Levels and XP
You gain XP from kills, quests, finding new places and reading lore, and you can reach level 100. The XP bar under your health shows your progress. Each new level raises your health and mana and opens more abilities at your trainer.
Everyone who helped in a fight gets the full XP for a kill; it is not split. That includes healers and supporters who aided a friend in the last few seconds. Nobody gets credit for the last hit alone, and there is no first-come rule.
Fighting creatures well below your level pays less. Creatures above your level pay a little extra. Finding a new region or place pays a modest one-time bonus.
Levels 1 to 20 are meant to take around nine hours of questing and hunting. Beyond that the road gets longer. XP stops at 100.
Attributes and respec
You have five attributes. Strength adds physical force. Dexterity adds accuracy, evasion and critical hits. With a finesse weapon (a dagger or a bow) the two swap places: Dexterity becomes the damage stat (each point counts a little less than a point of Strength does for other weapons, since Dexterity also gives its critical hits) and Strength the minor one. Constitution adds health and toughness. Intellect adds spell power and mana. Wisdom adds healing power and mana. They all start at 5.
Each level gives you attribute points (called JAP). Open the Character window (K), use the plus and minus buttons, and press Apply. Unspent points wait for you. You can respec your attributes for free, as often as you like, when you are not in a fight; the button asks you to click twice to be sure.
Further points, called LAP, come from big milestones: Dedication, every tenth level from 30, reaching 100, mastery and your first Veteran and Master dungeon clears. LAP has a limit of 40 and is spent in the same window. It also respecs for free and stays with you through every new journey.
The Character window lists your derived stats too, such as physical power, spell power, critical chance and armour. Click a row to see where its number comes from.
Keys: K
Starting as a Wayfarer
Every life begins at level 1 as a Wayfarer in Greenhollow. You choose a name and one of two builds, and the build is only how you look; it never changes your power. You can have several characters on one account.
To delete a character, press Delete beside it on the character list (it must not be in the world in another window) and type its name exactly to confirm. Its pack, gear, Character Bank, Furnishing Storage and letters go with it; its home and inn room are given up (the furniture is packed away), market listings and buy orders are withdrawn, and it leaves its party, its guild (a Guild Master hands the guild to the next in rank) and every office. Your account Wallet and Material Vault stay. A Game Master can restore a deleted character for 30 days (Esc > Ask a Game Master); its name stays reserved for 7 days. A character with an open court case or Wanted cannot be deleted until it is settled.
A Wayfarer is a capable traveller with a small kit of their own: a roadside blow, a sling, a second wind to recover, and sturdiness. Long miles harden you: a Wayfarer carries extra health and armour that grow with level, though never as much as a Warrior. You can wear most armour and use most weapons, and shields are only partly useful to you.
You do not have to choose a class at once. At level 5 you may try one; at 20 you decide for good. You may even stay a Wayfarer for life, and a Wayfarer who reaches the top has a mastery path of their own.
Class trainers
Each class has a trainer in Greenhollow: Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Priest and Monk. Click one to see that class, its abilities and what it asks of you. Learning an ability is free once you are the right level.
Learning is not the same as equipping. You learn from the trainer, then place abilities on your hotbar in the Character window (K). You keep what you have learned even if you set a class aside.
Trainers also hand out the great decisions: trying a class, Dedicating to it, and at level 100 starting a second class. The window will tell you what is possible for you right now. It closes if you walk away from the trainer.
Keys: K
Trying a class (levels 5 to 19)
From level 5 to level 19 you may try one class at its trainer. This is called a provisional class. It costs nothing, you keep your level and everything you have learned, and you can set it aside at any time at the same trainer.
While you walk a class's road, its abilities are yours to use. Set it aside and those abilities leave your hotbar until you return. Only one class at a time can be tried, so set the first aside before trying another.
Use this time to find out what you enjoy. Fighting in front, healing, striking from the shadows or casting from afar all feel quite different.
Dedication at level 20
If you are walking a class's road on trial, your experience bar stops full at the end of level 19 so you never slip into level 20 as a plain Wayfarer and lose that class's gear. The bar says so; visit the trainer and choose. Experience you earn while you wait is kept and paid out after the choice.
At level 20 you choose your road for good. At a class trainer you may Dedicate to that class, which becomes your life's origin, or you may remain a Wayfarer for life. The window asks you to click twice, because this is a permanent choice.
A Dedicated character learns the abilities of their class all the way up. A Wayfarer keeps the Wayfarer's kit, which grows as you level. Dedicating also earns you two LAP points.
There are three roads to a Dedication, and they all end the same way: the same class, the same kit, the same points. Only the story differs, and your Legend, your Character window and Inspect remember it. By your own proving: dedicate at the trainer on your own word (The Grey Cairn and The Proving tell that story). With a mentor: a Dedicated character of that class, level 25 or more, stands with you before the trainer, right-clicks you and chooses "Mentor into the ... road" (or types /vouch and your name); you accept in a window. On a writ: a Dedicated character seals a Writ of Sponsorship at their trainer for a little Gold. It names no one, so it can be given, posted or sold at the market; whoever brings it to that trainer at level 20 can dedicate on it (from the trainer window, or by using it from the satchel there), and it is used up.
Once you are Dedicated and well along the road, the trainer window shows how to bring others onto it: mentoring in person, and sealing writs. A few each week; never for a character of your own account.
You can still change your mind much later. At level 100 there are choices that let a class character start a second class, or let a Wayfarer take a class late. See "The choice at level 100".
Abilities, passives and loadout
Your Character window (K) lists the abilities of your class. Active abilities are the ones you press. Passives work all the time but must be placed in one of your four passive slots first. Active abilities go on the hotbar: six slots a bar (keys 1 to 6), and up to three bars (Shift+1 to 6, Alt+1 to 6; Esc > Settings > Display > Hotbars).
Only abilities on your hotbar can be used, so choose a loadout to suit what you are doing. You can change it freely whenever you are not in the middle of a cast. Click an ability, or drag it, to a slot. Click a slot to take an ability off. Stances and auras are the exception: they have their own stance bar and need no slot.
Every ability shows what it costs, how long it takes, how often you can use it and how far it reaches. Hover over it for the details.
Basic attacks are separate. They happen on their own when you fight with a weapon in hand.
Keys: K 1-6 Shift+1-6 Alt+1-6
Ability ranks and Tomes
Every ability gets better the more you use it well. Its rank goes Novice, Trained, Skilled, Expert and then Master, after 30, 120, 350 and 800 meaningful uses. Hitting a living creature of your level or near it counts. Hitting a creature far below you does not, and passive abilities do not gain ranks.
Higher ranks give a modest improvement: a little more power, a little less mana, and at Master a shorter cooldown. The gains are small by design. Skill matters more than numbers.
Experts and Masters can teach an ability to a friend of a class that can learn it. Stand beside them, type their name in the Character window and press Teach. They accept the lesson and start part of the way along, though never stronger than a trained one. On an ability you have not learned, "Teachers?" lists who is online and able to teach it.
A Master can also scribe a Tome of the ability for 40 gold. A Tome is an item that can be traded or given, and teaches whoever reads it, if their class can learn the ability.
Keys: K
Master modifiers
When an active ability reaches Master, its card in the Character window opens two modifiers, A and B. Each one changes how the ability behaves: Thistle Jab can lock the cut ability longer or give Openings, Gloaming Lunge can leap to the foe or leave it bleeding, Starling Knives can fan out at three foes or pin one in place.
Every modifier trades something away. A longer reach costs a slower cast; more foes hit means lighter blows. None of them is simply stronger, and "None" (the ability as trained) is a good choice too.
Pick None, A or B on the card. Switching is free and as often as you like, but not in a fight. Before Master the card reads "Reach Master to choose a modifier".
The chosen modifier shows in the ability's tooltip, on the hotbar, and when others inspect you. It stays through Rekindling, and a Legacy ability keeps its modifier. Teaching someone an ability or scribing a Tome passes on the ability, not your modifier. Under Mentor Sync the modifier still works, with its bonuses scaled down like the rest.
The Warrior's modifiers decide whether you tank or deal damage. Every A is Bulwark (tank): more threat, armour, wards and control, paid for with damage. Every B is Reaver (damage): harder blows fed by Grit, gap-closers and an execute, paid for with defence. Hearthguard Stance B, Warband Stance, is a damage stance: +20% physical damage and Grit on every weapon hit, but no extra threat and no armour, so leave it when you tank. Mix as you like; taunts stay taunts in every option. Options that give Grit do nothing when another class uses the ability as Legacy (it has no Grit).
Every class has them. The Wayfarer's stay modest (Roadwise, Skirmisher, Brawler). The Mage's build burns that pay out, holds that last, chains and areas, or quick casts; some leave a patch on the ground that keeps burning or slowing (Molten Pool, Thorned Ground). The Monk's build Flow, sweep foes round you, or make a close healer; Moss Bed leaves moss that mends whoever stands in it. The Priest's reshape healing (more people for less each, over time instead of at once, a heal you cast while walking) without ever making it cheaper: a heal that grows costs more mana, one that shrinks costs less, and no option takes away a heal, the cleanse or the revive. A Guardian Priest's Sanctuary Bell can ring wider for less time (Great Bell) or call one foe from 6 tiles for longer (Hand Bell). Options that give Grit, Openings, Grace or Flow do nothing when another class uses the ability as Legacy.
Keys: K
The choice at level 100
At level 100 your Character window shows a Lineage section, where you choose how your road goes on. A class character picks "Pure", which deepens the class, or a "Subclass", which starts a second class at level 1 at that class's trainer. A Wayfarer picks True Wayfarer mastery or Late Dedication.
Pure and True Wayfarer paths are earned through five Mastery Trials: kills, elites and dungeon clears at the very top level, in the Heartstone Edge or a level-100 dungeon. Each rank brings LAP, a capstone ability, a Pure Refinement (a numbers tweak to one ability that stacks with its Master modifier), and titles.
Subclass keeps your first class as your Legacy. You restart at level 1 in the new class, but keep your LAP, knowledge, gold and everything you own. As the new class levels, Legacy abilities return: two active (keys 7 and 8) and two passive slots, a little lighter than before. Reaching 100 in the second class is called Dual Mastery. You can hold at most two formal classes.
Choices at 100 are not required. Staying at level 100 forever is a fine way to play.
Keys: K
Rekindling
After mastery (Pure or True Wayfarer rank 5, or Dual Mastery), you may Rekindle: begin the journey again at level 1, as the same person. It is optional, there is no cooldown, and you can play at level 100 forever if you prefer.
The Character window shows what happens before you confirm. Your level, XP and attribute points start over, and your Scars are cleared. You keep your gold, items, professions, quests, Legend, guild, home, knowledge, LAP and the lineage you have mastered. Gear and abilities above your level rest until you grow into them.
When you reach 100 again you gain a Rekindle rank, a point for the Rekindle tree, and from time to time a title. The tree has Kindled Might (a small permanent boost, at most 4 points), Remembered Roads (more XP on a Rekindled climb) and the Hearth Road (cheaper Waystone fares). Beyond the tree, further ranks are a record and a source of pride.
Keys: K