Ahoy hoy, Ziggy back at it again, that madman!
Today, is some follow-up (kappa) on Servant.
What that entails is how Neia got her levels to what they were. This might be redundant but there is some mechanical need to go through this for posterity and it compliments what we talked about in the previous articles on all the Class-types.
So what was the point of the Roble arc beyond setting up for the movie and letting Demiurge have some fun? Well the point was mainly to not only show off some other classes and cultural insights but also not just for some yuri ship teasing either. Drama aside as well, mechanically the point was somewhat illustrated by Neia and how Servant works.
Servant, as we discussed, is the 'I'm helping' job-class for people without a proper job-class. But it's also got the purpose to evolve into other job-classes. How this works is by learning the Skills(GASP) of those you serve... or are a Follower too.
Dun Dun Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun.
This is a lot clearer in Japanese, but the kanji for SERVANT is also the kanji for FOLLOWER. And so the meta commentary here is how Neia is a NPC 'follower' for Ainz(as many can clearly see).
It's sort of a gag that she's like a tabletop hireling, weaker team-member NPC. However, she's also Ainz's little duckling, learning how Ainz handles things and acquiring those Skills. And our beloved Supreme Being, the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown of the Kingdom of Ainz Ooal Gown is a master at his craft: bullshitting on the fly and giving sensible, persuasive arguments while looking like a Yu-Gi-Oh-card Skeletor! Watch out, they're learning! Hide the world-class items, hide your waifus!
You can probably infer where this is heading, but Neia basically learned these 'Skills' and this ties into how she acquired Evangelist and or Founder. The issue here is Overlord's Skill system is very.... poorly detailed and character sheets only show Classes. But that is also why Ziggy feels it's prudent to actually go in depth for once about it. Like why was Etiquette such a big deal for the Dark Elves? Well because it's one Skill you can 'level up'. These seemingly pointless Skills help define some of the Ordinary-type job-classes and other Classes.
So Evangelist. Nothing Neia sees Ainz do should lead to this Class right? Ainz didn't teach her to convert people to a specific religion or justice after all. What Neia learned was only the Skill (likley through her Servant class). By applying this Skill in the way she does was what led to her Evangelist Class. Does that make sense? Wait is Evangelist the Paladin-version of a Bard....? Hmmmm...... Overlord Paladin's aren't Divine casters either......
If that isn't clear.... why do you think Tsuare can convert her Slave to Maid levels? Well the Skills aren't that different. Basically, she already had Skill levels in taking orders, cleaning, etc so the way the New World only Classes work is people can actually 'repackage' or 'Evolve' some classes into others. It's basically transferable job experience or the Skills are the same - just rebrand the Level. The same goes for Prince to King - it's nearly the same Skill-set, with a few tweaks(alterations in how those Skills are applied) it's basically the same Class Level.
Neia, as Ainz's Follower and Servant, saw him use several 'TRPG' Skills over and over and she acquired these, basically. And when she started public speaking, by using these Skills she acquired Evangelist and set her self on the path of the Founder.
But what Skills did Neia learn? Well Ainz actually uses several 'Skills' even though he probably doesn't have them himself(as a game avatar with no Flavor Text). Players are special because they can 'roleplay' and 'simulate' Skills after all how we can... through training like how Ainz constantly practices LARPing. What NPCs can do via Flavor Text, Players can do through pure roleplaying. That's why they are Players after all.
So think clearly about what Ainz does - he Negotiates, Persuades, Bluffs, Gathers Information, and Performs his LARPing as the Sorcerer King (via acting). These are actually all Skills in TRPG game systems you can use in situations, New Worlders just so happen to train and 'Skill Level Up' or 'Skill up' in; Gathering Information not only defines Ainz in his caution but even some Job-classes like Sage or Academic Wizard. Neia didn't learn the art of spellcasting, she learned the art of LARPing and bullshitting; in the business world we call this being Quick-witted, Sharp, or Fast-On-Your-Feet. These core 'Skills' are actually common in TRPG mostly, where they are afterthought Skill Prerequisities for prestige classes. Ziggy says, 'afterthought because most TRPG gamers care about prestige classes for the combat encounters rather than roleplaying(this depends on the game and Player group however).
There's some meta-commentary here about Neia basically learned all the Skills a Player at a TRPG game session can use outside their character and game system. Neat. When you stare into the abyss it stares back into! Or rather.... maybe everything we do are weird mechanics to someone else to understand?
All these Skills Neia 'learns' help set her on the path of Evangelist. This is one of those cases where Maruyama lacked creativity and so Evangelist is mostly inspired by D&D. Mostly. There's some easter egg references you'll miss if you assume it's just D&D but for now it's just subtle stuff not too relevant right now.
"Are Classes just Skills then?"
Well no... Overlord is never so simple after all. As the New World is a Class-Skill system, people have Classes but also Skills, both give you magical bullshit powers. So there is a difference between a Skill, a Feat, and an Ability. How to explain this... Skills are things you can train to get better in, Feats are like power-ups and passives your Class or Race gives you, meanwhile Abilities are active powers you get. It's nuanced and pedantic but there are distinctions in these. And for those bored with this topic, try to figure out what Martial Arts are in this paradigm, the only answer that leads to is arguments!
Anyway, Tsuare became a Maid studying from Nazarick because Flavor Text substitutes for Skills in YGGDRASIL to New World beings. This is why all the maids of Nazarick are amazing, Demiurge is a master crafter, and so on. This is also why flavor text is so op though - it just lets you simulate Skills or even Ability Scores at no Level investment. That's why Demiurge and Albedo can also have 10000 IQ as well.
These Class-Skill 'complexes' are what define New Worlders compared to YGGDRASIL beings. This is why New Worlders can have the same levels but differ a bit in how they can do things. Neia, by using all the Skills she got by being a faithful duckling to Ainz gained all the knowledge she needed to set her self on the path of cult leader and orator in the Great Awakening(not that kind)! By learning from a disillusioned salaryman from dystopian Japan, Neia is firmly on the path of demagogue, civil war revolutionary cult leader, and some say Pope, some say Bodhisattva?
It's hard to convey how Class-Skill complexes work but take Rangers. They can just... hide and stuff and people just can't see them due to game logic like magically disappearing around NPCs while sneaking in a Metal Gear or Bethesda game. IT JUST WORKS. That's a Class feat and or Ability depending. The reason Neia learned how to track and hide however was pure Skill. Kappa.
What that means is she actively learned the mundane, Earthling way to be Rambo. Classes typically give you magical handwave excuses for how stuff JUST WORKS. Class-Skills are nuanced though because they are a fusion of Skills and Classes. Not all these powers seem magical but consider Evangelist. It should just be an oration class so why is it a combat-type not Ordinary-type class?
Well that is because by using the Skills Ainz taught her, Neia learned the Class Evangelist and this had abilities that are not Skills, but rather Abilities, Feats or so on. So what came first, the Class or the Abilities? Well the point of a Class is to embody what it is by doing what it is - that is by using the Skills that define a Class you then unlock it and greater power to get even better at that 'role'.
Neia, through public speaking and bolstered by her intimidating appearance and Skills she picked up from Ainz kept persuading people in her 'oration performances' she acquired Evangelist, what is basically a verbalizing Bard rather than musical performer. She didn't have the Ability of brainwashing at first, but the Skills, normal public speaking, negotiating, and so on lay the foundation(kappa) of the precedence of 'converting' people. By doing this the person then acquires the Class-Skill complex of Evangelist which 'converts' people magically. Does that make sense?
Think about Fighters. They don't magically learn Martial Arts at Level 1. Yet by swinging their swords and other weapons around, through pure Skill and Weapon Proficiency, they manifest 'magical bullshit' fightan majikku which scales with how many levels they have in their Class Levels.
This is why Martial Arts can get stronger versions or you stack more as your level goes up - Skills feed into Classes which feed back into the Skills and bestow new powers and abilities. For Martial Art users, it's mundane stuff at first - like Slash or Avoid, which are slight refinements to what you an do via bruteforce (attacking or dodge-rolling). But as you get more Levels in the Class-Skill Complex of Fighter, you can perform more magical, reality defying, supernatural and extraordinary Martial Arts. Martial Arts just happen to be far more closely tied to Skills(and mundane actions) like Ordinary-type Classes than what other YGGDRASIL-style classes give you. As Fighters lost their Active Skills however, part of the reason is because the New World is a Class-Skill world and YGGDRASIL active Skills(basically Abilities) were lost in exchange for Martial Arts unlike every other Class in the game.
Is that confusing?
Of course it is. It's all just an excuse for more mechanics and hand-waving. Still, there is a mechanical and literary reasons for the additional mechanics - it ties into Class-Skill complexes, the New World, and how Fighters well Fight beyond literary reasons(Ziggy will gloss over the literary reasons... it's complicated). Classes basically start to give you magical powers basically and this manifests in Fighters as their weird knock-off Wild Magic system tied to their Skills and training. So you can have Skill: Lunging like that one loser in Six Arms, but also Martial Arts separate from that like [Piercing] which makes you do even more damage or pokey poking stabbing. It's ALMOST the same thing, but a Skill is mastering technique while Martial Arts is like channeling mana through your Class-Skill complex to slightly, just slightly, be more like an anime character with flashy effects in a manga panel. Omae ga Shinderu.... Wait how did Sebas teach Climb anyway.... Hmmmm..... Maybe-REDACTED
There's a reason everyone calls the Tome of Battle the Tome of Weeaboo Figthan Majikku! Though rather than just referencing that... Gefun gefun. It's a SEKRET for later. Maybe? It's actually multiple SEKRETs...... Hmmmmmmm...... Let's just hint at it mysteriously and never ever talk about it again like the Heavenly Dragon Lord being probably our one lord and savior saving the New World from the invasion of Eldritch nightmares! Crystal Dragon Jesus, more like Giant Flying Island Dragon Jesus!
Neia's growth helps emphasize this. She has the Skill: Public Speaking or Oration. But Evangelist bestows the magical INDOCTRINATION power, which is closer to Demiurge's Command Mantra or a Bard's powers - ie her magical brainwashing via verbal speaking.
"So how does this work for Ordinary-type classes?"
Good question Ziggy you hack fraud! Hack-fraud...? ...Hack_fraud? Hmmmm......
Ordinary-type Classes are still Class-Complexes, they are just... overly mundane. That's why they level you up but don't give much stats(magical power ups). They are however far closer tied to the Skill system, hence why Ordinary-type classes are banal jobs like Slave, Maid, King, Noble, Farmer, etc. They help you do your job a teeny itsy bit better. Via MAGICAL tiny buffs. Sadly Farmers can't just sprout new fields out of a desert.... for now. But why the favortism? Beyond references, Class-Skill complexes should in theory have the same power bestowing per level (basically power-scaling level parity) but we don't see that with Ordinary-type Classes. Mechanically they are just levels for NPCs who don't fight.... With their own unique sub-systems!
How Ziggy thinks it works is they are 'breaking' the Skill system actually - that's why Jircniv is so 'feared' for example. These Class-Skill Complexes, like Emperor or High Emperor basically let Jircniv get not only tiny buffs in being DA EMPURUH but in theory he can have higher Skill levels or stack even more Skills in Negotiation, Persuasion, Knowledge(so he doesn't forget stuff or the writing cliche of remembering the exact thing he needs to remember at the exact perfect time). Maruyama's bad political writing was all an excuse for cliche, tropey writing! It was all actually according to keikaku! MARUYAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But what does that really mean? Well people with Ordinary-type Classes are just better at that role than someone without them via actual in-world magic. That doesn't mean much for a Maid but for government officials or Courtiers, this means the government can either run magically guder or turn into the Kingdom's nightmare(as you have people with Ordinary-type classes on both sides of the factional conflict magically buffed to be even better at gridlock and corruption). Things just magically work because... these people even without magic casting are manifesting magic through the Class-Skill system.
THE HORROR!
The Empire shows how this works positively - Jircniv's rebellion magically went well not only due to how Skilled he was but he had his Class-Skill complexes to magically buff him with having the right ideas at the right time, being able to persuade people easier, being recognized as a teenage Emperor, etc. It's dumb and blurs the line between narrative and mechanics but that's what Ordinary-type Job-classes are(an excuse for Maruyama's writing to suck in these areas). Jircniv may not have a big, shiny gold throne he's trapped on but his treasury likely is filled a lot more thanks to his Levels... BECAUSE OF MAGIC. Weeaboo Burecrat Salaryman Majikku...?
Levels aren't everything, but they give people minor magical advantages at being successful in their roles in society even outside combat(if you can get them). Naturally people are attracted to high-level people because they are well high-level and so overtime this ensures better survivability for the species. But higher-level people can resist other Levels and Classes better. In the best cases, someone like Decem can just see past magic as the fraudulent defiance of reality it truly is through pure Ability Scores, no Skills, no Class-Skill ability. Having a high level doesn't make you a good person though or good ruler either though as we see also with Decem... But when push comes to shove, a higher-level person in town can punch whatever big monsters or hungry people came to eat you. And isn't that more important? It can be.... Sometimes. ...Decem really exists to show us how wrong he is at and about everything huh....?
The point of Neia is to show us someone learning their Skills, getting new Classes and then applying those Classes to get new Classes via Skills and new powers. This is also why new Classes like Sacred Archer can exist - New Worlders manifest Class-Skill Complexes based on what they do - and since Neia is a Paladin who uses a bow Skills, she got a new Paladin-Archer prestige class thing-a-ma-jig with more stats and new powers not from the game. IT JUST WORKS(besides being references).
Aptitudes for Skills sort of tie even closer to the Class-Skill system but that's even harder to really describe outside 'this person's daddy can use the bow gud so she can use the bow slightly gudder than others'. Why? Awakening? Genetics? Plot contrivance? Who knows! Still a mystery how Decem didn't get a single brat to half his level... Maybe the world cursed him for being a dead-beat king and father... and Ironically gave his one successful child experiment to the nation that hated him to raise her and give her good gear...? Again why is the World such a spiteful DM? Who can say....
As an aside, all the topics on Savage magic and Base Ten Bonuses and Lesser Classes all tie into the fact the New World is a Class-Skill system and for some, mysterious reason(it's a reference) people just get bonus power ups, feats, or Class options as they reach new 'brackets' of power (basically every ten levels). So a Hero isn't just someone with a higher-level... they also get more and more power-ups to Skills and Classes due to the Class-Skill System bestowing new Skills or Class options at these power brackets. Neia shows us the natural way someone trains Skills and applies them to get a Class, but just like Savage magic, people acquire these powers without knowing what they are doing exactly just that they now have new nifty abilities. Being able to ignore level restrictions at level 20 though... Ooof. That already breaks the game super early.... Wonder what outliers, the deviators, can do....
Class-Skill Complexes are basically the reason why the New World has 'infinite potential' as you can combine all sorts of Skills in new ways to manifest new powers. That's why we have the susiest bear, with no mana, tattoos, or Classes, able to cast magic, mind breaking as that is. YGGDRASIL may have corrupted the world but it also made this Class-Skill system power-up non-racial races with game level power-ups. Did it level the playing field? Well... maybe not, humanoids are still pretty weak after all... but maybe it made things slightly better? Was the Class-Skill system always around but no game Classes existed? Hmmmm.... There's no agreement on that one still.
Nevertheless, as divisive Neia is as a character despite being the best iteration of her character concept, hopefull you can appreciate the application of her character in revealing these nuanced mechanics and Maruyama having fun with how New Worlders not only sasuga but can learn from Players and roleplayers to inspire the masses into being psychopaths! ....Huh.... Wait isn't that a....
Ziggy hopes you might have a new appreciation for the upcoming Holy Kingdom movie and it's story even though most still consider it the start of Overlord's decline... Sadly Maruyama is more faithful to mechanics and making references than his own narrative and so the stories he can tell are limited by the mechanics he's trying to teach you via litRPG writing; he'll tell a bad story rather than poorly portray the mehanics in an 'interesting' way. If he wasn't so obsessed with being Meta and vague.... would it even be Overlord? Hard to say... Ziggy like Neia, only observes and tries to learn from Maruyama(Ainz).... Such autism! Who else but Maruyama!? Anyway he accomplishes what he wants though, he made a story you have to reread a billion time to comprehend with how esoteric he explains things....
Maybe you learned something new with this, maybe you didn't. Come on baby, don't fear the reaper... or giant skeleton man... he's really just a depressed middle-age man who wants to talk about 20 year-old or older RPGs and write witty jokes to his friends in his home country that people pay him to also read! Corporate profits be damned! Give Maruyama autism or kill his career! He's got another job anyway!
Class-Skill, Class, and Skill system game design is all very pedantic, but like any spectrum, all game design lies on a spectrum with these as tenets that give concept to how a game is made or programmed. Don't worry about the exact definitions, Ziggy has seen many contradicting ones enough times. The point of Overlord is to throw these competing ideas against each other and watch the resulting dumpster fire... That and references. It's not Overlord if there isn't like ten different things being referenced at the same time.
What if you're not wrong AND I'm not wrong? What if we're both right AND there is even more going on we didn't notice..... Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun.
That's all folks! Ziggy wishes you well and hopes you aren't mad this isn't 100-pages long.
"But wait Ziggy, what is the Base Ten System then, really?"
You can conjecture what it is, really, truthfully... however it's so interwoven with mechanics and literary references that it's... Can't we just magically hand-wave it with our Class-Skill Complexes as readers and our Skill: Suspension of Disbelief....?
*Ziggy starts sweating nervously*
Uh...... Hey look it's a bird or is it a plane!
*Ziggy points to an empty space in the sky and activates his Joestar Bloodline-Limit Bankai Technique and runs away*
Bye bye!
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