The Mirror Imp is one of the most broken creatures in the game.

 

 

 

 

Initially intended as a late-game perk tailored for villainous NPCs, the mirror imp came with a substantial sixteen-level purchasing penalty. To attain it, a player had to expend a bonus feature, something exclusively offered on odd levels. Ordinarily, players couldn't access this familiar until seventeenth level. Although at that stage, the mirror imp wasn't exceedingly remarkable, it still provided some enjoyable perks, but, again, it was more geared for evil NPCs, not players. By that level, a wizard would have mastered ninth-circle spells, the highest level achievable in the game. Essentially, the mirror imp mirrored what the wizard could do on his own but with the added benefit of reducing costs.

 

Using bloodline penalty levels got around level restrictions with hilarious ease.

 

Originally, the bloodline penalty levels were structured under the assumption that players would typically focus on just one class, possibly two at most. This setup worked well, especially considering that access to advanced classes typically didn't happen until reaching sixth level, with the really good ones not becoming available until eleventh. Furthermore, most players didn't take more than one bloodline.

 

Taking even one penalty level was seen by most as an extremely steep price for the benefits of having a bloodline, much less having three bloodlines. "Thou shalt not forfeit caster levels" is the mantra of most power gamers, thus making bloodlines something people only took if they were going to be a melee-heavy build. The abuse of penalty levels to max out class abilities and skills in ways never before thought possible was something that only recently had been discovered and not a well-known abuse of the rules.

 

Leveraging Bloodline penalty levels to attain advanced classes ahead of schedule was a prevalent strategy, but Andrew had independently discovered the loophole of utilizing the Obolmancer to advance the divine mind. It was a tactic he had kept under wraps for his own use. Many power gamers operated similarly, hoarding their tactics until they were prepared to spring them on an unsuspecting game master. When combining dual advancement with the distribution of penalty level benefits across numerous starting classes, particularly those with stackable class features, the situation escalates into madness swiftly.

 

Which is what allowed Andrew to have the broken Mirror Imp familiar.

 

Despite being only at the fifth level, his level penalty bonus extended to his starting equipment, granting him gear usually associated with someone six levels higher. He invested in a pair of magic shoes to alleviate fatigue, upgraded his backpack for increased storage capacity and functionality, and allocated a substantial portion of his funds toward acquiring scrolls and psychic crystals. Notably, he indulged in one particularly expensive crystal, a key component of his strategic acquisitions.

 

As Andrew appeared in a desolate clearing encircled by dense forest, his mirror imp materialized beside him. This silvery humanoid, complete with a stinger tail, exuded an unmistakable aura of malevolence. Its nefarious intent was crystal clear: to thwart Andrew at every turn and ultimately consign his soul to the depths of the underworld. The imp was single-mindedly devoted to undermining Andrew throughout his journey. It lived and breathed for this purpose alone. Since the pact was sealed, Andrew had set his immortal soul on a path toward eternal torment. Every moment would be a battle to evade the myriad snares and pitfalls laid by his relentless companion.

 

Unless of course, Andrews's first action was to whip out his Self-Reformation crystal and activate it.

 

Self-Reformation, as a psychic power, presents a fascinating prospect for character development. Despite its exorbitant activation cost, including a substantial experience point penalty and permanent Stamina damage, this power offered the unique opportunity to essentially redistribute and re-imagine one's character. In effect, Andrew could re-spend his character from the ground up. The question may arise: why employ such a power immediately after character creation? Why didn't Andrew just get it right the first time? The answer is two-fold.

 

It's a power with a range of personal and normally applied exclusively to the user. However, an intriguing aspect of personal spells is the ability to share them as you cast with one's familiar. What makes it particularly appealing is when activated from a psychic crystal all associated penalties are pre-paid. There is no loss of experience or stamina for the user; someone else has already borne these costs to create the crystal. Since the power is shared, Andrew is the one to determine how the power takes effect.

 

Round one, before it could utter a single corrupting word, the mirror imp was reformatted into a new existence.

 

Specifically, Andrew wanted to re-spend the mirror imp's features and flaws, add new creature templates, change the creature's alignment so it was no longer evil, and take it to the next level of usefulness. A curious perk of the mirror imp was that its creature subtype was 'Any'. This meant that it qualified for any creature template for any creature. With reformation, you could come up with some truly creative combinations.

 

For example, give it bloodlines.

 

Andrew wasn't squandering the power solely on his familiar, mind you. Rather, he had another application in mind. Within the game's mechanics, an avenue existed to acquire additional bonus features, contingent on accepting flaws. These flaws, however, had to be earned through gameplay. Once a flaw was obtained, it came bundled with a complementary free perk to offset the drawback. This particular game mechanic remained relatively obscure, accessible only through a specific adventure that players needed to navigate.

 

However, Self-Reformation doesn't care if you went on the quest. It just cares if the combination is possible.

 

Employing self-reformation, Andrew opted to take on two flaws for himself and his familiar. The first sacrifice involved willingly reducing his wisdom by two points. While this made him more vulnerable to mental magic, it was a calculated loss, considering it was the stat he could most afford to part with. He had considered Charisma, and in any other situation, that would have been the obvious choice. However, upon realizing the 'game' was REAL, he figured he couldn't afford to lower his charisma any more than it was already. For his familiar, he picked strength, because it wouldn't make a difference at this point anyway.

 

Next, for both he picked the flaw Thin-Skinned, resulting in a reduction of his armor rating by one. Although not an ideal penalty, it was, in his opinion, the least of all evils. To counterbalance these drawbacks, he selected the perk Extension, allowing him to double the duration of any spell by expending focus. This dovetailed nicely with the bloodline level penalties which increased his caster level for the purposes of calculating duration. As for his familiar, their natural armor went up every two levels, so one point wouldn't make a difference.

 

The game employed a peculiar system for tracking various aspects. Each character had a base level that determined their access to spells. For every odd level in the base class, the maximum possible circle increased by one, reaching a cap at seventeenth level, granting access to ninth-circle spells. Caster level, on the other hand, determined the magical output. Typically, your base level and caster level were identical, but there were mechanisms within the game that allowed for the augmentation of your caster level, providing additional oomph to your damage or duration.

 

Although Andrew's current capability capped him out at fifth-circle spells, indicating he should be ninth level, his effective caster level was actually fifteen. By leveraging Extension to double that effective caster level, the duration of long-lasting spells became extraordinarily potent. For instance, a buff, such as force armor, initially lasting an hour per level, would persist for an astounding thirty hours when cast by Andrew. It was insane when you considered that you usually got to renew your spells once daily. Similarly, a strength boost with a duration of one minute per level would endure for an impressive half-hour. While he might not wield the highest circle spells, like he would have had he focused everything into boosting one class, his primary advantage lay in the truly insane duration of his magical effects and the ability to cherry-pick virtually any spell or power, regardless of class.

 

It wasn't just he had access to wizard and priest spells. He could access from ANY spell list. if there was an obscure spell only assassins could use, he could cast it. Druid only spell? No problem. If a spell on one list was circle four, but on another, it was available at the second circle, then for Andrew, it was a second circle spell. This sort of build was exactly in line with Andrew's philosophy on gameplay.

 

Find the most obscure possible loophole and exploit it.

 

For his second bonus, Andrew took a feature based on his future needs when it came to equipment. Any NPC he hired to craft the specific magic items he needed to maximize his build was going to cost him an arm and a leg. Literally, if he had a chance to buy any of the grafts he was planning on getting. Given the exorbitant fees that NPCs might charge him for his requirements, he opted for the craft miscellaneous magic items feature.

 

This granted spell casters the capability to create any non-standard permanent magic item, and more importantly, to make use of the custom magic item creation rules. Although the feature didn't extend to crafting armor, weapons, or one-use items like scrolls or potions, the category of non-standard permanent magic items was expansive, presenting Andrew with a wealth of creative possibilities.

 

There were so many nonstandard items Andrew needed to make, it wasn't funny. Alas, many of the items he wanted to make were race-specific. In other words, those items required Andrew to be of a particular race to craft them. Fortunately for Andrew...

 

 

 

 

 

 

He had a mirror imp.