Experience & Advancement
Character Development
'Character development' is a process whereby the personality of a character and the audience's understanding of that personality, and of the motivations of the character that have guided their actions up to this point, expand and grow. But that's probably not what you're here for. You just want to know how to get more XPs (eXperience Points) so you can get more funky powers don't you. Hmm... thought so.
Advancement in the White City is on three fronts, which is a little more complicated than most LARPers are used to but which it is hoped will make things all the more interesting, entertaining and absorbing. Of course it may just annoy you all. The three fronts are Experience (XPs), Training (going up levels, 1 2 3 4 5) and Lifestyle (spending money to make money). We'll start with the easy one.
You already know how this works. You spend XPs, you get skills. Actually there's a little more to it than that, but that will be explained in a second. Anyway, you get XPs for doing stuff. This stuff includes:
- Playing in an Adventure: 4 XPs base, plus additional XP awarded for interesting plans, cool roleplaying stuff and the like at the discretion of the GM(s).
- Monstering on an Adventure: 4 XPs, plus potential extra XP awarded for helpful suggestions, cool roleplaying stuff and the like at the discretion of the GM(s).
- GMing an Adventure: 5 XPs
- Sundry Services to LARP: Rare and variable, usually 1 XP.
- XPs for Indoor LARPs and Extended LARPs decided on a case by case basis.
- +1 XP across the board for particularly long adventures or enduring bad weather, at the LARP Organiser's discretion.
You can spend these XPs exactly as you did during character generation, with the following important limitations:
- XPs earnt from an adventure in which you play one of your characters must be spent on that character, unless that character dies during the adventure or retires before playing their next adventure.
- If a character dies during an adventure, or retires before playing their next adventure, then the player may put the XPs their character would have earnt from that adventure towards a new character (but may not assign it to an existing character that has already been played).
- A player may put XPs from adventures towards a new character which they have not yet played, but a new character cannot be brought into play with more than 90 XPs in total (i.e. the standard 30 XPs all starting characters receive and another 60 XPs earnt from adventures).
- The skills Empowered, Visions and Night Job cannot be bought without a good explanation and the permission of the LARP Organiser. Where "a good explanation" means some kind of reason for your character to have suddenly come over all imbued with mystic power, dribbly visionary or involved with organised crime. Basically, you need to be able to point to something that's happened to set you on this path.
- Furthermore the skills Wealth and Ordained may not be bought with XP alone at all except at character generation. The process of becoming a Priest is described in the page on Priests, or can happen as a result of certain spells or plot effects. Gaining Wealth is described in the section on Lifestyle.
Level 1 - Level 2 - Level 3 - Level 4 - Level 5
If you want to get a skill at a Rank that isn't allowed by your level, you're going to need to increase your level in a particular Class. How you go up levels in Classes varies from Class to Class and from level to level.
Please note that however many of the below criteria you fulfil you may only ever claim one level in one Class per adventure. A lot of the low level criteria for going up levels can be picked up easily during downtime or almost any adventure.
Also note that PCs may only advance in Classes that are not their Primary Classes (i.e. the first two Classes they took) as long as they have more levels in their lowest Primary Class than they have in the sum of their non-Primary Classes.
For example, a character whose first Classes were Warrior and Sorceror has advanced to the point where they are a level 4 Warrior, a level 2 Sorceror, a level 1 Ranger and a level 1 Thief. Since the sum of their levels in Ranger and Thief is equal to their level as a Sorceror, which is lower than their level as a Warrior, they can't now take a second level in Ranger or Thief, or a level in a new Class, until they have advanced to become a level 3 Sorceror.
Rules for changing your Primary Classes are available on the Class Levels page
A Sorceror who wishes to learn more than one Form of Magic must take a separate Sorceror Class for each Form of Magic they wish to learn. For example, you can't be a generic Sorceror with Ranks in Ash Magic and Blood Magic - you have to take levels separately as an Ash Sorceror and a Blood Sorceror.
A rough guide to what being at each level of a class is actually likely to mean in real terms can be found here on the Class Levels page.
This means effectively learning a new trade, it's
easier for some Classes than for others.
- Warrior: Take lessons with a weapon, this'll cost you 20 Hexa for the basic classes. Or you can just start a lot of fights, but that's kind of asking for it.
- Sorceror: Find a master willing to take you on as an apprentice, they need to be at least a third level Sorceror themselves and willing to spend the time. Alternatively, have a mystical experience related to one of the Powers.
- Ranger: Spend a protracted period of time living rough. Note that most adventures qualify for this.
- Thief: Steal 20 Hexa worth of stuff and you're on the road to being accepted in a life of crime. Note that many "thieves" are in fact assassins, Low Guardsmen or whatever. As a result such characters may substitute "provide services worth..." for "steal" where appropriate.
- Scholar: Start studying.
- Merchant: Pay 100 Hexa worth of startup fees for your business. This will give you wagons and horses to do with as you will.
- Noble: It's really tough to do this one. You need to marry into it.
- Warrior: This is a matter of practice. Going on
your average adventure will be fine for this one.
- Sorceror: Spend a while in study (this may be "books" type study but could just as easily be "dance naked under the moon" type study, either way it's a "between adventures" thing).
- Ranger: Live in the wilderness. Again it's a between adventures thing.
- Thief: Have stolen 50 Hexa worth of stuff over the course of your adventures..
- Scholar: More study.
- Merchant: Have Wealth 2 or more.
- Noble: Gain Wealth 2 or more without dishonouring the Family's name, or improve the Family's name. At this level "improving the Family's name" can be as simple as becoming known for leading a successful adventure.
- Warrior: Fight and win against a notable opponent, superior numbers or a dangerous monster.
- Sorceror: Directly experience the essence of your magic. Find yourself near death for an Ash Sorceror or Blood Sorceror, take a long trip in Dream for a Dream Sorceror, meditate in a hurricane for a Wind Sorceror and so on.
- Ranger: Guide a party, containing no other characters using Ranger skills to contribute to the party's guidance or survival, though a dangerous part of the wilderness.
- Thief: Steal either 100 Hexa worth of kit since reaching Level 2, or something particularly shiny and significant.
- Scholar: Make a minor discovery (e.g. identify an undiscovered ruin, find a new species of plant, etc.).
- Merchant: Have Wealth 3 or more. They're big on wealth are Merchants.
- Noble: Gain Wealth 3 or more, or significantly improve the Family's name.
- Warrior: Fight and defeat a remarkable opponent. A powerful Sorceror or a horde of enemies, for example. Note that just sticking in the death blow after your allies have done all the hard work doesn't count, you have to properly defeat them yourself.
- Sorceror: Make a major step forward along your path. Visit the realm of your magic (if it has one), meet a God of your Power and perform a significant service for them, etc.
- Ranger: Explore an area of wilderness that nobody you know of has been to before in recorded history.
- Thief: Steal something of rare and exquisite importance, or that was incredibly well guarded.
- Scholar: Make a significant discovery (such as "Whales speak French" or "We Are Doomed").
- Merchant: Have Wealth 4 or 5.
- Noble: Exalt the Family's name.
PCs are expected to max out around here...
- Warrior: Defeat a legendary foe, preferably in single
combat.
- Sorceror: Make a major breakthrough in the understanding of your magic. Go to the Shattered Plain and return with your mind intact, lead an expedition into the Burned Realm and return with a fallen comrade returned to life, etc.
- Ranger: Take a party, containing no other characters using Ranger skills to contribute to the party's guidance or survival, into a massively dangerous and unexplored area of wilderness and bring them out alive.
- Thief: Steal fire from the Gods. Okay, not quite, but thereabouts. The drinking horn of an Old Power is the level we're looking at here.
- Scholar: Learn something revolutionary (the true nature of the Bound Ones, what lies beyond the Southern Sea, where Dreams come from, etc.).
- Merchant: Have Wealth 5.
- Noble: Become Governor of the White City or something of that level.
Finally it's the temporal stuff. For some classes (Nobles and Merchants) this is one and the same with Training. For others it ain't. Lifestyle is how you track what the spoils of your mighty adventures are doing to your standard of living. It all boils down to gaining Ranks of the Wealth Skill.
Gaining a Rank of Wealth is terribly simple. Spend your 6XP (this is partially a game balance thing, partially a representation of coming to terms with managing your new estate) and spend 100 Hexa for the First Rank and amount of money equal to 10 times your current staple income for every rank thereafter. This means that to get from Wealth 1 to Wealth 2 costs 300Hx, from Wealth 2 to Wealth 3 costs 600Hx, and so on. Unless you have both the XPs and the cash you cannot buy Wealth. Although only Merchants and Nobles can buy Ranks in Wealth as a starting character, any character can gain Weath (provided they manage to garner themself enough cash) once they've embarked on their adventuring career.
So, what does Wealth get you? In a word, lifestyle.
- Characters with Wealth 1 have a reasonable townhouse and maybe a servant or so. Income of 30 Hexa per adventure. Armour repair and replacement costs halved.
- Characters with Wealth 2 have a large household, many servants, probably their own coach and so on. Income of 60 Hexa per adventure. Armour repair and replacement costs quartered.
- Wealth 3 represents the full on lap of luxury, you are renowned about town and have all the good things in life. Income of 90 Hexa per adventure. Armour repair and replacement costs waived entirely.
- Wealth 4 represents serious riches. You live in a mansion, your guards represent a sizeable private militia, you may well own a village or two. Income of 120 Hexa per adventure. Armour repair and replacement costs waived entirely.
- Wealth 5 puts you up there with the full on movers and shakers. You probably own several of the outlying villages, maybe even small towns. You may start to look like a threat to other powerful people. Income of 150 Hexa per adventure. Armour repair and replacement costs waived entirely.
You may now be wondering why on earth we've bothered to write up a system for this sort of thing. Very simply we have a dislike of the kind of setting where adventuring is a zero sum game - you adventure to get money so you can buy more weapons so you can go on bigger adventures. A lot of LARP characters are motivated chiefly by profit, we wanted to give that motivation some shape.
Back to the top - Experience - Training ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) - Lifestyle
This page last updated: 31st May 2008
Email the White City webmeister § Email the LARP Organiser § Back to the gates of The White City