Experience and Progression

Player characters and non-player characters alike share the concept of having a level in The Domains of Dread, from 1st to 14th. Player characters will reach at least the 3rd level by the end of character creation and therefore must accumulate experience in order to progress through their remaining levels.

Experience in The Domains of Dread

There are two primary modalities for experience points in The Domains of Dread: hostile, and storyline experience. They may be conceived of as their own bank of experience that operates independently however contributes the same numerical points required to level up. The character's present experience points are obfuscated from the character menu and system messages regarding experience points are likewise limited:

• Gained some hostile/storyline experience: acquired minor point amount
• Gained hostile/storyline experience: acquired normal point amount
• Gained major hostile/storyline experience: acquired significant point amount

Characters may at any time guesstimate how far they are to the next level through their player menu and if they have banked a level up. Banked levels must be confirmed by successfully resting in order to progress to the next level. A character may only have one banked level up at a time.

Hostile Experience (HEP)

Hostile experience points are associated with combat challenges, and are acquired by:

• Defeating hostile AI entities whose overall challenge rating meets or exceeds the character's level;
• Defeating hostile, named AI entities as part of a bounty or other assigned task;
• Disarming dangerous objects and/or traps not placed by other player characters;
• Completing an encounter involving hostile AI entities;
• Completing an oubliette after the first time.

Hostile experience points are subject to a rolling cap or maximum depending on the lifetime of the character and their present level. It will become increasingly difficult to accrue hostile experience points as this maximum is approached, until the character simply cannot receive any hostile experience points for a period best measured IRT.

Storyline Experience (SEP)

Storyline experience points are associated with progression related to that character's arc, and are acquired by:

• Making a discovery, such as identifying a lore object or item for the first time, or revealing a path for the first time;
• Participating in a Game Master chaperoned event or encounter;
• Roleplaying (writing in the chat window, whether emoting or speaking) to company of at least one other character;
• Completing an oubliette the first time;
• Traveling to new areas;
• Speaking to non-player characters with specific, usually conditional dialogues.

Storyline experience points are not subject to any sort of cap, however characters who roleplay considerably over a day IRT may find that the system awards ticks relating solely about roleplaying more infrequently. This clamping is intended to occur only in select instances.

Progression in The Domains of Dread

Generally speaking, a new 3rd level character may expect to reach the 14th level within four months of moderate play, defined as anywhere from 5-10 hours a week of active participation in the roleplay. The Domains of Dread is balanced such that a character's progression is roughly 33% hostile experience points and 67% storyline experience points.