Timefather
en
Classes

The Eight Hands

Eight classes sit at the table where spells are decided. You do not pick one and serve it — you invest in as many as you earn the right to carry, and the combinations write their own names. A Paladin who learned Warlock is not a paladin with a second hobby; the game gives that pairing its own title, its own passive, and two attributes no one else can reach.

The World → Roadmap →
Three attributes, fixed

Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity

Every class has a fixed distribution across three attributes. It is not a slider, it is a signature. The distribution decides what a spell costs you, how your numbers scale, and which resource pool runs out first. Warriors live in Strength and are punished for casting; Mages live in Intelligence and are punished for running; Trackers live in Dexterity and are punished for holding still.

I · Strength
The body. What a Warrior spends. What a Mage runs from.
II · Intelligence
The table. What a Mage spends. What a Warrior never earns cheaply.
III · Dexterity
The distance. What the Tracker and the Ranger measure in.
I · Melee DPS
Fire

Warrior

STR 70
INT 10
DEX 20

Closes distance before a question can be finished. The front line the others argue behind. Combat Ready pushes damage; Battle Cry lifts the group at the cost of his breath.

Aura Lion
II · Tank / Support
Earth

Paladin

STR 50
INT 40
DEX 10

Holy defender. Shield is a verb here. Any build that carries Paladin can fulfil the Tank role; any build that refuses him cannot.

Aura Unicorn
III · Hybrid Support
Water

Druid

STR 40
INT 40
DEX 20

The middle of the three attributes. Heals, buffs, debuffs, holds. If the Priest is a chapel, the Druid is a riverbank — less formal, never still.

Aura Bear
IV · Burst DPS
Wind

Tracker

STR 30
INT 10
DEX 60

Mid-range stealth. Opens fights from a vantage the target did not know existed. Shadow Cloak disappears the whole party for a heartbeat — use the heartbeat.

Aura Wolf
V · Ranged DPS
Wind

Ranger

STR 20
INT 20
DEX 60

Long-range specialist, weapon-modal. Crits are not luck, they are a build. Precision Strikes raises the whole group's damage without touching a single enemy himself.

Aura Hawk
VI · Healer
Water

Priest

STR 20
INT 70
DEX 10

Pure healer. Faster cast, shorter cooldown, heavier mana. Any build that carries Priest can fulfil the Healer role; any build that refuses her cannot.

Aura Dove
VII · Spell DPS
Fire

Mage

STR 10
INT 80
DEX 10

High-damage caster. Long cast, short cooldown, moderate mana. The Mage is the reason Fire was the first element we balanced — if the Phoenix sings, the Four are tuned.

Aura Phoenix
VIII · Control DPS
elements.aether.name

Warlock

STR 10
INT 80
DEX 10

Control and debuff. Long cast, long cooldown, low mana — the Warlock pays in patience, not in blood. The serpent is on his aura for a reason.

Aura Serpent
Twenty-eight pairings

The right pairing for this fight

Every pair of the eight earns a documented combination — twenty-eight in total. Each grants a named passive and two combination-only attributes. Berserker Guardian (Paladin + Warrior) is not a Paladin with a sword; it is a third thing the Paladin could not reach alone. If a build contains Paladin or Priest, the role door for Tank or Healer opens. If it does not, the build is DPS — that is the whole table.

Paladin + Warrior

Berserker Guardian

“A shield that closes distance. Threat you chose.”

Priest + Warlock

Void Channeler

“Light and drought from the same throat.”

Ranger + Tracker

Shadow Archer

“The wind that carried the arrow never showed itself.”

Druid + Mage

Seasonwright

“A river you could set on fire and still drink from.”

· 28 combinations · each named · each a unique passive · two exclusive attributes ·
Buff, Aura, Shout

Every class is a voice at the table

Each of the eight carries three group utilities: a personal Buff (self, always on), an Aura (group-wide passive, one per player), and a Shout (group-wide active, rarely spent). These scale with Class Points, not with gear — a Level 30 Paladin's Divine Protection is weaker than a Level 30 Paladin/Priest's, because she paid in points to get there.

Buff

Personal, self only. Always on. What you become when you remember what class you are.

Aura

Group passive. One per player. The room the party stands in because you chose to stand there.

Shout

Group active. Rare, deliberate. The one sentence the party waits for you to say.

Six, nine, twelve, fifteen

You earn the hands by finishing the story

You start with six Class Points at character creation. Each Part of the timeline you finish grants three more — nine after Part One, twelve after Part Two, fifteen after Part Three. You cannot grind points. You cannot buy them. The story is the power: that is the line this system actually runs on.

  1. Tutorial
    0
    6 Class Points

    Character creation. Six hands, no combinations required.

  2. Part One
    I
    9 Class Points

    First timeline reset. Nine hands — first real combination opens.

  3. Part Two
    II
    12 Class Points

    Second reset. Twelve hands — three-way builds arrive.

  4. Part Three
    III
    15 Class Points

    Third and final reset. Fifteen hands — the table is full.

Prologue

The Prologue is where Mage and Fire get tested first.

Balancing eight classes across four elements is the longest job in the studio. The Prologue narrows it to one hand and one flame so we can find the problem before it reaches the rest.

Read the Prologue in Stories Get notified when the key goes out