Skills system

The following describes how skills and magic are currently planned to work in Shroud of the Avatar.

Terminology

 * Skill - Any element that can show up on your toolbar in combat is considered a skill. This can include combat skills, spells, consumables, items, and abilities.


 * Deck - This is a set of skills that the player has created (or the game has created for the player). There is a minimum number of skills that can go into a deck based on the player’s level. It will start at around 10 skills at level one and rise to around 30 skills at level 20. Players can have multiple decks configured and swap them in and out for free when not in combat(during combat, switching will cost Focus and will take several seconds of doing nothing).


 * Slug - A slug is a skill that does nothing but takes up a spot in the deck. These can show up in a number of situations for balance, missing skill requirements, or to fill out a deck that is below the minimum size. For instance if you have skills relating to slashing weapons in your deck but have a mace equipped, some of the skills in your deck may become greyed out slugs.


 * Combo - Some skills can be combined with other skills on the fly. This result is a new, likely more powerful skill which can then be used.


 * Noble Skill - A noble skill is a skill which cannot be combined with any other skill. Some skills are always noble, but some become noble for various reasons such as a skill being used on you or because the skill is in a locked slot. Noble skills will almost always have a higher cost of some kind. Example costs could be cooldown, reagent use, focus cost, etc.


 * Locked Slot - By default, skills are dealt out to the slots periodically, but by training in focus skills some slots can be locked and always contain a specific skill. Skills in locked slots are always noble and cannot be combined with other skills.

Non-Combat Skills
Players can press the Alt key at any time to display their non-combat toolbar. (This can also be configured to always show.) You can assign any skills to it that are not specifically Combat abilities, and use them anytime when not engaged in combat.

Combat Skills
Upon entering combat, the combat bar is displayed. This has between 6 and 12 buttons on it, depending on player skill selection and level. Skills appear on the buttons at a fairly slow and steady pace and then fade out after a decent amount of time. They can be used by clicking on them and dragging them to a specific target or by pressing the matching hotkey (1-10 key,-,+) and tapping space (by default) to execute. Combos can be created by either dragging one skill onto another one or by pressing the matching hotkey followed by the other skills hotkey. Creating a combo skill makes it behave as if it was a freshly dealt skill, meaning its fade out timer is reset. Skills can be discarded to free up a slot by dragging them off screen.

(Note that this combat system and the skills described is present as it is available for Alpha testing. Changes to the Focus skill tree, the combat system, and the game as a whole can occur prior to release.)

External Reference

 * Let's talk about combat! on the Shroud of the Avatar Forums