Skill Boards

A skill board is a skill tree. It is a set of nodes joined by lines, grouped into coloured branches. Players unlock nodes one by one: a node can give a skill, teach an ability, grant a passive, add stats, or change the rules (a keystone). Which boards a character uses is set on its Progression Profile.

You build boards in Database → Skills → Boards — a canvas builder with a palette on the left, the board in the middle and an inspector on the right. Assign them in Database → Characters → Progression Profiles → (a profile) → Skill boards.

Setting it up#

1. Open Database → Skills → Boards and click New board.
2. Pick a starter preset (one per layout, below) and click Create board. Leave Pure template off to build it from your own skills, abilities and classes; tick it for placeholder nodes. Or pick Empty board and a layout.
3. The builder opens. Drag skills, abilities, passives or node kinds in from the left, connect nodes by dragging from the + handle on a node to another node, and set each node's rules in the inspector.
4. Press Validate and fix anything red (errors block a save; amber warnings don't). Press Simulate to check how many points a character has by a level against what the board costs.
5. Press Save (Ctrl+S).
6. Open Database → Characters → Progression Profiles and pick the profile your characters use. If the board's nodes cost points, add a Point pool for them, e.g. "Talent Points", 1 per character level.
7. Under Skill boards, click + Add a board and pick it. Add more boards for more tabs, in the order players should see them.
8. Decide Skills on no board still level and show. On (the default) = every skill still shows as before. Off = a character only sees the skills its boards give it.
9. Publish.

Layouts and starter presets#

Every board is the same thing — nodes, lines and branches. The layout type decides how the builder snaps nodes and how the board is drawn. Switching layout (the layout menu above the board, or Board → Layout type) arranges the same nodes for the new type: every line, branch and rule stays, and Ctrl+Z brings the old arrangement back. The look follows the new layout unless you changed it.

You can also apply a preset to an existing board from Presets above the board (My project or Template). It replaces the board's nodes — undo brings them back, and nothing is saved until you press Save.

The builder#

On a phone or tablet#

The builder works by touch. It's the same board with the same tools, arranged for the screen.

On a phone, or any window under 768 wide or 500 high, the board fills the screen and the panels move into sheets:

The minimap and the zoom buttons are hidden: use two fingers and Fit.

On a touch screen, More lists these gestures in place of the keyboard shortcuts.

On a tablet the layout stays as it is on a desktop. Buttons grow to finger size, the same bottom bar appears, and the panel button above the board hides the inspector so the board can take the full width. Add is in the bottom bar whenever the palette isn't already on screen.

How nodes are gained#

Each board has a levelling mode:

Choice nodes are always picked by the player, even on a board that levels by use (they cost nothing there). Picking one locks the other nodes in the same choice group.

Node kinds#

Node fields#

Select one node to edit it in the inspector. Select several to set the branch, size, cost or lines-in rule of all of them at once.

The first rank needs the whole unlock rule; later ranks only need their cost.

Board settings and look#

Click empty space to edit the board itself.

Deeper looks — parallax, unlock effects and sounds — are set in the UI editor.

Validate and simulate#

Validate lists every problem by the node's name; click one to jump to it (nodes with problems carry a red or amber mark). It reads the same rules the game does, so a node it passes is a node the server honours. It checks that a skill / ability / passive node names a record that exists, a choice node has a choice group, every node can be reached from a start node, a node needing all its lines in is not stuck in a loop, a choice group has more than one node, two nodes don't sit on top of each other, and node pools exist in a profile. Save runs the same checks: errors refuse the save and open the list.

Validate also warns when an unlock rule needs a skill, quest, item or class that no longer exists, when a line runs out of a decor node (decor unlocks nothing, so the game ignores that line), when Parent skill level is set but no skill node leads there (the game ignores it: use Skill level instead), and when a class can't unlock anything on a board that locks nodes to classes. It refuses a respec that costs an item or a currency with none picked, because the server would then refuse every paid reset.

Simulate shows what one character can really reach: how many nodes, the most points it can spend and the highest level any of those nodes asks for. On a board with class locks, pick a Class: nodes locked to other classes don't count, and neither do nodes only they can lead to. A pick-one group counts once, at its dearest node. So a Tiered board of 117 points may only let a class spend 36, and Simulate says so. Pick a progression profile and a character level to also see, per point pool, the points earned by that level against what this character can spend, plus how many nodes open by use or are still level-locked. It assumes the board's skills are at the same level, ignores a parent skill level the game ignores, and saves nothing.

Resetting a board#

A player resets a board (all of it), one branch, or one node. The board's own Respec rule decides — or, when the board has none, the respec rule of the pool its nodes cost:

• Allowed, What can be reset (one node, one branch, everything), Only at an NPC, Cooldown.
• Free below level and Free resets, then silver, an item or a custom currency, plus Rises per paid reset.

A reset refunds every point the nodes cost, takes back the abilities those nodes taught (an ability the player already knew, or gets from a starter or learn-at-level row, stays) and removes their passives and stats. A single node can only be reset when nothing the player owns depends on it. A board that levels by use has nothing to reset.

When you change a board#

The next time a character logs in, a node they own that you deleted, turned into decor, gave fewer ranks or re-priced is removed and its points go back to the pool — they unlock it again at the new price. A deleted board refunds all of its nodes. A board you only unassign from the profile keeps the player's nodes; they do nothing until it is assigned again.

Gotchas#

• Nothing happens until a profile uses the board. A board on no profile is never shown and gives nothing. The board's settings show which profiles use it.
• A save is refused while the board has errors (red in Validate) — for example a skill node with no skill picked, or no start node on a board with lines. Warnings save.
• Two people, or two tabs, on one board. If the board was saved somewhere else after you opened it, your save is refused and your work stays on screen. Choose Reload (loses your changes) or Overwrite (keeps yours, and replaces the other save). If it was deleted meanwhile, you can save your work as a new board.
• A request that fails (the network dropped, the server restarted) says so in a message and keeps your work. Press the button again.
• Numbers have limits. A level can be at most 100,000: the field shows the limit when you leave it. Through the API, a value past a limit, more than 6,000 lines, more than 64 branches or a name that's too long is refused with an error, never cut short.
• Tiered Columns gives its three columns to the first three classes by Order (the Order field on the Classes page). Any other class is named when you create the board, and can unlock nothing until you give it a start.
• Switching layout moves nodes. Positions are re-arranged for the new layout, and switching back doesn't restore them. Undo does, until you leave the builder.
• Dashed lines on a constellation are either decorative (part of a figure's shape, ignored by unlock rules: click one to check) or real lines between figures, drawn quietly so the figures stay readable. Dashed lines between Tiered panels are real lines too.
• The same skill, ability or passive can be placed twice. It's allowed, but you see a message when you drop it and Validate warns by name.
• Names you can't see at a far zoom are waiting for room, and a small note on the board says so: zoom in. A bigger Node size also spreads the board out to keep room for them.
• A layout switch rewrites a description only if a preset wrote it. Anything you typed stays.
• Images on a board are stored as links to your media library. A link can't be longer than 4,096 characters; anything else is refused with a message rather than saved broken.
• Applying a preset replaces the board's nodes and description. The name changes too, unless you typed your own. Undo brings it all back until you leave the builder.
• RPG Maker section headers in your database, such as ====Alteration====, are skipped by presets and the palette. The records themselves aren't changed.
• Radial wedges come from the branches that have nodes. A new, empty branch takes no wedge until a node joins it; then nodes re-seat so each sits in its own wedge. Dragging a node into another branch's wedge snaps it back to its own; change its Branch to move it, or hold Alt to place it freely.
• Deleting a board asks first and lists the profiles still using it; they simply stop showing it, and characters get their points back at their next login, even when it was your last board. This needs the game server from the same release.
• Deleting a skill that's on a board warns you and names the boards. Those nodes stop working until you pick another skill: Validate lists them.
• List boards have no lines. Lines you drew on another layout are kept but not used while the board is a List.
• The server checks every unlock. The player only names the node; the server checks the board is theirs, the rule, the choice group, the rank and the cost. A refused unlock says why and spends nothing.
• Ability nodes respect the learned-ability cap. At the cap the unlock is refused (nothing is spent) until the player forgets one.
• Skills on no board off with no board assigned changes nothing — every skill still shows.
• A condition that can't be read (a typo) keeps the node locked.
• Feature flag. Behind Skill Boards in Feature Flags (on, Beta). Off = boards give nothing and unlocks and resets are refused; owned nodes are kept. Boards also need Progression Profiles on.
• Changes reach a running server when you Publish.