Ever since I started following RIFT, I've been entranced by the wide-open -- but not limitless -- class system. After all, the virtual world and everything populating it is only half the game; the other half resides in the avatar that sticks with you while you explore it all. Many MMOs have interesting ways of letting you build and grow your character, but sooner or later they come to a point where there's little more to be done other than incrementally increasing your stats by gaining better gear.
Not so with RIFT, as even a level 50 Rift Gold can drop a few coins to shape a completely new build from scratch. No longer are we bound to a rigidly defined creation; we are free to experiment, tinker, and try out these roles to our hearts' content.
With RIFT's soul system, there are a few ground rules that everyone learns early in the game. You can have up to three souls in your archetype active at any one time; you can only spend as many points in a build as you have in Rift Gold levels (such as 10 points at level 10); and you'll end up with 66 points at level 50, which means that you'll at least dabble in a second soul tree with every build. And while you can certainly spread soul points across all three trees, today I wanted to look at the benefits of a zero-Rift Gold point soul, the "third wheel," if you will, of builds.
The zero-sum game
We all like to get something for nothing, right? It always makes me feel like I'm getting away with robbery when I get something good in exchange for no effort or money on my part. In Dungeons & Dragons I liked the freebie cantrips, likewise in Magic: The Gathering. Even if they weren't that powerful, the free cost behind them made them incredibly attractive. So I'm definitely in love with the fact that zero-point souls still have a lot to offer any Cheap Rift Gold build and can in fact be a great blessing as a "splash" soul.
Typically -- but not always -- you benefit the most from investing all of your spare (i.e., non-primary soul) points into a second tree to get as many good skills and talents from that as possible. This means that there's usually room for a splash soul on the side, and RIFT has a few that stand out above the rest for each archetype. Souls with no points put in them can also be changed on the fly without your having to visit a trainer, which is useful if you want to Cheap Rift Gold juggle some of these abilities. Let's take a look at which of these zero-point souls are helpful for most builds and why you shouldn't ignore a handout when the game is offering you one.