Gains and Rewards
Full versionThroughout your characters' adventures, you will be responsible for awarding them rewards. This section offers practical advice not only for adjusting rewards according to existing scenario guidelines, but also for creating your own scenarios and defining rewards suited to the challenges designed for your players.
You will find guidance for distributing experience points, ability points, and monetary rewards fairly and effectively.
Reward Types
Let's revisit the different types of rewards and their uses, which will help you better understand their purposes and implications.
Experience Points (XP)
Experience Points (XP) are essential for leveling up player characters (PCs). They earn XP by completing quests and winning combats.
Next Level XP Cost = 2 x Current Level
XP can also be used to significantly improve test results, by adding +10 to a test performed, before or after rolling it.
1 XP spent = +10 to the roll
Ability Points (AP)
Ability Points (AP) are earned at the end of an encounter or upon leveling up, with each level-up granting 3 AP.
These points allow PCs to acquire new abilities or upgrade them during a long rest in a relaxed setting. To unlock an ability evolution, the character must have reached the minimum level required for it.
3 AP spent = Acquisition or upgrade of an ability
AP can also be used to reduce the cooldown of abilities.
| AP Spent | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 AP | Reduces an ability's cooldown by 1 turn for each AP spent. Can be combined with Magic Points (MP) consumption for additional reduction. |
| 2 AP | Allows immediate reuse of an ability whose per-encounter usage limit has been reached. |
| 3 AP | Allows immediate reuse of an ability whose daily usage limit has been reached. |
It is important to note that these reuse options are not applicable to Innate Abilities.
Nexus Shards (NX)
Nexus Shards (NX) are the game's currency and can be used in various contexts:
- Purchases: Use NX to acquire items, weapons, or equipment.
- Upgrades: Invest NX to upgrade your weapons and equipment.
- Adventure expenses: Cover regular expenses, such as inn fees.
- Bribery: Use NX to influence other characters and facilitate your interactions.
NX also allow maintaining the soul connection of a character who has fallen in combat, which is essential for a potential resurrection (refer to the Player's Guide for more details).
Determining Rewards
Let's now look at some guidelines and tips that will help you more easily determine the rewards to award your players.
Quests and Missions
Quests and missions represent one of the main ways for PCs to earn XP. The importance of the quest determines the amount of XP that can be earned.
| Importance | Description | Gains per PC |
|---|---|---|
| Insignificant | Minor tasks with no major challenge, often compensated by a monetary reward. | 0 XP |
| Notable | Quests with modest challenges or narrative importance. | 1 XP |
| Significant | Major quests requiring significant skills and effort. | 2 XP |
| Exceptional | Epic and rare quests with a considerable impact on the game world. | 3 XP |
Combats and Encounters
PCs earn XP and AP by facing opponents. Here is how to determine the XP/AP rewards per PC per combat.
| Encounter Type | Description | Gains per PC |
|---|---|---|
| Random | Encounters not planned by the scenario, with no narrative impact. | 0 XP and 0 AP |
| Standard | Combats with basic creatures or weak adversaries. | 1 XP and 1 AP |
| Mini-Boss | Encounters with at least one creature having HP or dealing damage comparable to a boss. | 2 XP and 2 AP |
| Boss | Epic confrontations with creatures acting as bosses. | 3 XP and 3 AP |
It is strongly advised against rewarding player characters who engage in farming, i.e., excessive repetition of combats to accumulate gains, unless this approach is specifically planned by your scenario.
Monetary Rewards
To determine the monetary reward amount for a scenario, you must consider the following parameters:
- Reward base: 100 NX
- Minimum number of sessions to complete your scenario (considering that a session lasts between 1h30 and 2h30).
Here is the formula to apply to determine the minimum recommended monetary reward amount for each PC:
Min. reward per PC = 100 x Number of sessions
Distributing Rewards
When the rewards for your scenario are set, adjust the amounts of Experience Points (XP) and Ability Points (AP) to offer various rewards depending on the methods used by the players to resolve quests or missions.
It is advisable to maintain an overall equivalence between the XP and AP distributed, regardless of the path chosen by the players.
Let's take the example of a scenario featuring a final combat against a mini-boss, rewarding each player character (PC) with 2 XP and 2 AP. If the players opt to capture the villain alive, you could adjust the rewards to 3 XP and 1 AP, thus valuing a more strategic or diplomatic approach.
Regarding monetary rewards, you have the flexibility to distribute them either at the end of the scenario or each session, or progressively as combats and quests are resolved.
It is recommended to distribute monetary rewards regularly to allow players to cover at minimum their adventure expenses.