Character Leveling
Character levels in Sunder are a fluid concept, considering Abilities are purchased using the Experience Market. A character with no levels in a specific Archetype could have just as much adventuring capability as a 5th-level adventurer, as long as they have developed their abilities in a diverse array. However, Archetype leveling is one of the most cost-efficient ways of upgrading a character's Stats, including the only way to increase their Mark pool.
Creating a New Character
Generally, at the beginning of an adventure a character is given 1 Milestone. Players have the option to purchase a level in a certain Archetype, which costs exactly 1 Milestone. Having a level in an Archetype gives players a more advanced selection of Abilities whose prerequisites are assigned to specific Archetypes.
Starting Features
Aside from the 1 Milestone granted at the beginning of an adventurer's journey, they also need to choose Origin features, as well as starting scores in their Potentials. Starting Potential scores are decided by rolling 3D4 and dropping the highest. If all three D4 values result in a 1, the overall Potential value is a 1.
Gaining a level in an Archetype gives a player the following benefits
- Choose 1 Knack or 1 Perk.
- Choose to increase one Potential* or your Mark pool by 1.
- 9 special Strings that can only be spent on Abilities with the relevant Archetype as a prerequisite.
* Individual Potentials can only be increased once per Tier.
1st-Level Stats
When you choose your first archetype level as a new adventurer, you gain the following benefits in addition to the usual level-up benefits:
- Starting Marks determined in Archetypes
- 1 Domain
- 2 Skills
- 1 Heroic Goal
Character Tiers
Characters reach different Tiers of gameplay when they accumulate a certain amount of total Archetype levels. Every Tier is 4 levels apart, and increasing your Tier may effect certain Abilities that use a character's Tier as a modifier.
| Character Level | Tier |
|---|---|
| 1-4 | I |
| 5-8 | II |
| 9-12 | III |
| 13-16 | IV |
| 17-20 | V |
Commoner-level Characters
Players without a level in any Archetype start with 1 Mark, which is replaced when gaining an archetype. Their Tier is considered 0.
Leveling Trees
When you are purchasing your ability set with experience points as you character progresses in their levels and power, you will begin to use Sunder's Prerequisite system. Prerequisite requirements are a way of capturing a level-up sequence in a less structured character leveling system. However, this system comes with some limitations. Firstly, your character cannot purchase an ability unless they have satisfied the Prerequisite requirements by previously purchasing each of the abilities, archetypes, or origin features listed in the Prerequisite list. Additionally, a character may only use a distinct Prerequisite twice to purchase Actions, Surges, or Traits. This means that only two of a character's abilities can directly be unlocked by just their Archetype (e.g. a Tank character may take the Hard Hitter ability and Berzerk ability, both of which have a Prerequisite requirement of "Tank", but after doing so, the character must expand their ability tree by using other prerequisites, such as either of the two abilities they purchased using Tank, or another distinct Prerequisite).
Some Prerequisite requirements involve a list of abilities as a prerequisite, meaning a character must have each of those abilities before purchasing the ability with this Prerequisite list. Prerequisite ability lists are separated by a "/" (e.g. an ability that requires a character to have the Mullburrow bloodline and the Halfcaster archetype before the ability can be purchased would have a Prerequisite requirement of "Mullburrow/Halfcaster"). Some Prerequisite requirements involve different options for unlocking the ability for purchase, meaning the ability can be purchased by characters with different ability trees. These Prerequisite options are separated by a " | ", so an ability that could either be taken by a Control archetype or a Face archetype would have a Prerequisite requirement of "Control | Face".
Distinct Prerequisite requirements are defined by the connections between the purchased ability and its prerequisites. If two abilities are connected to the same prerequisites, then their Prerequisite requirements are not distinct. So, if a Halfcaster Mullburrow character takes an ability that has a Prerequisite of "Halfcaster" and then takes an ability with a Prerequisite of "Halfcaster | Support", then those two abilities are considered to have non-distinct Prerequisites, since the character would have chosen the Halfcaster Prerequisite option, because they do not have the Support archetype. In this case, the character has used the distinct Halfcaster Prerequisite twice, and cannot use it again. However, if the character had access to an ability whose Prerequisite is "Halfcaster/Mullburrow", then that ability is connected to different prerequisite abilities than the two previously purchased, and is thus considered a distinct Prerequisite from just "Halfcaster". Since it is a distinct Prerequisite that has not already been used twice, the character could purchase the ability with the "Halfcaster/Mullburrow" Prerequisite.
