Revision as of 08:30, 28 February 2011

As people live and gain experience in the world, they are constantly improving their skills and getting better at their chosen professions. In the same way, a character in Legends of Cphera also improves their skills.

Advancement in Cphera is divided up into Levels and Stages. Levels are small increments that allow characters to improve their statistics and gain new skills. There are three Stages, and once a character reaches a new Stage, he or she gains access to a wider variety of more powerful abilities and skills.

First Level

First level characters start out with a given amount of Upgrade Points that they can spend on Feats, Skills, and Combat Ability.

Abilities

As Novices, 1st level characters select one Ability to be their Primary Ability, allowing them access to the ability's Primary Features.

Saves

There are four Saves: Fortitude, Reflex, Will, and *XXXX*. Each are tied to two Abilities. If an attached Ability has been declared a Primary Ability by the character, that Save is a "Fair Save," and uses the bonus found in the "Numbers By Level" table, above. If the Save has two Primary Abilities attached to it, it is a "Good Save." Finally, if the save has no primary abilities attached to it, the save is a "Poor Save."

Appearance, Personality and Backstory

This is also the time to decide what your character looks like, how they interact with the world, and their personal history, as well as simple details such as name, height, Age, and so on.

Leveling Up

Characters level up when the GM decides that they have encountered and overcome enough obstacles to have significantly improved their skills. In order to level up, characters must spend a week in a relatively stress-free environment. During this time, the characters are recovering from their activities, practicing and experimenting with skills, talking to masters and trainers, and researching new information.

Abilities

Every level, a character may improve two Ability Scores by one point.

At 6th and 16th level, characters gain an additional 3 points to spend on improving Ability Scores. Additionally, characters may select an additional Primary Ability, for a total of three Primary Abilities at 16th level.

Upgrade Points

Every time characters level up, they gain 20 General Upgrade Points that they can spend on anything. Additionally, they gain Skill Upgrade Points equal to their Intellect that they can spend exclusively on Skills.

Stages of Advancement

There are three stages of advancement. Each new stage unlocks access to new and more powerful abilities.

Novice Characters

Characters level one through five are at the Novice Stage. In role-playing terms, that means they are still developing their skills. They are the up-and-comers, the recruits.

Novice characters have only one Primary Ability, and only have access to Novice Feats and normal Magic Disciplines.

Established Characters

Characters level six through fifteen are in the Established Stage. They are commanders, leaders, well known within their circles and likely heard of outside of them. Established characters have a reputation that often precedes them, and they are given much more respect than lower-level characters.

Established characters may choose a second Primary Ability, gain access to Established Feats, and also gain access to the Creation, Magic, and Space Magic Disciplines.

Legendary Characters

Characters level sixteen and above are in the Legendary Stage. These are characters that have passed from simply being well known to being a living legend. Tales of legendary characters' exploits are told far and wide, often long after their death.

Legendary characters choose a third Primary Ability, gain access to Legendary Feats, and gain access to the Chance and Time Magical Disciplines.

Upgrade Costs

• Combat Ability: 1 additional point of CA for every 8 UP
• Skills: 1 UP to increase the Family Modifier of a skill by 1, 1 UP to increase a specialization modifier by 2, or 4 + (skill's current Tier x2) UP to advance to the next tier of a tiered skill.
• Feats: The UP cost of feats varies, but they generally cost between 4 and 6 UP.
• Disciplines of Magic: 1 UP per rank per discipline (sometimes per ability).

Average Citizens

While the players will undoubtably make use of all of their UP, the general populace is not constantly training. Except for the very elite, the experts and masters, most NPCs have not used all of their UP, leaving many unspent when they level up.

The normal citizen is very rarely above 4th level, and even that is somewhat exceptional.