Character Development

EXPERIENCE POINTS
A hero’s sense of accomplishment, his confidence and skill at arms and the hard-earned respect paid to him by his peers are represented by the award of Experience points. These points allow players to buy Valour and Wisdom ranks, and to attain superior levels of proficiency in their chosen Weapon skills. Players receive one Experience point each at the end of every gaming session they attend. Moreover, if the Loremaster deems that the group has made substantial progress toward the achievement of their chosen Company objective, each hero is awarded with a supplementary Experience point. Players keep track of the number of Experience points they gain during play by updating their score on the character’s sheet. To do so, they use the larger box - the smaller box, labeled Total, is used to record how many Experience points a player has received and invested

ADVANCEMENT POINTS
Characters develop their Common skills by using them and earning Advancement points. During the game, a player can be awarded an Advancement point by the Loremaster when he uses a Common skill and succeeds – or fails! – in a distinctive or memorable way. A hero successfully invoking a Trait for an action is more likely to earn an Advancement point. Usually, a character earns an Advancement point when the outcome of an action surprises the acting player, his companions, and possibly the Loremaster.

When an Adventuring phase is over, players may spend some or all their Advancement points during the Fellowship phase to raise the ratings of their Common skills. Advancement points are recorded on the character sheet by putting a ‘check mark’ on one of the three circles to the right of the Skill group that the skill used belongs to. Player-heroes may earn up to a maximum of three points in each Skill group in the course of an Adventuring phase: when the Adventuring phase is over, all points are accounted for and the check marks are erased from the character sheet.

COMPANY OBJECTIVE
A Company objective is a goal shared by all companions, something that is usually decided upon by all players at the beginning of a session of play. When they have finished considering how to proceed with the adventure presented to them by the Loremaster, the players should briefly confer and then choose a short or mid-term goal for them to try to achieve as a group.

A Company objective should be relevant, arising either from the situation introduced by the Loremaster in the first session of a new Adventuring phase, or from the latest developments in the phase to date.

Choosing a Company objective helps the players to focus on their characters’ motives for adventuring, and helps them to identify their own objectives for the current session of play. The Loremaster should let the heroes gain the supplementary Experience point under most circumstances, unless there are very good reasons to consider that the group hasn’t progressed toward its goal (i.e. the possibility of denying this Experience point ‘award’ should not be used as a form of generic ‘punishment’ for the group).