Classes
Several classes, one character
Put Class Points into the classes you unlock. Two classes together form a named combination.
Ethea
How it plays
How classes, elements and the world fit together.
Overview
Four parts of the game.
The short version, before the detail.
Spells
Spells you build
Bind one to three elements to a spell and it becomes a different spell.
Elements
Four elements
Fire, Water, Earth and Air. At the same element count they hit equally hard; what differs is the effect.
World
Five city-states
Five cities that still trade but no longer trust each other, all after the same crystal.
The Four Elements
More elements, more power, higher cost.
Each element you add makes a spell stronger and gives it more effects, and makes it cost more and recharge slower. A three-element cast also spends your stacks of one element to put a ward on you.
Fire
Lotheria, the forge city, is built on it.
Water
Arkanos, the city of healers, is built on it.
Earth
Galdoria, under the mountain, is built on it.
Air
Valyndor, in the forest canopy, is built on it.
Gear never changes your elements, your affinity or your damage.
Classes
70
10
20
50
40
10
40
40
20
30
10
60
20
20
60
20
70
10
10
80
10
10
80
10
Eight classes, three attributes.
Each class has a fixed split of Strength, Intelligence and Dexterity, which sets how big its resource pools are.
Warrior, Mage, Ranger, Paladin and Priest are in testing now. Warlock, Druid and Tracker come at Beta.
Class
STR
INT
DEX
Warrior
Melee damage. Hits hardest early in a fight, then tires.
Paladin
Tank. Shields, walls, and a bond that protects an ally.
Druid
Beta. Steady damage inside its own zone.
Tracker
Beta. Traps and backstabs; builds a charge by moving.
Ranger
Ranged damage. Steady, with a small bonus while moving.
Priest
The only healer. Heals the ally under your cursor.
Mage
Caster damage. Builds up over the course of a fight.
Warlock
Beta. Damage that ramps on a single target.
Attunement titles
Pyromancer
Fire
One element far ahead: Fire
Hydromancer
Water
One element far ahead: Water
Maelstrom
Three elements, Water leading
Concordant
All four nearly equal
Every mix of elements has titles of its own. The full table is still being written.
Elemental affinity
One hundred points across four elements.
Every character spreads 100 affinity points across the four elements. Affinity makes spells of that element cheaper and quicker to recharge, and raises your resistance to it.
How you spread the points earns a cosmetic title: Pyromancer for a character deep in Fire, Concordant for one with all four nearly equal.
You can move points at safe locations.
Affinity
100 / 100
Gear does not change it.
Fire
55
Water
20
Earth
10
Air
15
An example split.
The Five City-states
Five city-states.
Five city-states divide the continent, each tied to an element.
A
Fire
Lotheria
The city of fire. Forges that never cool.
B
Water
Arkanos
The city of water. Healers and tide cartographers.
C
Air
Valyndor
The endless forest. A city built in the canopy.
D
Earth
Galdoria
The city under the mountain. Dwarven engineers and earth mages.
E
Nature
Xylos
Islands on a bright sea. Druids and diplomats who call Xylos the fifth elemental capital.
Politics
Cities that do not trust each other.
Lotheria, Arkanos, Valyndor, Galdoria and Xylos rose together and have drifted apart since. They still trade. Open war is rare; espionage is not. All of them want a crystal none of them should have.
How much of that politics players get to touch is not designed yet.
Design rules
What the combat will not do.
Rules the rest of the combat design depends on.
No 100%
Nothing reaches one hundred percent.
No avoidance, reduction or absorb is ever total, for any length of time.
No immunity
No invulnerability.
You can be very hard to kill. Never impossible to kill.
No next-hit negation
No "the next hit does nothing".
Shields absorb an amount, not a hit. A big enough hit still gets through.
No reactive defence
No block, parry or dodge button.
You survive through positioning, your build, and the wards your own casts create.
These constraints exist so that every encounter in Ethea remains a conversation — not a verdict.