Advancement

## **Change Happens**

Characters are not static objects—they grow and develop over time, evolving in response to the conflicts they face during the game and the choices they make. Cities are similar—but they grow and develop in response to the successes and failures of the various characters. The rate at which both characters and cities grow and change is measured in milestones.

### **Chapters**

Unlike most games, Echoes of the Leviathan will be split up into “Chapters”. Each Chapter will cover the span of several days to a week, and will deal with several plotlines and mysteries. Each chapter will deal with certain situations, characters and themes. There will be a total of 10 Chapters in Echoes of the Leviathan.

### **Milestones & Characters**

Milestones are moments in the game where something has happened to justify some kind of advancement. Milestones fall into three categories—minor, significant, and major. There are some guidelines for when each happens, along with what characters can do during each type of milestone.

The breakdown is:

·         One minor milestone at the end of ***every*** session.

·         One significant milestone at the end of every Chapter.

·         One major milestone every two to three Chapters (for a total of three)

When you receive a major milestone, it surpasses and replaces both significant and minor milestones (the rewards having been incorporated into the major milestone itself. Likewise, when you receive a significant milestone, you do not also receive a minor milestone, the significant milestone supersedes and replaces the minor milestone.

### **Minor Milestone**

Minor milestones occur at the end of a session of play. A minor milestone allows the characters to evolve in response to the story that’s been unfolding before them.

When a minor milestone occurs, you may choose two of the following:

·         Switch the rank values of any two skills, or replace one Average skill with one that isn’t on your sheet.

·         Change any single **stunt**  for another, stunt.

·         Rename one **aspect**.

Minor milestones are ideal when you want to switch the focus of your character’s existing abilities or change something on the character sheet, like a skill or the wording of an aspect. Maybe something happens in the story that makes part of your character’s sheet seem inappropriate, or you’ve simply discovered that your choice of skills, aspects, and stunts don’t match your expectations in play.

 Obviously, these changes should be justified as much as possible, either within the story(“Hey, my character’s contact died, so I think I want to make his Joe the Reliable Contact aspect into Vengeance for Joe, okay?”) or as a result of play (“So I thought I wanted this guy to have a Good (+3) Presence, but I’m not really using it much—it’d be more fitting if he had a lower Presence and a higher Rapport, so I’m going to switch it out with my Fair (+2) Rapport.”). If the skill you’re switching out is at Average (+1), you may change it for a skill that isn’t on your sheet. Be careful when switching a character’s peak skills (his highest ones), though—this can significantly change the character, which is not the purpose of a minor milestone. Keep it in character, so to speak.

 **Changing High Concepts and Troubles**

High concepts are pretty sacrosanct and won’t change with just a minor milestone. If they change at all, it will happen with a major milestone, which you’ll read about later on.

On the other hand, maybe you’ve taken care of your trouble. Or maybe your trouble doesn’t mean much to your character anymore. Great! Just make sure that you replace it with a new trouble, and not just any random aspect.

### **Significant Milestone**

A significant milestoneoccurs at the conclusion of a chapter, (usually every two or three sessions). Significant milestones are about advances of experience, as the characters have learned new things in dealing with problems and challenges.

When a significant milestone occurs, your character gets allof the following:

·         Two **skill** points.

·         You may purchase **Supernatural Powers**  and Mortal Stunts.

·         Switch the rank values of any two skills, or replace one Average skill with one that isn’t on your sheet.

·         Change any single stunt for another, stunt.

·         Rename one aspect.

When you’re upgrading an existing skill, you need only pay the difference in cost—if you have an Average slot, you can upgrade it to a Fair slot by paying one skill point.

#### **Important**

Remember the rule from **Character Creation**  that says you can’t have more skills at a given rank than you have at any lesser rank? That still applies here*.*

### **Major Milestone**

A major milestone only occurs when something has happened in the campaign that shakes it up. When these happen, the characters jump up a scale of power.

When a major milestone occurs, your character gets all of the following:

 ·         You can “clear out” an **extreme consequence**  slot, allowing it to be used again.

·         Three skill points.

·         Two additional points of **refresh**.

·         You may purchase Supernatural Powers and Mortal Stunts.

·         Switch the rank values of any two skills, or replace one Average skill with one that isn’t on your sheet.

·         Change any single stunt for another, stunt.

·         Rename one aspect.

 These milestones signify a *major change* in the power structure of your campaign— your characters are going to be dealing with a whole new tier of obstacles from here on out.

This is a *really* big deal; it means that the PCs are directly able to take on more powerful threats *and* have a wider variety of resources to draw on to face those threats. (To use a boxing analogy, an advancement of power is like stepping up to the next weight class—you might be the most skilled boxer in the world, but if you’re a featherweight, there’s still only so much you can do against a less-skilled heavyweight.)

 During the second major milestone and ***only*** the second major milestone, the skill cap will increase by one rank. This allows the characters to raise their skills up into larger-than-life levels, transcending all previous expectations of human capability. During this major milestone, players will also receive a secondary packet of Stunts and Powers, allowing them to evolve even further.

#### **Completely Revising Characters**

If there’s enough downtime in your story between a major milestone and the next adventure, you might also consider re-creating your characters as a group— adjusting aspects, reconfiguring skills, buying stunts and powers, etc. While you don’t need to go through the phases part of character creation again, it’s a chance to rethink or replace your character’s high concept. As long as there’s some commonality to the character for a sense of continuity, this isn’t a problem.

#### **A Note on Power Level**

It should be important to note that with the rewards for all 10 chapters (the rewards for chapter 10 to be given at its beginning, rather than its end), players will receive a total of 6 refresh points and 23 skill points. This is more than half again your starting power level, and should be considered when taking into account what you purchase and advance.