Spirit Beast

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Spirit Beasts are the spiritual essences of creatures that have dwelled in a given locale. Skilled people can bind them to a talisman, which can be used by anyone to make them fight other Spirit Beasts to gain levels and become more powerful. There are three types of Spirit Beasts: Common, Uncommon, and Legendary.

The Spirit Beast system premiered at Ebon Gate 2014. It is a strategic game, similar to siegery, but with much more depth. See Spirit Beast stats for more information about specific beasts. GM Auchand redeveloped Spirit Beasts shortly after their debut and introduced Talondown Arena aboard The Firebird airship for players to battle each other and NPC Spirit Beast masters.

Talismans

The talismans are available off-the-shelf, are neck-worn, and can be altered. Each talisman can hold three beasts: one common, one uncommon, and one legendary. A common beast much reach its twentieth level before the talisman can take an uncommon beast. Likewise, an uncommon beast much reach level 20 before the talisman can hold a legendary beast. Talismans can be purchased on The Firebird (pendants) or in Ilixil's shop at Ebon Gate.

Common beasts are easy to find; locations are listed below and on the Spirit Beast stats page. Uncommon beasts are a bit harder to find, lurking in special locales. Legendary beasts only exist in a single place (i.e. room). These will take some serious hunting to find.

Statistics

Specific Spirit Beast stats article

Initial stats for any Spirit Beast can be seen by LOOKing at the talisman containing the beast. The descriptive ranges for stats and growth rates are as follows:

STATISTICS
Stat Description Enhancive Color
Power The strength of a beast's attacks. Indigo
Defense The ability of a beast to defend itself. Emerald
Speed How fast a beast is. Gold
Insight How well a beast can determine its opponent's tactics. This is important! Violet
Accuracy The likelihood a beast is going to hit with its normal attacks. Mauve (all)
Saffron (common)
Health A measure of the beast's life force. Crimson
Black potions will clear enhancives.
STAT RANGES
Descriptor Range
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+
GROWTH RATE
Descriptor + per Level
Slowly 1
Measured 2
Quickly 3
Very rapid 4

In addition, many creatures are aligned to an element and the alignment will affect how that beast does in battles vs. other aligned beasts according to this chart:

ELEMENTS
Element Weakest Against Weak Against Strong Against Strongest Against
Fire Water Earth Air Spirit
Water Spirit Air Earth Fire
Earth Air Water Fire Spirit
Air Spirit Fire Water Earth
Spirit Fire Earth Water Air
Wild Magic Elements - - Spirit
Rift Armament Spirit - - Elements

Beasts are also sorted into classes: Humanoids, Beasts, Elementals, Arthropods, and Aberrations. This is important for armaments.

Finally, all common and uncommon beasts have a special attack (1 of 14). Uncommon beasts may have special abilities, and legendary beasts all have special abilities. These are accessed using the TELL {BEAST} TO ATTACK command.

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Attack Name Description
Primitive Strike Used by most uncivilized humanoids.
Bestial Fury Used by beasts.
Rage of the Elements Default elemental special.
Drain Life Used by undead.
Sky Rend Used by birds.
False Security Used by adorable creatures.
Ambush This one is really self-explanatory, no?
Swordplay Used by armed creatures.
Fierce Strike A generic attack, usually used by uncommons and rares with once-per-battle stuff.
Stampede Used by hooved creatures.
Stinging Swarm Used by bugs.
Witchcraft Drain Life for living beings.
We Are Pack! Used by wolves.
Catscratch Fever Used by cats.

Common

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, but the stat numbers do not go above 130 or under 90, and stat growth does not go over 3 or under 1.

Uncommon

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

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. A legendary beast's maximum enhanced stat could reach 220 provided that they started at 140 and had a growth potential of 4.

Binding

Original instructions provided by Brian, Sepher's player
Before trying this yourself, consider if your character has enough Magic Item Use AND Spiritual Lore, Summoning to complete the process. Without both of these skills, or the ability to collect high level blood, it is highly advisable to ask someone else to get a beast for you. Ability to obtain a beast makes no difference when battling.

Step 1: Purchase

Obtain necessary items
  • Talisman(s)
  • Vial(s)
  • Syringe

Put vial on syringe and make it readily available during hunt. Vials and syringes are reusable. Multiple vials are recommended.

Step 2: Blood

Collect blood by killing creatures and DRAW their blood with the syringe. The higher the level of the creature, the better the blood will be. This is important as it makes offering a talisman to a beast easier. Leopards in the Gyldemar Forest yield "moderate" quality blood while war griffins in OTF yield "incredible" quality blood.

The process of drawing blood is thus:

  1. Kill the creature
  2. KNEEL
  3. DRAW {CREATURE} WITH SYRINGE

It looks like this:

K>draw leo with syr
You draw some of a mastodonic leopard's blood into your syringe. The leopard shrivels and decays away 
until naught but dust is left.
Roundtime: 3 secs.

Repeat this process 9 more times to completely fill a vial. A full vial (10 kills) is needed to prepare your talisman. LOOK at the syringe to see how much blood has been 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 the quality of the blood cannot be seen until the vial is full. Also, in the somewhat likely event of a failure, another full vial may be needed to prepare the talisman. Multiple vials are recommended.

Step 3: Prepare Talisman

Once the vial is full, UNLOCK MY SYRINGE and POUR MY VIAL ON MY TALISMAN.

Moderate Magic Item Use training is required to prepare a talisman, but anyone can do the preparation; talismans are not attuned to the purchaser.

If you have low MIU your talisman CAN break and you'll lose it AND have to buy a new one and start over. It's best to have someone high level with high MIU do the pour for you.
Success
>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.
The vial is now empty.
Failure
>pour my via on my tali
You pour the triton radical blood in your vial over the surface of a painted clay talisman.  A faint thrum of a sensation akin to stirring awareness answers from within the blood-drenched talisman.  As quickly as it came, it flickers out like a dying candle, and the blood beads on the surface of the the talisman as it rejects your offering.
Major Failure (Talisman breaks)
>pour my via on my tali
You pour the troll king blood in your vial over the surface of a simple red and white orb. A faint thrum of sensation akin to stirring awareness answers from within the blood-drenched orb. Cracks form all over the surface of a simple red and white orb just seconds before it crumbles away in your hands. Perhaps you just weren't skilled enough to prepare the orb, but now, you'll never know for sure. The blood on your hands commingles with the dusty remnants of the orb as if to compound your miserable failure. You get the feeling you just aren't skilled enough to prepare the vial. 

Step 4: Find a Beast

Now the talisman is ready to take on a spirit beast, but one must be found. INVOKE TALISMAN will show what beasts are around, if any. Invoking the prepared talisman in a single room multiple times may get different results each time.

Messaging
You focus your thoughts on a rippled clay talisman, attempting to align yourself with the spirits floes within the area, but fail to detect anything at all.
Roundtime: 15 sec.
Same room, different results
You focus your thoughts on a rippled clay 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 griffin spirit.
You sense the presence of at least one spirit whose nature you cannot discern.
Roundtime: 15 sec.

Common Spirit Beast Locations

Originally compiled by Eruheran
Town Spirit Beasts
Broken Lands (WL) hyena, jackal
Cysaegir butterfly, aelotoi guardsman
Ebon Gate swamp witch, mire wight, giant mantis, skeletal warrior
Four Winds Isle snapping turtle, great tortoise, capuchin monkey, seagull
Icemule Trace thyril, penguin, timber wolf, vereri, silverback orc, snowcat
Pinefar arctic wolverine, seeker, glacei, fox, snowy owl
River's Rest aardvark, pale crab, chimera, krolvin, pirate
Shadow Valley (WL) mare, pony, stallion
Solhaven shan, lobster, fenghai, roa'ter, daggerbeak, hound, alleycat
Ta'Illistim griffin, moulis sapling, yeti, kiramon
Ta'Vaalor hawk, fanged rodent, urgh, wolfshade, bobcat, grass snake
Teras tsark, water elemental, fire elemental, cinder wasp, wind wraith
Wehnimer's Landing kobold, rat, rolton, goblin, thrak, manticore
Zul Logoth krynch, bat, whelk

Step 5: Attune Talisman

After receiving a desired INVOKE TALISMAN result, ATTUNE TALISMAN to set it to a specific beast.

Messaging
You tighten your grip on a rippled clay talisman, willing it to attune to the presence of the griffin spirit lingering in the area.
Roundtime: 2 sec.

Step 6: Offer Talisman

Finally, KNEEL and OFFER TALISMAN to bind the beast to the talisman. Having some Spiritual Lore, Summoning skill will help greatly. While kneeling is not required, it is highly recommended.

Minor failure
You hold out your clay talisman and reach out with your mind, calling to the kiramon 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. A stray thought causes you to lose your focus, and the blood seeps back into the talisman.
Roundtime: 14 sec.
Major failure (blood must be reapplied to the talisman)
You hold out your clay talisman and reach out with your mind, calling to the kiramon 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 evaporates into the air, and you sense that the spirit you are trying to summon is little pleased with your offering.
Roundtime: 20 sec.
Success
You hold out your clay talisman and reach out with your mind, calling to the kiramon 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 charred 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: 18 sec.

LOOK at the talisman to see the beast.

REPLACE EXAMPLE WITH CURRENT ITERATION

It's clay talisman that binds the spirits of the dead. What more do you want?

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.

It is attuned to the element of air.

Battling

Now that the talisman has a beast, the battling can begin.

To initiate a battle POINT MY TALISMAN AT {OPPONENT}. Opponent will respond in kind.

Beasts will start in randomly assigned bestial stances (might end up being the same stance), in strike mode, and automatically attack each other at a rate dependent upon a comparison of each beast's speed stat. The base is one attack every 7 seconds.

Players should adjust their beasts attack stance and bestial stance to achieve success.

Commands during battle

TELL {BEAST} TO ATTACK
Commands creatures to execute special move. This requires energy, which is automatically gained one some successful strikes and blocks. The maximum energy a beast can store is 8 points.
This incurs roundtime of between 11-15 seconds.
TELL {BEAST} TO GUARD
Commands creature to change to a defensive stance. In this stance the beast will be very poor in attacking, but will regenerate health upon attacking and boost its insight into its opponent's stance. Beasts will also be more likely to gain special move energy from blocking, but special attacks cannot be executed from guarded.
This incurs roundtime of between 5-7 seconds.
TELL {BEAST} TO STRIKE
Commands creature to change to an offensive stance. This is the default stance that the beast will begin the match in, thus there is no need to use it unless it has been told to guard. The beast will need to be in this stance to execute a special attack.
This incurs roundtime of between 5-7 seconds.
TELL {BEAST} TO SWITCH
Commands creature to change between the five bestial stances -- Turtle, Wolf, Serpent, Hare, or Crane -- each with their own merit.
This incurs roundtime of between 11-15 seconds.

Bestial Stance

Success in attacking/defending, besides the Strike and Guard stances, is dependent upon the current bestial stances of the attacker/defender. At the start of the match the bestial stance is randomly set to Turtle, Wolf, Serpent, Hare, or Crane.

Each of the five stances is strong against two of the others, but also weak against two of the others. These never overlap for two to be strong or weak against the same pair.

Bestial Stance Strong Against Weak Against
Turtle Hare and Crane Serpent and Wolf
Wolf Hare and Turtle Crane and Serpent
Serpent Turtle and Wolf Crane and Hare
Hare Serpent and Crane Wolf and Turtle
Crane Wolf and Serpent Hare and Turtle


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.


A beast's Insight may give a glimpse at what stance its opponent is in, but observation of relative success can also be an indicator.

Insight will allow a beast to possibly see its opponent shifting stance, or to detect the stance its opponent is in upon being attacked. In either case, the beast might also shift its stance to a better one to counteract its opponent.

Enhancives and Customizations

Potions are available that improve Spirit Beast traits. These can help improve already good traits (like making a beast with a lot of Power really, really strong) or shore up ones that a beast lacks (such as enhancing the Insight on a beast that's not very aware). Potions can be used to enhance a beast's stats by a total of 20 in any combination, but the merchant Ilixil can enhance ones that have already been fully enhanced by potions further.

Stat Fluid color
Power Indigo
Defense Emerald
Speed Gold
Insight Violet
Accuracy Mauve
Saffron for common
Health Crimson
Clear
enhancives
Black

Ilixil can also work on a beast's appearance and what its special attack looks like, within reason.

Resources