Uprising Elf Apostate Class

This class and origin for Uprising is our interpretation of what an apostate might be like given their lack of a formal magical education and the need to hide their magic from basically everyone. Thus, the class has several of the more exotic or advanced spells removed and a few rogue abilities added. For instance, the spirit tree has been removed as it makes little sense that the apostate would know that type of magic with the alienage life background. However, since the elf has needed to live in an alienage and likely defend themselves, they can use some rogue talents like dirty fighting and below the belt.

There are two basic ways to play the apostate class, either just with a staff and spells like a traditional mage or like an arcane warrior, melee and a few spells. Our interpretation of the apostate is closer to that of the arcane warrior where the apostate uses their magic to buff their attacks and for long range, but the focus is on melee, nonetheless, playing the apostate as a traditional mage works fine. All apostates should learn Winter's grasp, or battles might be difficult.

The apostate class isn't just some spells removed and some talents added, we have altered the mechanics of the apostate's magic use to better implement our concept of an apostate. Namely, spells can fail, the damage and duration of spells can vary to weaker or stronger, and demons can accidentally be summoned.
Since the apostate hasn't had much training or practice, they haven't learned how to properly focus and thus sometimes their spells will fail. As the apostate learns to focus and use their magic, the chance of failure decreases until they won't fail at all.

The power and duration of spells is also something that requires practice and focus. The player's damage and duration for the first few levels of the control branch will be slightly less than that of the normal mage class. However, once the player master's their control over magic, they will randomly do slightly more damage than the normal mage class.

When the player fails to cast a spell, there is a good chance they will accidentally summon a demon from the fade instead. The demon type varies according to the spell type that failed. For instance, if the player fails with the flame blast spell, they might summon a rage demon. However, as the demon will attack anything near it, sometimes the demon will "help" the player in a battle by attacking an enemy or drawing attention away from the player. When the player gains enough control, they won't accidentally summon a demon.

As the apostate is learning magic, they need to focus on certain spell branches in order to get the more advanced area of effect spells. These focus spells, however aren't just prerequisites, the apostate will have improved capabilities for the branch the focus spell belongs to and also several other bonus. For instance, if the apostate has the Cold focus ability, they won't accidentally summon a demon, regardless of their control level.

Elemental Attack is the core melee tree for the apostate and while initially weak, the attacks become very powerful as the player learns more magic and gains the focus spells. The elemental attack, is a sustained ability like flame swords but more powerful. There is a leveled random chance that the player's melee weapons will be enveloped by one of the elements, fire, frost, or electricity. These elements will only envelop the player's weapons for a short period of time, but there is a chance with every successful hit by the apostate, to reapply one of the three elements. If the apostate knows a focus spell such as Cold focus, then when the random element is frost, it will last longer on the weapons and do more damage. However, unlike the flame swords spell for normal mages, elemental weapons is just for the apostate, companions won't have their weapons enhanced. When the player fully invests in the elemental weapon's branch, it will easily surpass the power of the original flaming weapons like spells for normal mages.

Aside from a few characters and all companions, other characters won't know the elf is an apostate unless they use their magic in front of them or they are carrying around a staff. Several characters in the mod, not so much in act 1 however, will react to the player being an apostate. Some will be friendlier to them and others will not. Additionally, certain spells will have dialog or plot influence such as if the player has the healing spell they will have opportunities to heal other characters in need.

The spells available to the player in the character creator are not the only spells the player will be able to learn, but they are all the player can learn in Act I. The player will be able to learn some of the original specializations in act II. Furthermore, other companions will be able to teach the apostate a few additional spells or schools.

We implemented the Elf apostate class to realize a concept and to add something different. While we will try to ensure the class is balanced, our focus is on the concept and thus in the beginning the apostate might be weak and at the end they might be overpowered but the journey from beginning to end should be unique, interesting, and fun.