attached to them. I notice fairly quickly that combat-focused skills and perks are at least double, if not triple, the cost of ‘social’ or ‘crafting’ ones. Fortunately, I have six times the normal amount of points to spend thanks to Torgan.
Cutting to the chase, I get these perks:
Able Learner
Learn new skills 20% faster
1000 points
Silver-Tongued Devil
+20% to all social interactions
500 points
Artisan Soul
All Crafting skills increase at +10% rate.
Quality of works increases.
2000 points
Mercantile
Sell items to vendors for +10%.
Buy items from vendors for -10%.
500 points
Strength Focus
+2 STR per Level
1000 Points
Dexterity Focus
+2 DEX per Level
1000 Points
Constitution Focus
+2 CON per Level
1000 Points
Intelligence Focus
+2 INT per Level
1000 Points
Wisdom Focus
+2 WIS per Level
1000 Points
Charisma Focus
+2 CHA per Level
1000 Points
Lucky!
+20 Luck, Luck stat unlocked
2000 Points
Luck Focus
+2 Luck per Level
500 Points
Soulforged Weapon
Design a custom weapon. It is soulbound to you, cannot be destroyed, and increases in power as you level up.
2500 Points
I actually took that last one twice, so I could dual-wield weapons of my choosing. That brought my points remaining to 12500. Luck, it turned out, was just like you thing it would be. Higher luck raised your chances of drawing good cards when gambling, or getting crits in combat, or getting fortunate encounters socially. Now, since I’d given myself a good baseline on Perks, I figured I could move on to skills.
Survival Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Skinning Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Mining Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Herbalist Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Alchemy Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Leatherworking Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Blacksmithing Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Tailoring Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Enchanting Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Architect Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Seduction Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Negotiation Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Gambling Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Disguise Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Lying Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
200 Points
Sneak Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
500 Points
Move Silently Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
500 Points
Identify Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
500 Points
Poisoner Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
500 Points
Observe Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
500 Points
Sleight of Hand Skill
Beginner 1 (0%)
500 Points
Bow Proficiency
Proficient with Bows
500 Points
Bow Mastery
Beginner 1 (0%)
1000 Points
That brought my points down to 5000, but gave me a kick-ass skills package. Sure, I could pick up most of those skills in game, but that would require a LOT of time and energy to ‘discover’ the skill, or money to ‘buy’ it from a book. Thanks once again to Torgan, I had a helluvalot more options than a normal player.
I decided that the last 5000 points I’d devote solely to stats. That would help cement my ability in the world. So, with that in mind, I added 18 STR, 18 CON, 18 DEX, 18 INT, 23 WIS, 96 CHA, and 8 Luck. At this point, I was feeling a little sick with how OP it was getting, so I went back and boosted Seduction to Beginner 10, Gambling and Lying to Beginner 5, and Identify to Beginner 2, which brought my total points left to 9. I decided to turn those into cash, because a bit of extra coin went a long way to helping get things like supplies that I’d need to start fending for myself.
That done, I signaled that I was finished.
Congratulations on finishing Character Creation!
Would you like to view the tutorial?
Y/N
“Yes!”
Chapter 6 – Tutorial, Part 1
There was a flash of light, and then I found myself in a forest. Looking up, I could tell that it was early in the day.
Welcome to the Tutorial Zone!
While here, you will be given helpful hints periodically. Due to this being the tutorial zone, there is no penalty for death.
Oh, well that sounds good. Time to take stock of my situation. Let’s start with gear. ‘Identify’ says that I’m wearing Noble’s Shirt, Noble’s Pants, Simple Belt, and Noble’s Cap. It gives me a whopping +0 to Defense, and doesn’t appear to have any use other than making me look like something other than a peasant.
Two weapons are in my bag. They look like daggers, but when I touch one, another window pops up.
This is a Soulforged Weapon. As it has been newly bound to you, you may customize its appearance and traits. These traits cannot be changed except when the weapon levels up. Attack Bonus, Damage Bonus, and other traits will increase as you level up. New traits may be added every 10 levels.
Well, since I’m able to make these things how I like, and I got a pair of them, I’m going to be awesome, and make myself a Daisho. Might not be a samurai, but the katana and wakizashi pair would be awesome to have. After a lot of work, I finally got my blades to look how I wanted them. Eve
n better, the system recognized that I was making them into a matched pair, and gave me a set bonus!
Munsuraisa (Moon Slicer)
Type
Sword (Katana)
Rank
Unique – Soulforged
Damage
4-12
Damage Type
Slashing
Part of the Heavenly Swordsman’s Daisho. This Soulforged weapon grows in power as you level up, however, you suffer a 10% reduction in XP gained.
+10 Attack, +5 Wisdom
20% Chance to ignore Armor on hit.
Heavenly Swordsman’s Daisho: When equipped with Taiyo no Tsubasa, +5 STR, +5 DEX
Taiyo no Tsubasa (Sun Blade)
Type
Sword (Wakizashi)
Rank
Unique – Soulforged
Damage
2-8
Damage Type
Slashing
Part of the Heavenly Swordsman’s Daisho. This Soulforged weapon grows in power as you level up, however, you suffer a 10% reduction in XP gained.
+10 Attack, +5 Charisma
1-6 Fire Damage on hit.
Heavenly Swordsman’s Daisho: When equipped with Munsuraisa, +5 CON, +5 INT
Very nice for a beginner’s weapon, but not completely overpowered for something you’d find under level 10. And it would grow along with me in time. Sure, I was taking a 20% reduction in XP because of the two weapons, but that was fine.
Looking at the rest of my gear, I saw:
Beginner's Rations x10
Waterskin
Black Bible of Kitami Reika
Dolcett Cookbook
Well, at least I wasn’t going to starve in the short term. I hadn’t checked on those two racial skills yet, so I looked them up.
Pheromones (Active/Sustained)
Beginner 1 (0%)
The Incubus is capable of producing pheromones on command. These pheromones make the Incubus
more attractive in the eyes of others, and their words carry more weight. The pheromones cover an area
5' in radius around the Incubus, and increase social interaction skills by 1%, increasing to 2% if the
person would be attracted to the Incubus. Radius and effect increase with level. This skill requires 50
MP, which cannot be regained while the skill is sustained.
Charming Gaze (Active)
Beginner 1 (0%)
Those who meet the Incubus’s gaze often find themselves falling to his charms. Can inflict Charmed status on enemies. Duration of Charmed status rises with level. Current duration: 10 Minutes. Restriction: Only works on humanoid females. This restriction may change at higher levels.
Cost: 50 MP
So, with my other bonuses, if I used Pheromones, I got a 26-27% boost to my social skills. And Charming Gaze could help swing a fight my way. While not all that powerful on their own, I suspected that if I ground them up to higher levels they could be very powerful. To start, I went ahead and activated Pheromones. My MP dropped to 300 and stayed there. With the bonuses I got from my old character, I could probably just leave this on all the time.
Next, I needed to see what spells I had.
Dark Magic
Darkbolt (Level 1, 0%)
A bolt of magical darkness that can damage enemies at range. Damage and range increase with level.
Damage: 1-10. Range: 20 Feet
Cost: 10 MP
Dark Tentacles (Level 1, 0%)
Conjure Tentacles made out of pure darkness that move according to your bidding. Number and strength of tentacles increases with level.
Number: 2. Strength: Lift 20 lbs. Range: 50 feet.
Cost: 50 MP, 1 MP per second
Armor of Darkness (Level 1, 0%)
Sustained spell. Infuses clothing with shadow essence, adding +10 to Defense. Defense bonus increases with level.
Cost: 50 MP, which cannot be recovered until dispelled.
Charm Magic
Euphoria (Level 1, 0%)
Drives the target mad with feelings of intense physical pleasure. May incapacitate enemies. Range increases with level. Cost decreases with level.
Range: 10 Feet
Cost: 10 MP/Second
Cloud Mind (Level 1, 0%)
Confuse a target, giving all actions a +50% chance of failure. Duration and Range increase with level.
Duration: 10 seconds. Range: 30 Feet.
Cost: 20 MP
Seduction (Level 1, 0%)
Not on the level of a true ‘Charmed’ effect, however this spell makes the target incredibly attracted to the user. This makes social interaction skills with the target 10% more effective. Effect and Duration increase with level
Duration: 1 minute. Range: 20 Feet
Cost: 10 MP
Running down the list, it looked like Charm magic was largely useless in combat, if one looked only at damage and such things. However, Cloud Mind would do nicely as a distraction. The other spells would serve me well in social situations. I also had that ‘Black Bible’, which probably was a grimoire of some sort, since I could apparently learn spells from it.
Now, this was the tutorial zone, so I had best find out where to go. There wasn’t a path, but it looked like I was on a small hill, and I could see a stream in the distance. That’s as good a place to start. As I walked, I scanned the nearby area, identifying things, and looking for herbs. Might as well start grinding skills.
I was just getting started, when I heard a low growling behind me. Turning around, I found a helpful blue box hovering over a shape in the bushes.
Young Forest Wolf
Level 5
“Well, crap.”
Chapter 7 – Tutorial, Part 2
Cursing my luck, jump back from the bushes and draw my swords. How in the hell is a level 5 Wolf supposed to be in a tutorial area for level 1 players? Sure, I’ve got better stats and weapons than a normal player, but damn!
And then time froze, and a screen popped up in front of me.
This is Tutorial-chan! You have encountered your first random encounter! Normally, you would be facing a horned rabbit or a slime, but your luck and traits have attracted the attention of a hungry wolf!
Good for you!
Physical combat in Age of Anarchy Online is straightforward. You swing your weapons naturally, and try to hit your opponent. There are several factors that go into this, however.
First, weapon proficiency. You are proficient with: Simple Weapons, Swords, Bows, Spits. If you try to use weapons that you aren’t proficient with, not only do you not gain any attack bonuses the weapon may give, you actually take a penalty to your attack and defense while the nonproficient weapon is equipped. This is also true for armor and shields!
If you are proficient with the weapon, then you do not receive penalties, and you gain any attack or stat bonuses the weapon may have. However, proficiency is different from skill.
Weapon Skills (or Masteries) add a small percentage to your attacks based on the skill level, and may also increase damage as you gain levels. If you are playing with system assist, weapon skill will also help improve accuracy, but will lower your chance of critical hits.
System assist is an option that can be turned on in your Options menu. This system will guide your attacks, substituting the character’s average skill for the player’s skill. This is recommended for beginners and casual players. However, experienced players may wish to leave system assist off, as you can increase your critical rate by aiming for vital points on an enemy. Rip out an enemy’s throat, and even higher level foes will soon expire.
Along with System Assist, another function of the game is Pain Level. Default pain settings in Age of Anarchy Online is 100%, meaning that the pain you feel if this wolf bites you will be just the same as if a wolf bit you in real life. You can lower pain levels in the Options menu. Be advised that lowering the pain settings will also lower critical rates and damage.
When I cleared the screen, time went back to normal aga
in, just in time for me to see the wolf come charging out of the bushes, and leaping at me! Oh joy! And then time froze again. I was less surprised this time. It was a simple mechanic for teaching people about the system, but it worked.
Tutorial-chan here again! Congratulations, you are being attacked!
If you want to avoid getting killed, there are several options you have available to you.
Dodging involves moving out of the way of the attack, and depends heavily on your DEX, though some skills may make dodging easier. Attacks don’t hurt if you don’t get hit.
You may also try to block or parry an attack. Blocking an attack reduces its effectiveness by the rate of your attack, and depends on your STR. Some attacks may be unblockable. The type of weapon or shield you block with may increase or decrease the effects (blocking with a dagger is less effective than with a tower shield).