Leveling Up

Leveling Up

When your character has a quiet stretch of time at home and enough XP, the system walks you through leveling up one step at a time: a new move, any choices that move brings, and the bookkeeping. This page shows where to find it and what each step asks.

When you can level up

Your XP box on the character sheet shows your XP and, beside it, the most XP you need. By the book, Level Up costs 6 + twice your current level. Once your XP reaches that number:

• a level-up icon appears beside Level at the top of the sheet (hover it: Ready to level up!);
• the Moves tab gets an attention dot with the same label;
• on the Special Moves tab, the Level Up card unlocks and its Open Level Up button becomes clickable. Until then the card is greyed out with a lock and explains what you still need.

Click the level-up icon or Open Level Up to start. The GM's End of Session card also names who can now Level Up.

A character who has left play (dead, lost to the GM, or retired) doesn't level up, and their Level Up card says why. A character at Death's Door, or carrying a Ghost, Revenant or Thrall insert, still levels up as normal. See Death and Beyond.

Did you know?

• If the Level Up window is already open somewhere on your screen, clicking again brings it to the front instead of opening a second one.

The Level Up window

The window is a short wizard. Use Next and Back to move between steps, and Apply Level Up on the last one. Nothing changes on your sheet until you click Apply Level Up, so you can close the window at any point to stop.

Steps that don't apply to you are skipped, so most level-ups are just the first two or three.

Step	When it appears	What you do
Overview	always	Shows the XP Cost, the XP Remaining afterwards, and your New Level. If your new level is even and you have Invocations, it says you'll choose a new Invocation too.
New move	always	Choose one new move from your playbook. Type in Filter moves… or click the group chips to narrow the list. Tick Show moves I don't qualify for yet to see the rest, listed under Requires conditions not yet met.
Agreed with the table	when you picked the Agreed with the table card on the New move step	Choose the move the table agreed on: one from another playbook that you qualify for, or a custom move. The book allows this only if everyone, not just you, agrees (Book I p.529). A custom move is written in the custom move editor, and the level is taken when you save it. In a world where only the GM writes custom moves, the GM can take this Level Up with you from your sheet.
Move from another playbook	when the move you picked grants one	Choose the move this grants you from another playbook (you must qualify for it). Filter by text, or click a playbook chip (click it again to clear it).
Stat +1	when the move you picked raises a stat	Choose which stat to raise by +1. Stats already at that move's maximum are greyed out.
Marks	when the move you picked (or got from another playbook) has choices to mark	Make this move's selection(s) for the level you're gaining. Click an option to pick it; click it again to unpick. Options you already have from your background are shown as such.
Animal companion	for a Ranger with Beast-Bonded	Mark another action you can use when you focus on your animal companion.
Invocation	on an even level for a Lightbearer, or anyone who got Invoke the Sun God	Choose one new Invocation to add to your repertoire.

The last step ends with a reminder to review your Instinct and Appearance on the Details tab. A Ghost, Revenant or Thrall is pointed at the Post-Death tab for their Instinct instead, since the insert's replaced the playbook's. For them, a move that can never fire (Hard to Kill, Unstoppable, the Death's Door half of Never Gonna Keep Me Down) carries a note on its row: at 0 HP they face their insert's own move, not Death's Door. It can still be taken.

The whole window works from the keyboard: Tab to a card and press Enter or Space to pick it.

What happens when you apply

• Your level goes up by one and the cost comes off your XP. (If your GM uses Advancement: Reset XP to 0 on Level Up, your XP empties instead.)
• The new move, stat, marks, companion action and Invocation are added to your sheet.
• The level-up is recorded on the character's timeline as Reached level N, naming the move you learned. See The Timeline.
• Some moves have follow-up choices. For example, a move that frees another remarkable trait opens that picker right away, and Veteran Crew's two new tags show as a Pick N more tags chip on the crew's card on the Followers tab.
• A temporary Instinct ends. Some things in the books say "until you Level Up, your instinct becomes..." (Book II pp.370, 523). Set one on the Details tab: turn on the Instinct section's edit, and fill in the temporary Instinct and where it came from. It shows over your own Instinct, marked Until you Level Up, and Level Up clears it.
• If you still have enough XP to level up again, a notice says You have enough XP to level up again, so here's the next one. and the window opens again for the next level.

Did you know?

• If something changed while the window was open (another player already applied it, or the XP is no longer there), applying does nothing and a notice tells you why. Your sheet is never charged twice, even if you and the GM press Apply at the same moment.
• The level-up icon and the Special Moves card both open the same window.

Leveling up away from home

The book says you level up only with a quiet stretch of time at home. If the system knows your character is on an expedition that set out and hasn't come home yet, the Overview step shows a warning naming the trip. It's a reminder, not a block: Go ahead if the table agrees. See Expeditions and Sites.

If the move count looks wrong

If you set your level by hand or edit your moves, the Moves tab compares your playbook moves with your level:

• Too few: You still have N moves to choose for level L. with a hint to turn on Edit and tick the moves you've earned.
• Too many: This character has N more moves than expected for level L. You can fix it, or click Dismiss move-count warning if it's intentional.

These are warnings only. The system never removes or blocks a move.

Settings that change leveling

These are world settings your GM chooses. See World Settings Reference.

Setting	Choices	Default	Effect
Advancement: XP to Level Up, Base	6 (the book's default), 10 (slower)	6	The fixed part of the Level Up cost.
Advancement: XP to Level Up, Per Level	2 x level (the book's default), 3 x level (much slower at high levels)	2 x level	What each current level adds to the cost.
Advancement: Reset XP to 0 on Level Up	on / off	off	Level Up empties XP instead of subtracting the cost, so you level up only once between adventures.
Advancement: Always Allow Burn Brightly	on / off	off	Anyone may Burn Brightly (spend 2 XP after a roll for +1) even without enough XP to level up.

How Burn Brightly appears on a roll card is covered in Rolling Moves and Chat Cards.

See also

• The Character Sheet
• Rolling Moves and Chat Cards
• Playbook Notes
• The Timeline