Character Advancement (Skills and Experience)

Character Advancement (Skills and Experience)
Terminology
Term Name:	Character Advancement
Description:	Players earn experience points for helping the game, those points are assigned to characters and this earns levels and skill points. Skill points can then be spent to buy skills giving characters new abilities.
Abbreviation or Synonyms:	Growth, Development
Rule Type:	Character

Overtime characters improve, gaining new skills and learning new abilities. This page will discuss how that happens.

Experience Points

Characters in Kingdoms of Novitas do not earn experience, players earn it. Experience in Kingdoms of Novitas is awarded for actions that help improve the game.

Whenever players donate money to the game or pay for things like event entry fees they get 1 experience point for every $10 donated or spent.

While money is one way to help the game, there are many others as well.

Each shift a player NPCs earns them 1 experience point. Players who NPC 3 or more shifts get an extra experience point for the third and fourth shift they NPC.
Helping with setting up and breaking down each event also earns experience, 1 point for every hour spent.
Work groups have a variety of positions that need to be filled every event, such as the make-up desk, game masters, and innkeepers. These typically get 2 experience for a shift.
Item donations to the game will earn experience when they are requested. Not every donation is acceptable, the Marshals will periodically post lists of the things they are currently looking for at that time.
Several times a year, the Boy Scouts host "Work Days" where volunteers work on improving the camp site for everyone's benefit. We award experience to players who participate and help at these work days.
Finally, Marshals will from time to time have special projects for improving the game, or maintaining our supplies. These include things like laundering the NPC garb, building new costuming, technical projects (such as working on this Wiki or the Web Portal), going to conventions to recruit new players, and writing projects.

Players can check how many experience points they have by going to the online experience look-up located here.

To get your player ID number or character ID numbers speak to the Logistics Marshal or Second (Frank Tamburrino and Taylor Dean).

Character Level and Skill Points

Players then take the experience points they earn and assign them to their characters. All experience points go to one character until you speak to the Logistics Marshal or Second (Frank Tamburrino and Taylor Dean) to change who they are going to. The total number of experience points assigned will determine what level a character has.

Characters begin at level 0 with 10 skill points. Each level after that earns a character 2 skill points. The first 20 levels require 5 experience points each. Every level after that requires 10 experience points.

You can use the online character sheet to calculate your level, how many skill points you have, and assign skills without having to do any of the actual math.

If you like math and want to do it anyway, you can calculate how many skill points a character has with these two formulas:

For characters under 100 experience points, they have: (Experience Points/ 5) = Level
For characters with over 100 experience points, they are: ((Experience Points - 100)/ 10) + 20 = Level.

Then use this formula to determine skill points: (Level * 2 + 10).

Example 1: Your character has 39 experience points. 39/5 = 7th level with 4 extra xp. This character would have 24 skill points.
Example 2: Your character has 168 experience points. ((168-100)/10) + 20 = 26th level with 8 extra xp. This character would have 62 skill points.

Learning Skills

Characters can spend skill points to learn new skills. Each skill has a cost listed to learn it, and many have prerequisites of other skills that must be learned before you can learn that one. Other than role-playing skills and rare language skills you do not need permission to learn skills. Role-playing skills and rare language skills require permission from the Plot Marshal or Second (Ryan Green and Donald Tyson) to learn.

When you learn a skill simply mark them down on your character sheet to note that you've learned them. The online character sheet located at http://portal.kingdomsofnovitas.org/ can be used to track how you have spent your skill points or you can use the most current paper version of the character sheet. The online character sheet is preferred.

Once you've entered play with a character sheet the skill points spent should remain spent the same way (unless a player is using the character amnesty rule). An exception to this is that when rules updates take place; they can cause a character sheet to cease to be accurate, legal, or it can cause a character to have skill points not spent as previously intended. If this happens, the rules update will generally come with instructions on how to handle the situation. In the event that still leaves issues, speak to a 1st Marshal (Christina Mevec, James Vertucci, and Ryan Green) to figure out how to remedy the situation.

Players should have their most up to date character sheet on them when playing their player character at an event. The character creation portal does not give members of staff access to any information you put into it, so you'll need to be sure to print out a copy of the sheet and have that on hand. You can also keep your most current copy downloaded to your phone and forgo having to have the paper entirely.

Specialist Titles

When characters learn all the skills in certain segments of the character sheet, they gain access to special bonus abilities known as 'Specialist Titles'. These are permanent abilities and cost no skill points to learn beyond those required to fill out that section of the character sheet.

Weapons Master

A Weapons Master is a character who has obtained all of the following combat skills:

Twice per game day a weapons master may make an attack with any weapon a 'master's strike'.

Weapons Masters are the only ones who may wield great javelins or great spears with a second weapon or shield. While doing this you may only make stabbing attacks with the great javelin/ spear, never swinging attacks. A weapon in the off hand can be swung as normal.

Finally, Weapons Masters are also the only characters who can take advantage of master's blades.

Master Crafter

A character who has obtained all 20 craft points and has mastered a crafting skill can gain the following titles:

Ornamenting Mastery gains the title Master Ornamentor.
Tinkering Mastery gains the title Master Tinkerer.
Weaponsmithing Mastery gains the title Master Weaponsmith.

Having any combination of these three titles makes a character a Master Crafter.

Master Crafters gain 4 additional craft points each event. When using these craft points they do not need to spend any coin.

Master Crafters have unique items only they can craft:

A Master Tinkerer who is also a Master Ornamentor can craft an Alchemist's Laboratory.
A Master Tinkerer who is also a Master Weaponsmith can craft the Master's Blade feature onto a weapon.
A Master Weaponsmith who is also a Master Ornamenter can craft the Master's Staff feature onto a great weapon.

Savant

A character earns the Savant title after obtaining all 20 production points and learning the following skills:

Alchemy Mastery
Brew Potion
Scribe Scroll
Estimate Value
First Aid
Herbalism
Read Magic
At least one language that was not inherited at the character's creation.
- Note that every character gains the Common language at creation, even if you choose to roleplay that you don't know it, and does not count towards this title.

Savants gain 5 production points that break cap. When producing potions or scrolls Savants, instead of being limited to only spells they know, may also copy potions and scrolls they have on hand to determine which they can make. This cannot be used to copy scarce items.

Only Savants can use an Alchemist's Laboratory.

School Master

This title represents seven different titles at once, one for each school of magic. A character becomes a School Master (replacing "school" with the name of school you have mastery in, such as Aegis Master) when they:

Have obtained all 20 power points.
Learned all spells in a school.
Upon learning all the spells in a school, learned the ritual skill for that school (or gained it via the Scholar RP Skill.

Characters can become masters of every school they qualify for.

Upon becoming a Master of a school, the character may choose one level two or higher spell to specialize in. You cannot change this spell after it is selected. Your selected spell costs you one less power point to cast (to a minimum of 1). This discount does not stack with other discounts you can obtain through the game, most notably with the Master's Staff, unless it is specifically stated otherwise.

A Master of a school is the only one who can benefit from a Master's Staff.

References

Combat Skills

Body Skills

Skill Name	Skill Tree	Prerequisite(s)	Skill Point Cost	Description
Body Training	Combat	None	1	Have 1 Body Point total
Body Proficiency	Combat	Body Training	2	Have 2 Body Points total
Body Expertise	Combat	Body Proficiency	3	Have 3 Body Points total
Body Mastery	Combat	Body Expertise	4	Have 4 Body Points total

Weapon and Shield Use Skills

Skill Name	Skill Tree	Prerequisite(s)	Skill Point Cost	Description
Melee Training	Combat	None	Free	Use non-martial weapons.
Melee Proficiency	Combat	None	2	Use martial weapons
Melee Expertise	Combat	Melee Proficiency	2	Use great weapons
Off-Hand Training	Combat	Melee Proficiency	2	Dual wield two non-martial weapons.
Off-Hand Proficiency	Combat	Off-hand Training	3	Dual wield one martial and one non-martial weapon.
Off-Hand Expertise	Combat	Off-hand Proficiency	4	Dual wield two martial weapons.
Projectile Training	Combat	Accuracy Training	2	Use Bows and Crossbows
Throwing Training	Combat	Accuracy Training	2	Use Thrown Weapons
Throwing Proficiency	Combat	Throwning Training, Melee Proficiency	1	Use Javelins
Throwing Expertise	Combat	Throwning Proficiency, Melee Expertise	2	Use Great Javelins
Buckler Training	Combat	None	1	You may use bucklers.
Shield Training	Combat	Buckler Training	1	You may use shields.

Melee and Ranged Weapon Damage Skills

Skill Name	Skill Tree	Prerequisite(s)	Skill Point Cost	Description
Accuracy Training	Combat	None	Free	Deal 1 damage with ranged weapons
Accuracy Proficiency	Combat	Accuracy Training	2	Deal 2 damage with ranged weapons
Accuracy Expertise	Combat	Accuracy Proficiency	2	Deal 3 damage with ranged weapons
Accuracy Mastery	Combat	Accuracy Expertise	2	Deal 4 damage with ranged weapons
Might Training	Combat	None	Free	Deal 1 damage with melee weapons.
Might Proficiency	Combat	Might Training	3	Deal 2 damage with melee weapons.
Might Expertise	Combat	Might Proficiency	4	Deal 3 damage with melee weapons.
Might Mastery	Combat	Might Expertise	5	Deal 4 damage with melee weapons.

Crafting Skills

Knowledge Skills

List of General Knowledge Skills

Skill Name	Skill Tree	Prerequisite(s)	Skill Point Cost	Description
Estimate Value	Knowledge	None	2	Know the monetary value of non-magical treasures.
First Aid	Knowledge	None	1	Prevent bleeding out. Feed others potions. Heal blunt torso wounds. Learn about injuries.
Herbalism	Knowledge	None	2	Allows a character to use poisonous alchemical compounds.
Identify Magic	Knowledge	None	2	Know the details for magical treasures
Read Magic	Knowledge	None	2	Allows you to use scrolls.

List of all Languages

Jump to Page: Common Languages, Uncommon Languages, Rare Languages

Skill Name	Skill Tree	Prerequisite(s)	Skill Point Cost	Description
Andaranian Language	Knowledge	Scholar Roleplay Skill, Vargainen PC Creation	-	Speak the language of Vargainen and ancient Novitas.
Apian Language	Knowledge	Scholar Roleplay Skill, Verduran PC Creation	-	Speak the language of Insects.
Black Speech Language	Knowledge	Plot Marshal Approval	1	Speak the language of Sky Beasts
Canine Language	Knowledge	Scholar Roleplay Skill	-	Speak the language of Kazvaks and some Lycanthropes
Common	Knowledge	None	Free	Speak the Common language.
Diabolic Language	Knowledge	Scholar Roleplay Skill, Faekin PC Creation	-	Speak the language of the Dark Fae.
Draconic Language	Knowledge	Scholar Roleplay Skill, Drake PC Creation	-	Speak the language of piscenes, reptilians and drakes.
Elemental Language	Knowledge	Plot Marshal Approval, Scholar Level 4, or Druid Level 1	1	Speak the language of the Elementals.
Elvish	Knowledge	None	1	Speak the Elvish language.
Gershan	Knowledge	None	1	Speak the Gershan language.
Goblinoid Language	Knowledge	Plot Marshal Approval, Scholar Level 4, or Chosen of the Scholar Level 1	1	Speak the language of the Orc hordes.
Immortal Language	Knowledge	Plot Marshal Approval	1	Speak the language of the Illuminated
Ratfolk Language	Knowledge	Plot Marshal Approval, Scholar Level 4, or Chosen of the Scholar Level 1	1	Speak the language of the Ratfolk.
Sylvan Language	Knowledge	Scholar Roleplay Skill, Faekin PC Creation	-	Speak the language of the Light Fae.
Terran	Knowledge	None	1	Speak the Terran language.
Thieves' Cant Language	Knowledge	Plot Marshal Approval or Scholar Level 4	1	Understand the codewords of the Thieves Guild

Magic Skills

Skill Name	Skill Tree	Prerequisite(s)	Skill Point Cost	Description
Power	Magic	None	1	Gain 1 power point per game day. May be taken twenty (20) times.
Rituals of Aegis	Magic	School Mastery, Scholar Roleplaying Skill	1	You can cast Aegis Rituals
Rituals of Battle	Magic	School Mastery, Scholar Roleplaying Skill	1	You can cast Battle Rituals
Rituals of Compulsion	Magic	School Mastery, Scholar Roleplaying Skill	1	You can cast Compulsion Rituals
Rituals of Enchantment	Magic	School Mastery, Scholar Roleplaying Skill	1	You can cast Enchantment Rituals.
Rituals of Nature	Magic	School Mastery, Scholar Roleplaying Skill	1	You can cast Nature Rituals.
Rituals of Necromancy	Magic	School Mastery, Scholar Roleplaying Skill	1	You can cast Necromancy Rituals.
Rituals of Restoration	Magic	School Mastery, Scholar Roleplaying Skill	1	You can cast Restoration Rituals.

Production Skills

Skill Name	Skill Tree	Prerequisite(s)	Skill Point Cost	Description
Production Points	Production	None	1 per 2	Gain 2 production points per event. This can be taken up to 10 times for a total of 20 production points.
Alchemy Basics	Production	Herbalism	1	Produce level 1 alchemical items with production points
Alchemy Training	Production	Alchemy Basics	2	Produce level 2 alchemical items with production points
Alchemy Proficiency	Production	Alchemy Training	3	Produce level 3 alchemical items with production points
Alchemy Expertise	Production	Alchemy Proficiency	4	Produce level 4 alchemical items with production points
Alchemy Mastery	Production	Alchemy Expertise	5	Produce level 5 alchemical items with production points
Brew Potion	Production	None	2	Allows a character to create potions using production points.
Scribe Scroll	Production	Read Magic	4	Allows a character to produce scrolls using production points.

Master's Strikes

A master's strike is a type of modifier call granted by some abilities and items. When used a master's strike modifies the characters next successful hit. Using a master strike a character can add either the 'Slay!' call or the 'Pierce' call to a weapon attack (for the purposes of this ability a projectile weapon delivering a tag bag spell does not count as a weapon attack). Additionally when using a masters strike Might and Accuracy are capped at 4 while dual wielding, with a sword and shield, or when using throwing weapons instead of the normal caps of 2. Remember, only one modifier can be applied to a call at a time. If a modifer is already present, no additional modifiers can be added.

Example: A character is using a great weapon and they attack for half damage to apply the slay call to the attack. They may not then apply a master's strike to that attack to also add the pierce call.

Master's Blade

Option Name	Ornamenting Craftable	Weaponsmithing Craftable	Craft Point Cost	Description
Master's Blade	No	Master Weaponsmith and Master Tinkerer	8	If the wielder of this weapon is a weapon master they gain an additional master's strike each game day. Can only be taken by a weapon once. A character can only benefit from one additional master's strike from a master's blade each game day.

Alchemist's Lab

A Savant with an Alchemist's Laboratory gains 5 additional production points which break cap. These points stack with the bonus points gained from the Savant title for a total of 30 points.

Multiple character's in a party can each have their own Alchemist's Laboratory.

An Alchemist's Laboratory can only be created by a Master Crafter with both the Ornamenting Five and Tinkering Five skills.

Master's Staff

Option Name	Ornamenting Craftable	Weaponsmithing Craftable	Craft Point Cost	Description
Master's Staff	No	Master Weaponsmith and Master Ornamentor	8	Must be crafted onto a great weapon. The weapon is a Master's Staff. A character can only benefit from one item that counts as a Master's Staff per event. Select a school of magic at when this is crafted. When the staff is used by a master of that school the weapon reduces the cost of casting any spell from that school by 1 (to a minimum of 1). This does not stack with other effects. The feature can only be crafted onto a weapon once.

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Page last modified on August 28, 2024, at 10:01 PM