It's well-known among adventurers and dungeon-delvers that very few who choose the adventuring life want to be in the support role. Somewhat less well-known is just how much adventuring parties are willing to pay for a skilled support. Whether driven by money, altruism, or simple love for the craft, you want to become a support. But there are many ways to play the role. What spells will you learn, what skills will you train? What kind of support will you become? The time, effort, and resources you spend to train yourself are represented by 5 experience points (XP), which you spend to gain skills, spells, and other advantages, collectively called Perks. All Perks cost 1 XP. Some Perks require prerequisite Perks that must be learned as well, which are noted in parentheses. Healing: The signature skill of a support. You've learned to treat wounds both in the heat of combat and in the safety of a camp. If you don't learn this, you'll only be able to perform basic first aid, and bandages just aren't quite enough in the middle of a brawl. Healing Master (requires Healing): Let's be honest, practically every support knows how to heal. If you want to stand out, you need MORE; heal off deadly wounds in a flash, restore the whole party to full after a dragon's breath, pump out heal after heal no matter how long the fight goes on, REVIVE THE DEAD!! You're not just a healer, you're THE healer. Aggressive Buffs: Amp up the party's fighting ability to wipe out enemies faster. Pump up muscles, enchant weapons with elements, hasten movement and/or attacks, there's lots of ways to make your allies better at killing things. Defensive Buffs: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care. Create shields to deflect blows, make wards that dampen elemental attacks, apply vaccines against status ailments, you've got all kinds of spells to stay one step ahead of the enemies' tricks. Buff Mastery (requires Aggressive Buffs and/or Defensive Buffs): You're an expert at empowering your allies! You can give your warrior the strength of an ogre, make a dragon's fire feel like a warm breeze, and make your whole party as quick as the wind. Persuasion: The best way to avoid injury is to stop the fight before it can start. Whether by intimidation, charm, or a polite attitude, you know how to talk your way out of dangerous situations and get what you want without lifting a finger. Ranged Attacks: Hanging out in the back lines can get dull, why not help the enemies die faster? It's not your top priority, but with a bow or some spells, you can get in some decent attacks when there's no need to heal or buff. Melee Attacks: As a support, enemies will tend to rush toward you first. But where some see adversity, you see opportunity. With a blade or staff, you can surprise any enemies that get close with some powerful hits. Combat Medic (requires Ranged Attacks and/or Melee Attacks): The enemies need to die, so why not help with that directly? In addition to improved attacks, you know how to mix your supportive skills into your fighting; steal life from enemies to give to the party, weaken them with your strikes, and boost your own strength along with your allies'. You do still need to learn actual supportive skills in order to use them. Debuffs: Weakened enemies are much less dangerous and much easier for you party to kill. Sap enemies' strength, slow their movements, silence them to prevent spellcasting, and any other affliction you can think of. Divination: Information is as valuable a resource as any potion or weapon. Scry through dungeon walls, communicate across vast distances, see the future, or even read minds! No secrets can hide from you. Crafting: With all the junk adventurers pick up, you'd think more of them would know what to do with it. You know how to brew potions, make arrows, and put together all sorts of useful items. You can also imbue your supportive abilities into items, such as to make buff potions, imbue arrows with debuffs, or enchant a ring with temporary regeneration. Summoning: Sometimes your party needs backup, or sometimes you find yourself without a party at all. In any case, you have some way (spirits, monster taming, constructs, necromancy, etc.) of calling up extra party members for help. Alternatively, you have a little familiar, around housecat sized with some combat skill, that's always by your side and can be revived easily if it dies. A familiar might be a bit weak, but at least you don't have to waste energy summoning it! Summon Master (requires Summoning): Your summoning is more than just another spell in your arsenal. You can call upon a mighty dragon or storm elemental, or a small army of animals or skeletons. If you chose to have a familiar instead, it can be as large as a bear, and it's about as powerful as one regardless of size.