Cutting to Life: an NPC LitRPG (Battle Royale)

First, in order to apply her Stat Points, she would have to know what each of the stats did. Luckily, there was a little question mark next to each one that supplied her with some additional information if she hovered her finger over it.

 

Strength was self-explanatory, but she started with that one.

[Strength is how strong a player character is. Leveling one's Strength determines how well a player handles strength-based tasks such as climbing and lifting, as well as how much the player can hold before being slowed down. Strength allows a player to wield heavy weapons, and wear heavy armour. Strength also determines how much damage a Warrior does, and may be chosen as a primary damage stat for the Archer and Rogue as well.]

At a glance, Strength didn't appear to be where she was drawing her Damage from; from the tiny image of a dagger stamped next to Dex, she assumed her Damage stat was instead tied to that.

[Dexterity governs how fast and precise a player character is. Leveling one's Dexterity determines how quickly the player will be able to run; those with a 10 in Dexterity will win against those with a 5 in Dexterity, assuming no Will is involved. A player with high Dexterity will find it easier to run, navigate between obstacles at high speeds, and dodge oncoming attacks. Dexterity is the default primary damage stat for Archers and Rogues.]

 

Experimentally, Nikola dragged the dagger icon from Dexterity to Strength, and it slid along the screen obediently. It seemed she could switch between the two at will, as long as she could reach her menu.

 

She placed it back on Dexterity, as it was the higher of her numbers.

Constitution was next in the list.

[Constitution governs how hearty a player character is. Leveling one's Constitution will get them more HP on level up and make them more likely to resist stats effects used against them, such as Stun, Poison and Bleed. Constitution allows the player to go longer between meals, lengthening their Hunger Bar and keeping them sated for longer.]

This one seemed important. It allowed her to grow both her Health Bar and her Hunger Bar, both of which would kill her if they got to 0, as far as she knew. Was it possible that leveling up one's Constitution early would also lead to higher HP gain overall, since it mentioned a PC would gain HP 'on level up'? Surely that meant that cranking her Constitution early on would mean more Health Points overall, and not doing so would just be losing out.

But then, what use was staying alive for longer if her Dexterity stayed at a 5 and she couldn't dispatch of the foes trying to kill her?

Wisdom was next in the list.

 

[Wisdom governs how wise a player character is. Leveling Wisdom informs a player's Wisdom-based skills, such as Perception and Common Sense. Wisdom is the main stat that determines how effective a Healer's healing will be. Additionally, players with high Wisdom will be treated as more scholarly by NPCs and will be more likely to be asked questions by them.]

Then Intelligence.

 

[Intelligence governs how intelligent a player character is. Leveling Intelligence informs a player's Intelligence-based skills, such as Knowledge and Memory. Intelligence is a Mage's main damage stat, and the number of points in it will determine how effective their spells will be when cast. Additionally, players with high Intelligence will be deemed knowledgeable and will be more likely to be asked trivia-based questions by the NPCs.]

 

Then Charisma.

 

[Charisma governs how charming a player character is. Leveling Charisma informs a player's Charisma-based skills, such as Persuasion and Public Speaking. Charisma is a Bard's main damage stat, and the number of points in it will determine how effective their spells and songs are. Additionally, they will find it easier to befriend the NPCs they encounter. Generally, Charisma determines how likable a player is considered by the NPCs they interact with.]

These three stats seemed less useful to Nikola. While she wanted to be considered wise, cunning and even pleasant to be around by the people she encountered, none of the three stats would help her with the task at hand; beating up whatever kind of foul lion was living beyond the door. She was also not a Mage, Bard or Healer.

She felt confident distributing her 40 points evenly between Dexterity and Constitution, and leaving her Strength behind for later. Perhaps there would be a heavier cleaver in her future? She wished her Butcher class were more cooperative so she could dig into the meat of how it worked; was it pulling from her Strength or her Dexterity? Did she need to level both, or make an effort to keep them even?

Her finger booped the + button next to her DEX and CON, and soon her changes were cleanly accepted by the system with a happy little dinging noise. When she looked at Character Info, her selections were present. She felt relieved to know she had done everything right.

[Username: Nikola Brightdark
Level: 4
Race: Human
Class: Rogue
Weapon Specialization: Dagger

STR: 5
DEX: 25 +5
CON: 25
WIS: 2
INT: 1
CHA: 2

Class Skills:
Dagger Mastery: 20 (MAX)]

 

Her choices were utilitarian. There was nothing flashy about them; she had successfully avoided the skill let her turn invisible, and she didn't put any points into Charisma even if having a quantitative measure of how much the people around her liked her would be really nice, if only to use as a tool for their future demise.

Still, she had laid the groundwork for her future 'level ups' to be a more interesting affair. Now that she had done the work of laying her building blocks, the bones of her structure, she could prettify it later. The possibilities gave her something to look forward to in a world where such things were few and far between, and about to get fewer and further.

 

Katalyn, cradling her hand and its now-damp gauze, piped up. "If we don't get going soon, I uhh- I dunno if I'll even get to the lion before I'm dead," she drawled out woozily.