A new round of updated and upgraded class information began to appear, telling me what abilities and skills might have changed, been added, or evolved from my prior class.
Your mana core upgrades will continue as they had been, and your existing resistances have remained the same. Many of your skills and abilities have remained the same, but the following have changed.
- Advanced Template Hunter has been integrated into your class. It is now a passive ability that will have a chance of adding new options for recruitment when the time comes to add another minion to your barracks.
- Shared Burden has evolved and is now constantly active. It will share 10% of any damage you take and distribute it equally among all currently active summoned minions.
- Switch and Replace has had its cooldown reduced to 1 minute.
You have gained several new class abilities.
- Negotiate Contract. A key feature of your class is to negotiate summoning contracts with various parties. These contracts are bound by the system and may increase in complexity as you grow in Tier and Rank. Based on the risk level of the contract you negotiate, you may be granted additional bonuses to your stats, enhancements to your abilities and summoned minions, or other helpful items and equipment for the duration of the contract.
It's important to remember that these contracted summonings are not the same as you experienced during your time as a Summoned Being. There is no automatic respawn if you are destroyed during the summoning contract. Limited options to improve your survivability will unlock as you progress in your new class.
- Early Cancellation. If you suspect a contract may be problematic, you may opt to end it early. Should you cancel early, your Reputation will be negatively impacted, and if previously negotiated, you may face additional penalties. Early Cancellation can only be activated when you’re not in combat or under a direct threat. Once activated, Early Cancellation will go on a cooldown with a timer that varies based on several factors.
- Summoner’s Copy. Built into every contract you offer will be the Summoner’s Copy clause. This clause allows you to bring an additional summoned minion with you on your next summoning. The minion will be chosen from several options generated by interactions during your previous summoning. On rare occasions, you may be able to contract with a direct entity and not be assigned a system generated simulacrum.
- The Summoner’s Share. At the start of each contracted summoning, you will be offered a selection of modified abilities, skills, and powers that are granted from the minions you have chosen to take with you. The number of selections you may choose will depend on your Tier, Rank, and Presence score. The abilities will last only for the duration of the summoning contract.
There was a lot of information hitting me at once and I paused the flow of system notices as I tried to digest what I was seeing. So far, it looked like the changes weren’t too drastic, and I’d been given a couple of new abilities that would come in handy. Not all my new class features had been shown to me yet, like how many minions I could summon and if I could bring any of my existing team along for the ride.
The Negotiate Contract ability included an ominous reminder that this was for real now, though I was much more confident in my survival skills and instincts than I had been when all this had first started. Early Cancellation would replace the Notice of Cessation from my time as a Summoned Being. There were more restrictions on the ability, but at least I had some failsafe if the summoning turned out to be something that wasn’t what the other party had described.
I’d face a penalty for punching out of the summoning early, but a penalty was better than being forced to do something that violated my beliefs. The system also wasn’t going to let me use Early Cancellation as an escape mechanism since I couldn’t use it while in combat or under a direct threat. Taking a beverage from Whirtmir, I sipped the fruit juice as I readied myself for not just the rest of my class specifics, but also to discover what would become of my personal space.
Some of your equipment is no longer compatible with your class and has been altered. The following changes have been made.
- The Minion Master armor will no longer increase the Rank of your minions by 1. Instead, the armor will provide a 5% bonus to attack, defense, and durability to your minions.
The equipment changes were minor, and it seemed like the system wasn’t keen on my minions being higher tier and rank than me. Still, a 5% buff to three things was probably a fair trade-off, not to mention I really liked the armor and didn’t want to have to hunt for something new if I ever got to somewhere I could shop. More information appeared, and the changes continued.
Your spells have also changed and evolved to match your new class. The following changes have been made.
- Duplicate will only create 1 copy of the targeted minion, the secondary effect of it summoning an additional duplicate of your lowest tier and rank minion has been removed.
The cooldown on the spell remains the same at 30-seconds, and as before, only one Duplicate can be active at a time. The duplicated minion is now more durable and will only suffer an additional 25% additional damage instead of the 50% that the spell previously included.
All of your other spells are compatible with your current class. You have gained an additional Tier 3 spell.
- Overdrive. Mana cost: 25. Overdrive will boost the stats, speed, damage, and durability of your minions by 25% for 30 seconds. In addition, it will affect you as the caster at a reduced rate of 10% for the same 30 seconds. After the spell effects end, you and your minions will experience an exhausted debuff that hampers your speed, damage, and durability by 10% for 1 minute.
Summoning:
At your current Tier and Rank, your class allows you to bring two of your minions with you for each contract. These minions can be selected from those currently inside your barracks. In addition to these 2 minions, your Summoner’s Copy ability grants a 3rd minion that may be chosen from a selection of offerings based on your last contracted summoning. Your minions will scale to your current Tier and Rank, making them powerful additions to your party.
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You may select up to 3 of your existing minions to add to your barracks. As you climb in Tier and Rank, additional minions may be added to your available options. Please select the three minions you wish to add to your barracks pool. Once your selections have been made, and the class evolution process is complete, you may view the updated information on your chosen minions.
I knew that the class would have a limited number of minions, but those minions would be more powerful and having two additional party members that were the same tier and rank as me was going to give me some real power. The only problem is that I had to make cuts to the team. To make the choices even harder, the minions would scale with me, so it wasn’t going to be as easy as just picking the three highest tier and rank minions.
Looking over my existing crew, a few stood out. First off was Elida. She was the only healer among my minions, and I couldn’t see very many situations where bringing along a healer would be a bad thing.
While Elida was probably an auto-include, I was leaning toward passing on Digbaz Bazam. Having a powerful mage was good, but often, I would be the one in the back casting spells and would probably need more of a meat shield than another caster. I was going miss his Tornado spell if I chose to pass on Digbaz.
Other than Elida, I was drawn to the Mana Slayer Drone as my second addition. It was powerful in melee, and with the grenade launcher, it was becoming deadly at range as well. With its tank-like armor and deadly melee capabilities, it was a solid choice. Given that the drone was a hard counter to any mages or magical creatures was an added bonus, not to mention, I was excited to see how he would improve going up almost a full tier when he matched my current one.
With Elida and the drone decided on, I had one more slot to fill. I considered my lowest tier and rank minions, trying to view them through the lens of possible improvements they’d experience by reaching tier three. Still, both Khurr and Blieek were only one minion, and with the goblin trio, I was getting a three for one deal. In addition, the system mentioned nothing about hampering their tier or rank due to there being three minions in the one slot.
It was a bit of risk, and I was worried that the system would somehow hobble the choice of the goblin trio, maybe only giving me a choice of one of them, but the upside was worth the risk. Having two powerful melee attackers in Glem and Glamb, as well as a deadly ranged archer with Glurk, meant that trio managed to beat out Digbaz as my final selection.
You have selected the following 3 minions:
- Elida Silverbarrow, halfling Battle Mender.
- Mana Slayer Drone.
- Glem, Glamb, and Glurk, Goblin Kill Team.
Well, that was unexpected. The drone’s name stayed the same, but the other two were upgraded when they hit my new tier and rank. A Battle Mender sounded way cooler and more powerful than just a halfling healer, and the goblins had graduated from raiders to a kill team. I was excited to bring them out for a test drive, but the system was going to make me wait to examine the changes until we were done with the class evolution and whatever else the system had on the agenda.
With your minions selected, your class evolution is complete. Changes will now be made to your personal space. The total area of the space will become smaller, and you will only be able to visit at the end of each contract period. Any additions to the space will be eliminated, and the current tenants will be notified of these changes shortly. While the time you can spend inside your personal space after each contract is complete is generous, there is a limit to how long you can spend there before you will be required to leave.
The portal to your personal space will now be keyed to a designated area. Once you return from your personal space, you will return to this designated area, or the nearest viable location should that designated area become inaccessible. Only certain locations are qualified to become your designated return area, and you will be notified if an area is deemed inappropriate and several nearby alternatives will be offered.
You have gained the ability: Designated Return.
Designated Return allows you to select a location linked to your personal space.
The Training Center in your personal space has evolved into the Barracks. This Barracks provides a place for you to review your summoned minions and their current loadouts. You also select available upgrades to gear, skills, and abilities, as well as guide the path you wish them to take as you grow your Tier and Rank.
Your reward chest will function similarly to the way it does now. It will act as a repository for any compensation offered by those who enter into summoning contracts with you. In addition, you will be granted a storage ring, that will allow you limited access to your reward chest should a contract offer advance payment. When accessing the reward chest remotely, only those items included in the contract’s advance can be accessed.
You have been given a new item. Reward Chest Access Ring. This ring allows limited access to your reward chest and cannot be stolen or lost. Should the ring somehow become destroyed, it will be rebuilt and reappear inside your reward chest for you to collect on your next visit.
That was what I had been waiting for, the changes to my personal space were going to eliminate Gary’s rental area. As I expected, the system notified me immediately of his challenge as soon as it finished explaining the changes to the personal space to me.
You have 2 existing tenants in your personal space. Only 1 of these tenants meets the requirement to initiate a tenant claim on your space. Should you abdicate your personal space, modifications to your class will be enacted. Your Reward Chest Access Ring will be transformed into an appropriate capacity, standard Ring of Storage. This Ring of Storage will not have the same protections as the Reward Chest Access Ring and can be lost, destroyed, or stolen from your possession.
Awaiting a response from the following tenants with a possible claim on your personal space.
- The being known as Gary.
The being known as Gary is making a tenant’s claim on your personal space. You may designate a proxy to negotiate the terms for resolving this dispute, or you may do so yourself. Do you wish to designate a proxy to negotiate on your behalf?
As we planned, I selected Tzes’zod to negotiate for me. I had no choice but to trust the lich in this situation. At least I was confident that he was appropriately motivated to help me to the best of his ability. Hiding his phylactery in my personal space was about as safe a place as he could hope to find.
You have designated the being known as Tzes’zod to negotiate the tenant dispute resolution process on your behalf. Notifications on the progress of these negotiations will be sent when appropriate, and you may also receive regular updates from your designated representative.
With your class evolution complete, and the changes to your personal space and reward chest in progress, you may now review the first contracts offered to you. For the initial contract offering, several of your past contacts have been notified and given the opportunity to make you an offer. Should none of the offers be deemed acceptable by you, a different initial contract will be randomly selected by the system.
Stand by for your initial contract offerings.