Core Character Progression

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1 Character Progression

Character Progression

People progress in life; no one is static throughout their entire life (hey, when you are dead you still decompose…). Whether the increases are physical or mental they increase with experiences gained through life. Experience can be gained any number of ways. Combat, living life, doing what you think you should do, or anything the OM feels is worthy of experience points (Exp).

Bonuses per Level

Using the Level system, this is how everything increases:

1: +1 to attacks/defences (AB, AR, AC, MS, and PR)

2: +1 to quickness (DAP, Init, and NAR) and +1 to any Attribute

3: +1 to attacks/defences

4: +1 to quickness and +1 to any Attribute

5: +1 to attacks/defences and choose an Attribute for the 5th Level bonus (see below)

6: +1 to quickness and +1 to any Attribute

It continues in a loop from there. Every even Level any Attribute of choice, it does not always have to be the same Attribute, gains +1. On Levels where an Attribute increase occurs it always happens before the Major Skills are increased. As well each Level increases your HP/WP/EP by Con/Coord/Intu Mods respectively, allows for a new choice of Major/Minor Skills (which can also increase HP/WP/EP), and increases Morale base +10.

Fifth Level Bonus

Every five Levels a person gains the ability to choose another Attribute for increasing Major/Minor Skills as though it was one of the chosen four every Level but not increase the Attribute Stat itself. Every Level thereafter you can continue to use this bonus for everything but increasing the Attribute. You can use the Fifth Level Bonus to choose the same Attribute more than once per Level but not more than twice except after every twentieth Level then you can choose the same Attribute +1 time. Like normal Attribute choices every Level you can change it for another Attribute or keep it as is.

I.e. at Level 5 you decide to choose your 18Coord twice for five Levels, on Levels 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 you use your regular ‘four per Level’ Coord to increase it +1 to a total of 23Coord and you gain +9, +10, +10, +11, +11 Points to spend into Major Skills with your Fifth Level Bonus. At Level 10 you choose to alternate between Int and Wis for Skill Points but keep your Coord Stat increasing and decide to also choose the Coord for Skills for five Levels. At Level 10 you gain +1Coord and +12Points, at 11 +1Coord/+12Points, at 12 +1Coord/+13Points, at 13 +1Coord/+13Points, and at 14 +1Coord/+14Points all in addition to your normal and new Int/Wis gains.

At Level 25 you decide you have been neglecting other Skills so for five Levels each you choose Con thrice, at 30 Ref thrice, at 35 Str thrice, and at 40 Coord thrice. At Level 45 you think it is high time to increase your Coord Ranks again and choose it three times with Fifth Level Bonuses and once as your normal Level bonus using your – increased almost every Level - Coord’s impressive 29Mod to gain +116Points.

Four Forms of NPC

Part of what makes Players the special people that they are in the world is their style of Levelling. They are the heroes and/or villains of the story who are more powerful than most. Whether they are some form of chosen one, a greater race, have a greater aptitude for combat, or are simply a quicker learner does not overly matter. What does matter is how most other people within the world progress.

In most Templates they will follow four forms of NPC: Civilian, Monster, Soldier, and Hero.

Civilians are almost always Level 1 and never have Major Skills though Minor Skills for them have no maximum Points, as well it is possible to Level and gain non-Major Skill bonuses (Attacks, Defences, Quickness).

Monsters possess one (1) Major Skill or a similar aspect (i.e. Demonic Rank or Bestial Rank) and their Level equals its Rank for purposes of Level bonuses, Attribute increases, Minor Skills, and 3P’s (though they do not gain 3P’s from having a Skill as they have Ranks, not Points, for Abilities/Spells that are based on Points they count as having minimum Points as necessary to gain their Rank) but they will not progress in any other Major Skill. Some OM’s may wish to allow Monsters to Level up like a Player except choosing only one Attribute per Level.

Soldiers follow all of the Levelling rules of Players except that they only select two (2) Attributes per Level for the purpose of choosing Major Skills, other Levelling bonuses such as Attributes and Minor Skills stay the same.

Heroes (or Villains) Level up exactly as Players, gaining the same number of Major Skills, Minor Skills, 3P’s, Attribute increases, and Level bonuses.

The four forms of NPC represent the various potentials and ‘classes’ of people within a world. Civilians are the norm of civil species, the most common NPC. Monsters are those with heightened racial Abilities, drive, and focus that are not likely to vary from individual to individual, they are the norm of the racially strong. Soldiers are those of a race who rise from their civilian or monster ways to become one who fights for a reason. Heroes and Villains are the epitome of the race, rising to a level beyond what most could hope to achieve.

Most commonly Players should interact with Civilians and fight Monsters and Soldiers. Heroes/Villains should be used rarely by comparison, representing the key antagonists of a story or the ‘boss’ of the fight or a good friend who helps them out. A shift in the balance of the four forms of NPC’s could easily lead to too much difficulty for the Players to handle, while in battle they should be able to handle numerable Monsters/Soldiers, too many Heroes might lead to insurmountable odds. As well to maintain a certain level of difficulty Monsters and Soldiers can stay at the same Level of the Players or greater and in greater numbers and still make combat Experience of the fight worthwhile.

Experience System

Experience can be gained through role-playing at the OM’s discretion and the more traditional method: fighting.

Calculating Combat Experience

Combat Experience is gained through defeating an opponent in a fight. Whether the opponent dies, flees, surrenders, or is rendered unable to fight is moot; defeat is defeat. The amount of Experience a creature is worth from combat uses a simple formula:

Level * 100 = Exp Value

Civilians are worth 1/10 this Exp Value

Monsters are worth ¼ this Exp Value

Soldiers are worth ½ this Exp Value

Heroes are worth this Exp Value

Once the Experience Value of a creature is determined, the next step is to calculate the gain or loss of Experience due to Players being higher or lower Level than the opponent.

If the enemy is higher Level then use the formula:

Exp gained = Exp Value + 10% per Level Difference

If the enemy is lower Level then use the formula:

Exp gained = Exp Value - 10% per Level Difference, to a minimum of 0exp

If it comes up, Experience should be one of few instances that rounds up instead of rounds down. Players can never lose overall experience from being higher Levelled or in greater numbers than their enemy (i.e. if a Level 20Player kills a Level 1Civilian they would not lose 9exp but instead gain nothing).

Giving Out Combat Experience

The Players count as a ‘single entity’ for Level comparison and ‘gained Experience pool’. In Player groups where all are not the same Level find the average. Add up their total Level and divide it by the number in the group and use this ‘average Level’ as the Level for comparison to the enemy in the formulas above (be sure to round down). Including NPC’s who participated in the fight on the Players’ side is up to the OM.

The total Exp Value of all enemies is added together and given to the group. If the enemy group was larger then the Players gain +5% of base Exp Value per enemy greater, reversely if the enemy group was smaller then the Players lose -5% of base Exp Value per enemy less.

There are two methods of totalling Experience for all involved in combat: Division and Total. An OM must select one and should keep using the same method throughout the Campaign.

Division

Once the total Exp Value for the group has been found it is then divided by the number of the group and each Player gains this amount. Whether NPC’s are counted in this is again OM dependent. This method will keep the Players advancing at a steady slower pace and is what most Campaigns are designed around.

Total

Each member of the group gains the total Exp Value already discovered for the group. This method will keep the Players advancing at a much quicker pace and can be used to accelerate the group Levelling and make fighting lower Levelled enemies more worthwhile.

Example 1

Using Division as the chosen Experience System:

Two Level 3’s fight two Level 4’s

300exp and 400exp base values respectively

If the Level 3’s are victorious they would each gain 440exp. Calculated as follows:

400 + (4 - 3) * 10% = 440. Each Level 4 would be worth 440exp, gaining 40exp/10% from the Level difference. If they were Civilians they would be worth 44exp, Monsters 110exp, Soldiers 220exp, and Heroes/Villains the full 440exp.

If the Level 4’s are victorious they would each gain 270exp. Calculated as follows:

300 - (4 - 3) * 10% = 270exp. Each Level 3 would be worth 270exp, losing 30exp/10% from the Level difference. If they were Civilians they would be worth 27exp, Monsters 68exp, Soldiers 135exp, and Heroes/Villains the full 270exp.

Example 2

Using Division as the chosen Experience System:

Four Level 2’s fight one Level 5

200exp and 500exp base values respectively

If the Level 2’s are victorious they would each gain 144exp. Calculated as follows:

500 + (5 – 2) * 10% - (4 – 1) * 5% = 575 / 4 = 144. The Level 5 would be worth 650exp based on Level difference, gaining 150exp/30%, but would be worth 75exp/15% less because of group numbers. If the Level 5 was a Civilian they would be worth 15exp to each, Monster 36exp to each, Soldier 72exp to each, and if a Hero/Villain the full 144exp to each.

If the Level 5 is victorious they would gain 680exp. Calculated as follows:

200 – (5 – 2) * 10% + (4 – 1) * 5% = 170 * 4 = 680. The Level 2’s would be worth 140 based on Level difference, losing 60exp/30% each, but would be worth 30exp/15% more because of group numbers. If the Level 2’s were Civilians they would be worth 17exp each, Monsters 43exp each, Soldiers 85exp each, and Heroes/Villains would be worth the full 170exp each.

OM Note: In most cases it is simpler to add the two modifiers and complete one multiplication, as in the example above 30% + (-15%) = 15% which as seen is 75exp, 500exp + 75exp = 575exp. Remember, adding a negative is the same as subtracting a positive.

OM Note: It is also advisable to average enemy group Level only in the case where they are close in Level, otherwise the Party might lose up to hundreds of experience points. It might take more time and effort, but the percent difference will add up over time.

Non-Combat Experience

There is no easy way to determine how much Experience a Player should gain for ‘playing their part’. As the Players play a character of a story (hence Player Character) and the character they play lives in their own world and lives their own life, rewarding the Player for staying in character or performing meaningful non-combat acts in general can help encourage thinking outside of straight combat and killing everything just to progress in Levels.

The issue with Non-Combat Experience is balance and fairness. One Player who has drawn up a ten page character history and meticulously plays their character to the letter and does ‘everything right’ would obviously deserve greater reward than someone who plays a character with one sentence of character history and often forgets or ignores what they have written down. Yet this bonus reward might not only cause the ‘lazy’ Player to feel jilted and that there is favouritism but destroy the balance of a party’s Level. However, for Players who would rather talk around a fight rather than into a fight they too might feel jilted if their hard fought avoidance of combat is not worth anything. As such an OM must be careful in not being a Scrooge or a Santa with Non-Combat Experience. Also to be considered is just because one character performed the action, many Players might have contributed to the plan, thus divvying up Exp based on the planning is also plausible.

Examples

Some ideas listed here can be used instead of or in addition to Combat Experience. OM’s should tweak values to suit their style. As people are very creative an OM will have to consider many various opportunities for Non-Combat Experience.

Taking Damage for others (i.e. Defend Other): 1exp per damage

Beneficially using a Minor Skill: 1exp per LoD

Performs Alignment based action: 50exp

‘Plays up’ Stats (i.e. low Intelligence, charges into one sided combat): 50exp-100exp

Using terrain to defeat opponents: +10% to Combat Exp

Avoiding imminent combat through words: 25% of Combat Exp

Self sacrifice for others: 10-25% of Exp needed to Level (might only be useful for starting a new character if resurrection is impossible)

Wounding an opponent for interrogation instead of killing them: 50% Combat Exp

Assassinating or otherwise beating an unsuspecting foe in an ambush/outside of ‘normal’ combat: 50% Combat Exp

Letting weak enemies escape rather than wasting time killing them: 50% Combat Exp

Using Experience

In the standard system you take your current Level and multiply it by 1000. That is how much more Experience you need to get to the next Level. If you are Level 1 then it takes 1000exp to get to Level 2, once you have 1000exp and become Level 2 it takes an additional 2000exp to get to Level 3 and so on; essentially the same premise as the Tier/Increment System used for Major Skill except multiplied by 1000.

Other optional systems can be used by OM’s who wish to modify their game’s rate of progression. Listed are few examples:

Level * 100exp (100, 200, 300…), progression will be very quick but might be the desire of OM/Players.

Level * 500exp (500, 1000, 1500…), an intermediate system that is faster than normal but not so fast as to disrupt most Campaigns.

Add the Experience needed to progress together (1000 + 2000 + 3000…). Level 1 to 2 needs 1000exp, but 2 to 3 needs 3000exp, and 3 to 4 needs 6000exp, and so on – essentially the Tier System using total Points rather than just that Rank’s. This makes a much steeper progression rate, but might be necessary for some Campaigns and might be desired by OM/Player tastes.