Overpowered Wizard

Zarian’s Journal Entry Party Notes (Gilbert) – Early Summer, 1533 D.E:

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Gilbert McDonald: Age 30, Born Early Spring, Outsider, Freedom Leader, Gnoll Elder, Troll Dominator, Free For Real +2, Legendary Knighted Healer, Level 80.

Traits (12 Total): Shield Mastery (Uncommon), Health Affinity (Rare), Berserk Vitality (Rare), Knighted Rider (Rare), Stalwart Defender (Rare), Battle Supporter (Rare), Intoxicated Brawler (Uncommon), The Sacrificer (Epic), Unyielding Mentality (Rare), Life Wellspring (Epic), True Grit (Rare), Unbelievable Constitution (Epic).

Alpha Skills (5/5): Unified Monk Force +2 (Level 29), Healing Force +2 (Level 49), Adrenaline Jolt +2 (Level 43), Tranquilizer Touch +2 (Level 40), Summon Spirit Steed +2 (Level 39).

Beta Skills (2/15): Sacrificial Blow +2 (Level 47), Summon Wizard Hat (Level 0).

Stats Per Level: +3 Strength, +1 Agility, +3 Wonder, +6 Free.

Stats (1,539 Total): 176 Willpower, 470 Strength, 200 Agility, 400 Wonder, 293 Mysticism, 0 Free.

Achievements (18 Total): Reliable Tank (Rare), Mass Healer (Epic), Siege Rider (Rare), Constant Siege Support (Epic), Freedom Leader (Divine), Adventurer Rescuer (Uncommon), Unyielding Hope (Rare), The Sacrificer (Epic), Master Breaker (Mythic), Lesser World Boss Killer (Divine), Arch Cherub Silencer (Divine), Angel Puncher (Divine), You Are The Shield (Epic), True Grit (Rare), Unwavering Belief Despite Evidence (Epic), Unbelievable Constitution (Epic), Troll Drinking Dominator (Legendary), Mighty Troll Wrestler (Epic).

If you think about where he started and how far he’s come, it’s honestly inspiring. We’re returning to the origin point, and I know the events that transpired a year ago still affect him, but he seems to look forward to settling those demons.

I’m proud of him.

As for his profile, I got it wrong about seeing troll slayer in his origins. He has Troll Dominator instead. I’m not even going to pluck that low hanging fruit. I’ll just leave it be. Let’s move on to traits.

I like to think of them in combinations now or groups that synergize the most. Since he has twelve, there should be groups with three or four traits that work amazingly together. Gilbert has a lot of traits that synergize with his skills, too.

The first grouping has Shield Mastery, Stalwart Defender, The Sacrificer, and True Grit. With these four traits, Gilbert can stand in his legendary armor with his legendary shield and throw himself around to defend others, soaking hits and staying strong.

The second grouping has Health Affinity, Berserk Vitality, Battle Supporter, Life Wellspring, and Unbelievable Constitution. With these five traits, Gilbert is the best healer and physical battle augmenter around. This leads to a strategy where the first grouping makes him a living bulwark that protects others and the second grouping makes it so that none of the damage he takes goes to waste, making him physically stronger while increasing the effectiveness of his healing and other supportive abilities.

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The third grouping has Knighted Rider, Intoxicated Brawler, and Unyielding Mentality. With these three traits together, I deem Gilbert the cowboy of the Floridians, granting him that Yee-Haw and Yippee-Ki-Yay factor. I also think of these traits as the unconventional and fun part of Gilbert’s profile and role as tank, support, and bruiser.

Now onto his skills. Five in alpha. Two in beta. Only one Level 0 skill, which is his cowboy wizard hat. There isn’t much that needs to be said about the cowboy hat other than it being stylish and helpful for aura manipulation, so let’s focus on the other six.

Unified Monk Force +2 stacks well with all of Gilbert’s physical boosts, able to affect his calm, might, toughness, speed, and/or supernatural senses. It’s a great skill for him, pushing him in the direction that keeps him rock steady at the front.

Healing Force +2 is the reason I probably haven’t died as much as I should’ve. His range reaches out further than before. He can heal multiple targets. He can slow and prevent the healing of multiple enemies. Better yet, he can overcharge the vitality of others, which can bleed into stamina even if it’s mostly for health.

Adrenaline Jolt +2 does what it suggests with none of the negative side effects. It only works on one person for a time and has a hidden cooldown, though. But whoever gets that arcane adrenaline is going to feel like they can fly up to a moon and punch it.

Tranquilizer Touch +2 seemed lame at first until Gilbert showed how it can slow down a super-fast and skilled late-game enemy. My entire opinion about this improved, especially since it can extend as a field that affects multiple targets.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Summon Spirit Seed +2 brings in our great pal Slip the Sleipnir with spirit armor and sometimes even a helmet with a bladed horn on his head. His battle prowess is fairly high for an eight-legged horse, and he lends Gilbert that needed speed to keep up with the action.

Sacrificial Blow +2 is the wild factor that makes Gilbert a lot more dangerous than he seems for a tank. This stacks hugely with the traits in grouping one and grouping two because Gilbert could sacrifice his vitality at will to empower his next physical hit to immense degrees OR empower the next melee strike of an ally. When used on Naomi … the damage is so horrific I would step my ass into the void before I let that hit me.

All of that sounds great, really, but there are some negatives. We weren’t able to get any of Gilbert’s skills to +3 just yet. So we might miss out on even more powerful abilities to go along with his main ones before going into Castle Grimrock. He’s also heavily reliant on being upfront and close to the action with no true ranged attacks.

Despite that, we don’t really need Gilbert to do much else than be his upfront self, which comes with two optional roles.

One, Fighter Gilbert.

Two, Sacrificer Gilbert.

Fighter Gilbert would have all of his leveling skills in alpha except Sacrificial Blow +2, which would stay in beta. This would make Gilbert’s style more fight capable because Unified Monk Force +2 would lead the way as he plays bruiser, healer, and support.

The other option would be Sacrificer Gilbert, who would have all of his leveling skills in alpha except Unified Monk Force +2, which would go in beta. This version of Gilbert would sacrifice his own health a bunch of times to increase his healing power, overcharge the vitality of others, and pass the sacrificial empowerment to anyone who wants to hit really hard, which would be Naomi.

Personally, I like the Fighter role more than the Sacrificer role for Gilbert.

The fighter version feels more balanced and more fair to Gilbert. And we shouldn’t be taking so much damage in the first place where we need super mega healing or overcharged vitality.

On top of that, the Sacrificial Blow +2 melee empowerment can still hit hard even with a debuff from the beta section. Unless we’re in a desperate fight against something enormously tough, Fighter Gilbert is the most optimal version of him.

I explained all of that to Gilbert and Naomi. Naomi doesn’t mind, and Gilbert seems happy that nobody’s going to force him to sacrifice himself all the time for min-maxing purposes.

Only sometimes.

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