Cabalist

The Cabalist was the second announced character class, after the Templar. The Cabalist is the game's primary spell caster class, and has somewhat reminded former Diablo II players of its Necromancer class, although this class is more about studying demons than the dead. The class was announced to the fan site community in April 6, 2006, and officially announced in a press release in April 11. [1]

Background

The Cabal is an organization that studies the beasts of Hell, and their students, the Cabalists, uses this knowledge of their foes' strengths and weaknesses to fight the very subjects to their studies with arcane weaponry and black magic. The Cabalists study their enemies so closely that they constantly balance a fine line between good and evil, which has raised some doubts about their loyalty among other classes fighting on their side.

The Cabal has brought together disciplines of fringe science and ancient, arcane practices to unleash the inner potential of Mankind’s spirit and bring about the next step in their evolution, known as The Awakening. There have always been those who would be prime candidates to become “Awakened”. Sir Isaac Newton was the first modern scientist and the last of the ancient magicians and alchemists. The works of Tesla clearly show that his research went well beyond the common understanding of man. There are some references to Cabalists in turn of the century “majickal” texts by Aleister Crowley and in cult pulp fiction such as Lovecraft’s Necronomicon.

According to ancient Babylonian texts, “The final step in The Awakening is for the Leader, the Great Eye of the Cabal, to pierce the veil and wrestle with the Lord of Hell. If he is victorious, he will gain possession of the Infernal Key of Nine Gates, giving him full command of all the energies from the dark planes.”

Whether or not the Cabalists themselves succeeded in piercing the veil, the forces of Hell have flooded their world. Those that touched the darkness and lived to speak of it were changed. They see the other side of things, often looking at the fate of the world as the metaphor, “The brighter the light, the deeper the shadow.” Although distrusted and misunderstood by most, these seekers of knowledge have shown their final allegiance to mankind on more than one occasion.

Skills

Cabalist skills and spells fall into the following three schools.

Mastery

These spells and skills allow the Cabalist to capture, control, and even train the minions of Hell. Properly invoked, these powers can be used to summon demons from the nether world and compel them to fight against their kindred.

Sprint

After sipping a bit of Ravager blood, the Cabalist can move at great speed for a short time.

Power cost: 10 [minus 3 per level]

Blood Link

Sacrifice some of your health to partially heal all of your summoned creatures.

Word of Fear

This command causes demons surrounding the Cabalist to temporarily flee in terror.

Power cost: 5

Blood Surge

Exchange some of your health for power.

Enrage Companion

Your major summoned demons are filled with dark rage, growing bigger, stronger and faster for a short amount of time.

Each additional skill level increases the enraged duration.

Power cost: 25

Evocation

These spells manipulate energy or tap an unseen source of power to produce a desired end. In effect, they create something out of nothing. Many of these spells produce spectacular effects, and evocation spells can deal massive amounts of damage.

Spectral Lash

Unleashes a tendril of spectral energy against a single enemy.

Each additional skill level reduces the Power drain of the Lash by 5 Power per second.

Requires a Focus Item

Power cost: constant drain of 30 Power per second.

Spectral Bolt

Fires a bolt of spectral energy that splits several times.

Each additional skill level adds 25% extra damage to each bolt, but increases the cost by 2 Power.

Requires a Focus Item

Power cost: 11

Drain Life

Slinging out a healthy foe, the Cabalist drains away its life to add to his or her own.

Each additional skill level increases the amount of health gained by 25%

Requires a Focus Item

Power cost: Constant Drain of 2 Power per second.

Drain Power

The Cabalist tortures a single enemy and gains power from its pain.

Each additional skill level increases the amount of power gained by 25%

Requires a Focus Item

Power cost: none

Transformation

The art of Transformation is about modifying the Cabalist's actual physiology to provide demonic traits, for example by horns or elongated limbs.