Character Advancement

A character’s **level** and **rank** are a measure of their power and capabilities. Characters can have up to 50 levels, and every 5 levels (except Ranks 0 and 1) gains an additional rank to a total of 10 ranks.

Characters start play at level 1 and generally gains a level every one or two sessions. This rate can be increased of decreased depending on the speed of play you want. Every time a character gains a level, they gain a number of **Improvement Points (IP)** listed under the respective Rank for that level, used to advance skill bonuses and ability scores. If a character has a high Intellect score, they gain additional IP. A character gains IP equal to double their Intellect bonus upon entering a new rank, including rank 0. When entering the first level of a new rank, they also gain a handful of bonuses such as vitality and stunt increases, talent points, and perk points. These bonuses will be covered later in the chapter.

Upon entering a new rank, a character will sometimes gain a number of talents and perks. **Talents** are selected from the character’s class and specialization. **Perks** are selected from the general perk pool.

## Skill Advances

Each skill can be increased by spending IP gained from leveling up on a **skill advance**. Skills have a maximum bonus of +3, and all skills start at tier 0. Each tier of a skill must be purchased in order from 1 to 5. On tiers 1, 3, and 5, the skill bonus increases to +1 at tier 1, +2 at tier 3, and +3 at tier 5. On tiers 2, and 4, the character is granted a perk in relation to the skill being raised. The perk pool that perk can be chosen from is listed in the skill listing under Skills.

## Ability Score Increases

When increasing an ability score, you must purchase an ability score increase which adds +1 to the ability score. **Primary abilities** are the abilities that are easiest for your character to enhance. These skills cost less IP than normal to increase and have a score maximum of 16. **Secondary abilities** are the abilities that are enhanced at a standard rate for your character. These skills cost the standard amount of IP to increase and have a score maximum of 14. **Tertiary abilities** are the abilities that are the most difficult for your character to enhance. These skills cost much more IP than normal to increase and have a score maximum of 12.

## Talent and Perk Points

Talent and perk points are used to purchase and enhance the various class and elite class talents and general perks to enhance a character. When initially purchasing a talent or perk, the character spends 1 talent point for talents or 1 perk point for a perk. **Talents** can be enhanced to the next tier by spending another talent point, with additional tiers being listed under the talent entry. Talents can only be enhanced to a maximum of the tiers listed. **Perks** can only be purchased once and cannot be raised to higher tiers.

## Elite Classes

When a character reaches rank 2 (level 5), they have the choice of entering an Elite Class. There are several Elite Classes listed in their own chapter and a character of any base class can enter any Elite Class. Talent points can be spent in a character’s Elite Class just like their base Class. A character can only have one Elite Class at a time, and once chosen, cannot be reversed unless allowed by the GM.

If a player doesn’t wish to gain any of the Elite Classes for their character, they may instead choose a second base class as their Elite Class instead. If they do so, they only gain access to that class’s talents and does not gain any of its starting bonuses such as skills, gear, and vitality.