Beyond the First Steps

From fighting on the frontlines to raiding royal repositories, the activities of your character and their party members gains them experience points. As these accumulate a character will eventually gain a level when they’ve acquired a certain number of experience points as seen in the table below.

When your character gains a level their class offers additional features, and at certain levels their proficiency bonus increases. Leveling up will eventually provide the opportunity to increase your ability scores; however no ability score can surpass 20.

As part of the process, each level provides your character with an additional Hit Die. You may either roll this die or take the average result of the die (rounded up), add your Constitution modifier, and increase your hit point maximum by that amount.

Tiers of Play

The challenges your characters face and the adventures they take can be classified into five main tiers of play. Tiers of play help give you an idea of what to expect involving the scale of the challenges you face and how the world generally reacts to you.

At Tier 0 (levels 1st–2nd) your characters are novices. They are taking their very first steps towards destiny, perhaps traveling further from their homes than ever before. The obstacles and foes they face are only slightly more perilous than what commoners contend with, albeit more frequent

At Tier 1 (levels 3rd–4th) your characters are local heroes. They are coming into their own as adventurers and learning the basic elements of their classes. Threats are small in scale and scope.

At Tier 2 (levels 5th–10th) your characters are regional heroes. They are accessing new levels of martial or magical power and can use skills, features, and magic that attract attention and acclaim.

At Tier 3 (levels 11th–16th) your characters are masters of their craft, well beyond the abilities of other people and even other adventurers. Spells can bend the definition of what’s possible while martial characters taking to the battlefield can and have turned the tides of massive battles.

At Tier 4 (levels 17th–20th) your characters have reached a point where the challenges they face are of world-changing size and proportion. At this tier, your character’s actions have the potential to fundamentally alter the lives and wellbeing of those that rely on (or fear) them.

Other parts of the game will also refer to tiers of play, including exploration challenges and regions . These tiers assist the Narrator in determining appropriate challenges for the player characters.