Character Progression
After character creation, your character is not static. As they develop throughout the course of their adventure in Gothic: the Lion Age, your character will have the opportunity to learn more about themselves, gain new skills, overcome character Flaws, purchase new abilities and otherwise become a more developed character. This happens through the acquisition of Experience Points, and Achievement Points which can be devoted to different aspects of character improvement.
Experience Points
Explanations of what sorts of things can be purchased with Experience Points appear throughout the game rules, but they are summarized here for ease.
| Abilities | Experience Cost |
|---|---|
| New Skill Ranks | 2 times the new Skill Rank |
| Increasing an Attribute to ʘ | 5 Experience |
| Increasing an Attribute to ʘʘ | 10 Experience |
| Basic Study | 1 Experience, must have Academics 3 |
| Technique | 3 Experience |
| Fighting Style | 10 Experience, Weapon Skill at 4 or Higher |
| Arcane Technique | 1 Experience, Appropriate Esoteric Studies |
| New Arcane Circle | 4 times the new Circle spent between Techniques, Promotion |
| Knight Oath | 2 Experience |
| New Knight Degree | New Degree + 1 in Oaths sworn, Promotion |
| Ritual | 1 Experience |
| New Priest Rank | 2 times new Rank in Rituals, Promotion |
| Paladin Gifts | 5 times their Tier |
Achievement Points
Achievement Points are similar to Experience Points but they may only be earned by a specific sort of success in game. There are several kinds of Achievements, and each kind can be spent in a different way. For example, Personal Achievement Points, earned by achieving a Personal Victory related to your character’s Devotion, may be spent exactly like Experience Points, but also can purchase some additional things that Experience Points cannot.
As well, different kinds of groups, such as Priests, Knights, Magicians and other kinds, may also earn Achievements related to the specific activities of their group. These Achievement Points can be spent on anything that is part of that group’s abilities – for instance, Techniques for Magicians, Oaths of Knights, Rituals for Priests. Some special abilities within an Organization may only be purchased with Achievements.
Organization Achievements may also be used to purchase Allies within the character’s Organization, or given to the Organization in the form of Influence, which is the commodity of an Organization’s advancement.
(Read more about Organizations)
| Abilities | Achievement Cost |
|---|---|
| Experience Point Use | 1 Personal Achievement |
| Increasing an Attribute to ʘʘʘ | 10 Personal Achievement Points |
| Remove a Character Flaw | Flaw Value in Personal Achievements, Story justification |
| Add a Character Perk after Creation | Perk Value in Personal Achievements, Story justification |
| Sacred Knight Oath | 2 Knight Achievements |
| Magician’s Arts | 1 Magician Achievement |
| Religious Mastery | 1 Priest Achievement |
| Sacred Rites | 1 Covenant Achievement |
| 1 Influence | Achievement from that Organization |
| Ally within Organization | 3 of the Organization’s Achievement per Ally Tier |
EARNING EXPERIENCE POINTS
ATTENDANCE
Characters earn experience points based on the amount of experience they have already earned, including Flaws. Characters earn more experience at the beginning of their career than at the end for attendance. Since Flaw experience counts toward this track, taking a large amount of flaws only moves you forward along the timeline.
Up to 35 XP: 4 per event
Up to 65 XP: 3 per event
Up to 90 XP: 2 per event
After 90 XP: 1 per event
Experience earned from Feasts, Character Writing, and Instruction do not count against this total for the purposes of advancing through the timeline.
CHARACTER WRITING
You may also earn experience points for your character by posting a meaningful character story on the official Gothic Forums. Posts can be either close-ended personal stories such as about your character’s feelings, history, memories, personality, or ongoing events, or they can be online public role-play between your character and others. The basic requirement to earn additional Experience Points for this activity is that your character’s depth be enriched through the process – that both you as your character’s player and the storytelling Staff learn something about your character that we did not know before the writing.
You may earn 1 Experience Point per Downtime period that you create such a post for the first 4 Downtimes you are in play. After that, you may continue to earn 1 Experience Point in this way every two Downtimes and writings. These can be caught up with afterward if writing these far into the character’s life, but Experience Points won’t be awarded ahead of this schedule.
Characters with over 90 XP cannot earn experience from Character Writing.
Feasts
Partaking of a Feast in game, an item created with expensive in-game ingredients and special skill, can award your character one extra Experience Point per game session. The Spices required to create a Feast are expensive, and an actual feast with served food must be performed in-game and eaten. Because of the excellent nutrition that being so well-fed provides, characters who Feast are awarded 1 extra Experience Point at the end of the game session. See Items and Materials for more information on Feasts and other items.
Don’t you see my pupil. When you kill a man, you not only nullify everything he was, but also everything he will be. Death rings across ages. It is like a savage roar across time. See how you gasp for breath? It is your very future forsaking you. See how it drains out of you into the earth? How, in time, it will leave your body cold and inert? But do not worry, your death shan’t be in vain. I believe deeply in second chances. I shall save you from your fate as simple dust. I will give you a new future; One where you don’t try to betray me.