The 9 character-specific starting classes are Hermit, Initiate, Librarian, Mercenary, Wanderer, Swordsman, Outcast, and Oracle. In this post, we'll take a closer look at one character, Evie, and explore how the weapon system, classes, and skills have evolved in Veil of the Witch.
Evie’s Party Role
Evie starts as an Initiate, capable of fulfilling the roles of a healer and combat support, with some supplementary offensive options. She wields a Tome as her main weapon (our new name for light magic spellbooks), and primarily serves as a healer, using spells to restore allies’ health or dispel harmful status effects.
However, she is not limited to healing alone. Evie can also enhance attacks using Light Magic or utilize her secondary set of arms, a sword and shield, to help in combat. As her passive skills progress, she gains new ways to damage enemies and heal allies simultaneously. Upon obtaining the required materials in combat and promoting her at the party’s base camp, she can advance from Initiate to Priestess, and eventually to Lightbringer. Each promotion unlocks three new skills, granting additional options in battle.
Though skills are acquired on a run-by-run basis, classes are persistent. One you unlock a new class, it stays unlocked, and the skills that go with it join the rotation of skills you can choose from any time you level up.
Acquiring Class Skills
Our current plan is for each character to have a total of around 20 class skills. At the start of the game, each character has two basic skills. As players undertake battles, characters gain experience with every action, and level up right in the middle of battle, whereupon the player will be offered a randomized selection of upgrades. This includes 12 additional skills, as well as higher-tier versions of skills the player has already gained via class promotion.
At various specific levels, players will also be given the option to choose from a randomized selection of stat boost cards. As with many roguelites, if you don’t like the skills offered, you can spend a resource to reroll. This process allows the player to shape the character’s growth and build within a defined spectrum, for each new run.
In Evie’s case, for example, players can choose whether to build her as a highly powerful and specialized healer, or more of a generalized support that can also mix it up with enemies.
Class Skills
Here’s a look at the skills a character like Evie will be using over the course of the game, and upgrades that can be unlocked for those skills.
Healing Magic:
- Healing Touch: Uses the power of Light to heal an ally.
- Hymn of Healing: Encompasses one ally in an aura of Light, greatly healing them.
- Binding Healing: Heals an ally with the power of light, while also restoring the caster for 70% of the total. ○ Can be upgraded to 100%.
- Healing Surge: At the start of the turn, if there is at least one ally adjacent, this unit regains up to 20% of max Health (caps at +20). ○ Can be upgraded to 30% with a healing cap of +30 HP.
Offensive Magic:
- Radiant Arrow: Fires a holy arrow, inflicting Light damage on a single target.
- Holy Ward: Calls down the heavens, inflicting Light damage on a single foe. If the target is defeated by this ability, target tile and adjacent tiles become Sanctified ground for 2 turns. All allies standing within a Sanctuary regain +20 Health at the start of the turn. ○ Can be upgraded to a 3x3 area.
- Wrath Divine: Unleashes a burst of radiant power, inflicting Light damage on an enemy. If the target is a Fallen unit, it has a 50% chance of being destroyed instantly (excluding bosses and monsters). ○ Can be upgraded to a 75% chance.
Support Skills:
- Purification: Channels the power of Light to cleanse all status effects on an ally, granting +15 Health for each effect removed. ○ Can be upgraded to +20.
- Tree of Life: Summons the Tree of Life for 2 turns. At the end of the Allied Turn, the Tree inflicts 10 damage on enemies in a 3x3 area. If an ally interacts with the tree, they recover 40 Health, and are cleansed of all harmful status effects. ○ Can be upgraded to a version with a 3-turn duration, 15 damage, a 5x5 area, and a +60 heal.
- Sacred Prayer: Channels the power of light to cleanse all status effects on the target and allies in a 1 tile radius, granting +15 Health for each effect removed. ○ Can be upgraded to a 2-tile radius and a +20 heal.
- Heaven's Call: Teleports a distant ally to an adjacent tile, and gives them +1 Movement for 1 turn. ○ Can be upgraded to +2 Movement.
- Divine Protection: Surrounds an ally with light, granting Divine Protection for 2 turns. When an incoming attack would reduce a unit with Divine Protection to 0 Health, the damage is negated, and they instead regain 30% of max Health. Effect only triggers once. ○ Can be upgraded to a 3-turn duration and a 50% heal.
Other Passive Skills:
- Healing Aura: At the start of the turn, if there is at least one ally adjacent, this unit regains up to 20% of max Health (caps at +20). ○ Can be upgraded to +30% Health with a cap of +30 HP.
- Tranquility: When receiving a critical hit, reduces the final damage taken by 20% and doubles the healing amount of 'Healing Touch,' 'Hymn of Healing,' 'Bonded Healing,' and 'Wind of Healing' on the next use. ○ Can be upgraded to a 30% damage reduction.
- Radiance: When the amount recovered from a healing spell exceeds this unit's max Health, 50% of the surplus is converted to a Shield as temp HP. ○ Can be upgraded to 75%.
- Lightfooted: Decreases likelihood of being targeted by the enemy.
- Radiant Rage: Holy spells restore 50% of damage inflicted as Health. ○ Can be upgraded to 75%. ○ As a fun side note, this ability also triggers in response to Tree of Life’s damage-over-time effect, producing a very strong synergy.
- Divine Weapon: Imbues an equipped weapon with holy light, increasing physical attack Power by +5. If the target is a Fallen unit, Critical Hit is increased by +20. ○ Can be upgraded to a +8 boost and +30 Critical Hit.
- Second Wind: Dealing Physical Damage restores 50% of the total to all allies as Health. ○ Can be upgraded to 75%.
- Decisive Strike: Whenever this unit lands a Critical Hit on an enemy, their next Combat Skill or Spell does not trigger a cooldown.
Anyone who played Lost Eidolons will probably notice immediately that these skills are a lot stronger than they were in the first game, and the upgraded versions are pretty substantial, offering huge boosts in range, utility, and power. This is in line with our general goal in VotW, to make combat faster, more fun, and more dynamic.
Oh, and one more thing to mention: in addition to upgrades mid-combat, skills can also be upgraded by training at campsites throughout the journey. Unlike the first game, which had some dry spots in the character progression, here a substantial stat boost or skill upgrade is always just around the corner.
Enhancement of Equipment and Acquisition of Powerful Equipment Skills
In Veil of the Witch, characters equip main weapons, secondary weapons, and armor.
As mentioned, Evie uses a tome as her main weapon, a sword and shield as secondary weapons, and wears cloth armor. These items can be upgraded to better versions in the course of gameplay.
During battle, defeating enemies yields special items, including Enhancing Stones of various grades. After the battle, players can attach up to three Enhancing Stones to a specific piece of equipment for party characters, boosting their stats and sometimes unlocking unique skills. Combining these enhancements with class skills allows players to gain a significant advantage over enemies in battles.
Today we discussed two sources of character progression – skills and upgrades. However, there are other progression systems we haven’t even shared yet, including Relics and the Altar of Fire. Our hope is that with all of these richly interlocking systems, players can look forward to a game that’s sleek and streamlined, while still maintaining a high degree of customization and strategic depth.
Jin Sang Kim, Creative Director
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2530490/Lost_Eidolons_Veil_of_the_Witch/
