“I’ll be the first to admit it; your magic is super bright!” - Kazera, the Arcanist’s roommate.
Much to the slight annoyance of their roommate, the oracle Kazera, the Arcanist has a powerful ability to manipulate magic around them. Your Arcanist can be reclusive, from a shady background, or be one to spot malicious intent from a mile away!
Abilities, Mana, And You
This corvid conjurer focuses on casting abilities using Mana, a resource that is acquired both passively and through select abilities. Their most powerful spells are locked behind a higher Mana cost, but what those spells lose in early Round availability they make up for in sheer utility and damage.
After finishing all the tutorial encounters, you’ll start the game with three abilities:
- Thunderclap: Move, deal single-target damage, then Push an enemy away.
- Stargate: Teleport to a desired location, then Swap a character to another location. If there’s someone already there, they’ll swap places!
- Gravity Nexus: Move, pull in all enemies within 3 hexes, then deal area-of-effect damage around the Arcanist. Then teleport to safety!
You'll also gain an extra ability that will always be available in your deck: Mana Spring. This ability allows you to regain a large amount of Mana based on how many characters are adjacent to you at the time of its use -- including enemies!
A true scholar of the arcane arts, the Arcanist usually has a spell for every situation. And, as you level up, you'll unlock a variety of complex and interesting abilities like:
- Aetherize: An ability with a high Mana cost, but powerful single-target damage.
- Mirror Shatter: Oops too many decoys? Sacrifice them for even more damage.
- Chaos Beam: Rewrite reality itself (within a line attack, at least).
Even more spells await you in-game, so if you’re interested in some hijinks, make sure to slot the Arcanist in your party!
Fate Decks
Fate Cards are a core part of gameplay in Sunderfolk.
We'll be digging into this mechanic more in the future -- but, for now, just know that when a character performs an ability that includes an attack, they will draw a Fate Card from their Fate Deck. Based on the Fate Card that's drawn, that attack will then be augmented in some way.
Every character starts with a basic collection of Positive, Neutral, and Negative Fate cards that will impact the final damage output of their attacks. As you progress through the campaign, you’ll gain more and more Fate Cards, including ones that allow you to customize your character's build in fun and exciting ways.
For the Arcanist, some of these build options might focus on survivability, extra damage, debuffing enemies, or utilizing your unique spells – like spawning extra Decoys, for example. (Normally, you can only spawn Decoys by using a specific ability card. With this Fate Card, however, EVERY ability now has that chance, changing up your entire strategy.)
The Arcanist is truly a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to customizing their playstyle.
- Want more damage for those sweet high-mana cost abilities? Give yourself Fate Cards that add Strength buffs for future setups.
- Want to outdo the support characters with debuffs? Stack your deck with Fate Cards to Debuff ALL THE THINGS and set up for the ultimate KO.
- Don’t want to use your precious turn to use Mana Spring for more Mana? Add more Fate Cards that refund or add Mana to your deck with a lucky draw.
With some careful planning, you can make even the Negative Fate Cards work for your strategies.
Ultimate Power
In Sunderfolk, characters unlock their Ultimate ability at Level 6 (once they've theoretically learned enough responsibility to manage it). These abilities are powerful and can be game-changing, depending on how you play. However, there's a catch! Each Ultimate has a cooldown, and only one Ultimate can be used per Round. This means communication is key -- you'll need to strategize with your fellow members to determine which character should use their Ultimate...and when!
In the case of the Arcanist, their Ultimate is Starfall. This area-of-effect spell packs a mean one-two punch, applying a Confusion debuff to every target it hits as well as stunning whatever enemy is at the center of its radius. (Note: Not only does Confusion cause affected creatures to potentially hit their friends, but it also makes you look REALLY cool when casting it.)
Speaking of stars…
Up next in our “Meet the Hero” series is…the beat-dropping Bard!
- The Sunderfolk Team
