1) Status Information
Golem Status Sheets will now show Mana Capacity, Consumption, and Recovery.
Spells and Items will now show more information.
Talents are now called Magic (or individually as Spells). 'Talent' now refers to both Magic and Traits.
2) Mana Capacity and Motes
The unit of measurement for Mana is called a Mote. 1 point of Spirit grants 10 motes of mana. So if Spirit is 20 then Capacity is 200/200.
3) Magnitude and Potency
Magnitude is basically just the multiplier of a Spell. Eg. Mana Screen has a Magnitude of 1.0, meaning Mana Screen used by someone with 100 Force with have a Potency (aka Effective Force) of 100. Self Destruction has a Magnitude of 2.5, so used by a Bomber with 100 Force, it will have an ‘Effective Force’ of 250.
If those two spells interact with those stats, Self Destruction will destroy the Mana Shield and most likely kill the person behind (depending on their Attributes and Abilities).
In general, higher tier Spells have higher potencies but it varies depending on the specific Talents.
Some Talents have a set Potency. A set Potency of 100 will always be 100 no matter what the wielder's Force is.
4) Perception, Control, Speed, and Mana Recovery for Heroes.
Making some Attribute Mechanics clear.
Perception needs to be a fifth of something's speed to follow it clearly. It needs to be a tenth to follow it at all, otherwise it will just be a indistiguishable blur.
Eg. Perception needs to be 20 to follow someone with 100 Agility clearly. If that speedster as an ability that doubles their speed to an Effective Speed of 200 Agility, then the 'perceiver' will only be able to just barely follow them. If that speedster goes beyond 200, then the perceiver can't follow their movements at all.
Control needs to be at least a tenth of a Spell's Potency to wield it easily, and at least a twentieth to handle it at all.
Let's say a Hero has 200 Force and a Spell with a Magnitude of 1.0. They will only need 10 Control to cast it, but this will require great strain and concentration. If that same person tries to cast a Spell with 250 Potency, they won't be able to keep it under their control. It will malfunction in some way; either failing to cast, or backfiring, or exploding in their hands.
In regards to speed, this wasn't stated anywhere but I was operating under the idea that Strength needed to be around a fourth or fifth of Agility to 'maximize speed'. After more than 2 seconds of thought, I realized that's pretty stupid. Now, people just need enough Strength to move without being weighed down or held back by a lack of strength.
For regular humans, that's around 2 or 3 Strength. Steel Skirmisher weighs about 2 tons, so it needs about 30-40 Strength. For a ten-ton Boulder Ape, it should need about 150 Strength, thus it is slower than its 30 Agility should be.
5) Enchanted Items are now called Artifacts
Things like the Snakecord Ring, Spatial Bags, and the enchanted weapons Gilgamesh bought for Heroine.
New Golemcrafting System
The new system revolves around what makes a golem a specific 'Type' and their Attribute requirements. Each of the Four Components (Form, Function, Guidance, Empowerment) are now tied to an Attribute.
A golem needs at least 10 points in each of those Attributes for their Components to work as intended, 25 points for the Low Grade version of those Components to work at all, and 100 points for the Mid Grade version.
A golem must have at least one Component to be the grade that the golem is. This is because of one of the central concepts of the verse, and also hints at a mystery of it. (This aspect of the worldbuilding makes an appearance in the next Trial.)
Summary
Lancer - Form (Vitality) - what material the golem is made out of
Dragoon - Function (Control) - what magical Features the golem has
Automaton - Guidance (Perception) - the artifical intelligence of the golem
Juggernaut - Empowerment (Spirit) - rate of mana recovery
Sentinel - two or more of the above
The Component Attributes can be lowered below 10, but this will cause the golem to either malfunction or not work at all. Here is a guide to those results. Raising these Attributes above the minimum only has an effect on the Component for Form.
Form (Vitality):
0: The golem's Form will not manifest.
5: The golem's Form will manifest, but it will be very fragile.
10: Inferior Grade
25: Low Grade
30+: Low Grade+ (the material remains the same, but is slightly better than it should be)
100: Mid Grade
Function (Control):
0. The golem's Basic Functions will not work, so it cannot activate.
5: The golem's Basic Functions will be slow and faulty.
10: No Feature
25: One Bronze Tier Feature
30+: Slightly faster cast speed.
100: Two Silver Tier Features
Guidance (Perception):
0: The golem will activate but it will not respond to commands or take any action on his own.
5: The golem will work but it will misunderstand commands and mess up Basic Actions
10: Very simple intelligence, can only follow very basic commands.
25: Better intelligence, able to follow complex commands.
30+: Faster and longer range perception, but no change on intelligence.
100: Considerable intelligence, able to analyze and adapt to complex situations
Empowerment (Spirit):
0: The golem cannot hold mana so it will not work.
5: The golem will work as normal but it's Mana Recovery becomes extremely low.
10: Recovery is half of Consumption
25: Recovery is equal to Consumption
30+: Higher mana capacity but no change on Recovery rate.
100: Recovery is double Consumption
All Low Grade golems no matter their Type have a limit of 150 Attribute Points.
The dilemma of improving a golem's qualities by making it a Sentinel is that there are less points of the 150 limit to distribute freely. A Lancer can be turned into Sentinel by favoring Empowerment/Spirit as well so it becomes mana efficient, but those 15 points need to come from Strength or Agility so it'll be a bit weaker in combat. 15 isn't a lot but what if you also want to add a Feature? Now it's 30 Attribute Points you need to redistribute.
This tradeoff becomes a much more difficult decision at Mid Grade where the limit is 500 Attribute Points. The difference between Mid Grade and Low Grade/Base is either 75 or 90 points.
Along with the Attribute Points, and the Sigils needed, there is a one other requirement for the Grades of Components. The Tier. Each Component needs to be tied to a central word that determines the Tier/Rank/Grade of it.
Common. Lesser. Intermediate. (High Grade and above not revealed yet).
Eg. A Base Component needs the Common Ssgil. A Mid Grade Component needs the Intermediate sigil.
Other changes to golemcrafting
Consumption is the mana cost per minute for a golem to remain active. There is no difference in the Consumption whether it is moving or remaining still.
Recovery is the mana per minute that a golem gains while active. Recovery is halved when a golem is inert.
Expenditure = Consumption - Recovery
Mana Consumption is 3, 4, 5, or 6 motes per minute for Small, Medium, Large, and Huge golems, respectively. These 'sizes' for golems is an unofficial categorization made from people observing how the size of a golem affects its Consumption.
Having a Low Grade material Form doubles the base Consumption.
There are two types of Features; Active and Passive. These are basically akin to Spells and Traits for Heroes. Active Features such as Fireball or Iron Bolt have a set cost. Passive Features such as Levitation have a constant cost that is added to the golem's Consumption.
Examples:
1. Boulder Ape is a Large golem with a Low Grade form, so it's Consumption is 10 and its Recovery is 5. So its Expenditure is 5 motes per minute.
2. Clay Sentry is a Large golem with an Inferior Grade form but it has Low Grade Empowerment, so its Consumption is 5 and its Recovery is 5. Meaning it can remain active for as long as desired. However, its Partial Morphing Feature costs 1 mote per second. With a capacity of 250 motes, it can thus only use its Feature continuously for a little over 4 minutes before running out of mana. So it's activity is perfectly efficient but not it's Feature.
3. Forest Hand is a Medium golem with Inferior Grade material and Low Grade Empowerment, so its base Consumption is 4 and its Recovery is 4. But Levitation is a Passive Feature that adds 2 motes per minute to its Consumption, so its Expenditure is 2 motes per minute.
In order for a golem array to work, it needs an outline of Glyphs as part of its Array. This is the first thing carved, and creates a sort of 'path' for the line of runes and glyphs to work. This path allows the array to sink within the gemstone and wind itself into a three-dimensional orb pattern so that all the runes can actually fit inside the space.
List of Plot Changes
Advent
Chapter 5
- ‘Talents’ are now called ‘Magic’. A Talent is the term for both Magic and Traits.
- The different Magical skills (formerly called Talents) are called Spells.
- Magic/Traits now give points for lvl. 1.
- Gilgamesh gets 5 Attribute Points for acquiring Master Golem Core lvl. 1.
- Gilgamesh gets a downgraded Feat for surviving certain death. Rewarded 5 Attribute Points.
Chapter 6
- Attributes are described as ‘a measure of one’s might’.
- His Status now lists his Material as Clay (inferior)
- It also lists Mana Capacity.
- Mana Capacity is measured in Motes. A Mote is explained as the smallest perceivable unit of mana.
- 1 Point into Spirit gives 10 motes of mana to maximum capacity.
- Spells and Traits now list their Mana Cost and Potency (if applicable).
- Master Golem Core lists its cost as being dependant on the Grade of golem used on.
- A Grade is described as the Tier of Creation.
- Hero is now described a being ‘a member of the Heroic Races.’
- Ate no longer gives an Attribute Point as a gift from the Tower. Gilgamesh uses one of the 10 points he gained to put 1 point into Spirit based on his desire to acquire Magic.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
Nightmare
Chapter 7
- Gilgamesh’s legs crumble when he tries to run because his Vitality is too low. He gradually increases it until it reaches 10 and his clay form becomes stable.
- His mana decreases. Gilgamesh wonders if it was the cost of repairing his golem body or the cost of moving.
- After he reaches the first Hearth House, Gilgamesh sees that his mana has not decreased again, which means he won’t have to fear it running out from just running around.
- Thus, Gilgamesh puts his last 2 Attribute Points into Agility to boost his speed.
Chapter 8
- Included the fact that the Rhun warg bloodline also gives them control over a part of nature.
- Bryn partially transforms his ears to use his warg form’s echolocation ability when they move to fight a Hearth House.
Frontier
Chapter 11
- Mana Consumption and Recovery rates are added to golem’s statuses.
- Gilgamesh contemplates on mana management.
- Gilgamesh raises his Control from 8 to 10 with the points he got from passing the first trial.
- Giant Rat Attributes are increased.
- Gilgamesh kills the Giant Rat with Clay Sentry far more easily now.
- Gilgamesh raises his Spirit from 1 to 9, instead of 11. Since he spent 2 points on Control.
- Raising Spirit instantly raises Capacity but doesn’t refill mana.
- Partial Morphing is now a continuous cost spell at 1 mana per second
- Gilgamesh tests how well he Clay Sentry can follow commands
- Raising Spirit now only raises Capacity, not current mana.
- The scene from chapter 15 where Serpent of False Mysteries tells him how to transfer mana from his golems is moved here.
- Gilgamesh siphons most of Clay Sentry’s mana reserves to fill his own.
- Gilgamesh raises his Spirit to 12 just like he did original in chapter 15 from the Attributes Points he got for answering Serpent of False Mysteries’ questions.
Chapter 12
- Monster stats are increased to not be completely outmatched by the new golem stats.
Chapter 13
- Stone Ape is changed to Boulder Ape in line with the standard golem naming conventions. It’s form is now rounder and bulker, think something along the lines with Golem (pokemon) fused with an ape.
Chapter 14:
- Since Boulder Ape is a Lancer, it’s mana expenditure is not efficient. Thus, Gilgamesh uses it as a mount to rush back the to frontier outpost before it runs out.
- Boulder Ape cannot follow a command as complex as carrying Gilgamesh while running, so Gilgamesh now just climbs on its shoulders and orders it to run.
Chapter 15:
- The first two golems Gilgamesh finds next are Clay Scout and Wooden Scarecrow. Wooden Scarecrow takes the place of Splinterlog, which was not revealed at this time in the original version.
- Some of the new golems cores are sapphires and emeralds, as opposed to rubies. There is no difference between them. They are all low grade gemstones.
- There is a scene where he assesses them and compares their stats to deduce requirements and mechanics of the golem classes. He deduces the 25 point requirement for the components, and figures out that Perception is connected to a golems’ artificial intelligence.
- Gilgamesh continues to search for more golems with his two new golems.
- Levitation is based now based on Force. Forest Hand’s stats have been heavily adjusted to reflect this.
- Forest Hand is does not have efficient mana recovery, because it has a Trait-like Feature, so its Consumption is higher than normal.
- Gilgamesh has Bolt Viper, Wooden Scarecrow, and Clay Scout out as his guards when he goes to the Red Gate with a full badge for the first time. Instead of punching someone, he has Bolt Viper kill an archer with an iron bolt as he uses the two other golems as body shields to rush into the scrapyard. There he has enough time to switch them out for Boulder Ape and Forest Hand to massacre the opportunistic heroes trying to steal badges.
- Dash is now called Rush.
Battlefield
Chapter 16
- Gilgamesh tests raises Control by 1 point to test the difference. It isn’t that significant, so he puts the rest into Spirit.
- Gilgamesh siphons mana from Wooden Scarecrow to fill his new mana capacity.
- No Splinterlog golem against the Charioteer puppet so only the Bolt Viper shoots at it. Wooden Scarecrow gets destroyed while serving as a decoy, just like Splinterlog did.
Chapter 17
- Gilgamesh can activate his golems before the Charioteer duels. He does so against Osee.
- The fight against Osee goes very differently. It’s more of a stomp on Gilgamesh’s side because of the new golem stats
Chapter 20
- Gilgamesh tests Birpal’s silver mirror copying with Clay Scout first. Then does Boulder Ape and Forest Hand. Birpal dies before he can copy Bolt Viper, as before.
- Gilgamesh gets 2 Attributes Points each from lvl 1 for Passive Meditator and Mana Connector.
Bazaar
Chapter 21
- Added information for runeforging awl.
- Added description of an Artifact.
- Changed the Rune of Resistance to the Rune of Limitation.
- Gilgamesh doesn’t put any of his unalloted Attribute Points into Control when training in carving the basic runes, because Lox said it was not impossible. His current 11 Control is almost the same as the original 12 anyway.
- Added some lines to emphasize the difficulty of carving runes.
- After completing all 14 Basic Runes, Gilgamesh puts all 18 unalloted Attribute Points into Control to raise it to 29. This is just like the original, only the numbers are different.
Chapter 24
- Boulder Ape (Stone Ape) no longer guards him at the gambling dens, since it is inefficient. He uses Bolt Viper and Clay Scout instead. Gilgamesh continues to use Forest Hand even though it is also slightly inefficient, because its Expenditure is the same rate as its Recovery while inert, so he can always use one while the other recovers.
Chapter 25
- Edited the Status for all golems bought.
- Added info blocks for Mana Screen Bracelet and Snakecord Ring.
Chapter 26
- Only 1 more point is needed to reach 30 for Control, which means the other 8 points he gets for leveling his Traits can be put into Spirit, raising it to 34.
Chapter 29
- Normal Bombers are raw mana explosions. Elemental Bombers require a low grade clay material that changes the nature of an explosion. Added explanations and status sheets for this.
- Madame Hwa now has Buffer, which is a bronze tier spell that casts a protective veil around a target. It is naturally low level at this point so Heroine’s fight against her main underlings doesn’t change much.
Chapter 30:
- Wumei uses a third crystal in the fight to greatly boost the power of her spells for a short duration. This is needed for her to destroy one of the Boulder Apes, given its new design and the fact that her two bronze tier spells should only be around lvl 2 or 3 at this point.
Chapter 31:
- Given that he can refill his own mana from his golems, the danger of pursuing Tiago when he run away isn’t that Gilgamesh will run out of mana, but that Tiago will escape before he can catch him.
- Gilgamesh’s mana is low near the end, but he refills it from one of his Clay Scouts.
Chapter 32:
- The Clay Scout that carried Gilgamesh away from Marduk and Melinoe’s fight is now destroyed as half its core was erased by the dome of light Melinoe caused by clashing her white and black flames.
Chapter 33
- Massive rewrites in line with the change in golemcrafting
- Make the Speed mechanics clear. I was operating under the previous requirement of Strength needing to be about a fifth or fourth of Agility to maximize speed, but that doesn’t make much sense. Now there is just a set requirement of Strength depending on how heavy something is. Once that requirement is met, then speed is all about Agility.
Chapter 34
- Large rewrites in line with the change in golemcrafting and golem attributes.
- Serpent of False Mysteries gives an Attribute Point for him making a snake golem. This was meant to happen before but I didn't realize it wasn't there until now.
Chapter 35
- Adjusted golem attributes.
- Stated all the golems Gilgamesh bought before leaving the shop to go hunt Warlocks. He now buys a variety of Bomber Varients. Mana, Fire, Lightning, Frost, Wind, Acid.
- Added a line showing how Gilgamesh’s Perception is tangibly improved.
Chapter 36
- Changed golem statuses
- Added description for Low Grade+ (the state where form material is enhanced beyond its normal qualities by adding more Vitality).
- Shifting Sand status massively overhauled. It is now a Sentinel through Feature and Empowerment.
- Flight is now a passive Feature, just like Levitation is now.
- Hive Physique has been changed to Hive Shift and is now an active Feature that costs 3 motes per second while it maintains its shapeshifted forms.
Arena
Chapter 38
- This Trial now lasts 7 days instead of 15.
- Adjusted Gilgamesh’s assessment of Shifting Sand based on its new status and the new mechanics.
- Mana connector doesn’t work as well as it should on Shifting Sand because of its brass form.
- Gilgamesh gets 2 Attribute Points each for the first levels of Mana Insulation and Mana Connector
Chapter 39
- Showcased the limitations of Golem Peerer. It is a double limitation. Gilgamesh can only see through golems at their Perception, no matter how high his own is. And he can only see to the limits of his Perception, no matter how high a golem’s is.
- Gilgamesh now wields Shifting Sand as a disc rather than a chakram initially in these chapters.
Chapter 40
- Gilgamesh takes advantage of the Shifting Sand’s Guidance so that it will assume the shape of the weapons he needs. The first one is a thick buckler that can take a Training Dummy’s slash without being cut in half. The second is the chakram form instead of a disc.
- Iron Skirmisher is now an Ironwood Skirmisher from the start, since it is a Lancer.
- It is ironwood because it’s a durable material that is very lightweight. Steel and granite are stronger but weigh much more so the golems need a lot more strength, which would take away from speed.
- Cleave is now called Sever.
- Gilgamesh tries to use the instant mana refill effect for sparring to carve runes but the sparring ring won’t allow him.
Chapter 41
- Replaced all the altered golems’ stats with the new stats.
Chapter 42
- Altered Sentry Ball now has the Knockback Feature instead of Harden. Knockback applies a magical force to knock a target back to create distance.
- Altered Sentry Ball is now made of a new low grade material called Springtide Sap, which is basically magical rubber. It enhances the effect of impacts and thus the knockback effect.
Chapter 43:
- Big changes here.
- Establishes a limit for the amount of mana a golem can use with a ‘cycle’.
- A cycle is the amount of time it takes a golem to naturally recover from empty to full in their inert state. This tends to be around 1 to 2 hours.
- For Low Grade golems, their cores crack after using 2 times their max capacity and break after 3. For Gilgamesh with his Silver Tier Trait core, it cracks after 3 and breaks at 5.
- This limitation is even steeper with Gilgamesh because the ‘cycle’ for Heroes is a full day. Although his cycle is lessen by Passive Meditator, which when it reaches max level, would make his natural cycle 12 hours.
- Gilgamesh discovers this when his Snake Tail shatters after overuse during him testing his Attack Formation.
- He suspects the problem and tests it on the Easy Mode Training Dummy. Gilgamesh makes his golems fight and refills their mana until they break.
- He discovers the limits of mana usage for his golems and himself.
- He asks Serpent of False Mysteries for a way to repair golem cores but she doesn’t want to get cut off from watching the trials again, so he is left to his own devices.
- Then gilgamesh has another idea. He leaves the sparring ring and uses mana until his core cracks. (Serpent of False Mysteries is worried).
- But then he enters the sparring ring to kill the easy mode training dummy quickly and leaves, and his core is restored as he expected.
- Thus he realizes he has no mana limit here. He plans to abuse this mechanic to push himself to his absolute limits to carve runes.
- First he crafts a spare Steel Naga. if the first naga breaks, he can just replace it with another.
- Then he crafts a new Roaming Throne and Snake Tail with higher Spirit, since he cannot swap his mounts as easily as his vanguard.
- Gilgamesh heads back in to fight the Hard Mode Training Dummy again and does better than ever. But as in the original version, he gets too into it and his core breaks before he realizes.
- This is where, as in the original, he has the thought along with more mana and stronger golems, he also needs to improve his combat skills.
- Gilgamesh still prioritizes Spirit because that gives him more capacity and he will not have the benefit of this training after the trial.
Chapter 47
- With the new mechanics on being able to heal damage to his core. Gilgamesh carves a lot more golems.
- He also optimized all his other golems, including Bolt Viper, Clay Salamander, Forest Hand, Floating Shield, Ironwood Skirmisher, and Clay Sentry.
- Gilgamesh inspects the array of Shifting Sand for the first time. It has more complexity and depth than he expected. But he cannot replicate it because he doesn't know the formulas for many of the Sigils in the array, especially the sigil for Intermediate, which is needed to make the Mid Grade version of the Components.
Chapter 49
- Gilgamesh raises his Willpower to 20 off screen to handle the mental strain of wielding 1 Mid Grade golem and 2 Low Grade golems at once.
Chapter 50:
- Added that Sun Wukong gives him a passing grade.
- Added that [ Warrior Maid ] would like to train him.
- Gilgamesh now acknowledges that he is not the Hero, but doubles down on his intentions to be one. If he is not acknowledged by the Prophecy as the Hero, then he now intends to make himself the Hero.
Labyrinth
Chapter 54:
- Added a lot more gods reactions to Gilgamesh passing the trial.
- Changed Stone Gazer and Forest Wings stats.
- Gilgamesh raises his Perception to 50 instead of the original 40, so that he can follow the base speed of Forest Wings with perfect clarity.
- Gilgamesh doesn’t raise Vitality here since he already did that in the Nightmare Trial.
Chapter 33 for the in depth explanation of Golemcrafting.