Spirit Beast
Spirit beasts premiered at Ebon Gate 2014. Similar to siegery, but with much more depth, spirit beasts battle one another like Pokemon<TM>.
Primer
Topic: Ebon Gate Festival
Message #: 6977
Author: GS4-AUCHAND
Date: 10/09/2014 11:50 PM EDT
Subject: Re: Ebon Gate Teaser: Spirit Beasts
Spirit Beasts: A Primer
Spirit Beasts are the spiritual essences of creatures that have dwelled in a given locale. Enterprising players can bind them to a talisman and make them fight for you to gain levels and become more powerful. The talismans are available off-the-shelf. The work? That's on you.
Binding
In order to bind a Spirit Beast, you'll need a talisman, purchased at my shop, Ilixil's Bestiary. (You may remember Ilixil, the extremely unfortunate scientist, from that time that he got devoured by his pet shade-skinks. He got better.) More than that, you're going to need to prepare that talisman. Preparing a talisman isn't hard if you have a bit of Magic Item Use training, but the good news is that anyone can do the preparation for you. But how do you prepare a talisman?
Blood. Lots of blood. You're going to have to go out and slaughter creatures that have blood. The stronger they are, the better the quality of their blood will be. That means that beasts from the Rift are going to provide you with some amazing quality life-liquid, and kobolds are... well, not. You can collect this blood using syringes and vials that I also sell. Noticing a trend here?
Once you have a vial full of blood, you're going to pour it on your talisman. If you're exceptionally bad with magical items, your talisman's probably going to break at this point. Otherwise, you'll either succeed famously or not do so well. Good news: you can try again. You won't even need to buy a new vial!
Now you're going to have to find a beast. The good news is that common beasts, the first type that you'll be able to bind, are everywhere. Most of the wilds around your various towns have a few different options. Every beast has its own strengths and weaknesses, which we'll go into soon enough. You can invoke your talisman anywhere to see if you can find a Spirit Beast there.
Once you've successfully invoked a talisman, you can attune it to a specific beast. Finally, once you're sure you've found the beast of your dreams (or at least one that's mildly acceptable) you'll offer the talisman to the beast. Only a prepared talisman can be offered. Anyone can bind a beast, but it will definitely help a bit if you have some Spiritual Lore, Summoning skill.
Beast Statistics
Every beast has its own strengths and weaknesses, as I mentioned before. They are all competitive, but may require different tactics to be successful in battle. The traits of beasts are as follows:
Power - The strength of a beast's attacks.
Defense - The ability of a beast to defend itself.
Speed - How fast a beast is.
Insight - How well a beast can determine its opponent's tactics. This is important!
Accuracy - The likelihood a beast is going to hit with its normal attacks.
Health - A measure of the beast's life force.
All of these traits also have different growth rates. A creature may start off with a lot of Power but not grow very much, or may begin with middling Insight but have a quick growth rate!
In addition to these traits are ones that don't generally change:
Special Attack - The type of special attack that the creature does.
Elemental Attunement - The element that a creature is bound to. Attuned creatures will do and take more or less damage from other elementally attuned creatures depending on their attunement.
The elements are as follows:
Fire - weakest against Water, weak against Earth, strong against Air, strongest against Spirit
Water - weakest against Spirit, weak against Air, strong against Earth, strongest against Fire
Earth - weakest against Air, weak against Water, strong against Fire, strongest against Spirit
Air - weakest against Spirit, weak against Fire, strong against Water, strongest against Earth
Spirit - weakest against Fire, weakest against Earth, strongest against Water, strongest against Air
Fighting
The entire reason you want to bind a Spirit Beast is so that you can have it fight other people's Spirit Beasts, right? So you'd best get good at fighting. When you summon your beast, it's going to start attacking its opponent at will. But this isn't just a matter of strength against strength! No, sir. You need to guide your beast in order to have it do its best.
Your creature's going to settle into a stance as soon as it begins the fight: Turtle, Wolf, Serpent, Hare, or Crane.
Turtle is strong against Hare and Crane; is weak against Serpent and Wolf.
Wolf is strong against Hare and Turtle; is weak against Crane and Serpent.
Serpent is strong against Turtle and Wolf; is weak against Crane and Hare.
Hare is strong against Serpent and Crane; is weak against Wolf and Turtle.
Crane is strong against Wolf and Serpent; is weak against Hare and Turtle.
Your creature's Insight may give you a glimpse at what stance your opponent's beast is in, but otherwise you're going to have to watch the fight and try to adjust your tactics accordingly. If it seems like your beast is taking a lot of damage and doing very little, you may want to switch to an opposing stance.
Oh, but it's not as simple as that. If things are going especially bad, you can tell your creature to guard, which means that it will take much less damage at the cost of being poor at attacks. This can be a lifesaver if you're taking a pounding and need some time to figure out how to turn things around. When you're ready to go back on the offensive, tell your creature to strike.
And then there are special attacks! Every beast has a special ability. You should only tell your beast to attack when you're certain that you're in a stance stronger than your opponent's, as special attacks are much more damaging then. They won't do much, and some won't work at all, if you're in a same or inferior stance!
Customizations
You can customize a lot about your beast! There are potions for sale in my shop that allow you to improve the traits of your beast. These can help you improve already good traits (like making a beast with a lot of Power really, really strong) or shore up ones that your beast lacks (such as enhancing the Insight on a beast that's not very aware). There's a limit on how much potions can do, but I might be convinced to do a little more for you. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
I can also work on your beast's appearance. You want your twitchy giant rat to look like a snarling fanged rodent? I can do it. Want it to look like a snake? Probably not. I can change its basic appearance and the greater detail when you look at it while it's fighting for you. But that's not all! I can even change what its special attack looks like, within reason.
Onward and Upward
Once your first beast reaches its twentieth training (don't worry, that will take a bit) you'll be able to bind your first uncommon beast. Uncommon beasts are a bit harder to find, lurking in special locales. And once you've gotten one of those to its twentieth train, there are rumors abounding about legendary beasts that only exist in a single place. These will obviously take some serious hunting to find, but the good news is that you have pleeeeenty of work to do before then, now, don't you?
Q&A 1
Topic: Ebon Gate Festival
Message #: 6991
Author: GS4-AUCHAND
Date: 10/10/2014 2:13 PM EDT
Subject: Re: Ebon Gate Teaser: Spirit Beasts
How many different spirit beasts are there totally; including common, uncommon and legendary? We need to know how many pokeba... erm talismans to buy to collect them all.
There are currently 107 Spirit Beasts. Of those, 39 are common, 16 are uncommon, and 52 are legendary. If you want to be a Pokem--er, Battle Pet--er, Spirit Beast master, well... that would take quite a bit of time. Each talisman holds three Spirit Beasts: one common, one uncommon, and one rare. You have to reach max level with the common to bind an uncommon, and max level with the uncommon to bind a rare. Yeah, I know the numbers are a little skewed if legendary beasts make up a plurality of the system. This is because legendary beasts are found in individual rooms. Uncommon beasts are found in parts of areas (and no, not giving hints!) Common beasts are realm-wide except in towns.
Are there kobolds with katanas?
No, but if you're clever, you can use the system to find out exactly what happens when a kobold attempts to use advanced armor and weaponry. It's... not pretty. I'm only half-joking here.
What is the benefit of having high quality blood?
It makes offering a talisman to a beast a bit easier.
Off the shelf. Since there will be possibly some folks who cannot take all their characters to EG, is it possible to pick up talismans at EG to give to another character?
Yup!
Creature types. Does the talisman picked up affect the creature that can be summoned with it? So far, I've seen rat and roa'ter - will there be a list of creatures (common/uncommon) that we can find, or is that now an in-game puzzle and left to discovery?
As an immediate next project, I'm thinking about doing some sort of enchiridion (let's not call it a Pokedex) for people who'd like to collect information on beast locations. Finding all the common beasts should be relatively easy, as you can step outside a town and start attuning. Common beasts are available in the surroundings of Wehnimer's, Kharam Dzu, Solhaven, River's Rest, Icemule Trace, Zul Logoth, Pinefar, Ta'Vaalor, and Ta'Illistim.
Or, will this merchant come back in a month or so after we've had time to tinker?
I intend to make customization for the talismans broadly available. I'll probably restrict modification of the beasts themselves (i.e. special attacks, custom look descriptions) to me for a bit, as they're a little tough to do at the moment.
How will one know relative statistics of spirit creature, in order to best make use of stances and/or strategies?
This is a good question. In testing, I found that a high-power, low-intuition creature like a roa'ter could definitely get its butt kicked by even a low-health, speedy creature like a rat if played well. Insight is kind of a fun stat. But yeah, currently you can look at your talisman to get a readout of relative stats. Like this:
look talis
A simple clay talisman is currently attuned to a spectral thrak of 1 train.
Its Power is high.
Its Defense is low.
Its Speed is low.
Its Insight is moderate.
Its Accuracy is moderate.
Its Health is moderate.
Its Power will grow slowly.
Its Defense will grow quickly.
Its Speed will grow at a moderate pace.
Its Insight will grow at a moderate pace.
Its Accuracy will grow at a moderate pace.
Its Health will grow at a moderate pace.
Its Insight has been enhanced by 1 points.
5) Potions for the spirit beast are temporary or permanent additions to creature's statistics?
Permanent. There's not currently a potion for clearing stat additions, but I'm thinking that'll be useful to have.
6) Binding common/uncommon. If I have a 20th level common rat spirit, that will enable my talisman to attract an uncommon creature (which, I assume, will be as powerful as a 20th level common rat spirit?). So.. the talisman can store multiple creatures.. or do the spirit creatures trade places?
The talismans hold three creatures, one of each tier. It's an unlock system, basically. And yeah, it's automatic.
Homelands
Darn, I missed a tick in not making this system like M:TG. Think of all the silver it would have brought in if your beast choice was random on purchase? I didn't do that because I'm not a jerk. Well, I am, but not on that level. Right?
Instructions
Topic: Ebon Gate Festival
Message #: 7214
Author: PENNINGTONB1
Date: 10/18/2014 2:38 AM EDT
Subject: Re: Spirit Beasts Congratulations
>Congratulations to Sepher for binding the first ever Spirit Beast, a griffin found near Ta'Illistim!
Woo! Thanks. So far, it's been a hell of a lot of fun to play with.
Here's a little guide with some tidbits about the beasts from Ilixil (the NPC creator).
First step
So first step: get your gear and collect blood
You need a syringe and a vial for this part. Before you head out, PUT your vial on your syringe so that the blood has a repository to be drawn into. Next, you have to kill things and DRAW their blood. Creatures' blood also has a level of quality associated with it, and the higher the level of the creature you're drawing from, the better the blood will be. Leopards in the Gyldemar Forest yielded "moderate" quality blood while war griffins in OTF yielded an "incredible" quality. The process of drawing blood is thus:
Kill the creature
KNEEL
DRAW creature WITH SYRINGE (this removes the creature as if you had looted it; you don't get treasure)
It looks like this:
You draw some of a mastodonic leopard's blood into your syringe. The leopard shrivels and decays away
until naught but dust is left.
Now, you'll need to repeat this process 9 more times to completely fill your vial. You need a full vial to prepare your talisman. If you LOOK at the syringe, you can tell about how much blood you've collected.
- 1-3 doses
- A small crystal vial is locked into place within the syringe. A bit of sluggish war griffin blood sloshes inside, deep red in color.
- 4-6 doses
- A small crystal vial is locked into place within the syringe. It is about half full of dark red war griffin blood.
- 7-9 doses
- A small crystal vial is locked into place within the syringe. The syringe is mostly full of war griffin blood.
- 10 doses
- A small crystal vial is locked into place within the syringe. The syringe is full to the brim with war griffin blood, which appears to be of incredible quality.
Note that you don't see the quality until you've drawn a full vial's worth.
Second step
Now that you've got a full vial, you must UNLOCK SYRINGE to remove the vial from the syringe and then prepare your talisman by POURing the vial onto the talisman. It looks like this:
You carefully twist and unlock a small crystal vial from a thin silver syringe.
>pour my vial on my talis
You pour the mastodonic leopard blood in your vial over the surface of a rippled clay talisman. A faint thrum of a sensation akin to stirring awareness answers from within the blood-drenched talisman. The blood seeps into the surface of your talisman, and a feeling of faint satisfaction wells up from within.
Third step
Now your talisman is ready to take on a spirit beast, but first you have to find one. Go out into your local wilds and INVOKE TALISMAN. This will show you what beasts are around, if any. Note that you can INVOKE in a single room multiple times and the results may be different.
Invoking looks like this:
Roundtime: 15 sec.
And again for different results:
You detect the presence of a common griffin spirit.
You sense the presence of at least one spirit whose nature you cannot discern.
Fourth step
Found something you like? Great. Now you have to ATTUNE TALISMAN to bring the spirit beast within the reach of your talisman so you can offer it.
That looks like:
Roundtime: 2 sec.
Fifth step
And finally, you OFFER TALISMAN to bind the beast to your talisman. I managed a couple failures on this and was told that one is major and one is minor, so I'll show those two as well as the success messaging.
Minor failure:
Roundtime: 14 sec.
Major failure (I had to reapply blood to the talisman after this):
Roundtime: 20 sec.
Success:
Roundtime: 18 sec.
And that's it. Now you've got a spirit beast to fight with. If you look at your talisman, you should see something like this:
A rippled clay talisman is currently attuned to a spectral griffin of 1 train.
Its Power is moderate and will grow quickly.
Its Defense is low and will grow slowly.
Its Speed is moderate and will grow quickly.
Its Insight is moderate and will grow at a measured pace.
Its Accuracy is moderate and will grow at a measured pace.
Its Health is moderate and will grow slowly.
Enhancing and battling
At this point, you may also enhance your spirit beast with the flacons sold in the same shop you bought you talismans at. Each spirit beast can be enhances a maximum of 20 times, and as of now there is no way to undo what you enhance, so be careful.
To make your beast fight, you have to POINT TALISMAN AT character and they must do the same to you. This initiates a match.
The commands you can give your spirit beast once the battle has started look are: ATTACK, GUARD, STRIKE, and SWITCH.
- Attack: This uses your creatures special move. You must store up energy (this is automatically gained as your beast progresses through the fight) to use this move.
- Guard: Basically a defensive stance. You can use it to give you extra time to figure out how you want to fight your enemy.
- Strike: An offensive stance. Your beast will automatically continue it's basic attack in this mode.
- Switch: You can alternate between five different stance -- Turtle, Wolf, Serpent, Hare, or Crane -- each with their own merit. I'll leave this for everyone to figure out, since I barely have it figure out myself.
Finally, Ilixil came out and battled with us as well as answered some questions. Here are some of the things he said spirit beasts (he was volunteering information based on what was happening during fights, and just in general, so there's not really any discernible order for each piece of information; I'll make notes where I think they're necessary):
Re: Casilla asked how soon you can use the beasts again after you've lost/completed a match
Ilixil says, "You can use them immediately again."
Ilixil says, "You'll have to get a common to twenty trains, bind an uncommon, get it to twenty trains, and then get a legendary."
Ilixil says, "I'll probably craft a potion that will allow you to remove bad pours."
Ilixil says, "Because... it would be a shame to have to get rid of your talisman and train a whole new beast because of a poor choice."
Ilixil says, "When that time comes, I'll be customizing beasts in various ways."
Re: someone was making suggestions for beasts:
Ilixil says, "If there are beasts that the talismans cannot yet sense, I am always open to suggestions."
Re: the talismans
Ilixil says, "I will say that these are magicked to detect the spiritual floes around all of the major towns, so far."
Ilixil says, "I believe you might find a silverback near Icemule."
Casilla asks, "Do spirits switch stances on their own if their insight is high enough?"
Speaking to Casilla, Ilixil says, "They do not."
Speaking to Casilla, Ilixil says, "That is, however, an intriguing suggestion."
Re: beast enhancive potions
Laelithonel asks, "So common spirit only needs one dose of a certain potion?"
Speaking to Laelithonel, Ilixil says, "The potions are not necessary. They merely allow you more control over your beast's strengths and weaknesses."
Japhrimel asks, "If we get a spirit can we remove it? or would we need a new talisman?"
Speaking to Japhrimel, Ilixil says, "There is no way to remove a spirit currently, I'm afraid. Some of my future plans..."
Ilixil says, "Well."
Ilixil says, "Future plans are future plans."
Ilixil chuckles.
Ilixil says, "At any rate, I would rather enjoy it if there were a way to reimburse people for putting effort into training a spirit they decide they do not want."
Re: someone sancted
Ilixil says, "They will not, by the way, fight in places that are sanctuaries."
Speaking quietly to Ilixil, Demyse says, "Have thoughts turned inward for future experimentings? As in some of the most powerful creatures in this world aren't beasts or animal.. but those which stand as adventurers of Elanthia."
Speaking to Demyse, Ilixil says, "Some of the creatures are not beasts."
Speaking to Ilixil, Riend says, "You can customize the look of your creature, if I recall correctly. Is this option fairly open or must it remain the same type of creature it was to begin with?"
Ilixil says, "It'll have to remain roughly similar to that creature."
Ilixil says, "A rat will have to remain some sort of rodent."
Ilixil says, "I'm more likely to be all right with it if it's merely a cosmetic change."
Ilixil says, "There is a Sheruvian legendary beast, I know."
Ilixil says, "She..."
Ilixil says, "...is unpleasant."
Ilixil says, "Now, in addition to standard tactics..."
Ilixil says, "...elemental attunement can definitely change a fight."
Ilixil says, "That's not something that you can change about your beast, mind."
Casilla asks, "Do I have to attune it? Does it find an element on its own?"
Speaking to Casilla, Ilixil says, "Attunements are indelible."
You say, "They're innate to the creatures, if they have one."
Casilla says, "So this guy [kiramon] is just neutral."
Ilixil nods at Casilla.
Ilixil says, "So, it's worth noting that again, it can be a hindrance or a help."And done! Someone post this stuff on kp.org, would ya? Thanks! (editor's note: you're welcome, subheadings added by me)
>The commands you can give your spirit beast once the battle has started look are: ATTACK, GUARD, STRIKE, and SWITCH. -Me
Oh, and you TELL it to do these things.
Kind of important.
~Brian, Sepher's player
Common spirit beasts
Originally compiled by Eruheran
| Town | Spirit Beasts |
| Cysaegir | 2 creatures |
| Icemule Trace | thyril, penguin, wolf, vereri, silverback orc |
| Pinefar | arctic wolverine, seeker, glacei, fox |
| River's Rest | aardvark, pale crab, chimera, krovlin, pirate |
| Solhaven | shan, lobster, fenghai, roa'ter, daggerbeak, hound |
| Ta'Illistim | griffin, moulis sapling, yeti, kiramon |
| Ta'Vaalor | hawk, fanged rodent, urgh, wolfshade |
| Teras | tsark, water elemental, fire elemental, cinder wasp, wind wraith |
| Wehnimer's Landing | kobold, rat, rolton, goblin, thrak, horse (Shadow Lands) |
| Zul Logoth | krynch, bat, whelk |
Oct 2014 Updates
Topic: Ebon Gate Festival
Message #: 6969
Author: GS4-AUCHAND
Date: 10/19/2014 12:29 AM EDT
Subject: Spirit Beasts Updates
I'm starting a running thread for any improvements to the Spirit Beasts system that will be coming out over the next few days, as players find bugs and quirks.
The following fixes and updates have been rolled out for Spirit Beasts:
- Blood vials should now be POURable without a target to remove any blood that's in them
- Last names should no longer be appearing as part of the stance checks
- Potions to clear enhancements are now available in Ilixil's Bestiary
- Improved the granularity of stat descriptions in the LOOK of talismans
- Level-based stat growth is now reflected in the LOOK of talismans
- Fixed a typo in air elemental vs. elemental messaging
A note on creature stats:
I've gotten a few questions emailed to me about how Spirit Beasts are statted. For the most part, the stat descriptions available from your creatures' talismans should be sufficient to determine its strengths and weaknesses, but in the interest of satisfying hungry minds, I'll spill the following. All Spirit Beasts begin with base level 1 stats ranging from 90 to 140 points, and can have stat growth levels from 1 to 4 points per level. In a talisman's LOOK, the (base stat + (stat growth * level)) is presented as a rough estimate of the stat, using the following criteria:
- Pathetic: Under 100
- Low: 100 to 115
- Moderate: 115 to 130
- Above Average: 130 to 145
- High: 145 to 160
- Very High: 160 to 175
- Extraordinary: 175 to 190
- Monumental: 190 to 210
- Godlike: 210+
Common Spirit Beasts have base level 1 stats ranging from 90 to 130 and have a growth potential from 1 to 3 points per level. This means that, at maximum, a common spirit beast with a fully potion-enhanced stat, maximum stat growth, and with a 130 base stat can achieve a 170, or "very high" rating for that stat. They have a stat pool of 635 points and a growth pool of 12 points. This means that when I was statting them out, I had that number of points to play with, with the stipulations that the stat numbers did not go above 130 or under 90, and the stat growth did not go over 3 or under 1.
Uncommon Spirit Beasts have a stat pool of 645 points and a growth pool of 14 points. They have a stat range from 90-140 and a growth range of 1-4 points. In addition, some (but not all) of them have access to unique abilities instead of the common ones.
Legendary Spirit Beasts have a stat pool of 655 points and a growth pool of 16 points. They have a stat range from 90-140 and a growth range of 1-4 points, but they all have unique special abilities like Sympathy, Bleed, Airwall, Bone Shield, and more cool stuff. Doing the math, a legendary beast's maximum enhanced stat could reach 220 provided that they started at 140 and had a growth potential of 4.
Enhanced stats are not counted in the LOOK of your Spirit Beast talisman.
A note on leveling beasts:
There are diminishing experience returns for playing the same player multiple times in a row in order to discourage scripting. Spreading the wealth is a good idea.
Auchand
Topic: Ebon Gate Festival
Message #: 7323
Author: GS4-AUCHAND
Date: 10/20/2014 5:37 AM EDT
Subject: Re: Spirit Beasts Updates
Some more updates:
- Fixed a problem with stance information getting unset (this was causing people to see their last names or garbage information in place of stances; please email me at gs4-auchand@play.net if this persists!)
- Insight now provides a chance to auto-switch to counter your opponent
- Slightly raised the value of Defense
- Slightly increased penalty for being in the wrong stance when attacking
- Horses can now be bound in the Shadow Lands
- Two beasts can now be bound in Cysaegir
- Roltons now use the 'Stampede' special attack instead of 'False Security'
- Cinder Wasps now have access to the 'Stinging Swarm' special attack instead of 'Sky Rend'
- Foxes can now be bound in Pinefar
- Hounds can now be bound in Solhaven
Auchand
Topic: Ebon Gate Festival
Message #: 6969
Author: GS4-AUCHAND
Date: 10/09/2014 10:11 PM EDT
Subject: Ebon Gate Teaser: Spirit Beasts
>invoke talisman
You focus your thoughts on a small glass talisman, attempting to align yourself with the spirits floes within the area, and a wash of foreign sensation floods your mind.
You detect the presence of a common rat spirit.
Roundtime: 15 sec.
>attune talisman
You tighten your grip on a small glass talisman, willing it to attune to the presence of the rat spirit lingering in the area.
Roundtime: 2 sec.
>offer talisman
You hold out your clay talisman and reach out with your mind, calling to the rat spirit lingering in the area. Sudden warmth draws your attention to your hands, where beads of blood begin welling from the surface of your talisman. The blood rises in a cloud of sanguine mist that illuminates a shrouded form hanging in the air before you. The spirit drifts closer to a simple clay talisman, its outline glowing as it nears. Golden light spills from the surface of the talisman, consuming the spirit. A thrill of satisfaction echoes up your arm and through your body.
Roundtime: 17 sec.
Why, it's almost like I should try and challenge someone else with one of these spirits!
>point talisman at paidreg
You challenge Paidreg to a Spirit Battle, offering your 1st train rat up against his 1st train roa'ter! (Paidreg has 45 seconds to respond by POINTing his clay talisman back at you.)
Paidreg accepts your challenge to a Spirit Battle!
You raise your clay talisman skyward and call out to the spirit dwelling within. The ephemeral spirit of a twitchy giant rat erupts forth in a blaze of energy and begins advancing on Paidreg, who counters a moment later by thrusting his clay talisman toward you. The spectral form of a plump red roa'ter crackles into existence, rising to defend him!
The battle will begin in 10 seconds.
The spirits begin to clash with one another!
Your giant rat snaps at Paidreg's red roa'ter!
A weak strike!
...13 damage!
A twitchy giant rat gathers a bit of energy from fighting.
What do you folks think? Want to know more?