Power takes
many forms.

• Hero, Neutral, and Villain are broad class categories, not moral verdicts. A complete category assignment for every class has not been established.

• Class, subclass, order, specialization, profession, rank, species, feat, and personal gift are distinct. A job such as handler, technician, medic, or assassin does not by itself establish a class.

• Cross-class learning is a rare separate trait. Learning still requires instruction, practice, and time. Valiant adaptation is not unrestricted cross-class learning.

• Time-displacement concerns travel compatibility, not combat mastery or class advancement.

• Individual variation matters. A possible ability is not automatically universal. “Most,” “some,” and “advanced” carry specific meaning.

• Class matchups are conditional. They describe useful advantages and vulnerabilities, not guaranteed winners or a fixed power ranking.

Alchemists work with compounds, mixtures, reactions, and the properties of their targets. Their methods may be magical, nonmagical, or a combination of both. They can act against groups or serve as direct rivals to magic users; suitable mixtures can destroy wards or turn magic against its caster.

They use both prepared mixtures and mixtures improvised in the field. Success depends on the mixture, materials, delivery, dose, and understanding of the target. A compound does not automatically defeat every ward or caster.

Improvising with limited resources is difficult. When pressured without adequate supplies or preparation, an Alchemist may escape and arrange an ambush rather than continue an unfavorable exchange.

An Avenari class distinguished by exceptional observation and calculation. Analysts are formidable independent observers and become much more effective when coordinating reliable information feeds and networks.

Their predictions arise from analysis rather than future sight. False, missing, or outdated information can undermine even an excellent prediction. Network coordination amplifies their effectiveness without making them dependent on a network for every useful action.

Battle Clerics often began in a melee combat class. They can fight at a level comparable to a novice Warrior while accessing decent healing options at reduced efficiency.

Clerics specialize in individual care, healing, cleansing, protection, and restoration. They have limited area healing, but are better doctors and better suited to secured treatment settings than Grand Priests.

They possess multiple resurrection variations. One can restore a person to full health at great cost in mana or soul. The source and cost depend on the technique: where many have died nearby, an enemy soul may be used; a restrained enemy's mana may also be used if enough is available. These are possible sources, not mandatory ingredients for every resurrection. Sourcing can use physical contact or equipment. Ultra-rare items or divine favor can supply power and help stabilize resurrection, with supplying power their primary contribution. They do not bypass the soul's presence, willingness, condition, or passage to another plane, and the existing resurrection limits still apply.

Resurrection requirements and risks. To bring someone back, the target's soul must be present, willing, and not have entered another plane. Resurrection requires substantial power and time to draw the soul back. Interruptions can ruin or destroy the soul outright. A soul that is too badly damaged cannot be restored through resurrection, though it may be healed enough to reincarnate, likely without its memories. Willingness is required for restoration, not for resurrection magic to harm a Death Knight or Lich; it can harm them even when they resist.

Clerics generally do not use an ally's soul or mana, though an ally may willingly contribute. Extracting mana in this way is destructive: it can ruin the contributor's ability to use magic, cause physical or mental complications, and, in the worst cases, cause death. These stated consequences concern mana extraction; separate soul-extraction consequences are not established.

A Cleric may advance to Grand Priest, but other paths exist. The two classes excel in different situations.

Corsairs use a broad range of weapons. For most, the standard toolkit includes one longer Blink and Backstab, supporting sudden openings, rear attacks, and escape.

Their pattern differs from the Swashbuckler's two quick repositionings. Rare individuals develop differently, so the standard toolkit is not an absolute requirement for every Corsair. Blink is rapid physical movement to a fixed position, not phasing. Backstab can miss; its critical effect depends on landing the appropriate attack from behind.

Cyphers support allied coordination, protect systems, provide information, and disrupt opposing communications and devices. They can hack and turn enemy systems to their advantage, as well as improve available systems and designs.

Access, understanding, and time matter. Unfamiliar technology is not automatically vulnerable, and class membership does not confer universal control of every device or technological being.

Some Cyphers can use magic and interfere with purely magical structures. Others cannot. A nonmagical Cypher can still target technological components of a hybrid system when access and understanding permit.

Death Knights combine martial combat with powers focused on death, blood, and cold, including influence over the dead. They are not inherently evil. Some call them undead, but technically they exist in a different state whose precise nature is unspecified.

Origins. Death Knights are rare people who return after dying with extreme conviction, a strong soul and will, and the feeling that their task will remain unresolved. This conviction resembles that associated with natural Paladins. Only some return, and the exact factors are unknown. Most Death Knights are fallen Paladins or Monks; rare Warrior and Knight cases exist. For an oath-bound Paladin, surviving oathbreaking normally leads to an Oathbreaker Paladin. Death during or close to oathbreaking is the known Death Knight path, within the broader, rare phenomenon rather than a guarantee that every such death produces one.

Power and defense. Their darker power shift resembles an Oathbreaker's in some respects, but Death Knights gain greater individual defense. They share defensive power with others less extensively than Paladins do, rather than losing the ability to protect allies altogether.

Influence over the dead. They can briefly bind nearby fallen or contest control of existing undead. Their manipulation is naturally temporary unless the original soul is willing. Maintaining control takes attention away from fighting. Necromancers do not share this temporary-or-willing limitation and specialize in lasting undead armies.

Resistances. Death magic has no effect on them. Shadow magic has barely any effect. They naturally resist most elements, but elemental resistance is not elemental immunity. They are effective against undead and demons and are unaffected by those threats' miasmas or energies.

Vulnerabilities. Light magic and holy fire are particularly dangerous. Certain healing spells can seriously harm them. A sufficiently strong resurrection cast on a Death Knight can nearly kill them or kill them outright, even when they resist. This is not a claim about every holy spell, ordinary fire, or every heal. The weakness is known to some, but the class is rare; most Clerics would not know the interaction and may not even know Death Knights exist.

Water. Death Knights cannot float, cannot swim, and cannot drown.

All Demon Hunters learn to identify and pursue demonic threats. Individuals may emphasize tracking and preparation, combat, or disruption of demonic abilities. They are versed in fighting both demons and undead.

Demonic presence empowers them, and they are unaffected by the demonic and undead energies that corrupt or kill others. They can absorb energy from fallen demons and use it to empower attacks. Some have mastered using absorbed energy to heal themselves; self-healing is not universal.

Stored demonic energy usually fades over time. Retention varies with mastery, and the ability to hold it until it is spent is rare. Combat use, retention, and healing need not develop equally in the same individual.

Demon Mages draw on demonic energy for their magic. They may draw ambient energy, make a pact with a demon, or use a prepared source. Their powers vary with their source and training, and individuals may specialize in destructive casting, summoning, or control.

A pact may carry obligations, while drawing uncontained demonic energy can expose the Mage to corruption. Neither consequence is automatic.

Demon Hunters are particularly dangerous opponents because demonic energy empowers them and they are trained to track and fight demonic threats. A Demon Mage's preparation or unexpected abilities can still change the matchup.

Demolitionists are destruction specialists who may use explosives, technology, or magic according to the individual. They excel at breaching fortified positions and disabling structures or equipment. Controlling collateral damage is a major challenge, especially in confined spaces.

They can threaten Knights and other heavily armored defenders by attacking their position rather than their armor directly. In close quarters, a fast opponent may interrupt them before they can set up. Preparation and circumstances affect the outcome.

Destruction Mages are glass cannons specializing in destructive and siege magic. Their largest attacks require preparation.

Precision and the avoidance of collateral damage require additional control. Experience improves both preparation and control, but does not eliminate those demands. Close pressure and interruption are serious vulnerabilities, although a Destruction Mage is not helpless at close range.

Their emphasis is large-scale devastation rather than the Shadow Priest's focus on weakening and attacking an individual.

Druids draw on nature-based approaches, with abilities varying by individual. Nature mana, plant magic, healing, and terrain abilities are possible specialties rather than a universal checklist.

Most Druids can transform. Some trade transformation for other specializations. Transformation forms depend on familiarity: a Druid can study animals on a new world and learn their forms, but this takes time and understanding rather than granting immediate access to unfamiliar creatures.

Eldritch Scoundrels are a Rogue path combining martial combat, movement, deception, and survival with a limited selection of magic touched by an eldritch patron. They use relatively economical spells to create openings rather than match a dedicated Mage's raw power.

They favor illusions and misdirection, with some choosing short-range movement or defensive tricks. Their exact selection varies by individual. Access to Eldritch Blast adds a direct ranged option for pressure or creating openings, generally less devastating than a dedicated Warlock's attack. Exact techniques, ranges, and costs are not identical for every practitioner.

Veilbreaker

Veilbreaker is an Eldritch Scoundrel subclass specializing in seeing through illusions and magical concealment, breaking wards and magical barriers, and causing debilitating effects. Individuals may favor detection or disruption, using Rogue skills to exploit the openings they create.

Debilitations focus on specific weaknesses, such as slowing movement, weakening defenses, or disrupting concentration, rather than disabling everything at once. Breaking a strong ward can take time or create an opening that alerts its owner. A quieter bypass may let the Veilbreaker through without removing the ward for the rest of a group.

Veilbreakers can challenge Ward Weavers and Illusionists, but layered defenses and misdirection can complicate their work. Skill and preparation matter more than an automatic counter.

Elementalists are Mages who learn multiple elements and specialize primarily in elemental magic.

Healing depends on the person's elements and abilities. It is not a universal Elementalist capability.

Elemental encounters combine natural interactions with environment, application, overall magical power, and tactical skill. Familiar water-versus-fire and earth-versus-wind interactions generally apply. Electricity is an advanced element that is especially useful against water and wind. “Advanced” means rarer and more difficult, not that mastery of another element is a required prerequisite. No complete elemental counter chart is established.

Enchanters use both strong, reliable prepared enchantments and quick, temporary battlefield enchantments or hexes.

Prepared enchantments consume suitable materials. Once finished, they do not need constant concentration; their durability depends on materials and craftsmanship. Quick enchantments and hexes require concentration, and maintaining multiple effects divides attention.

Templar anti-magic suppresses an active enchantment within reach. A durable enchantment resumes afterward unless the underlying object or the enchantment itself was damaged.

Engineer is a broad, generally non-combat class and a common precursor for Alchemists, Field Architects, and Cyphers. Most, but not all, practitioners of those paths begin as Engineers. Technical employment alone does not establish class membership.

Engineers design, build, maintain, and adapt equipment and systems, with specialties ranging from structures and machinery to advanced technology. Magic is not required, though Engineers with magical ability can incorporate it into their designs.

Their effectiveness depends on available materials, tools, and knowledge of the system. An experienced Engineer may improvise a temporary fix, while lasting repairs and unfamiliar designs can require more time and resources.

Field Architects prepare or alter the battlefield through structures and obstacles, channeling opponents into less favorable routes or positions. An individual's structures may use magic, technology, or both.

Prepared structures are stronger and more complex. Quick temporary obstacles require more attention or energy. Preparation can create a substantial advantage, while early pressure can disrupt setup.

A Field Architect changes or prepares the battlefield. A Wayfinder finds and exploits routes through it.

Grand Mages are distinguished by exceptional magical power and mastery. Both are important to achieving the class, and more than one path can lead to it. Grand Mages retain the strengths of their earlier training rather than automatically gaining every kind of magic. Their schools and techniques vary, with possible specialties including elements, wards, or healing; the title does not establish a universal spell list or a complete numerical rank system.

Their strongest spells demand substantial energy or preparation, though they remain formidable without those spells. A well-prepared Grand Mage can overwhelm many opponents, but Alchemists, Mage Hunters, and Templars can still threaten them through disruption or by exploiting an opening. Experience, individual capabilities, and circumstances determine the outcome.

A Witch's distinguishing advantage is broad potential to learn across the magical spectrum. A Grand Mage's is exceptional power and mastery. Raw power ultimately depends on the individual, so neither title guarantees victory over the other.

Grand Priests specialize in area healing, regeneration, and battlefield sanctuaries. They can restore entire groups to battle-ready condition during an engagement, making them especially strong at preventing deaths.

They have one resurrection variation, one of their divine powers. The full wait between divine powers varies by caster and mastery, ranging from a day to weeks. Their resurrection restores the subject only to a non-life-threatening condition, not to full health.

Grand Priests are much better at preventing death than dealing with its aftermath. Clerics remain stronger at individual doctoring and possess more varied resurrection techniques. Both Clerics and Priests can advance to Grand Priest; different training and divine connections provide other routes. Most Grand Priests, including the most powerful, have a divine connection. Other divine beings, such as ascended dragons and Star Children, can grant such connections, though they generally do not.

Gunslinger is a separate path from Ranger, not a standard Ranger advancement.

Gunslingers are strongly combat-focused firearms specialists with high damage and kill potential. Their emphasis is aggressive, mobile combat and sustained lethal pressure.

Sharpshooters emphasize observation and long-range precision. These contrasting specialties do not exclude either class from other capabilities.

Illusionist Mages manipulate perception through disguises, false sounds, elaborate scenes, and other sensory deceptions. Advanced illusions can affect the mind directly. Concealment, misdirection, and disrupting an opponent's coordination are central uses.

Direct mental illusions are harder to cast and maintain than sensory illusions, especially against prepared or strong-willed targets. Independent information, such as a teammate's warning or a sensor revealing a mismatch, can expose deception without necessarily ending the illusion.

Death Knights, Templars, and Paladins are immune to Illusionist magic. Gunslingers, Demon Hunters, Grand Priests, and Witches resist it to varying degrees. Resistance can arise from different sources, including training, heightened senses, or the nature of the class's abilities.

Knights must belong to an order or kingdom. Their affiliation shapes their training and specialization, with orders or lines often connected to kingdoms. Most are disciplined frontline fighters who protect others and hold ground.

Knights generally lack access to magic and rely on martial training, weapons, and armor. They can hold their own against many physical attackers, while powerful magic presents a particular challenge without supporting allies or protective equipment. Skill, equipment, and circumstances still affect the outcome.

Life Mages study and manipulate life energy, specializing in healing and understanding living bodies. They excel at treating injuries and restoring bodily function. They emphasize magic rather than the Life Monk's martial training and do not necessarily have access to resurrection; Clerics possess a broader range of resurrection techniques.

Life Mages can manipulate an enemy's life energy offensively, but their offensive options are limited. Healing remains their strength. They are especially valuable with allies protecting them and can be vulnerable if an enemy reaches them before help arrives.

Mage is a broad class with many subclass branches. Examples include healing-focused Life Mages, Fire and Wind Mages, Demon Mages, and Death Mages, also called Necromancers. Elementalists are Mages who learn multiple elements and specialize primarily in elemental magic.

Monk is a broad class with Fist, Life, and Shadow paths. Monks share disciplined physical and mental training, and most learn to channel energy in ways shaped by their path. They are often ritual practitioners and dojo members.

Fist Monk

Fist Monks, also called the Fist Path or Melee Purists, emphasize physical and mental conditioning. Their limited channeling is especially useful for pushing beyond natural limits. Unarmed combat is favored as the traditional approach, but weapons are an individual choice and are common among younger Fist Monks.

Against armor, they usually rely on precision and exploiting gaps, choosing channeled energy as a second approach when needed. Their precision and conditioning make them dangerous up close. Distance and sustained ranged attacks can be difficult, especially when they cannot close the gap.

Life Monk

Life Monks have less powerful healing than Clerics but are better equipped to defend themselves in a fight. They mostly heal one person at a time through hands-on care.

They use similar techniques to heal themselves and often meditate. Meditation makes self-healing especially effective when they have time and safety, but it is difficult to use during a fight.

Shadow path

Shadow Monks preserve most of the shared Monk foundation, particularly conditioning, while specializing their channeling in shadow. Their full description and Shadow Step limits appear in the Shadow Monk entry.

Necromancer, also called Death Mage, is a Mage subclass centered on both raising and commanding the dead and manipulating death and souls. Individuals specialize differently. They can animate a body without its original soul or involve that soul in their work.

The number and strength of undead they control may depend on their own power and concentration, ongoing energy costs, or both, according to the method. Unlike Death Knights, their manipulation is not naturally limited to temporary control unless the original soul is willing. Stratus does not employ Necromancers as a rule because of their practices.

Necromancers often inadvertently create zombies. These undead spread through infection rather than requiring each new zombie to be deliberately raised, and can overrun settlements or even worlds. Zombies can sometimes be controlled, but a break in concentration can allow one to become many. If a zombie kills its Necromancer creator, that creator becomes a Lich.

Lich

A Lich is a powerful undead Necromancer capable of controlling countless hordes at once. The transformation changes the person into an insatiable, life-devouring presence. A Lich may retain intelligence, but loses morality, reason, and humanity, driven only to consume life essence and grow and maintain its hordes.

Liches share Death Knights' vulnerabilities to light and holy magic, including holy fire and certain harmful healing interactions. A sufficiently powerful resurrection spell can nearly kill or outright kill a Lich, even when the Lich resists.

An Avenari class using nonmagical nanotechnology. Its origin is distinct from magic, even where the results look similar or are comparably powerful.

Configurations and training may favor adaptive equipment, distributed sensing, or distributed presence. Energy is the main constraint, with replacement material and control range also limiting what can be sustained or deployed. Different configurations need not provide identical capabilities.

An Oathbreaker retains the Paladin foundation but loses some order-bound abilities. Altered or new specialties depend on the individual and the broken oath.

Power shifts to darker energy or shadow instead of holy or light. Much defensive power is lost in exchange for destructive power. This differs from the Death Knight's stronger personal defense.

Oathbreaking does not establish evil intent. An oath may be broken for the greater good. An oath-bound Paladin who survives normally becomes an Oathbreaker; death during or near oathbreaking can lead to a Death Knight. Such returns are rare and involve extraordinary conviction, a strong soul and will, and an unresolved purpose. Natural Paladins have no oath to break.

Paladins share a protective and martial foundation. Their orders influence their specialties, with Charity and Justice among the established examples.

Natural Paladins can access more specialties across orders and have no oath they can break. A natural awakening does not itself guarantee superior power or correct judgment.

Paladins are versatile defensive powerhouses. Oath-bound Paladins may become Oathbreakers or Death Knights when their oath is broken, depending on whether they survive or die during or close to that event. Neither outcome is inherently evil.

Priests provide healing and spiritual guidance, with guidance their primary role. They often do not work in the field and lack combat training. Most belong to an order or have a connection to a deity. Some have no direct connection and offer guidance and counsel independently; they can still use a limited form of healing.

A Priest can advance to Grand Priest. Different training and divine connections also provide routes to that class. Most Grand Priests, including the most powerful, have a divine connection. A mandatory Priest-to-Cleric-to-Grand-Priest progression is not required.

Rangers emphasize broad fieldcraft: reconnaissance, observation, tracking, terrain awareness, positioning, and ranged protection.

Their breadth distinguishes them from the more combat-focused Gunslinger, the long-range precision of the Sharpshooter, and the Trail Hunter's route interception and trap use. Ranger and Gunslinger remain separate paths.

Mage Hunter

Mage Hunters are Rangers who specialize in tracking and hunting Mages and other magic users. They use anti-magic and are skilled at concealing their presence from magic users.

Rogue is a broad class with many subclasses and paths. Rogues share adaptability, awareness, and a preference for finding an advantage rather than meeting every threat head-on. They need not be stealthy or criminal.

Established paths include Infiltrator for access and concealment, Scout for observation and reconnaissance, Assassin for eliminating specific targets, and Thief for acquiring or recovering things. Eldritch Scoundrel combines Rogue skills with a limited selection of magic.

Rogues are well versed in exotic weapons and small- to medium-sized blades. They can trouble a prepared caster by disrupting plans or closing the distance, but may struggle in a prolonged direct fight against a well-armored opponent.

Shadow Monks combine martial discipline, shadow-enhanced strikes, concealment, and Shadow Step. They retain most of their Monk foundation, especially physical conditioning, but lose access to other channeling options in favor of shadow. Their abilities support both attacks and concealment, including manipulating shadows and distorting light and vision. They may favor stealth and ambush or prolonged open combat; both approaches are viable depending on preference and training.

Basic Shadow Step requires direct sight and a destination shadow. Advanced Shadow Monks can move to a shadow they previously saw or are viewing indirectly. They cannot move to a shadow they have not seen or are not truly aware of. Exact range and elapsed-time limits have not been set.

Available light and shadows affect their options. Brightly lit spaces can make concealment and Shadow Step harder, without leaving them helpless: their conditioning and combat skills remain valuable.

Eclipse Striker

Eclipse Striker is a Shadow Monk subclass combining brief, powerful shadow-enhanced combinations, mobile pressure through known shadows, and distortion of light and vision to conceal the timing and direction of attacks. These techniques create openings for explosive close-range combat.

Shadow Step retains its established destination limits: basic use requires direct sight and a destination shadow; advanced use can reach a previously seen or indirectly viewed shadow, but never an unseen or truly unknown destination. The strongest attack combinations consume substantial energy and cannot be sustained indefinitely.

Cover and shadows can let an Eclipse Striker close on a ranged specialist. A Sharpshooter with a clear, brightly lit firing lane can be particularly dangerous before the Striker reaches close range.

Shadow Priests are strongly offense-focused, especially against individual targets. Their support chiefly comes from weakening enemies, and they can weaken both physical ability and magic.

Their established capabilities also include offensive shadow magic, ally enhancement, and repositioning. These do not turn the class into a conventional primary healer or a primarily defensive support class.

They can be dangerous when allowed to weaken an opponent before close combat. Shadow-resistant opponents and anti-magic can substantially complicate that approach.

Umbral Warden

Umbral Warden is a Shadow Priest subclass combining shadow containment, targeted suppression, and protection of allies by weakening threats. A Warden may bind an enemy to restrict movement or escape, weaken physical strength or spellcasting, or create an opportunity for an ally to reposition. Individuals favor different approaches.

Maintaining a strong binding or suppression requires concentration, limiting the Warden's ability to control other targets simultaneously. These abilities can make them dangerous to an isolated fighter, while a coordinated group can apply pressure and break their concentration.

Sharpshooters emphasize observation, preparation, and long-range precision, controlling distant approaches through a suitable position and firing lane.

Their emphasis contrasts with the Gunslinger's aggressive movement and sustained pressure. Long sightlines can favor a Sharpshooter, while cover and an opponent's mobility can change the engagement. Neither specialty excludes additional capabilities.

Spies specialize in gathering intelligence and maintaining a cover over time. Infiltrators focus more on entering and leaving restricted places; the skills can overlap.

Spies are skilled at reading people, adapting to a cover, and recognizing useful information. Building and maintaining a cover takes time, and exposure can undo that work. Most have skill in some form of combat, with some trained in both melee and ranged fighting.

Methods vary with the individual and setting. They may use disguises, contacts, technology, or magic when they have access to it.

Swashbucklers are adaptable weapon fighters who use a broad range of weapons. For most, Double Blink and repositioning are standard parts of the toolkit.

Two quick repositionings distinguish their usual pattern from the Corsair's single longer Blink and Backstab. Rare individuals evolve differently. Timing and the ability to make an opponent commit matter more than an automatic class advantage.

Swordsmen focus on precision, timing, sword mastery, and exploiting openings. Most are capable duelists, and advanced Swordsmen can handle many enemies as well.

Their focus is narrower than the Warrior's broader range of weapon choices. A Swordsman may exploit a heavier opponent's openings, while a Warrior may seek a prolonged exchange or break the Swordsman's guard.

An Avenari class that uses genuine magic, including holy magic, independently. Some specialize in combining magic and technology, but that combination is not required.

Magic benefits from envisioning the intended outcome and believing it. Avenari naturally excel at this, generally using the magic they possess near its peak and often exceeding typical magic users of equal experience.

This advantage improves existing magic; it does not supply every spell or grant immunity to interruption. Knowledge, experience, energy, and individual ability still matter. Avenari is the canonical spelling.

Templars combine martial combat and warding with anti-magic. They generally use both area suppression and targeted or contact-based techniques, though mastery and effective range vary.

Area suppression is broader and less concentrated. Targeted anti-magic can apply stronger suppression to one spell, person, or object, depending on the Templar's power and the opposing magic.

They can suppress and interrupt magic within effective reach, including active enchantments. This is not immunity to all magic. Range, multiple threats, and sustained physical pressure can challenge them.

Trail Hunters read local terrain, predict target movement, and use traps to control or intercept a route.

All Trail Hunters can use tools. Some can also use magic, making both physical and magical traps possible across the class without making magical traps universal.

Their focus differs from the Wraith Stalker's supernatural pursuit and the Ranger's broader fieldcraft.

An ancient class originally exclusive to dragons, centered on adaptation and resilience, with adaptation the stronger emphasis.

Valiants develop dragon senses that improve close combat and instincts. Exact abilities vary by individual and by how the class was obtained; personal dragon marks or gifts are not automatically class-wide powers.

Adaptation develops through training over time and during an encounter. Experience is the fastest route to learning and responding. Adaptation is not instant immunity: a Valiant can be overwhelmed before finding an answer and must still use caution.

Ward Weaver is a broad Mage path specializing in magical wards that protect, contain, or warn. Individuals develop different specialties, including protective barriers, counterspells, and group protection. Not every ward performs every function.

Quick wards are useful in emergencies but generally less durable. Stronger wards take preparation and resources. Ward Weavers specialize in the wards themselves, while Field Architects shape and control an area using magic, technology, or both; their work can overlap.

An Alchemist's prepared compound can threaten a ward. A Ward Weaver who recognizes the threat may layer or adapt defenses. Preparation and circumstances determine the outcome, rather than an automatic class advantage.

Warlocks obtain power through a pact that may grant some abilities directly and teach others. What happens when the relationship ends depends on the pact and the kind of power involved.

Warlocks generally possess fewer kinds of magic but use them at their peak. They cannot easily reduce attack power and have difficulty controlling range and collateral damage.

Special weapons and tools can make those energies more precise and safer for the user and allies. Stratus often provides its Warlocks with pistols, rifles, or other such tools. These refine the use of existing energies rather than adding spells, and not every Warlock has identical equipment.

A precision tool may permit engagement beyond a Templar's effective range. Neither the tool nor its magical output is thereby established as immune to anti-magic.

Hexblade

Hexblade is a Warlock subclass that channels magic through a weapon for powerful close-range strikes and curses that weaken enemies. Individuals differ in which approach they favor. Their Warlock difficulty controlling power can still make collateral damage a concern.

The weapon acts as a focus that helps direct magic. It need not be sentient or share a Sword Saint's bond. Disarming a Hexblade disrupts weapon-focused techniques, though they can still use other Warlock magic they know.

Their curses are most effective against a single target and can weaken defenses or interfere with movement. Exact effects vary by individual.

Warriors are a versatile, often formally trained class comparable to soldiers and troops. They combine weapon mastery, durability, and physical techniques. Some remain broadly adaptable weapon fighters; others specialize in overpowering defenses and controlling close combat. Many choose which approach to emphasize.

They are effective at breaking physical defenses and can be formidable in sustained close exchanges. Their loadout and individual focus matter, so a greatsword specialization is not automatically a separate base class.

Wayfinders are skilled navigators who apply routes in combat. Individuals may specialize in exploration, transport, pursuit, or ambush.

They can assess active ley-lines and sense intermittent lines while those lines are active. Dormant lines can occasionally be sensed, but only vaguely and inconsistently. Their use is new, and most Wayfinders did not previously know to specialize in them. Dormant detection is neither impossible nor a standard reliable capability.

Wayfinders find and exploit routes; Field Architects prepare or change the battlefield. Sensing a route does not by itself establish unrestricted travel through it.

Witches have exceptional breadth of magical potential. Many can learn across nearly the whole magical spectrum given sufficient time and study, beyond the breadth available to other classes.

Some are naturally unable to use particular magics because of what kind of people they are. Broad learning potential does not remove individual limits, replace study, or grant immediate access to every magic.

Their breadth distinguishes them from the exceptional power and mastery of a Grand Mage and the narrower, high-output powers of a Warlock. Individual raw power, rather than title alone, determines who is stronger.

Wizard is a broad class centered on constructing and modifying spells through study and precision. Wizards specialize in how spells are built, while Mages emphasize practicing and mastering their chosen kinds of magic. The work can overlap, and Mages can also modify spells.

Developing or substantially changing a spell requires research and testing. Wizards can cast known spells in combat, but inventing a reliable new spell on the spot is risky. They are most dangerous when prepared; close pressure or interrupted casting can challenge them, depending on their spells and experience.

Spellwright

Spellwrights are a Wizard branch specializing in the design of new spells.

Runescribe

Runescribes are a Wizard branch that adapts spells into written symbols or prepared devices. They focus on recording and triggering spells, while Enchanters alter the properties of an object or subject. Their practices can overlap.

Wraith Stalkers center their pursuit on supernatural senses, supported by specialized conditioning that helps them exploit those senses, along with physical and tactical tracking.

Tracking may begin from a direct encounter, a clue, or sensed energy, depending on the situation and information available. A direct encounter is not universally required.

A strong presence, especially constant energy, is easy to trace once sensed. When a target sufficiently masks or conceals its energy, a clue may be more useful.

Sword Saint, Spirit Blade, and Dark Advent are Ultimate classes with distinct origins, powers, and risks.

Sword Saint is an Ultimate class described as the highest achievement for a non-god entity. Becoming one combines exceptional mastery and experience with a special bond to a powerful blade or spirit. The bond forms naturally, and most who experience it do not expect it.

The weapon may already be sentient; if not, it becomes sentient when the bond forms. It has an independent personality and will, often complementing or contrasting with the Sword Saint. Each partnership has different abilities.

At creation, the Sword Saint and weapon share a temporary mind link. Knowledge of the partnership's abilities comes from the weapon, which also guides the Saint toward their goals. The initial mind link ends after creation, but they can continue communicating telepathically. A newly sentient weapon can communicate immediately, though some remain quiet while trying to understand their own nature.

Spirit Blades wield their own spirit as a weapon and draw on outer-plane energies. Their powerful ranged attacks can inflict great physical and soul damage and are especially effective against Ascended beings.

Channeling too much power can destroy the Spirit Blade's own soul. Judging how much they can safely draw is part of the danger.

Ancient Dragons can radiate energy that poisons what a Spirit Blade draws. This can both harm the wielder and disrupt their attacks, chiefly by overtaxing them and rapidly causing severe soul damage.

A Dark Advent arises when someone draws and amplifies magic in a rare, almost always inadvertent way, creating a magic well resembling a small magical black hole. The well forcibly empowers the caster, giving access to far more powerful versions of magic.

The amplified power most often channels dark or fel energy. Its origin corrupts most who reach the class, making them dangerous. Neutral Dark Advents have existed, but they still warrant caution.

The well becomes a core inside the body, like a heart, replacing other organs and sustaining the Dark Advent. It constantly outputs energy that must be restrained. Massive, devastating attacks can feel cathartic as releases of that pressure. Restraining the energy for too long causes a massive implosion and death.

Dark Advents can discharge smaller amounts over time and often use special gems for this purpose. They can create the gems by magically crushing matter or living things. The source determines how much a gem can hold; living things are the most efficient source, but using them is cruel.

These gems are volatile, unreliable for others to use, and often discarded where they are used, leaving another hazard. Neutral Dark Advents can reduce harm by using nonliving material and isolated discharge locations, though discarded gems still require careful handling.

These are skillsets rather than separate classes. Their abilities remain subject to the relevant class, clan, training, and mastery requirements.

Bastion of Justice belongs to the Paladin Order of Justice. It combines guarding an ally and counterattacking when an enemy commits, holding a strong position and striking those trying to break through, and strengthening nearby allies' defenses while attacking the greatest threat.

The Paladin can direct more power toward protecting allies or toward personal damage, but cannot maximize both at once. The skillset is particularly effective against direct assaults on guarded people or positions. Highly mobile opponents who divide attention or attack from several directions can stretch its defenses.

Iron-Blood Sovereign is specific to the Iron-Blood were-folk clan. Every were-folk clan has its own version of transformation mastery, expressed through that clan's natural forms and strengths.

The skillset develops forms the individual already possesses: precise partial transformations for a task, fluid transitions between forms in combat, and sustained control of transformed power under fatigue or pressure. The Iron-Blood version emphasizes raw strength, resilience, and disciplined control.

Repeated transformations and prolonged fighting still consume stamina. Experience helps manage the strain, but mastery does not grant invulnerability and the practitioner can still be overwhelmed.

Adaptive Alchemy is an advanced skillset for adjusting a mixture after observing a target's response, substituting available ingredients in a familiar formula, and combining compatible mixtures to change their effects or delivery as a situation develops.

Materials, knowledge, and time remain necessary. Unfamiliar substitutions or incompatible combinations can produce weaker, unpredictable, or dangerous results; resourcefulness does not remove those risks.

These interactions describe established advantages under particular conditions. Skill, preparation, power, range, terrain, resources, and individual capabilities can change the outcome.

• Templar against Destruction Mage: Suppression or interruption can stop a major spell when the Templar is within effective reach. Distance and multiple threats may overwhelm that defense.

• Destruction Mage against Warrior: Range and area attacks can prevent the Warrior from establishing a favorable physical exchange. Close pressure and interruption can reverse the situation.

• Warrior against Templar: A Warrior generally has the advantage in a sustained physical fight through the ability to break physical defenses. This is not a guarantee against every Templar.

• Field Architect against Warrior: Prepared structures can channel the Warrior and control the approach. Early pressure can disrupt the Architect before the field is ready.

• Cypher against Field Architect: With access and sufficient understanding, a Cypher can turn technological defenses. Hybrid fields retain technological vulnerabilities. Purely magical structures require a Cypher who can use magic.

• Alchemist against magic users: A prepared Alchemist can threaten a powerful caster through suitable mixtures, including ward destruction or turning magic back on its caster. Denial of time or materials creates vulnerability; a mobile opponent can catch the Alchemist unprepared. Escape followed by an ambush may reverse that pressure.

• Templar against Enchanter: Active enchantments within reach are suppressed. Durable enchantments resume after suppression unless they or their objects were damaged.

• Templar against Warlock: Suppression works within effective range. A Warlock's precision equipment may allow engagement from outside it, without conferring immunity to anti-magic.

• Alchemist against Ward Weaver: A prepared compound can disrupt a ward, while a Ward Weaver who recognizes the threat may layer or adapt defenses. Preparation and circumstances matter.

• Demolitionist against armored defenders: Attacking a fortified position can threaten Knights and other heavily armored defenders without directly overcoming their armor. A fast opponent at close range may interrupt the Demolitionist before setup.

• Grand Mage against disruption specialists: Preparation can let a Grand Mage overwhelm many opponents. Alchemists, Mage Hunters, and Templars can still threaten them by disrupting magic or exploiting openings; individual experience and circumstances matter.

• Veilbreaker against Ward Weaver or Illusionist: Detection, disruption, and focused debilitations can create an opening. Layered defenses or misdirection can delay or mislead the Veilbreaker; preparation and skill determine the result.

• Bastion of Justice against direct or divided assaults: Direct attacks on guarded people or positions suit its protection and counterattack. Highly mobile enemies or attacks from multiple directions can divide attention and stretch the defense.

• Swordsman against Warrior: Timing and precision can exploit openings in a heavier, defense-focused fighter. The Warrior can force a prolonged exchange or break the Swordsman's guard.

• Swashbuckler against Corsair: Two quick repositionings contrast with one longer Blink for an opening or escape. Timing and forcing a commitment decide the contest.

• Sharpshooter against Shadow Monk: Open, bright terrain and long sightlines favor the Sharpshooter. Cover and known destination shadows permit the Shadow Monk to close the distance, with advanced movement still requiring real awareness of the destination.

• Valiant against Field Architect or Trail Hunter: Adaptation can eventually find an answer to defenses or traps, but the Valiant may be overwhelmed before adapting.

• Sharpshooter against Valiant: Sharpshooters are particularly dangerous to Valiants at range; adaptation does not remove the danger of being hit before a response develops.

• Rogue against a caster or armored opponent: Disruption and closing distance can trouble a prepared caster. A prolonged direct fight against a well-armored opponent may put the Rogue at a disadvantage.

• Pressure against Wizard: Preparation makes a Wizard especially dangerous; closing distance or interrupting casting can create an opening, depending on their spells and experience.

• Eclipse Striker against a ranged specialist: Cover and known shadows can enable a close-range attack. A Sharpshooter with a clear, brightly lit firing lane can be especially dangerous before the Striker closes the distance.

• Shadow Priest against Warrior or Swordsman: Weakening the opponent before close combat creates a serious threat.

• Templar against Shadow Priest: A Templar may disrupt the magic on which that weakening depends.

• Death Knight against Shadow Priest: Shadow magic barely affects a Death Knight, making them a difficult target.

• Cleric against Death Knight: A sufficiently strong resurrection can nearly kill or kill the Death Knight even if they resist, and some healing spells can cause serious harm. The Cleric must know the interaction and be able to apply the appropriate technique; most would not know the weakness.

• Umbral Warden against isolated or coordinated opponents: Binding movement and weakening attacks can endanger an isolated fighter. A coordinated group can pressure the Warden and disrupt the concentration required for strong bindings or suppression.

Death Knights, Templars, and Paladins are immune to Illusionist magic. Gunslingers, Demon Hunters, Grand Priests, and Witches have varying resistance. Prepared or strong-willed targets are harder to affect with direct mental illusions. Independent information can reveal deception without dispelling it.

• Demon Hunter against Demon Mage: Demonic energy empowers the Hunter, whose training targets demonic threats. Preparation and unexpected abilities can still give the Demon Mage an advantage.

• Pressure against Life Mage: Allied protection lets a Life Mage concentrate on healing. An enemy reaching them before help arrives can exploit their limited offensive options.

Natural water-versus-fire and earth-versus-wind interactions generally apply. Electricity is especially useful against water and wind. Overall magical power is a major factor, and tactical skill can overcome an elemental disadvantage. These examples do not establish a complete counter chart.

Stratus makes a point of recruiting every Death Knight, Demon Hunter, and cross-class person it finds. It also favors Paladins, especially natural Paladins, and Witches to a lesser extent. These are recruitment priorities, not forced recruitment or guaranteed success.

Stratus does not employ Necromancers as a rule because of their practices. Death Knights are treated differently because their manipulation of the dead is naturally temporary unless the original soul is willing.

• Cross-class people offer versatility.

• Paladins whose causes and morals align with Stratus are loyal and diligent, as well as versatile defensive powerhouses.

• Death Knights and Demon Hunters are valuable against the undead and demonic threats that repeatedly attack or overrun worlds. Their resistance to those threats' miasmas or energies allows them to work where others may be corrupted or killed. Demonic presence also empowers Demon Hunters.

• Witches offer unusually broad magical learning potential, subject to study and individual limits.

Stratus often gains people who have been rejected elsewhere. This contributes to the loyalty and effectiveness of some agents, without being a universal explanation for every member.

Most were-folk do not have traditional classes. They rely on natural power and full or partial transformations instead. Some choose to gain classes, but that choice is specific and rare; were-folk generally take pride in not having a traditional class.

• Order of Charity: An established Paladin order with healing among its demonstrated disciplines. An individual's full-restoration technique or recovery interval is not automatically shared by every member.

• Order of Justice: An established Paladin order associated with damage and defense, emphasizing high damage.

• Natural Paladin: An awakening path with access to more cross-order specialties and no oath to break, rather than a named order.

Charity and Justice are examples, not an exhaustive list of Paladin orders.

• Umbral Warden: A Shadow Priest subclass combining containment, targeted suppression, and protecting allies by weakening threats. See its entry under Shadow Priest.

• Eclipse Striker: A Shadow Monk subclass combining explosive close-range attacks, movement through known shadows, and visual deception. See its entry under Shadow Monk.

• Veilbreaker: An Eldritch Scoundrel subclass combining detection, magical disruption, and focused debilitations. See its entry under Eldritch Scoundrel.

• Bastion of Justice: A skillset within the Order of Justice, combining protection and counterattack. See the Named skillsets section.

• Adaptive Alchemy: An advanced Alchemist skillset for adapting mixtures to changing conditions, not a separate class. See the Named skillsets section.

• Iron-Blood Sovereign: The Iron-Blood clan's form-mastery skillset, not a class. Other were-folk clans have their own versions. See the Named skillsets section.

Most subclass and mastery techniques are general to their relevant subclass or skillset, with very rare individual exceptions. Access still depends on training and mastery; this does not give every base-class practitioner every subclass technique or establish one universal advancement requirement.