Advancement Guide

## Advancement

Characters advance with the Slow XP progression. If for some reason you earn more experience points than you would like, you can choose to refuse some of the experience points in order to stay at a lower level. In addition to gaining class levels (with maximum hit points per level), you may select some of the following options to increase your character's power:

### Templates

With an application and some RP (200 RP for the first, 500 for the second), templates can be added to PCs in just the same way that they can be added to monsters. Any template that gives a natural armor bonus instead gives a "Template bonus to Natural Armor". This means that natural armor bonuses from different templates do **not** stack, but they do increase any natural armor that you already have. Characters with a template that changes their type (not subtype) cannot take another template that changes their type. Templates increase the ECL of a character by their CR adjustment.

Characters must achieve any in game requirements that the template suggests (e.g. Alchemically Quickened characters must go through some sort of dangerous alchemical experiment to achieve the template). This may be simply a good story to go with your application, the consequences of a session, or some sort of occult ritual. The Master of the Ban Hammer will let you know what in game things you must accomplish if/when they approve your application.

You may request an Inherited template for a character long after the character is created. In this case, the character must go through some sort of trial to awaken the inherited power the template provides. This is to explain why the character hasn't exhibited the full benefits of the template yet, as well as to mirror the requirements of an acquired template.

Characters must be level 7 before acquiring their first template, and level 11 before acquiring their second. However, they may have higher requirements if they're powerful, depending on ruling of the Master of the Ban Hammer. If/when the template is approved, you will be told how to handle adjusting your ECL and apply the template if it has a variable CR adjustment.

When you request a template, you may request a 3pp or custom template. For custom templates, you must take an existing template to compare it to (an existing Paizo template, or one that's been previously approved). This can be either by taking a template and tweaking it some, or by creating an entirely new template and showing how it compares to template with the same CR adjustment.

### Mythic

The Mythic system presented by Paizo offers an interesting way for characters to achieve levels of power that no normal mortal could hope to achieve, and serves as an excellent means to develop epic play. When your character reaches enough experience points to reach effectively level 21 (5,700,000 xp), your character achieves their first Mythic Tier. They select a Mythic path at this point, and all of the benefits therein.

To advance to the higher tiers of mythic, they must complete trials. Not all high level sessions will include mythic trials, though. See the chart below for the number of trials required.

Our special rules regarding Mythic play can be found here.

### Effective Character Level

When asked for your Effective Character Level or ECL, only two things factor into that. The first is your character's **main** class levels (not gestalt levels), and the second is the CR adjustment of any templates. Although your ECL is used to determine your WBL, it does not grant you additional ability score increases or feats (only your main class level grants these).

### Experience Points per Level

Use the following chart to help you figure out experience points required to reach higher MYTHIC TIERS

1. Effective 21st and 22nd are only used to determine your cohort's maximum level.
2. Characters cannot gain more than 20 gestalt levels.

### Class Dipping

Some classes offer valuable benefits early on, with an expectation that these options will balance out with the rest of the class, or whose benefit isn't that impactful at those low levels. With the ability to multiclass though, this means that there can be unintended interactions that come up when only taking a level or two in a class (dipping). The fact that this often results in a somewhat disjointed character begging the question of "why didn't they ever advance that facet of their abilities (i.e. why only the one or two levels)?" leads to the following stipulation.

Characters must invest a minimum of two levels into any class they take. While leveling up, characters can of course start taking levels in a new class, so long as they intend to eventually put two total levels into that class. The two exceptions to this are 1) Prestige Classes and 2) classes used to qualify for 'advanced' prestige classes (PrCs that advance the base class used to qualify). The second exception is not universal, and characters that meet the letter of the exception without meeting the spirit may be subject to review.

## End Game

Whether because you don't particularly wish to spend a lot of time playing in mythic level play, or you don't feel like there's enough sessions where your character can stretch their legs, you may wish to change things up with a favorite character. There are a few options that you can consider when your character gets high level, and you want to do something other than play in those sessions.

### Retirement

When you’ve played a character for a long time, it makes sense for them to end their story. The character goes off into the Outer Sphere to challenge the gods, they finally achieve their magnum opus and retire, or maybe they finally just accept to leave the world to the mortals and die right and proper. Any and all of these scenarios can bring a satisfying and rewarding conclusion to a character’s career. This is also something that should reward the player as well. We all love to play our characters, and getting attached to a character that’s been played for months or maybe even years is no surprise. For this reason, if you retire a character after they've reached level 5 (without using downtime experience) you are afforded the following rewards:

* 25 RP per ECL.
* Permission to play the character as an NPC in perpetuity.
* A special Discord title.

Make sure to make a post in the Character Requests forum to get these rewards and officially declare their 'retirement'.

### Lost Again

When you've played your character to at least level 15, but want to see them continue adventuring without all the baggage that comes with higher level sessions, you can have them be submerged in Fiend's Reach's tide once again. This gives you the following:

* 5 RP per ECL.
* Start the character anew at levels 1 through 3 (your choice) with up to the same number of gestalt levels.
* Your Wealth by Level is set to the new starting level you chose.
* You may keep any downtime businesses as well as special research completed.
* Free templates when you get approved for them (assuming you had 2 templates previously).

* Any inherent bonuses to ability scores through wishes or tomes slowly return to you. You begin play with a +1 inherent bonus in any ability score that you previously acquired. This increase by 1 at 5th level, and every 5 levels thereafter, up to the maximum amount that you had prior to washing ashore.
	+ For example, if your character had 3 wishes to increase their Strength, and had read a +2 tome of understanding, then they would start their second wash ashore with a +1 inherent bonus to Strength and Wisdom. At level 5 that would increase to +2 Strength and Wisdom, reaching the maximum bonus you had on Wisdom. At level 10, their inherent bonus to Strength would increase to +3, finally reaching the maximum they previously had.

If you reach a high enough level again with this character, you may select another end game option again, but its benefits don't stack. Each time your character resets the same, regardless of how many times they've reached the end game before.

### Saltborn+

When you've played your character to at least level 20, you can submerge a character in the bleaching waters of the Reach a second time. This time though, when you wash up, you're not a normal mortal anymore. This gives you the following:

* 5 RP per ECL.
* Start the character anew at levels 1 through 3 (your choice) with up to the same number of gestalt levels.
* Your Wealth by Level is set to the new starting level you chose.
* You may keep any downtime businesses as well as special research completed.
* You gain a +1 template right from the beginning.
* Your second template is free once approved (assuming you had 2 templates previously).

This end game option must follow the normal application for templates (unless you are selecting a template that doesn't require approval, such as advanced). If you reach a high enough level again with this character, you may select another end game option again, but its benefits don't stack. Each time your character resets the same, regardless of how many times they've reached the end game before.

### Mythic Washashore

Once you reach mythic with a character, you can chose to wash ashore again, but this time, the tides don't take everything from you. You retain a modicum of mythic power. This gives you the following:

* 5 RP per ECL.
* Start the character anew at levels 1 through 3 (your choice) with up to the same number of gestalt levels.
* Your Wealth by Level is set to the new starting level you chose.
* You may keep any downtime businesses as well as special research completed.
* Free templates when you get approved for them (assuming you had 2 templates previously).
* You start off with Mythic Tier 1. This counts as a +2 template, and adjusts your ECL accordingly.

If you reach mythic again with your character, you can apply for a different template to replace the +2 template slot that mythic took up. If you reach a high enough level again with this character, you may select another end game option again, but its benefits don't stack. Each time your character resets the same, regardless of how many times they've reached the end game before.

### Mythic Apprentice

Similar to the retirement option, you may chose to pass the torch when your character reaches mythic. This gives you the following:

* 5 RP per ECL.
* Permission to play the character as an NPC in perpetuity.
* You create a new character at levels 1 to 3 (your choice) with up to the same number of gestalt levels.
* This character has the Wealth by Level appropriate to their starting level.
* They additionally gain an heirloom item, as described in the Godspawn character option.
* +10 Fame
* They may automatically gain the Initiate, Officer, Commander, and High Commander titles of an organization that the Mythic Mentor is a part of, when the apprentice gains the required Fame score.

This new character doesn't inherit any other gear or abilities from their mentor. If this character reaches a high enough level to select an end game option, they lose the heirloom item, fame, and title as appropriate for the end game option.