PC Advancement

Each player keeps track of the experience points (xp) that their character earns.

During the game session, mark xp:

• When you make a desperate action roll. Mark 1 xp in the attribute for the action you rolled. For example, if you roll a desperate Skirmish action, you mark xp in Prowess. When you roll in a group action that’s desperate, you also mark xp.

When you settle in to rest, review the xp triggers on your character sheet. For each one, mark 1 xp if it happened at all, or mark 2 xp if it happened a lot during the session. The xp triggers are:

• Your playbook-specific xp trigger. For example, the Warrior’s is “address a challenge with violence or coercion”. To “address a challenge”, your character should attempt to overcome a tough obstacle or threat. It doesn’t matter if the action is successful or not. You get xp either way.
• You expressed your beliefs, drives, heritage, or background. To express any one of these aspects of your character means that their behaviour can be clearly traced back to that aspect of them. Your character’s beliefs and drives are yours to define from session to session. Tell the group about them when you mark xp. Alternatively, if events result in a significant turning point in your character’s personal development, you may mark xp for that instead.
• You struggled with issues from your vice or traumas. Mark xp for this if your vice tempted you to some bad action or if a trauma condition caused you trouble. Simply indulging your vice doesn’t count as struggling with it (unless you overindulge, see Vice).

You may mark this xp on any xp tracks you want (any attribute or your playbook xp track).

When you fill an xp track, clear all the marks and take an advance. When you take an advance from your playbook track, you may choose an additional special ability. When you take an advance from an attribute, you may add an additional action dot to one of the actions under that attribute.

You can also earn xp by training during downtime. When you train, mark xp in one of your attributes or in your playbook. A given xp track can be trained only once per downtime phase. See Training.

Trent is playing a Disciple. At the end of the session, he reviews his xp triggers and tells the group how much xp he’s getting. He rolled two desperate Channel actions during the session, so he marked 2 xp on his Resolve xp track. He addressed several challenges with knowledge or divine power, so he marks 2 xp for that. He expressed his Dwarven heritage many times when dealing with Kazad Grim, so he takes 2 xp for that. He also showcased his character’s beliefs, but 2 xp is the maximum for that category, so he doesn’t get any more. He didn’t struggle with his vice or traumas, so no xp there. That’s 4 xp at the end of the session. He decides to put it all in his Resolve xp track. This fills the track, so he adds a new action dot in Channel.