Salt & Steel: Skill Atlas Interface

Document type: Design Specification — UI/UX
Status: Draft
Last updated: 2026-04
See also: HUD Design | Nautical Chart Interface | Accessibility | GURPS Framework | Creative Identity

Design Philosophy

The Skill Atlas is the passive character progression tree — the mechanical expression of who the captain is becoming over time. In most ARPGs, the passive tree is a functional but clinical interface: nodes on a graph, connected by lines. Effective, but it does nothing to reinforce the world the player is inhabiting.

Salt & Steel's Skill Atlas is a weathered sea chart. The same kind of chart the captain holds in their hands in the game world — the physical artifact of a navigator's accumulated knowledge. Sailing into this interface should feel like unrolling a parchment across a table and studying it by lantern light. The interface is a world object, not a software panel.

This is not merely aesthetic dressing. The sea chart metaphor carries real design logic:

Charted vs. uncharted waters: Allocated nodes are "charted" — the captain knows this skill, has embodied it. Unallocated nodes are "uncharted" — possible futures, dim on the horizon.
Constellations of knowledge: Groups of related nodes form recognizable clusters on the chart, the way island chains form navigable regions on a real chart.
The navigator's challenge: Reading a good chart requires some skill. The Skill Atlas rewards familiarity — experienced captains navigate it efficiently; new captains are given tools to learn.

Lessons from Path of Exile's Passive Tree

PoE's tree is a genuine achievement in visualizing massive complexity. Its zoom-and-pan navigation, visual hierarchy (small nodes / notable passives / keystones), and text search are all design decisions Salt & Steel adopts and refines.

Where PoE's tree struggles:

Planning requires external tools (Path of Building): The in-game tree offers no pre-planning mode. Salt & Steel builds planning directly into the interface.
The "wall of nodes" at full zoom: Without context, the dense tree is intimidating. Salt & Steel's sea-chart metaphor provides geographic anchoring — the player knows they are in "northern waters" (melee skills) or "deep current territory" (magic).
Keystones are functionally not discoverable without research: Their mechanical uniqueness is not self-evident from the interface. Salt & Steel's Atlas treats Burden Nodes (disadvantage-equivalents) and Keystone equivalents with unique visual identities that demand the player stop and read them.
Respeccing is opaque: In PoE, refunding a node is a currency expenditure with no preview. Salt & Steel shows the consequences of respeccing before the player commits.

The Chart Metaphor: Visual Foundations

The Physical Look of the Atlas

The Skill Atlas appears as a large parchment chart, aged to a warm sepia-cream base. The chart has:

Hand-drawn coastlines and island forms: The passive node clusters appear as island archipelagos, deep sea trenches, and coastal regions — the geography of the captain's potential self.
Illustrated sea monsters at the borders: At the outer edges of unallocated territory, the traditional cartographic "Here there be dragons" illustrations — Josh Kirby-styled sea creatures, rendered in ink, indicating powerful but dangerous territory.
Compass roses: Decorative compass roses mark major regions and orientate the viewer. The primary compass rose is centered on the chart where all class starting paths converge.
Sea lane lines: Passive node connections (the lines between nodes) appear as sea lane markers — the kind of route lines drawn by navigators to indicate traveled or navigable paths.
Annotated margins: The margins of the chart contain small illustrated notes — lore fragments, navigator's comments, warnings about dangerous skill combinations. These are flavor, but they make the interface feel inhabited.
Ink bleed and aging: The parchment is not pristine. There are faint watermarks, ink drips at the edges, the slight yellowing of old paper. This is a working document with history.

Allocated vs. Unallocated States

Unallocated nodes ("Uncharted"): Presented as faded ink marks on the parchment — the ghostly outlines of islands not yet confirmed by the navigator's direct survey. The node icon is visible but dimmed, as if seen through fog or mist. The connecting sea lanes are dotted or dashed rather than solid — routes suggested but not confirmed.

Allocated nodes ("Charted"): The node is fully inked — solid, saturated, detailed. The surrounding sea-chart detail (depth soundings, current indicators, coastal markings) is richly rendered around charted nodes, giving the charted territory a sense of substance and completeness. The sea lanes connecting allocated nodes are solid lines with directional current arrows.

The transition between states: When a player allocates a node, a brief animation plays — ink flows along the sea lane from the previous node to the new one, the new node's island form "solidifies" from fog to solid ground, and the surrounding chart detail fills in. This is the visual equivalent of a navigator marking new knowledge on a chart.

Node Hierarchy and Visual Differentiation

The Atlas has four node tiers, each with a distinct visual identity distinguishable at all zoom levels.

Minor Nodes (Sea Marks)

The most numerous nodes — small stat bonuses ("+1 to ST," "+0.5 to Basic Speed," "+10% to a skill level," etc.) that serve as connective tissue between major choices.

Visual: Small circular island markers on the chart — the kind of small hazard mark or anchorage indicator a navigator puts on a chart. At full zoom-out, they read as texture; at reading zoom, their specific bonuses are visible.

Color: Muted earth tones — sandy yellow-brown for physical nodes, slate blue for mental nodes, sea-green for maritime nodes. Color differentiates category; shape (always a small circle) identifies tier.

Notable Nodes (Named Headlands)

Significant passive enhancements that represent meaningful skill development choices. Equivalent to PoE's Notable Passives.

Visual: Larger illustrated headlands or small islands with named labels — the kind of navigational landmark a navigator gives a proper name. "Swordmaster's Bluff." "The Shrewd Current." "Navigator's Rest." The headland has a small illustrated icon representing its mechanical category (crossed swords for combat, compass for navigation, book for knowledge, etc.).

Color: Richer, more saturated versions of the Minor node color palettes. The labels are in a larger, slightly more ornate font.

Keystone Nodes (Legendary Landfalls)

Transformative passives that fundamentally alter gameplay rules. These are equivalent to PoE's Keystone Passives — taking them changes the rules of the game for this character, with both a significant gain and often a meaningful cost.

Visual: Full illustrated islands on the chart — proper landmasses with detailed illustration, named in the chart's legend, with a dedicated legend entry describing the island's "nature" (the mechanical description). At all zoom levels, Legendary Landfalls are immediately identifiable as different — they are larger, more detailed, and centrally positioned in their cluster.

Tooltip Design: Keystone tooltips are expanded compared to standard nodes. They include:

The mechanical effect (full description, no abbreviation)
The cost/drawback if any (explicitly called out in amber text)
A brief lore entry about the "island" — what kind of captain is said to land here
A "Captain Archetype" note: which play styles benefit from this choice

Burden Nodes (Skull Rocks)

Unique to Salt & Steel, Burden Nodes are voluntary disadvantage choices — taking them imposes a drawback but provides additional Atlas points to spend elsewhere. This directly expresses the GURPS Disadvantage mechanic in the Atlas interface.

Visual: Skull Rocks — jagged reef formations marked with skull-and-crossbones navigation warnings. These are visually alarming by design: a new player should see a Skull Rock and immediately understand this is different, not just another passive. The rock formation has a dark red-brown tint over the standard parchment, and small warning annotations in the chart margin nearby.

Color and Shape: Dark, jagged silhouette. The skull-and-crossbones icon is integrated into the rock illustration. At all zoom levels, Skull Rocks have a distinct visual signature that makes them impossible to accidentally pass over.

Tooltip Design: Burden node tooltips use specific visual language to make the dual nature unmistakable:

Top section (in amber): "BURDEN — Points Rewarded: X" — the number of bonus Atlas points gained for taking this node
Middle section (in red): The mechanical disadvantage description (what this costs the captain)
Bottom section (in green): "This burden creates opportunity" — narrative framing of how the disadvantage changes the captain's story and opens interactions unavailable without the burden
A "Story Effect" note for burdens with narrative consequences (Code of Honor, Compulsive Carousing, etc.)

Design rationale: Burden Nodes are the Skill Atlas's most radical departure from PoE's model. They must be presented with care — players who don't understand what they're taking can feel betrayed. The interface must be completely transparent: the cost comes first in the tooltip, the reward comes second, and the player clicks through a confirmation dialog before any Burden Node is allocated.

Zoom Levels

The Skill Atlas supports four zoom levels, each revealing different layers of information.

Level 1: Full Chart Overview

What is visible: The complete atlas extent — all regions, the approximate distribution of node clusters, all class starting positions, all Legendary Landfalls (as notable landmasses), and all Skull Rocks. Node connections appear as sea lane lines. Individual Minor and Notable nodes are not readable at this level; they read as texture within their island clusters.

What it communicates: The shape of the captain's potential. A player looking at the full overview sees:

Where their class begins (highlighted starting island)
Where the major landmark choices are (Legendary Landfalls visible at this distance)
The rough geography of different capability regions
How far they currently are from desired distant nodes

Navigation use: This is the "where am I going?" view. Players use this to identify a destination, then zoom in to plan the path.

UI additions at this zoom: A legend overlay (toggle: L) shows region labels without cluttering the chart at full zoom. Labels for major regions: "The Swordsman's Coast," "The Navigator's Deep," "The Mystic Archipelago," "The Brawler's Headland," etc. These are not mechanical categories but thematic names for recognizable skill clusters.

Level 2: Region View

What is visible: A roughly 1/4 of the full chart. Notable nodes are now readable — headland names appear clearly. Minor nodes are visible as clusters but individual node text is not yet readable. Major sea lanes (paths between notables) are fully visible.

What it communicates: The structure of a specific capability region. A player can see which notable headlands exist in their area of interest, how they connect, and which Legendary Landfalls anchor the region.

Navigation use: Planning which notable nodes to target, assessing path costs between notables, identifying Skull Rocks in the region.

Level 3: Reading Zoom

What is visible: Individual nodes are fully readable. Minor node bonuses are visible as text. Notable node names and descriptions are clear. This is the working view for path planning and allocation.

What it communicates: Precise mechanical information. At this zoom level, the player can read all relevant tooltip-equivalent information for nodes without hovering (small summary visible in the node label), then hover for full tooltip.

Navigation use: The primary allocation view. When spending points, players work at this zoom level.

Level 4: Node Detail

What is visible: 1–3 nodes fill most of the screen. This zoom level is for reading complex Keystone/Burden descriptions in full without tooltip, or for inspecting the chart's illustrated detail (which is fully rendered at this zoom — sailors will discover hidden lore elements in the chart illustrations at maximum zoom).

Navigation use: Rare — used for reading complex nodes or exploring chart illustrations. Not practical for navigation.

Search: The Compass Needle

Trigger: A search field is always visible in the top-left corner of the Atlas interface — a small brass compass frame with a text input inside. This is the primary navigation tool for players who know what they are looking for.

Search Behavior

When text is entered:

Non-matching nodes dim to near-invisible — the parchment fog rolls back in over them.
Matching nodes glow with a warm golden light — as if lit by a lantern in the dark.
A glowing compass needle animates from the player's current chart center position toward the nearest matching node cluster — a visual "here is where to look" signal.
If multiple clusters match, small numbered markers appear on each cluster (1, 2, 3...) and a counter shows "X matches found." The compass needle points to the nearest; the player can cycle through matches with Tab.

Search Terms

Node name: "Rapier Mastery" — finds the node by name
Stat type: "parry" — finds all nodes granting parry bonuses
Skill type: "Swordsmanship" — finds all Swordsmanship-related nodes
Mechanical keyword: "bleeding" — finds all nodes relating to bleeding conditions
Burden nodes: Typing "burden" highlights all Skull Rock nodes across the chart
Keystone nodes: Typing "landfall" highlights all Legendary Landfalls
Partial match: "nav" finds Navigational, Navigation, Navigator's, etc.

Discovery Search

For players who don't know the exact term to search for, the search field provides category shortcuts:

"#combat" — highlights all combat-category nodes
"#naval" — highlights all naval-category nodes
"#magic" — highlights all supernatural/sea-witch nodes
"#social" — highlights all social and reputation nodes
"#exploration" — highlights all exploration and navigation nodes

These hashtag shortcuts provide PoB-level discovery without external tools — a player who wants to develop their naval combat can type "#naval" and see the full landscape of options.

Path Planning: The Navigator's Preview

This is Salt & Steel's most significant improvement over PoE's passive tree interface: integrated build planning without spending points.

Entering Planning Mode

From the Atlas interface, a toggle button (visual: an open compass with a dotted-line projected route) enters Navigator's Preview Mode. In this mode:

The current allocated state of the Atlas is preserved as the "baseline chart."
The player can tentatively allocate additional nodes by clicking them — these appear in a distinct planned route visual style: the ink is brighter blue-green (a navigator's plotting pencil vs. the black ink of confirmed allocation), and the sea lanes show as dashed-line projected routes rather than solid confirmed lanes.
The planned route shows up as a distinct layer over the confirmed chart, clearly distinguishable.

Planning Mode Information

In Planning Mode, the Atlas displays:

Point cost to reach: Hovering over any unallocated node shows the minimum number of additional Atlas Points needed to reach it from the current position. This eliminates the need to manually count paths.
Total planned point cost: A counter in the corner shows "Planned: X points / Available: Y points" — the player always knows if their plan is affordable.
Conflict warnings: If a planned path would require passing through a Burden Node the player hasn't decided to take, the path highlights the Burden Node and shows a warning icon: "This path passes through a Burden."
Synergy highlights: When a planned node would synergize with already-allocated nodes (based on shared mechanical keywords), a green connection glow appears between them. This surfaces build synergies the player might not have considered.

Completed plans can be:

Saved locally: Stored in a "Captain's Logbook" within the Atlas interface. Players can name and save multiple planned builds — useful for experimenting with different directions before committing.
Shared: Generated as a share code (a compact alphanumeric string) that can be pasted into the game chat as a linked build preview. Other players can open the linked plan in their own Atlas interface in read-only mode.
Compared: Two saved plans can be displayed simultaneously — one as confirmed allocations, one as a planned alternative — to compare build directions.

Design rationale: This eliminates the primary reason external tools like PoB dominate PoE's build planning ecosystem. If the in-game Atlas has equivalent planning functionality, players stay in the game to plan rather than going to external tools. Builds are shared in-game. The community builds around the in-game interface. This creates better social infrastructure and reduces dependence on community-maintained tools that GGG does not control.

Respec Visualization

Respeccing (refunding allocated nodes) costs Rechart Scrolls — a craftable currency item. The interface handles respeccing with clarity about consequences.

Selecting a Node to Refund

Right-clicking an allocated node enters Refund Mode for that node. In Refund Mode:

The node dims to a "fading" state — the ink appears to lighten.
All nodes that depend on this node for their path to the starting position are highlighted in amber: "These nodes would become disconnected if you refund this one."
A cost display shows: "Refunding this node costs X Rechart Scroll(s). Y additional nodes will be disconnected."
A preview of the post-refund state shows what the Atlas would look like after the refund: the affected nodes return to uncharted state, the sea lanes become dotted again, the island details fade.

This preview is critical — in PoE, players can accidentally disconnect large portions of their build by refunding a hub node without realizing the consequence. Salt & Steel shows the consequence before the player pays the cost.

Bulk Respec

At respec stations in port (the Navigator's Guild), players can perform a full Atlas reset for a significant but not prohibitive Rechart Scroll cost. The full reset shows a dramatic visual: the entire confirmed chart fades simultaneously, returning the Atlas to its initial blank-parchment state with only the class starting position marked. Points are fully refunded. This allows major build pivots without requiring individual point-by-point refunding.

Class Starting Positions

Salt & Steel has no classes in the traditional sense — but character archetypes (guided starting templates from character creation) begin at different positions on the Atlas, representing their initial area of expertise.

Starting Position Display

At Full Chart Overview zoom, each starting position is marked with a distinctive class icon integrated into the chart:

The Corsair (agility and sword): A crossed cutlass and pistol mark, positioned in the swashbuckling coastal region.
The Naval Officer (command and gunnery): An anchor-and-cannon mark, positioned in the naval/leadership cluster.
The Rogue Captain (cunning and deception): A compass-with-dagger mark, in the social and subtlety cluster.
The Mystic Navigator (supernatural and navigation): A compass-with-eye mark, in the oceanic magic cluster.
The Iron Brawler (strength and fortitude): A gauntlet-and-chain mark, in the heavy combat cluster.
The Merchant Captain (wealth and resource): A coin-and-ledger mark, in the trade and reputation cluster.

These are not locked positions — any character can path toward any region of the Atlas from any starting point. The starting positions simply define where the first 20–30 points naturally flow before the character begins making distinctive choices.

Path Between Classes

At Reading Zoom and above, the sea lanes connecting class starting positions to the rest of the Atlas are given extra visual weight — these are the "main shipping lanes" of the Atlas, the routes that most captains of each archetype will travel. A new player from any starting position can see their "main route" and follow it, then branch as they learn more.

Chart Markers: The Jewel Socket System

Distributed across the Atlas are Chart Markers — special socketable positions equivalent to PoE's jewel sockets. These accept special Marker Stones (the jewel equivalent) that modify the Atlas around them.

Visual Design

Chart Markers appear as brass tack holes in the parchment — the kind of marks left when a navigator pins a note or marker to a chart. The empty socket shows as a small circular indent with a brass rim. When a Marker Stone is placed, the chart illustration around the socket shifts — new depth soundings appear, a small illustrated vignette shows (related to the stone's mechanical effect), and the surrounding sea lanes take on the stone's color accent.

Marker Stone Interface

Clicking an empty Chart Marker socket opens a placement dialog:

The player's current Marker Stones inventory is shown on the left.
The socket's effect radius is shown on the chart — a compass-circle overlay indicating which nodes are within the stone's influence area.
As the player hovers over available stones, the chart previews how the stone would modify the surrounding nodes — a "phantom ink" overlay shows what would change.
Placing a stone is confirmed with a brief animation of the stone being set into the tack hole, the chart mark filling in with detailed illustration.

Legendary Marker Stones (Cluster Jewel Equivalents)

Legendary Marker Stones generate small additional chart regions extending from the Atlas at the socket point — the equivalent of PoE's Cluster Jewel sub-trees. These appear as newly drawn map sections added to the parchment edge, complete with their own minor nodes and at least one notable headland. The visual metaphor: the Legendary Stone reveals additional territory not originally on the chart.

The transition from the main Atlas to a Legendary Stone's region is seamless — the chart simply extends, and the player can zoom and pan into the additional territory the same way they navigate the main chart.

The Atlas in Context: Integration with Character Systems

GURPS Advantage/Disadvantage Expression

The Atlas does not replace GURPS character creation — it extends it. The character creation point-buy system establishes the captain's fundamental nature (Attributes, Advantages, Disadvantages, core Skills). The Atlas is how that nature develops through play.

Some Atlas nodes specifically interact with character creation choices:

A node that requires the character has the "Combat Reflexes" Advantage to unlock its full effect.
A Burden Node that is consistent with an already-taken Disadvantage — the burden is reduced or provides bonus points because the captain is "already living this truth."
Nodes that enhance specific skills purchased at creation.

These cross-system interactions are called out in tooltips with a GURPS interaction badge: a small book icon labeled "GURPS Trait Interaction." This tells the player immediately that their character-level choices affect this node.

Skill Gains and the Atlas

The Atlas also tracks skill development (GURPS skills improve through use and investment). Some Atlas nodes are "Skill Milestones" — they become available once the captain's relevant skill reaches a threshold, and they provide a one-time substantial skill improvement. These appear on the chart as Training Ground markers — small illustrated locations (a dueling yard, a navigator's school, a mystic's grove) that "unlock" as prerequisites are met. Locked Training Grounds show a padlock icon with the prerequisite displayed.

Accessibility Considerations for the Atlas

The Atlas's aged-parchment aesthetic creates specific accessibility challenges. All the following are addressed — see the Accessibility document for full specifications.

Colorblind accommodations: Node categories are never differentiated by color alone. Shape, icon, and label typography all carry category information independently.

Contrast: The parchment-on-sepia base palette has lower contrast than a white-background UI. A High Contrast Atlas Mode is available in settings — this shifts the base to a dark blue-black background ("night chart" — the kind of chart read by lantern at night), with high-contrast gold/white node indicators. This mode is full-featured and equal in quality to the default mode.

Text size: All node text scales with the global UI text scale setting. At maximum text scale, the Reading Zoom level may show fewer nodes simultaneously — the view window scales to ensure text remains readable.

Screen reader: All node names and mechanical descriptions are exposed as accessible text in screen reader mode, navigable by keyboard with a cursor-based navigation system.

Motion: The compass-needle search animation and the ink-flowing allocation animation can both be disabled with the Reduced Motion setting.

See also:
Nautical Chart Interface — the endgame Atlas of Worlds equivalent
GURPS Framework — character mechanics the Skill Atlas expresses
Accessibility — full accessibility specifications for the Atlas
Creative Identity — the visual identity that grounds the Atlas aesthetic
Monetization — Rechart Scroll and Marker Stone economy