Latest revision as of 12:29, 12 December 2012

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.

Within the world of Cphera, characters gain their first level in their early teens. Over the course of his or her life, the average layperson will advance about to level 3 or 4. Skilled and well-known characters, such as professional soldiers, assassins, and learned scholars, will progress into the Established levels. Truly exceptional characters will advance into the double-diget levels. Progression into the Legendary levels is very rare. They stand on the same ground as Gilgamesh, Achilles, and other characters that have been immortalized into myth.

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.

Characters who don't have a Primary Mental Ability (Intellect, Willpower, Intuition, or Charisma) won't be able to use Magic.

Hit Points

At first level, a character gains maximum hit points. Hit points are computed by taking the character's Hit Die and adding it to one-half his Endurance. A character's Hit Die is determined by comparing the character's primary abilities to the table on the right and using the best die. At first level, a character only has one Primary Ability.

Saves

There are four Saves: Fortitude, Reflex, Will, and Presage. 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.

Hit Points

Upon leveling up, a character's Hit Points are increased by rolling their best Hit Die (found in the table above) and adding one half their Endurance ability score. If a character has increased his or her Endurance score, that increase is applied retroactively across all of his or her levels. See the Hit Points page for more details.

Abilities

Every level, a character may improve at least one Ability Score. As a Novice Character, they gain one point per level. As established, they gain one point on odd levels and one point on even levels. And as Legendary characters, they gain two points per level.

At 6th and 16th level, characters gain an additional 3 points to spend on improving Ability Scores (total of 5 at these levels). Additionally, characters may select an additional Primary Ability, for a total of three Primary Abilities at 16th level.

Increasing an ability score past 8 requires both your points - that is to say, if you increase your 8 to a 9, you cannot improve any other scores at this level. You also cannot achieve above an 8 until you are established, because you only receive one point per level.. Obviously at 6th and 16th level, when you have more points to spend, you can still increase more with the 3 points remaining.

Upgrade Points

Every time characters level up, they gain 24 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
• 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.