Reaver’s Rest Design Document

Page 4: Gear Progression & Combat System

Core Philosophy

All meaningful power in Reaver’s Rest comes from successful extractions. There are no character levels, experience points, or traditional skill trees. Progression is entirely loot-driven and high-stakes — what you bring back is what you keep.

Gear System

Rarity Tiers & Stats

Gear has the following rarity levels with increasing power:

• Affixes: Random bonuses (e.g., +Damage, +Crit Chance, +Spell Power, +Health, etc.).
• Augment Slots: 0–3 slots. Rarer gear has a higher chance to roll more slots. Slots are rare overall.
• Armor & Clothing: Can also roll augment slots (rarer pieces more likely).

Currencies

• Crux: Common crafting and recycling resource. Can be lost on death.
• Aether: Rare, safe resource used for portal operation and powerful crafting at the Aether Forge. Never lost on death.

Reaver’s Exchange

Located inside Crowe’s Tradehouse. Players can buy/sell gear and consumables with Bargus Crowe or use the auction system.

Compactors

• Town Compactor (safe): Standard exchange rate for turning unwanted gear into Crux.
• Dungeon Compactor (risky): Higher exchange rate, but only available inside dungeons and lost if you die.

Aether Forge

• Socket / unsocket augments.
• Combine lower-tier augments.
• Craft special items like Aether Cores (used for Empowered portal runs).

Combat System

Classes

Every class can equip any weapon (sword, spear, staff), but only the proficient class receives full stat bonuses and optimal performance.

• Warrior — Sword + Heavy Shield proficiency. Tanky frontline fighter.
  • Starter ability: Second Wind (temporary health burst + damage reduction).
• Skirmisher — Spear + Light Shield proficiency. Mobile damage dealer with reach.
  • Starter ability: Shadow Mend (quick self-heal + mobility boost).
• Arcanist — Staff + Light Shield proficiency. Ranged spellcaster.
  • Starter ability: Arcane Restore (mana/energy recovery + minor shield).
  • Even Arcanists carry light shields — the dungeons are so dangerous that no Reaver dares go unarmed. The Arcanist’s starter ability summons a magical Arcane Shield sphere that can be active at the same time as their physical light shield (the sphere absorbs the hit first, then breaks).

Shield Mechanic: All classes use physical shields with dedicated shield-walk animations. Hold R1 to raise the shield and block.

Ability Hotbar & Controls (Combat)

Only one Ability Tome can be equipped at a time.

• A (tap) — Basic / light attack
• A (double-tap) — Charged / heavy attack
• B (hold) — Sprint (continuous while held, stamina drain)
• B (double-tap) — Class special movement ability (stamina cost, cooldown)
• X — Equipped Ability Tome
• Y — Class starter ability (permanent, never lost on death)
• R1 (hold) — Raise physical shield / shield walk
• R2 (hold) — Open quick-use menu (potions, food items, consumables)
• L1 — Cycle targets (especially useful for ranged spells)
• L2 — Radial communication wheel
• Select — Open inventory, armor, and weapon slots
• Start — System menu (logout, settings, etc.)

Class Special Movement Abilities (triggered by quick tap + long press on B while sprinting, stamina cost, no cooldown):

• Warrior — Shield Bash Charge: Forward shield lunge that knocks back enemies in a cone and grants brief damage reduction.
• Skirmisher — Evasive Leap: Long forward dash with a short invulnerability window.
• Arcanist — Arcane Burst Step: Short teleport blink in the facing direction with a brief speed boost and minor damage reduction.

Additional Abilities

• Starter abilities are always available on Y.
• Additional abilities come exclusively from loot (Ability Tomes / Runes). Only one can be equipped at a time and is lost if equipped when you die.
• No skill trees — power grows only through better extracted gear and abilities.

Real-time Combat

• Fast, responsive melee and spell combat.
• Client uses thin architecture with server authority for fairness in PvPvE.
• Collision: Disabled between teammates and in town; enabled against enemy players and NPCs in dungeons.

Dungeon Portal & Run Structure

Portal Operation Modes

• Aether Core: Crafted at the Aether Forge using rare components. Guarantees better loot and a compactor.
• Extraction portal always spawns. Players must reach it before the dungeon despawns or lose everything equipped.

Death & Extraction Rules

• On death in PvPvE: All carried items (bag, equipped gear, quick-use slots) drop as ground loot and can be looted by anyone.
• On death in PvE-only (max 3 players): All carried items drop as ground loot; teammates can retrieve them.
• Aether is never lost on death. 20–30% of carried Crux Ingots are lost on death.
• Successfully extracted items go to the permanent stash in The Ironvault.
• Dropped items:
  • In town: Instantly deleted (with optional one-time warning dialogue).
  • In dungeons: Persist for the full dungeon lifetime. Stackable items merge within a small pixel radius.

Design Guardrails for Page 4

• Keep combat simple yet satisfying on the Miyoo with clear visual cooldowns and intuitive button mapping.
• All progression must feel earned through risk.
• Shields (physical and magical) are visually and mechanically relevant for every class.
• Balance power creep with increasing risk — better gear lets you tackle harder portal modes.

Version 0.4 • April 2026 Previous: Page 3 – NPCs in the Hub & Tavern Next: Page 5 – Social Interactions, Trading & Loot Sharing