Merchant

Merchants are a subscription exclusive class. Merchants are well-rounded in terms of physical prowess, able to match a soldier in terms of attack power and defense so long as their Credit holds up. Magically, a merchant can weather multi-target damage fairly well in spite of poor intelligence growth if built for it, but single-target damage will still be a notable concern. Merchants are among the best classes when it comes to grinding due to being able to easily accumulate bonuses to gold find and item find, as well as the ability to replenish the charges on certain items and equipment such as the Malevolent Staff.

Overall, merchants can fit in with most any party and hold their own.

Equipment
Merchants can equip Swords, Abaci and Daggers. They use Medium to Heavy Armor. In their offhand slot, Merchants equip coin bags which offer defense and stat boosts.

Credit System
The merchant does not have mana in the normal sense. Instead they use a system called Credit to activate their abilities. A Merchant has a maximum of 600 credits and gains these credits by either attacking or being attacked. The merchant can use his own gold to recharge his credit by using a skill called Loan on the overworld. They can also increase how much credit they get both giving and receiving damage by using points in their skill trees. Lastly, in the foundation tree, the merchant has a branch in place of the wisdom branch that most of the other classes have. This branch allows a merchant to increase their maximum credits from 600 to 800.

Skill Trees
Skill trees are the basis of leveling and customizing your character in NEStalgia. The skill tree menu unlocks at level 5 and at that point the player will be able to customize their character with the five points available. There are three ways to gain additional points:


 * Gain an experience level, which grants one point.
 * Progress through the plot of the game, which grants one point after completing the main quest connected to Verity's lighthouse and an additional point after completing the main quest connected to the Arctic's ice palace.
 * Spend 100,000 gold on a Greater Moon Blessing, which grants four points all at once.

As of v1.62 this allows for a maximum of 38 points to spend.

{| class="wikitable" width="100%" ! colspan="4" |

Enforcer Tree
!Branch!!Level!!Description!!Image
 * Credit Check || 5 || +0.4% to all damage per 100 credit saved up per point, up to a maximum of +2.4% damage per 100 credit saved up.
 * rowspan="7" align="right"|[[Image:Merch_1.png|404x318px]]
 * Blood Tariff || 6 || +8% to tax damage per point, up to maximum of +32%. This branch includes the ability Tax.
 * Interest || 5 || +7 to credit earned from inflicting damage per point, up to a maximum of +28.
 * Dismal Outlook || 15 || +3% chance for all attacks to cause curse per point, up to a maximum of +12%.
 * Gambler || 5 || +3% to all randomized ability success rates per point, up to a maximum of +21%.
 * Rich || 20 || +7% to GoldRush damage per point, up to a maximum of +21%. This branch includes the ability GoldRush.
 * Bear Market || 8 || -5% credit cost of all abilities except Dividends per point, up to a maximum of -15% cost. This branch includes the ability Deflate.
 * }
 * Gambler || 5 || +3% to all randomized ability success rates per point, up to a maximum of +21%.
 * Rich || 20 || +7% to GoldRush damage per point, up to a maximum of +21%. This branch includes the ability GoldRush.
 * Bear Market || 8 || -5% credit cost of all abilities except Dividends per point, up to a maximum of -15% cost. This branch includes the ability Deflate.
 * }
 * Bear Market || 8 || -5% credit cost of all abilities except Dividends per point, up to a maximum of -15% cost. This branch includes the ability Deflate.
 * }
 * }

Enforcer Tree Overview

 * Credit Check: For most Merchant builds, conserving credit until it is needed is not a hard thing to do. As such, gaining as much as 19.2% extra attack power in return for conserving credit can be rather handy.
 * Blood Tariff: Similar in purpose to Tap, Tax allows a Merchant to restore their HP by taking some from their target. Increasing the damage dealt (and HP returned) is advisable for any merchant looking to make Tax a part of their arsenal.
 * Interest: A decent branch for if you find yourself using credit on a regular basis (CoinFlip, Tax, etc.), but otherwise this does not represent a pressing need.
 * Dismal Outlook: An unusual branch, but one that can help a Merchant pair up with a Warlock, provided the latter has invested in the branches that improve their effectiveness against cursed targets.
 * Gambler: Any merchant build that makes constant use of Coinflip or Economy would benefit from points in this branch. Coinflip in particular benefits greatly from points in this branch, allowing a merchant to reliably kill highly durable enemies in a single round that would otherwise require multiple rounds.
 * Rich: This branch is necessary for access to a merchant's sole source of non-reserve based multi-target damage. GoldRush can be a powerful tool, but it requires a fair amount of skill point investment to maximize that power.
 * Bear Market: Reducing the cost of almost every merchant ability can prove to be useful, especially when it comes to minimizing the loss of +damage/defense tiers granted by Credit Check and Reserve Ratio.

{| class="wikitable" width="100%" ! colspan="4" |

Commerce Tree
!Branch!!Level!!Description!!Image
 * Capital Decay || 5 || -5% to damage taken from all multi-target spells and attacks per point, up to a maximum of -30%.
 * rowspan="7" align="right"|[[Image:Merchant_2.png|404x318px]]
 * Reserve Ratio || 10 || +1% to physical defense per 100 credit saved up per point, up to a maximum of +4% per 100 credit saved. This branch includes the ability Dividends.
 * Bigger Returns || 5 || +5 to credit earned from taking damage per point, up to a maximum of +30 to credit earned. This branch includes the ability Trade.
 * Treasure Hunter || 12 || +5% to both plus item and plus gold per point, up to a maximum of +20%. (This branch includes the ability Vault.
 * Stable || 5 || +1% to both defense and agility per point, up to a maximum of +7%. This branch includes the ability Recharge.
 * Sprightly || 5 || +1% to bonus dodge.
 * Tough || 12 || +3% to fire, ice, and storm resist per point, up to a maximum of +6%.
 * }
 * Stable || 5 || +1% to both defense and agility per point, up to a maximum of +7%. This branch includes the ability Recharge.
 * Sprightly || 5 || +1% to bonus dodge.
 * Tough || 12 || +3% to fire, ice, and storm resist per point, up to a maximum of +6%.
 * }
 * Tough || 12 || +3% to fire, ice, and storm resist per point, up to a maximum of +6%.
 * }
 * }

Commerce Tree Overview

 * Capital Decay: Points in this branch are strongly suggested for any merchant looking to greatly improve their durability. That this branch is available from the moment that skill trees are unlocked makes it even better.
 * Reserve Ratio: The defensive counterpart to Credit Check, this branch allows for exceptional resistance against physical attacks without the need for a Harden spell.
 * Bigger Returns: The defensive counterpart to Interest. Unlike Interest, investment in this branch is necessary in order to unlock an ability...
 * Treasure Hunter: ...the Vault ability, to be precise. Allowing every party member to send items to their vault is a wonderful tool during extended gold/item collecting runs, as well as during dungeon runs. The bonuses to item and gold find are welcome as well.
 * Stable: Every little bit of defense helps when it comes to building a durable merchant, and a source that doesn't rely on conserving credit is a good one. Being able to recharge crystals or other such items has its uses as well.
 * Sprightly: If there's a point to spare, using it on an extra 1% dodge rate won't hurt.
 * Tough: Extra elemental resistances will help later on in the game when monsters start tossing out elemental magic attacks more frequently. It's no small investment in skill points to access this branch though, so be sure to have the skill points to spare when planning out a build.

{| class="wikitable" width="100%" ! colspan="4" |

Foundation Tree
!Branch!!Level!!Description!!Image
 * Stamina || 5 || +2% to max HP per point, up to a maximum of +10%.
 * rowspan="4" align="right"|[[Image:Merch_3.png|404x318px]]
 * Savings || 5 || +40 to max credit per point, up to a maximum of +200.
 * Luck || 5 || +3% chance to resist all attacks that have a randomized success rate per point, up to a maximum of +15%.
 * Fire/Ice/Storm Enchant || 12 || (Can only choose one branch to go into) +4% Fire/Ice/Strom damage added to physical attacks and 4% converted to Fire/Ice/Storm per point, up to a maximum of +20%.
 * }
 * Luck || 5 || +3% chance to resist all attacks that have a randomized success rate per point, up to a maximum of +15%.
 * Fire/Ice/Storm Enchant || 12 || (Can only choose one branch to go into) +4% Fire/Ice/Strom damage added to physical attacks and 4% converted to Fire/Ice/Storm per point, up to a maximum of +20%.
 * }
 * }

Abilities
Abilities are skills that the player can use both inside and outside of battle. These abilities will either be bought on the skill tree using skill points or will be learned automatically once the player hits a certain level.

Note: Costs listed are before points in the Bear Market branch of the Enforcer Tree are taken into account. Dividends will always use up all of the caster's credit.