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GrimLewd Leveling and Paths overview
🕑 Added 2023-06-29 17:09:10 +0000 UTCThis post will explain my current understanding of how the leveling/tiering system works. Since this setting is very much a work in progress I will probably change some aspects of it over time
I will be using the terms level/tier and class/path interchangebly. I think tiers and paths sound cooler so that's how I discribe them in universe, but classes and levels are the common way of phrasing it. So I'll use both.
Overview
Getting a class is a mater of intent, action, identity and time. You must perform a role/profession/action over an extended period of time. You must see that role as a important part of your identity and you must consent to the class.
You won't get an accidental [blacksmith] class just for knocking out a couple of daggers for fun. And you will not get it if you truly don't want to be a [blacksmith]. Simply put, you actually have to be a blacksmith to become a [blacksmith].
There is no limit to how many classes a person can have, other than time and practicality. There's only so many things a person can truly be. Most people will take a primary path, related to their profession and a handful of additional ones to compliment their main class.
Each level in any class grants passive bonuses. Martial classes tend to give strength/dexterity or vitality. Intellectual ones boost memory etc. The higher your overall level, the more resistance you have to magical corruption.
Along with levels come passive and active [abilities]. Each time you level up there's a chance you will get or tier up an [ability], depending on what you spent time on since the last level up. Training and stretching your [abilities] to their limits is key to growing more powerful and broadening your [ability] toolset.
You can not lose a class, or levels. They can however be changed through corruption or path advancment.
Getting your first path
Pretty much every sentient being in the world of GrimLewd is given an option to take a [path] upon reaching later adolescence. For humans it would be around 16 years of age.
Most adolescents get offered multiple options for their first path based on their experiences and surroundings. Knowing this, most societies tend to try to steer adolescents towards more productive persuits.
Most paths are mundane/non magical. A [farmers] child will be very unlikely to be exposed to any level of magical knowledge or energy. As a result of that magical paths tend to be very rare and highly valued.
People living in more magically corrupted parts of the world are more likely to get offered magical variants of classes.
Path changes:
Any time you level up your classes can shift or merge. It almost always happens at tier 20, but it is possible in other tiers if something major changed in your life. A [wife] may turn into a [widow], a [warrior] into a [soldier] etc. depending on their experiences in life.
Corruption:
Magical corruption tends to extend the lives of humans, allowing them to reach higher levels over their lifetimes. Corrupted classes also tend to be easier to level and more powerful.
Corrupted classes also tend to be highly personalised. They are very dependant on a person's psychology, the situation in which they were acquired as well as the type of magical corruption involved.
Leveling:
You gain experience and levels differently depending on your path. Broadly speaking fighters do it by fighting, crafters by crafting, and thinkers by thinking.
Example: Billy the [blacksmith] gained his class at age 16 after apprentecing in his father's forge for 4 years. He is a kid of above average talent and drive, and he is happy to work in his father's proffesion.
Levels 0-10
An average person, with moderate drive and talent, will archive level 10 in their main class in about 10 years of moderate effort. At that stage they will be as skilled as a pathless human would be after a lifetime of training, but no more.
Example: At age 25 billy reaches level 10 of his class. His forge is always the right temperature, his hammer accurate and swift. He can tell a bad piece of metal at a glance, and he is very difficult to tire when he is at his forge. He can make pretty much anything, but he specialises in making armour.
As long as he's paying attention whatever he crafts will be of good quality, but not excellent. He is also mildly resistant to heat, and fire.
He is incapable of working with magical materials.
Levels 11-20
Reaching level 20 is an effort of a lifetime for a person of average talent and drive. Most will stall out between levels 15-19 due to lack of dedication. Most people are content with being simply good enough at their jobs.
Average age for reaching level 20 for a human of an above average talent and drive is 20 years after reaching level 10.
Starting at level 11, the path offers skills and buffs thet are supernatural in scope. No matter how much they trained, a pathless human would never be able to accomplish those feats.
Example: Billy, being a talented and driven lad, reaches level 20 at age 39. He is as strong as two men and inexhaustible. He is able to heat his forge to temperatures beyound what should be possible, and keep it at that level with less fuel. He can use magical materials to moderately improve his crafts, and stretch mundane ones to somehow make more with less.
Everything he makes is of great quality. If he puts in effort, he can create masterpieces.
He is completly immune to heat and fire. His aging is starting to slow due to the accumulation of levels.
Levels 21-30
You can only advance past level 20 after accomplishing a great feat. Win a fight in a spectacular way, create a one of a kind masterpiece, make a scientific breakthrough etc.
At level 21 your class may shift, specialise, or broaden depending on your great feat. It is also possible for a number of your classes to merge into one or split apart. It all depends on the feat you accomplished. It will define you for the rest of your life.
Paths over level 20 let you accomplish impossible things, in a way that's unique to you. Breaking through the level 20 cap will almost always set you for life in your chosen profession.
Less than one in ten thousand ever break through to level 21.
Example: At age 43 Billy, struck by inspiration, locks himself in his workshop for two months. In that time he nearly drives himself mad while creating a masterwork armour made out of fire infused metals. His [blacksmith] shifts into [Embermith], giving him ability to forge magical armours out of the fire alone.
He is skilled enough in mundane crafting, that he can easily supply an army with weapons and armour on his own. With time left over to focus on his magical crafts.
He's able to create one of a kind artefacts with unique magical properties.
Levels 31-50
Very few humans have ever archived level 30 and above. It is mostly the domain of the corrupted and the insane. There is no level cap, or a great feat requirement. Most humans simply don't live long enough to be able to reach this level.
Upon reaching level 31 you become a living legend. Less than one in a million ever reaches over level 30
Example: At age 73, frustrated with his old age and lack of advancement past level 30, Billy takes some corrupted levels. He is changed in body and soul. His essence is corrupted by fire and ambition.
Billy's corrupted soul gives him insight into the domain of fire and metal. He learns how to reforge fire spirits into armour, enslaving them and feeding off of their energy. He sets up his forge at the peak of the highest mountain in the kingdom and sets to work, reforging himself in search of immortality.
He lives for a very, very, very long time. The few of his creations that make it down the mountain shape the course of history. Wars break out over scraps of iron discarded from his forge.
Level 50+
Gods fear you. As they should.
Example: Billy captures the God of fire inside of a helmet of his creation. With it, he burns entire continents, and wipes out multiple civilisations. He uses the heat of the burning souls to fuel his great forge.
Finally he reforges his own fiery soul into something greater to become the new God of fire. All hail Billy the god of Fire and Torment!
Let me know what you think, and if you have any more questions about the system! I wanted to create a system that allows for insane feats BUT doesn't make lives of average people too crazy.
Comments
Melcor
What a great way for a character to grow and advance building on each phase of life and having the Path always there to take you further if you have the drive. Absolutely love it
BritAnon
Given that reaching higher levels seems to require the kind of extended lifespan that a human can only get from being Corrupted, I'd wager that eventually someone trying to reach high enough would run afoul of some Inquisitors.
BritAnon
Unf, delicious lore and worldbuilding, my deepest held fetish. Can't wait to find out more about this setting, it's super interesting.
Robert Bersch
Very cool and interesting. Reminds me of something a friend used for a superhero game a long time ago (25+yrs) but he never codified it like you did. Kudos! Only thing I can give you that might help is that skill/task checks used a die based on the difficulty of the task so easy was 1d8 to 1d12, Heroic was 1d20, Super Heroic was 1d20+1d8 to 1d20 and so on. It was fun but only lasted a few weeks and we jumped into CoC after that.
Patrik Hjorth
Well, that's really up to InCase, but the idea I had was more that magic is some kind of... "energy" that exists everywhere, and can be tapped into by someone using the appropriate behaviors. Certain materials, certain shapes, certain ways of focusing the mind. I don't want to get into a lot of detail, since this isn't meant as a suggestion, but for example: If you braid rowan twigs into a septagram and hang a quartz crystal in it, you have a "shield" against certain weak malevolent spirits. That's hedgerow magic. A magic scholar will know _why_ that symbol has that effect, and could guide an architect to create a whole building with certain angles and geometries that shields against powerful demons. Different cultures will have discovered these things at different times, and made different associations, which will make their use of magic different even though it rests on the same foundation. Again, this is just an example, that doesn't take into account the possibility of things like Divine/Demonic or Elemental magics etc. Or, to make a modern comparison: most people are familiar with things like light switches, mobile phones and RFID key fobs, but only a smaller number of specialists know how those things actually work, and are able to design new applications for them.
Thomas Sutter
So like a split between different magics? Like arcane and folk varieties. Differences by region and origin?
Thomas Sutter
Sounds like the system you have in mind is on a great track. Very personalized. Maybe you could develop it further by drawing out something like a UI that displays the various classes and abilities linked to them. Something to sort it out.
Coffee Sunshine
So, thinking of Billy... Is there a class/path of people who see the kind of threat that Billy could become and strive to eliminate them before they get too leveled up?
Iβd play, this is sounding like a tabletop game you could release in print
Patrik Hjorth
I had a thought about access to/contact with magic. This is just a thought, not a suggestion. You said that e.g. a farmer is unlikely to come into contact with magic. In my country, there were a lot of "magical" practices carried out by regular folk, such as hiding an iron knife under the doorstep to keep fairies and trolls out of the house, or braiding a fresh wreath each year to hang in the barn in the hopes of a good harvest. What is your thoughts on that kind of "folk/hedgerow magic"? It could of course be simple superstition, but in a world where magic is very tangibly real, it could also have actual effects.
CHEETRA VIEW
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Ignacio Segura Montero
I love this. Specially the fact that it is mechanical, but not hermetically so. There is a looseness to it that still allows some creative freedom, which it should since this is not an actual RPG system, just a framework.
pr
I think the framework and world you're creating here is really interesting. It seems like a good balance between creative restriction and creative freedom. I think a balance like that will lead to some very cool and crazy storylines and character development, especially with the readers being involved in the choices. The whole concept feels very inspiring both visually and in potential narrative. Something I look for in comics and stories that balance smut and plot really well is good character development and continued storylines, I think this concept will do really well with that especially with the litrpg element. It definitely beats just randomly smashing waifus together without much backstory (except for the disaster lesbians heck yes). Something like the usual waifu posts makes the interaction between the characters feel a lot more shallow and not nearly as pleasant. Those posts were visually fun and I liked the choices I could make as an audience member, but I'm a lot more invested in something like grimlewd because in my opinion; the thicker the plot, the juicier the smut. Also; Thanks to this post, I'm all for Billy the god of Fire and Torment beating some other god to death and having caused Godfall lol *splat*
Joseph Jordan
Very curious is this going to be something close to a dnd game or something because this is truly interesting to me 0.0
Matteo Manino
This is not just fine, but very very good.
Joshua Wolfe
That's very cool. I like the concept of RPG settings where you have levels of skill mastery where it ranges into the extraordinary. My favorite setting Uresia has the principle of characters being able to become skilled to the Nth degree, doing impossible things with skills that might as well be magic. It even has chefs who become Gods of Cookery, able to do almost anything with food and in a kitchen. I also like the tier progression concept. It goes hand in hand with identity rather than just grinding. It also has cool JRPG elements like leveling requirements and class fusions, which plays more into it being a lifepath rather than just a simple progression of power. You have to break your limits to discover those limit breaks.
Timonger
that's flippin rad.
Temperjoke
Will you be making a list of various path options and their associated perks? Like I wouldn't expect every possible one out there, especially since the corrupted ones are personal, but I'd start to get decision paralysis in trying to make a character without a little guidance.
BottomFeeder225
I love Mundane Magic! This is great. I am really enjoying this work.
Manny Espinosa
Super excited for this.
Jiggly
The system you describe somewhat reminds me of the character progression used in Warhammer Fantasy RP; in that particular system there are no levels. Instead you begin as, say, a Huntsman, or Farmer, Highwayman etc. After acquiring all the abilities within that class you can move onto the next one. Each class has a certain number of 'exits', other classes into which it can advance. Basic classes can be entered by anyone anytime, advanced ones need to be built up to. Long story short, I appreciate the sort of organic feeling of growth which allows change of direction and picking up different skillsets; it's flexible and flavorful. I imagine there was a lot of magical research into bypassing the limits of the system, maybe even conducted by the sorcerer-kings of the Old Kingdom. This obviously plays into [Corruption] but shortcuts like demonic deals, rituals, and other equally risky methods play well into it. If you could reliably create high-tier individuals it would grant you huge advantage. Is there magic in the world that can help divine someone's ability or their paths? It would definitely be the purview of rare individuals like a [Diviner] or [Soul Reader]...the latter actually sounds like a path an interrogator would have. Classes like [Actor], [Spy], [Charlatan] or [Genius] strike me as the sort to be able to temporarily copy abilities of other classes in certain circumstances, to a certain degree. As someone said above it's a pretty neat foundation with emergent potential. I would also say that level 10 is a good ballpark for when a person would be ready to start training or initiating someone into their chosen class.
Accursed
Now I want lewd art of Billy
Shawn K. Younkin
No way, why would people who have access to supreme power ever use that power to be bad... Nvrmind, yeah, it's going to get super bleak, super fast.
Matt
Ah cheers, I read it on my email client so that'll be why. Makes sense, thanks!
Kai Sobil
At age 16 Billy became a [blacksmith]. 9 years later he reached level 10. 14 years later Billy becomes level 20, which is normally a 20 year process. 4 years later Billy progresses to level 21, a feat most never reach. For around 30 years Billy works to and stagnates at level 30, putting him at 73. Exactly 30 years after getting to level 21 Billy takes a corrupted level and eventually becomes a God. Can we take a minute to appreciate how Billy shattered the conventional time it takes to level up? Like, either this man is a born genius or a god in disguise. I fully expect him to be cannon btw. Js.
Kit H.
Wow. Thatβs extremely clear. Dude, Iβm excited for this project!
InCase
You seem to be able to read the original post before I edited out the "less than one in a hundred will ever archive this". If you reload the page or clean the cache you should see the updated post. But yeah, it's supposed to be 1 in 10000 and the 1 in 100 was a mistake.
Matt
That sounds really cool! One question though: "You can only advance past level 20 after accomplishing a great feat. Win a fight in a spectacular way, create a one of a kind masterpiece, make a scientific breakthrough etc. Less than one in a hundred will ever archive this. [...] Less than one in ten thousand ever break through to level 21." Doesn't the first paragraph say that less than 1 in 100 will get to Level 21, and the second say less than 1 in 10000? I suppose both can technically be true, but I'm wondering if it's a typo or I'm misunderstanding something.
Kai R Cobb
This is so fuckin cool
Ryan Leary
Can we get an image set of billy and his transformation?
peter berghuis
this is so dope. i love this word building! the idea of merginf, changing the classes is absolutely great! also billy kinda resembles my DND character in terms of aspiration and abilities :D
Nicholas Feltner
Because therein you have some of the ideas of early editions of Dungeons and Dragons (at least 1st and 2nd ed). Where classes/races had somewhat limits that were kinda baked in. One could only go so far as as a Druid for example, unless they took the title of Archdruid...which meant they had to do something truly spectacular or had to take/be given it by another Archdruid's passing. But yours has more than one of that sort of 'limit ceiling'. In much the way that later rpgs want players to go as far as they want.
InCase
Each path/class is it's own separate thing. Combined level doesn't really matter much besides determining your resistance to magical corruption. Since each path covers different areas of life they rarely "stack". Being a [cook] and [tavern keeper] are different professions/activities even if there is overlap. In practice, Hissa levels are a result of her leading a rich life. She manages her tavern and cooks during most the day and night, since she doesn't need much sleep due to corruption. Free time is spent frolicking with some younger patrons and maaaaybe eating a human once in a blue moon ;). Eeach of these activities contributes to her leveling up their respective paths over time.
Tannerbot
This is gonna get bleak fast huh...
Nicholas Feltner
I like how you have this laid out well for storytelling purposes. A more in depth and developed and added onto/fleshed put version of this would be interesting as a TTRPG.
Shawn K. Younkin
I love it, but it's hard to imagine Billy being able to level continents and NOT make lives of average people too crazy. I can't wait to see more of this!
Philip P Boudrias
I'd like to know more about how leveling multiple paths work. Like for example Hissa from the previous post has 40+ combined teirs in different paths, how does that all work?
MrSpectre
I always enjoy these lore posts, they really tickle my world-building pickle.
MrSpectre
I like how the system is generic enough for ease of understanding, but leaves plenty of room for finesse. I especially like how the details of a character can change drastically with just a few tiers in the right path besides their primary, like branches coming from the trunk of a tree. No two oaks look identical, even if they are similar
Chris Giesy
I love the fact that he's still called Billy.
Josh Jasper
Oh now Billy, Billy don't you lose my number 'Cause you're not anywhere that I can find you, oh no...
