Most low level fights aren't that complicated. DoT focused mages are rare as are people with higher tier magic early. The higher the magic Tier the more abstract and indirect the magic. You probably won't end up in a party with truly wild Aleatory Talents. It just isn't that common. If anything life is easier for low tier adventurers with simpler magical capabilities. You just start blasting. Or bashing for close in combatants. A typical unfilled party might have a healer or defensive buffer, a tank or smasher, and perhaps a mid range burst mage. Or just 2 of the 3 roles for those who are pickier.

We found our next 2 party members out in the wild. They weren't quite your average adventurer but their party composition was very normal. An off-tank and a blaster. Most low level monsters are pretty dumb. They'll swarm the closest adventuer to them or split if there are two similar options. Most parties go with 2 frontliners to prevent focus fire. It even works pretty well for mid-tier stuff. I'll detail the fight we found them in for comparison.

The Eruptor was very similar to me Trait wise. Identical even. All the way to Manasophy. But their Aleatory Talent was quite different. Igneomancy was easily a build defining Talent, even if you managed to get into Deep or Elder Magic. It was on par with Miasma but provided more instant and direct firepower. Miasma had incredible mana efficiency but you paid with time. Especially if you didn't have a Chronomancer. It wasn't super common but it had an appreciable pickup rate. Importantly as an Aleatory Talent you could make more efficienct choices about your lower magic choices. Spodimancy went well with Igneomancy. Most people took Geomancy or Pyromancy as their Arbitrary Talent if they wanted to blast things. Eventually they might follow up with Evocation and Elementalism.

I think Eruptor is a good title for her. Both for her Talents and her personality. Well, she mostly erupted at me. That might be my fault.

Spodimancy Ash Cloud Permanent Passive -5% mana cost TYP GRP (Heat/Earth) Warm Air Permanent Passive AoE 20m +5 DMG TYP GRP (Heat/Air) Suffocation 8 DoT/3s +1mark +2dmg/mark Single Target Range 20m Cast 2s 40 mana Sear 40 dmg +1mark Single Target Range 20m Cast 1s 50 mana Igneomancy Molten Spurt 80 dmg Single Target Range 20m Cast 2s 60 mana Lava Rain 25 dmg ENV/3s AoE 8m Range 20m Cast 2s 80 mana Magma Spike 50 dmg +1s knockup Single Target Range 20m Cast 2s 50 mana Roiling Ground

5 dmg ENV/10s -10% mana cost TYP GRP (Earth) -5% mana cost TYP GRP (Heat) 1.2x MOV Cost

AoE 12m Range 20m Cast 4s 100 mana

Earth was one of the more versatile elements available as were earth derived composite elements. It possessed a spread of capabilities including defense, control, efficiency, and interaction. While the Eruptor was technically an offensive caster there was a bit more going on that a normal low level adventurer due to her rare Aleatory Talent. Her twin sister was an earth focused off-tank. There was some degree of coherence in family Aleatory Talents and much more so for twins.

Silvamancy was an extremely rare talent, far more so than Igneomancy. Forest Magic was considered an earth/water combination but it was a more loosely correlated expression. Forest Magic was essentially a higher tier wood magic. It was a great frontline tank talent because it had some control, defense, and healing skills. It also stacked well with several other magics like wood, mud, and corporomancy. The Treant did choose to follow that path. People who chose Silvamancy often took Summoning or more core Earth skills. But as an Aleatory Talent it opened you up to focusing on higher tier tank skills if you combined it with Lignumancy.

Lignumancy Bark Skin DMG ABS 10 DUR 20s Self Cast 1s 40 mana Grasping Roots Root 2s AoE 5m Self Cast 1s 70 mana Tree Sap Blood REC 10 HP/s Permanent Passive Sprout Hedges

40 Health BAR

2x Linear 4m Range 8m Cast 1s 50 mana

Lignumancy was a flexible midline/frontline magic discipline great for an off-tank or bruiser. It had fast shortrange spells convenient for weaving between damage.

Silvamancy Amber Armor DMG ABS 5 REC 5 HP/s DUR 20s Self + Double TAR Cast 1s 70 mana Forest Heart

-10% mana cost TYP GRP (Water) -5% mana cost TYP GRP (Earth) REC 5 HP/s

AoE 6m Self Cast 2s 80 mana Enchanted Thicket Enemies Only 1.2x MOV Cost 5dmg ENV AoE 15m Range 10m Cast 2s 70 mana Summon Moss Dog

45HP 20MP 10M/S

Chomp 20dmg 1s Trip 10dmg +1s distract 10MP Cast 2s 80 mana

Silvamancy already had a summon at tier one as well as an environmental effect. Amber Armor allowed you to boost a fellow frontliner or two whether that was a party member or a summon. Forest Heart was a powerful AoE buff centered on self. The mana reductions actually stacked for Earth/Water combos with a smaller impact for adjancent or compositional elements. Forest Heart was especially strong because frontliners often had high mana costs and a smaller mana pool. Their gear was often split many ways leaving little room for large mana buffs.

Close Combat Bash(Agnostic) 5dmg 1s Stun Single Target Touch Strike Time 1s Toughness +10 MAX HP +5 DMG ABS Passive Permanent Ferocity +10 DMG PHYS Passive Permanent Opportunity 1 No Cost 1s Reaction per 2s Single Target Adjacent

Close Combat was a strong option for frontline fighters. Advanced training allowed for a single ability every other second when an enemy moved passed. It had to have no mana cost and a 1second Strike Time but that left a lot of options. Including a basic Bash. Bash was *Agnostic* meaning it wasn't impact by whether you were unarmed or had a weapon or shield. Shields and some weapons had a superior bash if you took their Talent. Ferocity was amazing. It applied 10 physical damage to non-ranged abilties. Bash actually dealt 15 for instance. It stacked with other combat talents and even worked on reach weapons. Toughness was also a great passive. It stacked with gear, with Earth TYP GRP spells including wood and forest magic, and 10 health was nothing to sneeze at. Old abilities upgraded at new tiers as well. Few abilities became truly useless. Close Combat was also a strong attribute boost for enabling higher tier tank/bruiser Talents.

Plenty of Talents worked in several diverse builds. Taking Manasophy and a more magic focused Trait set allowed for both wood and forest magic to work as core summoning talents. Wood had mostly buffs but a few summons at higher tiers. You could similarly build Mud/Wood/Forest/Earth/etc into a control or buffing build. The Talent system was quite flexible. In most cases Attributes primarily impacted Talent options though each had 1 or 2 other effects.

I supposed I've dithered enough. The details can be found in appendices or in the brains of prospective adventurers. Everyone probably wants to get to the combat example.

Giant Rat lvl 1*8 Hp 80 Mana 20 MOV 5m/s Claw Slash 15 dmg 1s Feral Bite 40 dmg 10 mana 2s

Giants rats aren't a huge challenge, only being level 1. Even 8 of them is far weaker than the 8 tier 2 rats my original trio had to handle in the dungeon. While Giant Rats have pretty high health they have very low speed and limited damage. Every adventurer understands the important of action economy and team coherence. Even though the number of rats is identical the lack of a third party member is not a terrible concern. This is for a few reasons. An off-tank can eat a pile of lvl 1 basic attacks, especially with armor and regen. You also have more time to prepare. Who needs a dedicated stalling mage when the enemy is so slow? Additionally the Eruptor had heavily front loaded DPS. Enemies would start to fall as soon as they approached the Treant rather than persisting for multiple rounds all at half health. Enough lecturing though, the action speaks for itself. I've transcribed the fight below in descriptive and combat log styles.

The Treant The Eruptor Health 96 Health 68 Mana 126 Mana 212 MOV 5m/s MOV 5m/s

As usual the engagement range was 40m. The enemy was spread over 8m. The Eruptor was 5m behind the Treant for safety. Each adventuerer led off with their domain spell. Roiling Ground went off concurrently with Forest Heart. Sadly neither initializing spell could benefit from the mana reductions. The Treant would eventually gain 25% mana reduction. 15% from Forest Heart and 10% from Roiling Ground. This was a big boost since she started with only 126 mana but was casting spells with an average mana cost of ~55. The Eruptor had a boost 30% with 15% from Roiling Ground and 5% each from Forest Heart, Ash Cloud, and Manasophy. As their spells cast the rats closed 10 of the 40m. Down to 46+6(from recovery) the Treant cast Barkskin for 34(-15%). The poor rats were in deep shit. They'd have to use their chomps to deal any real damage. With another 6 mana taking her to 24 she'd have to wait out the next round. 30 mana meant another spell 2 seconds away.

Roiling Ground finished casting. Regaining 5 mana a second put the Eruptor at 212-100+20=132. But she had a wild discount of 30%. The rats had covered 20 of the 40m. That would put them all in range if she began to cast an AoE spell now. 56 mana drained away as Lava Rain lit up the sky. 36 mana was only enough to cast Sprout Hedges. Not really necessary. The rats got to 15m.

Lava Rain fell from the skies instantly putting the rats near the danger zone. An AoE of only 8m meant all of the rats would escape with only 1s of damage but with only 80 HP it was still strong. The rats were down to 50 because of the damage boost of Warm Air. The rats closed to 10m. 42 mana for the Treant. 132+10-56=86. Sear would deal 45 damage the next second. The rat would also enter Roiling Ground. Warm Air didn't effect dots but it did affect environmental damage as demonstrated by Lava Rain. 25+45+10=80. One rat was doomed. The rats closed to 5m from the Treant. Sear and Roiling Ground culled the horde. Each rat had taken 30+10 leaving them at 40.

The Treant had 48 mana. Still limited to Hedges for spells. She prepped a bash. 15 damage and a 1 second stun. One rat would close to 0, take the stun, and be at 5 health. The Eruptor was at 96 mana. Calling down a second Lava Rain was the ideal move here. Under the penalty from Roiling Ground all the rats would fall.

4 rats-1 dead=3 rats in range to attack the Treant. All at 30 health. One was bashed to 15. 4 other rats were 5m away from flanking positions. A turn passed and Lava Rain cleared the field.

The Eruptor made a rookie mistake casting Sear, forgetting that the enhanced Roiling Ground would clear the weak level 1 monsters in conjunction with the second Lava Rain tick. In the end the Treant was practically unneeded. Even Forest Heart didn't materially impact the battle. But even a marginal shift in aspect of the Rats would have been a significant increase in difficulty.

The Eruptor and the Treant were fresh adventurers and were still understanding their capabilities. As such this fight would be much easier than they assumed. Starting around 40m away from the rats they began to cast their *Domain* spells. Because they were both Earth aspected with one branching into Water and one into Fire their domain spells synergized well. A 25% reduction in spell cost for the Treant and a 30% reduction, due to Manashopy's Mana Efficiency passive, resulted in their being able to employ far more raw magic than otherwise. However the base spell costs for the Domains were high and not discounted so it may have been more efficienct to skip them. The trade off was wasting a few seconds waiting for the slow enemy to be in engagement range.

Warm Air was an Ash Magic(Spodimancy) passive that boosted damage for Fire(Heat) aspected spells. Roiling Ground and Lava Rain both did damage every second but as environmental rather than targeted DoT spells it still applied. Roiling Ground dealt 10 instead of 5 damage and Lava Rain dealt 30 instead of 25. After some stalling by the Treant a second Lava Rain cleared the field.

Even a slight upgrade in the quality of the enemies would have been very painful, though.

Breeze Rats are still level 1 but they travel 10m/s. The rats would have reach the Treant in half the time. The Treant never had the mana to cast a second spell. After reductions the 2s bite attack could have dealt 25 damage. With 8 rats that was an easy kill. Rock Rats would have had 100 health and a 5 dmg ABS passive. They'd have survived an extra turn or 2. Debatable if that would have been enough. Puddle Rats had a 5 hp/s REC as well as 90 health and an 8m/s MOV. Another risky fight.

The major difference was the lack of a 3rd party member of course. Even against the lvl2 Stone Rats my party had faced either myself or our fortification mage could have made for an easy fight. Of course once we connected with the twins our own combat power would go up significantly.

The *Challenge* system of the World was a very interesting limitation. Adding a new party member was more useful than adding a new Talent for the whole party well up into the double digits. But you were restricted to 8 in challenges. Tier Ups were a bit different. Depending on the Talents involved a Tier Up could add 50% efficacy to a party. Still in the overworld large armies were a viable tool for planned battles. Although for questing or wandering the logistics could make adventurers more effective.

We'd get to see just how important this was sooner than we thought.