Leveling Up

When a party has accomplished something of significance in a campaign, the GM may tell them that it is time to Level Up. How often this happens is up to your GM and your group’s narrative preferences, but most groups play at least three sessions (or many more) in between each time they Level Up.

When you Level Up, all the members of the party will raise their Level by +1 and have the chance to upgrade their character’s traits and abilities. Generally, characters begin their journey at Level 1 and end their journey at Level 10, but if a party loses a character in the middle of a campaign, the GM may instead choose to have that player make a new character at the appropriate level of the party (if the player wishes).

When a party Levels Up, each player follows the steps outlined in the “Leveling Up” section of their Character Guide. This section is divided up into tier blocks; each tier offers a different set of options you can choose from when upgrading your character.

Tiers of Play

Levels in Daggerheart are divided into tiers. The first tier is only level one. The second tier contains Levels 2-4, the third tier contains Levels 5-7, and the fourth tier is for Levels 8-10. Each tier affects your damage thresholds, Level Achievements, and more, as described in the following sections.

Level Achievements

The first thing players do is take any Level Achievements their character has earned. These are given in bold at the top of the tier block. They include:

At Level 2 (when you reach second tier), everyone earns an additional Experience and adds it to their character sheet with a modifier of +2. They also increase their Proficiency by +1.

At Level 5 (when you reach third tier), everyone earns an additional Experience and adds it to their character sheet with a modifier of +2, as well as increases their Proficiency by +1. They also clear the marks on each Character Trait they’ve previously increased and marked (allowing them to later increase those traits further).

At Level 8 (when you reach fourth tier), everyone earns an additional Experience and adds it to their character sheet with a modifier of +2, as well as increases their Proficiency by +1. They also clear the marks on each Character Trait they’ve previously increased and marked.

For help with Experience, see “Step 7: Choose Your Experiences” in chapter 1.

Choosing Advancements

Next, players have a set list of options for upgrading their character. This can be found on their Character Guide or in the class section of this book. They choose two from the list that have an open box next to them (they may choose the same one twice if it has two open boxes), make the changes on their character sheet that reflect this upgrade, then on their Character Guide, mark one of the open boxes on the options they chose. Any options with all of their boxes marked can’t be used again.

When you choose to increase two unmarked Character Traits and mark them: Choose two Character Traits that don’t already have marks in them, and increase their values by +1. These stats won’t be able to be increased again until the next tier (when your Level Achievement allows you to clear those marks).

When you choose to increase an Experience: Choose one Experience on your character sheet and increase it by +1.

When you choose to increase your Evasion: Raise your evasion score by 1.

When you choose to permanently add one or more Hit Point Slots: Darken the outline of the next circle in the Hit Point section of your character sheet in permanent marker.

When you choose to permanently add an Armor Slot: Darken the outline of the next circle in the Armor section at the top of your character sheet in permanent marker.

When you choose to permanently add a Stress Slot: Darken the outline of the next circle in the Stress section of your character sheet in permanent marker.

When you choose to take another domain card at your level or lower: You can choose an additional domain card from your classes’ domains at your level or lower. If you have multiclassed, choose a card no higher than half your level, as usual.

When you choose to increase your Damage Proficiency: Fill in one of the open circles in the Damage Proficiency section, then increase your weapon’s number of damage dice by 1 (for example, increasing its damage from 2d6 to 3d6). You’ll see a black box around the level-up slots. That is because increasing your proficiency requires you to mark both level-up slots in order to take it as an option.

When you choose to increase a Damage Threshold: Add the amount indicated in the advancement to the appropriate threshold. For example, if your Major Damage threshold is 20 and you’re supposed to increase it by +2, inrease that threshold to 22.

When you choose to take an upgraded subclass card: Take the next card in the subclass arc. If you only have the foundation card, take a specialization. If you have a specialization already, take a mastery. You’ll also cross out the option to multiclass during that tier of level-ups.

When you choose to multiclass: You can take certain features and domain cards from another class. You’ll see a black box around the level-up slots. That is because multiclassing requires you to mark both level-up slots in order to take it as an option. See “Multiclassing” below for details.

Raising Damage Thresholds

After choosing advancements, players then raise their Damage Thresholds as designated by the tier. The amount varies depending on a PC’s class, and can be found on the Character Guide.

If the Major Threshold should ever be raised enough that it is equal or greater than the Severe Threshold during a level up or at any other time, the Severe Threshold also increases to be at least one point above the Major Threshold.

Taking Domain Cards

Finally, all players take a new Domain Deck card of their Level or lower, increasing the special abilities their character can use. They may choose one card from any domain deck available to their class. If they share a domain deck with another player at the table, they’ll want to have a discussion with each other to make sure they take each other’s preferences into consideration when choosing a card.

In addition, they may also choose to trade out one domain card they already have for a different domain card at a level equal to the chosen card or lower.

Since each player can’t have more than five Domain Cards active at a time, players at Level 5 and above will need to choose which Domain Cards to keep in their Loadout and which to store in their Vault, as described in “Loadout and Vault” in chapter 1.

Multiclassing

Starting at Level 5, you may choose multiclassing as an option when leveling up. When you multiclass, you will get to choose an additional class to take a domain from, and gain access to that class’ Class Feature.. Take the appropriate Multiclass Module and add it to the right side of your character sheet, then choose a Foundation card from a subclass of your choice. If that Foundation card has a Spellcast Trait on it, you can choose to use that trait when making a Spellcast roll.

When you multiclass, you also must cross out one available “take an upgraded subclass card” option on the level up sheet, meaning you won’t be able to gain the mastery card for any subclass. You will also cross out any other multiclass options, as you can only multiclass once during a campaign.

Choose a domain you don’t already have access to from the choices on the module. Whenever you get to choose domain cards, you may now always also look at cards that match your additional domain at half your current level (rounded up). This means a Level 5 Wizard who decides to multiclass into Druid and chooses the Sage Domain would also have the option of any Level 3 or below Sage Domain cards.

Any attacks, spells, or other moves you use while multiclassing are always performed at your current level. For example, a Level 7 Wizard that multiclasses into a Druid can use the Level 7 Beastform options. If any move you get by multiclassing asks you to use a number of dice equal to your Level, it is the Level on your character sheet. It is only the domain cards that are subject to the half-level restriction.

Example of Leveling Up

Kat’s party has just advanced to level 2 and the group is leveling up together. Kat slides up the Warrior character information sheet to bring Tabby up to level 2.

First, Kat adds a new Experience for Tabby. Because Tabby has been doing a lot of acrobatics and daring jumps, they decide to give her the Experience “Always Land on my Feet”. It’s a new Experience, so they set it at +2.

Next, they look at the advancement options for Levels 2-4. They know they want to increase Tabby’s Agility , since that’s her primary trait for combat. So first they mark “Increase two unmarked Character Traits by 1 and mark them.” Kat chooses Agility and Instinct , raising each by 1 (Tabby now has an Agility of +3 and an Instinct of +2), then marks the circle by each trait raised as a reminder that they can’t be raised again until Tabby hits level 5 and clears marks on all traits.

Next, because Tabby is the front line for her group, Kat marks “Permanently add one Armor Slot.” They look at the armor section of Tabby’s character sheet and permanently fill in the outline of one of the dotted squares to represent Tabby gaining a new permanent armor slot. That means she’ll be able to take more punishment in combat.

Then they go to Tabby’s Damage thresholds and increase Tabby’s Severe threshold by 2, from 16 to 18.

Lastly, Kat asks for the domain decks for Blade and Bone to pick a new domain card at level 2 or lower. At level 2, their options in the Blade deck are Reckless and A Soldier’s Bond . Their choices from the Bone are Strategic Approach and Ferocity . Kat really likes the option to gain and give hope with A Soldier’s Bond, and since Tabby’s Knowledge trait is only 0, they don’t think Strategic Approach is a good choice. They settle on Ferocity to give themselves an evasion boost when Tabby is in the middle of a number of foes and taking a lot of attacks.

New domain card in their loadout, Kat reviews the steps. They added their experience of “Always Land on My Feet” at +2, they picked two advancement options and applied them, they raised their Severe HP threshold, and they selected a new domain card - Ferocity. Kat goes back and writes in “2” for Tabby’s level and then updates the damage bonus from Combat Training to +2, since her level has increased.

Now Tabby is ready to continue her journey as a level 2 Warrior!