GB Feature: Blackguards Preview
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Each character has five tabs on their character sheet. Under "base values" there are eight attributes, including courage, charisma and strength, plus vitality (health), astral energy (mana), and resistance to magic. Under "weapon talents" there are skills for the game's 11 weapon types, including swords, bows, and spears. Under "talents" there are nine skills, including body control (which can prevent you from being knocked down) and animal lore (which gives you information about the animals you fight). Under "spells" there are 24 spells that cover damage, healing, buffing and debuffing. And under "special abilities" there are 39 active and passive abilities, including knock down (which incapacitates an enemy for a turn), armor use (which reduces the penalty for encumbrance), and astral regeneration (which regenerates a bit of astral energy each turn in combat).
If you add up the numbers from the previous paragraph, then you should come up with a grand total of 94 elements that define characters. Each one of these elements can be purchased or upgraded using adventure points (AP), which you earn at the conclusion of battles and quests. I think I earned somewhere around 2000 AP during the first chapter, which sounds like a lot... except that attributes alone cost 400 or so AP to upgrade, and so I barely cracked the surface of what characters can become. Also, most of the spells and special abilities require trainers or spellbooks to learn, and I only found a few, which means most of the character sheet wasn't available to me.
