Elin:Sword Sage

Some of the text on this page is from the Alpha build of the game.

Sword sages are spiritual practitioners who transverses between the spirit world and the mortal realm, wielding the power to repel malevolent spirits. Skilled in the arts of curses and divination, they master the technique of enhancing weapons with talismans infused with spells.

Class Stats and Feats

Class	Str	Con	Dex	Per	Lea	Will	Mag	Cha	Total	Domains	Skills	Weapon Skills	Feat	Feat Effect
Sword Sage	7+35	6+30	0	0	0	5+25	7+35	0	25+125	Fire Cold Lightning Holy Nether	Tactics(150) Literacy(130) Meditation(130) Casting(140) Magic Device(140)	Long Sword (150) Staff(150) Polearm(130) Crossbow(120)	Talisman Mastery 2	Increased Talisman Effect Increased Talisman Charges

Overview

Mystics from a foreign land, sword sages weave magic into their weapons, invoking spells through the rhythm and movement of combat. This unique casting style gives them immense burst damage and allows them to circumvent many of the problems other spellcasters face, at the cost of requiring expensive preparation beforehand.

Strategy

Sword sages start with a calligraphy set; this tool is the cornerstone of sword sage strategy. It allows a spellbook of any ball, bolt, dart or touch spell to be bound to a melee weapon as talismans, turning each charge of the spellbook into a certain number of talismans that are cast when the weapon is used in combat. While anyone can use a calligraphy set, sword sages' class perks increase both the damage dealt by talisman-cast spells and the number of talismans granted per spellbook charge.

Several things should be noted about the calligraphy set and talismans:

• It takes several turns to use and can be interrupted. There is no literacy check for applying talismans.
• Memorisation does not increase the number of talismans granted per spellbook charge.
• Talismans cannot be removed once attached.
• Talismans cannot be stacked; attempting to attach more talismans to a weapon will result in the original talismans being overwritten, even if they were of the same spell.
• Talisman spell casting is not affected by silence, dim, or any other similar effects.
• Talisman spell casting does not consume MP.
• Spells cast by talismans are of the spell level the sword sage knows, and scale with the appropriate stats and domain bonuses.
• Spells are only cast, and talismans only expended, after a successful hit on an enemy.
• The damage from the spell is in addition to that of the physical hit, meaning the attacker has doubled action economy.
• If using Intonation spells in tandem with talismans, the Intonation damage and status ailments are applied first, followed by the talisman effect.

Because of these quirks, sword sages face a different set of challenges compared to conventional spellcasters. If they can survive an early game with few defensive capabilities and resources, sword sages are capable of dealing extreme amounts of burst damage with their double attack action economy and uninterruptable spells.

However, there are also some limitations on a sword sage's power. For example, evasive enemies may need to be dealt with by more conventional magic, as talismans do not trigger if the physical attack misses. Furthermore, talismans are extremely expensive to use, as memorisation does not increase the number of talismans gained, and hence they should not be used on trivial enemies. Finally, sword sages are unable to sustain their high damage per turn for long as talismans cannot be stacked on a weapon and eventually run out of charges. Like gunners and firearms, while having multiple talisman-attached weapons in reserve can extend sword sages' staying power, they must eventually retreat to "reload".

Suggested Races

A sword sage must be capable of both magical and martial prowess, and races that best suit that are good picks.

• Yerles
• Juere
• Eulderna
• Nefu

Special Considerations:

• Golem
• Demigod

As talismans do not consume MP, the player can instead focus on races that provide significant melee advantage but have lower innate mana stats, such as Golem, or classes that provide strong skill potential bonuses in tandem with the class such as Demigod.

Suggested Gods

• Itzpalt of Element
• Horome of Moonshadow

Starting Equipment

• Spellbook of fire bolt
• Spellbook of ice bolt
• Spellbook of intonation of lightning
• Calligraphy set
• 6 bandages

Lore and Trivia

The sword sage is a backer class.