After completing the *Challenge* yesterday it was time to reap the rewards. First Tiering Up Manasophy on 5 party members. Tier 1 Manasophy provides the abilities and attributes listed below.

Manasophy Attunement +2 Retention +2 Ingenuity +2 Sagacity +2 Mana Boost Permanent Passive +50 mana Mana Efficiency Permanent Passive -5% mana cost Mana Strike(Staff) +1 magic dmg per attunement Boost +1s strike time 10 mana Mana Bolt 25 magic dmg Single Target Range 20m Cast 1s 40 mana

Tiering Up a Talent provides half the attributes in a fixed way as well as improving all abilities in a similar manner. I've detailed the improved First Tier below.

Manasophy Mana Boost Permanent Passive +70 mana Mana Efficiency Permanent Passive -7% mana cost Mana Strike(Staff) +2 magic dmg per attunement Boost +1s strike time 20 mana Mana Bolt 35 magic dmg Single Target Range 30m Cast 1s 50 mana

Passive are boosted 40%. This is a compounding improvement. It applies to the existing value not the base value. So instead of 20 more mana at Third Tier you'd gain 28 mana. Similarly you'd gain 2.8=3% reduced mana cost. It is important to note here that mana cost cannot fall below 20%, not that many people can get 80% reduction on a spell but it has happened.

Damage on an ability improves 1 stage. Mana cost rises by 10. Range improves 50%. Casting Time does not change. Nor does targeting format. However AoEs grow 20%. You might extrapolate from here that Light and Light Aspected spells will soon far outrange other Aspects. This is correct. Although many Talents provide useful ways to counter this in their own advancements.

Now for the real treat. Manasophy Second Phase Abilities and Attributes. Many people refer to these as Phases because Tier has another meaning. I'll be switching to this convention from now on.

Manasophy Attunement +4 Mana Manipulation Permanent Passive Add Ingenuity To Spell Damage Mana Permanence Permanent Passive Add Retention/5 To DoT Duration And RET/10 to Spell Duration Mana Channeling Permanent Passive Add Rigor/5 To Spell Range And Rigor/10 to AoE Range Mana Well +3 mana/s DUR 10 Self AoE 8m Cast 2s 70 mana

Phase 2 of Manasophy is quite valuable. I wish we had had a full mage party, we could have always added martial talents later. Having 8 mages with Mana well deployed would be something to see. Attributes modifying spells is quite useful. Although there is some tradeoff. Ingenuity is a bit off spec for mages for instance and perhaps you are using mostly Will rather than Rigor Talents. Still a fantastic upgrade for a pure mage. Not to mention the Phase 1 improvements.

The Treant didn't have a ton of good options given her Talents and ended up boosting Close Combat.

Close Combat Brawn +3 Fortitude +3 Tenacity +2 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 Bash(Agnostic) 10dmg 1s Stun Single Target Touch Strike Time 1s Toughness +14 MAX HP +7 DMG ABS Passive Permanent Ferocity +14 DMG PHYS Passive Permanent Opportunity 1 =2s Reaction per 2s Single Target Adjacent

Bash sadly got the short end of the stick. One physical damage stage is only 5dmg. Control time is boosted only once in the third Phase by 1. Toughness did quite well as did Ferocity. At some point both the Crusher and the Treant would have Crushing Weapons and Close Combat and that would be impressive to see. Phase 2 of Close Combat was quite fun.

Close Combat Brawn +4 Grit -1s control Passive Permanent Weak Spot Ignore 20% ABS Single Target Touch 1s Strike 15 mana Armor Mastery +20% ABS Passive Permanent Batter +1 dmg per s of control Passive Permanent

Close Combat Phase 2 adds more raw brawn for attributes and it focuses somewhat on defensive stats. Batter is considered a great passive for focusing attacks on one target. As we saw in our *Challenge* it could easily add 5-10 damage per hit. It also adds strong value at the point where you would otherwise be wasting applications of control effects. Armor Master is quite valuable especially as our party has several defensive buffs.

The Crusher didn't really have much of a choice in upgrades either. With not enough relevant Aspects boosting the Phase of an Equipment was really her only choice.

Crushing Brutality +5 dmg +1s Stun w maces/hammers Passive Permanent Pulverize +10 dmg Touch Strike 1s 10 mana Knockback add Push 5m While Physical Talents don't get a mana cost increase they also typically have fewer components to boost. Phase 3 will be a much larger boost since you get +1s of control on Strikes. Here we only got a single damage stage boost for most stuff. Knockback is a little too situational to use, especially with the high strike time so the boost there was not super useful. Luckily the actual Phase 2 abilities are quite decent.

Crushing Brawn +4 Bludgeon +2s Stun Touch Strike 1s 15 mana Crunch +10 dmg +2marks Touch Strike 1s 30 mana Pendulum Double Strike Touch Strike 1s 40 mana Shatter +10 dmg Reduce Target ABS by 10 Touch Strike 2s 30 mana

Both Shatter and Crunch are highly useful on robust targets. 2 marks is a big boost for man maladies while Shatter boosts allied damage as well as your own permanently and is stackable. Pendulum mostly allows for you to chunk something or conversely deliver a coup de grace. Bludgeon fills a slight gap in the Phase 1 Strike lineup.

Finally we get to the most interesting Tier Up. Contegomancy, commonly known as protection magic. The Shieldmaiden was the only one with the option to increase the Phase of her Aleatory Talent.

Contegomancy Attunement +4 Retention +1 Fortitude +1 Will +1 Tenacity +1 Magic Resist(TYP) ABS(TYP)10 - 10s Single Target Range 20m Cast 2s 50 mana Protection +40 Temp Health Single Target Range 20m Cast 2s 50 mana Extend +2sDUR PROTMAG Permanent Passive Harden +20%EFF PROTMAG Permanent Passive Contegomancy Magic Resist(TYP) ABS(TYP)14 - 12s Single Target Range 30m Cast 2s 60 mana Protection +56 Temp Health Single Target Range 30m Cast 2s 60 mana Extend +3sDUR PROTMAG Permanent Passive Harden +28%EFF PROTMAG Permanent Passive

Durations of spells increases 40% rounded up. Buff bonuses also increase 40% if applicable. Quicken for instance does not have an efficacy increase merely a duration one. Mana costs for buff spells increase 10 the same as other spells. Contegomancy gets some decent buffs from advancing a Phase. Phase 2 abilities are quite good as well. It splits attribute gains between Attunement and Will.

Contegomancy Attunement +2 Will +2 Protective Aura +20 ABS MGC DUR 10s Self AoE 10 Cast 2s 100 mana Safeguard Take 40% dmg for an Ally Single Target Range 30m Cast 1s 60 mana Guardian Angel Share 20% mana cost of defensive spells Permanent Passive Buttress Boost ABS of 1 ally 40% - Channel 5 mana Single Target Range 30m Cast 1s 60 mana

Contegomancy Phase 2 provides a valuable anti-magic buff as well as a variety of unique protective spells. Additionally the Shieldmaiden can now alleviate the mana cost of defensive spells if she has enough mana of her own. Buttress is a rare channel spells that provides quite a bit of value. Timing on casting is key to avoid channeling a spell you don't use.

Having finally boosted our combat power quite a bit through advancing to new Talent Phases we grouped up to finally finish picking clean the Bazaar of anything useful before we headed out into the wilds. Like all adventurers we were hoping to find some young dungeons to acquire new talents but we were also traveling to a major ducal seat to avail ourselves of their valuable dungeon. We'd now have to reach level 15 of a dungeon to raise our Talents to new Phases.

This dungeon had a very rare set of Aspects. Light, Life, Water, Earth, and Dark. Here the Arcanist could improve her Fulmenomancy, I could boost Filth Magic, the Miasmist could boost her Aleatory Talent, the Treant could do likewise, the Shieldmaiden could improve Fortification Magic, the Eruptor could improve Igneomancy, the Cleanser could improve Abluomancy, and the Crusher can improve Vigentimancy. Indeed a full 5 of our 8 party members could Phase Up their Aleatory Talent. 6 if the Shieldmaiden hadn't done so already. The journey was quite long but it was still an efficient use of our time. Indeed this was the curse of being a Tier 0 adventurer. Being able to improve your Aleatory Talent was unbelievably rare.

When we finally reached the market we got to work quickly. With the money from the *Challenge* plus what the noble girls had left over we could get some very good stuff. We needed 2 mid tier maces for the Shieldmaiden and Treant, wands for the 4 casters who didn't have them, while we were eternally jealous of the high tier wand of the Arcanist which she'd finally managed to get on her person, as well as improved armor for our other 2 frontliners. We could also get gloves for the mages and upgrade to full robes. For the parts of the *Far Wild* we'd be passing through magical protection was a must. Monsters of the semi-civilize kind congregated their and we'd finally be forced to fight casters. Us being us we knew how difficult mages could be.

We bought 2 maces with +8 damage and 4 wands with +20 mana, +5 spell dmg/+1s DoT DUR, +2 mana/s, and then full body magical robes with +10 health, +40 mana, and 10 MGC ABS. Finally we picked up bronze/iron cuirasses for our 2 frontliners. +10 ABS, +10 MGC ABS, and +10% ABS. These would be quite useful with how many absorbtion buffs we had. We were basically flat broke now. Luckily there was no need for money out in the *Wilds*. We head off to the ducal seat on a 30 day journey. It was about a week in that we faced our first monster mages.

For the first day or so we beat off monsters who were no more than pests and discussed what new Talents we hope to Acquire. While I obviously wanted Gravity and Abstraction I stuck to more mundane realistic options. I really hoped to gain Star Magic. It was a bit of a bridge to Gravity and had tons of cool abilities. The Miamist was stuck looking for good DoT Talents due to her Aleatory focus. Blood and Death were options but Disease and Tarnishing really stood out. They contained quite a few spells that needed several marks to target and did better with heavy mark stacking. They also had spells with maladies that did more than raw damage, which was useful.

Disease Fever

1 DoT/10s || +1mark || +2dmg/mark || Reduce REC 5%/mark || DUR 10

AoE 8m Range 20m Cast 2s 35 mana Mark++ Delirium 2 DoT/10s || +1mark || +1dmg/mark || +2s Distract on 5/10/15/20 marks || DUR 15 Double Target Range 20m Cast 2s 40 mana Mark+++ Malaise 2 DoT/10s || +1mark || +1dmg/mark -1 control RES on 5/10/15/20 marks || DUR 15 Single Target Range 20m Cast 2s 50 mana Mark++++ Debility -5%HP/s || -1%HP/s per mark || DUR 20 Single Target Range 20m Cast 2s 70 mana Mark+++++

Disease spells required particular numbers of marks and had relatively unique effects based on the number of marks rather than just doing bonus damage. They were also expensive for malady spells. I would definitely love to see the Miasmist with that Talent. Of course I could see the benefits of Tarnishing as well.

The Arcanist was looking for some raw damage Talents, preferably Light aligned and ideally Water aligned. While something like Storm was a possibility she was hoping for maybe Radiance. Radiance was a composite of Light/Air/Fire/Arcana. It primarily did longe range artillery spells as they were called although it focused more on single target rather than AoE. It also had a fantastic Domain spell that would cheapen her Arcana spells.

The Treant was looking into perhaps Mud because of synergy and how common mud dungeons were. But she also wanted something more advanced liked Abjuration. Or shooting for the stars perhaps she could gain Density magic, Crassitamancy. That was a combination of Fortification, Gravity, and Blood Magic. Earth/Darkness/Life/Force/Light/Gravity. Maybe someday.

The Crusher was looking for something like Glory Magic. Fire/Leadership/Burnishing/Dominion. Quite a difficult task to find something rare like that. Fire/Leadership/Life/Water/Light/Dominion. Alternatively she'd just take Burnishing to tide her over. The Shieldmaiden was also considering Burnishing and perhaps Body. Her dream was something Gravity related. Or Gravity itself. I could understand that.

The Eruptor wanted something with good environmental damage. Perhaps Tectonic magic. Gravity/Force/Earth/Fire. She might also consider something with Air since she had Spodimancy. Dust was a potential option at the low level.

The Cleanser was thinking of just taking Hydromancy if it came up but perhaps something with Thought as well. She wasn't as sure as the others. Well, we'd have a lot of time to think on the journey.