Forgotten Stories Stats and Skill Points Guide: Growth, Caps, and Stat Locks

Because points cannot be refunded mid-run, training your character requires a clear plan. Managing Forgotten Stories skill points means balancing two distinct growth pools, using stat locks to protect your build budget, and training toward key attribute milestones.

Action-Based Stat Growth in Forgotten Stories

Your Forgotten Stories skill points grow through what you do in combat. Use a weapon or cast a spell to train its related affinity. Higher damage makes affinity growth faster, so choose attacks that build toward the weapons and spells you want.

1. Weapon Affinities

Striking targets with martial equipment develops three weapon disciplines:

• Light Weapons: Leveled with swift, agile blades like daggers.
• Medium Weapons: Leveled through balanced armaments like swords.
• Heavy Weapons: Leveled by landing heavy blows with greatswords and heavy weapons.

Sticking to your chosen weapon style ensures your Forgotten Stories skill points flow into the exact combat scaling you need.

2. Elemental Affinities

Casting offensive and supportive magic advances seven distinct elements:

• Fire: Hurls burning bursts like Fire Ember.
• Water: Trains through Water spells such as Water Shoot.
• Earth: Launches stone projectiles like Pebble Throw and conjures barriers.
• Wind: Unleashes cutting air currents like Gust Hit.
• Order: Provides protective wards and recovery spells like Mend.
• Chaos: Triggers volatile spells like Chaos Spark.
• Void: Weaves dark offensive spells like Void Bolt.

Landing spells that deal higher elemental damage accelerates affinity gains in that specific element, helping you earn specialized Forgotten Stories skill points faster.

3. Core Attributes: Physique & Runesight

While weapons and elements train through specific tools, core attributes grow through general combat actions:

• Physique: Developed by dealing physical damage and taking incoming physical hits. Landing unarmed fist attacks also builds Physique experience directly.
• Runesight: Developed by casting spells. Infusing extra runes beyond a spell's baseline requirement yields bonus Runesight experience on cast.

Balancing these two attributes shapes your core survivability and spell power. Keep their separate cap in mind when planning Forgotten Stories skill points.

Forgotten Stories Stat Caps: The Two Growth Pools

Progression divides strictly into two separate pools. Keeping track of them is essential because active stat caps cannot be expanded mid-run, and earned Forgotten Stories skill points cannot be reset without starting a fresh expedition.

The 35 Shared Affinity Pool

All weapon masteries and magical disciplines draw from a single shared ceiling capped at 35 total affinity points:

• Every single point gained in Light, Medium, or Heavy Weapons consumes one slot from this shared ceiling.
• Every single point gained across all seven elemental arts pulls from this exact same pool.
• Physique and Runesight do not touch this 35-point affinity budget.

For example, training 15 points in Medium Weapons leaves exactly 20 points available across all magic and other weapon types. Hybrid builds need to plan their target affinities before committing to deep runs.

The 30 Core Attribute Pool

Your survivability and spell power scale on an independent attribute pool. This pool features an individual cap of 20 points per stat and a combined ceiling of 30 total points:

Because the combined cap is 30, pushing Physique to 20 leaves Runesight capped at 10, while pushing Runesight to 20 restricts Physique to 10. A balanced 15/15 split leaves equal room for physical durability and spell power when planning your Forgotten Stories skill points.

Forgotten Stories Points Left: How Stat Locks Work

To stop unwanted proficiencies from draining points from your shared budget, every stat on your character sheet includes a numeric padlock called a stat lock. Setting these locks properly helps protect your Forgotten Stories skill points.

How Stat Locks Actually Work

A stat lock sets an upper limit for that specific attribute. Entering a number limits how far that stat can grow during the run.

Changing a lock does not spend, allocate, or reserve points. In the screenshots, lowering the Runesight lock changes its future limit, while the current stat and Points Left stay unchanged. Points Left falls when training actually raises a stat.

Locking unused weapon styles and magic arts early prevents stray hits or utility spells from claiming valuable Forgotten Stories skill points.

Forgotten Stories Stats: Physique and Runesight Bonuses

Both core attributes provide baseline stat gains along with milestone perks awarded every 5 and 10 points. Planning your Forgotten Stories skill points around these thresholds ensures your character hits critical power spikes.

Physique Milestone Bonuses

Training Physique toward its 20-point cap yields +20 Max Health, +8% Physical Damage, and +2 Max Stamina. Leave room for these bonuses when planning Forgotten Stories skill points for a melee build.

Runesight Milestone Bonuses

Runesight adds elemental damage as it grows, with extra mana and rune slots at its milestones. Reaching 20 gives two extra rune slots; a 10-point target gives one and leaves more of your Forgotten Stories skill points budget for Physique.

Combat Secondary Stats: Speed & Resilience

Beyond primary attributes, combat momentum depends heavily on initiative order and debuff resistance. Even the best-planned Forgotten Stories skill points setup requires solid secondary stat awareness.

Speed & Extra Turns

Speed determines which side acts first and the order within each side, from fastest to slowest. If a party member is faster than the fastest enemy, your team starts first.

Equipment changes your final Speed. The Staff adds 8 Max Mana and 3 rune slots with a -0.60 Speed modifier. Compare its capacity with your next extra-turn threshold.

Resilience

Resilience represents your character's ability to resist status effects, with a matching percentage chance to negate a debuff stack:

• Every 1% Resilience provides a 1% chance to negate an incoming debuff stack.
• For example, 25% Resilience provides a 25% chance to negate an incoming debuff stack.

Planning Forgotten Stories Skill Points Around Spellbooks

Unlocking advanced spells requires finding or writing books. Most spellbooks demand 10 to 15 affinity points across specific elements. Because the shared affinity cap is 35 points, planning your Forgotten Stories skill points around book requirements is essential.

Case Study: Small Sea & Cleansing Waters

A prime milestone for your Forgotten Stories skill points is the restorative book Small Sea:

• Unwritten Obtainment: Finding Small Sea on an expedition requires 10 Order and 10 Water Affinity (consuming 20 points of your 35 affinity pool).
• Written Requirement: Writing the book in the lobby for 200 Ink Shards permanently drops the requirement to 7 Order and 7 Water Affinity on future runs.
• Tactical Value: The written requirement consumes only 14 affinity points instead of 20, saving 6 points for martial masteries or a secondary element. Learning Small Sea unlocks Cleansing Waters, which cleanses Deepwound, Infection, and Venomed on critical casts.
• Costs and Bonuses: Small Sea costs 200 Ink Shards to write and 100 Ink to sign, granting +5% Outgoing Healing and +5% Water Damage.

Build Planning Frameworks

These sample frameworks show how to plan Forgotten Stories skill points across the 35 affinity budget and 30 attribute pool:

Use these as starting budgets, then adjust them for the Books you want to sign. Set the locks before training so an unrelated weapon or spell does not use the room you need.

Forgotten Stories Skill Points FAQ

Can I reset Forgotten Stories stats or reallocate skill points?

No. You cannot respec or reallocate your Forgotten Stories skill points mid-expedition. If you mismanage your build, you must start a new run; locking unwanted stats early prevents accidental point waste.

How does the Points Left counter work when I lower a stat lock?

Setting a lock never deducts Forgotten Stories skill points or changes Points Left. Lowering a stat lock from 20 to 10 sets a ceiling for future gains without spending points. In the illustrated example, Points Left stays at 30. Points deduct only when combat experience actually raises that stat.

Do weapon affinities and magic affinities share the same cap?

Yes. Training your Forgotten Stories skill points across weapon masteries and the seven elemental disciplines draws from a single shared pool of 35 points. Heavy investment in weapon proficiencies leaves fewer points available for spellcasting arts.

Does Physique increase my weapon damage?

Yes. Every 5 points in Physique provides +2% Physical Damage, enhancing daggers, swords, heavy weapons, and unarmed strikes. Weapon affinities provide additional scaling for their respective categories.

How do extra runes affect spellcasting and Runesight growth?

Infusing extra runes beyond a spell's formula adds +30% base damage (or +1 turn to buffs) per extra rune, while awarding bonus Runesight experience to accelerate your stat progression.

Can I cast spells while wielding two-handed weapons?

Casting spells requires an open left hand. Equipping two-handed melee weapons or claws restricts spellcasting, though bows serve as a design exception. Magic implements like staves and wands fully support casting.