Leveling Up

Whenever you gain a level in altered realms you are granted Experience Points to quantify the benefit of the experiences your character has endured. Leveling and when to do it is always decided by the Narrator. There are a few methods that can be used to do this, they are as follows:

The Role Play Method

The Narrator levels the players up as a group at certain key moments in the narrative.

The Calculated Numerical Method

The Narrator keeps track of how many enemies and puzzles the players have defeated and at certain point values grants players a level up, either as a group or individually.

The Session Method

The Narrator will level the players up together after a certain amount of completed role-play sessions.

Spending XP During Level Up

During a Level Up Experience Points may be spent on any acquisitions to which the character has access, including: Archetypes, Traits, Abilities, Additional Funds and Attribute enhancements.

Rule: Trait & Ability Acquisition Limits

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, no Trait or Ability may be acquired more than once.

This rule applies to all Traits, Abilities, and similar XP-purchased character features within the Altered Realms system. Traits and Abilities that are intended to be taken multiple times will clearly indicate this in their description with language such as:

(This Trait may be acquired multiple times)
Each time you acquire this Ability...
This may be taken up to [X] times...

Purpose

This rule ensures a fair and balanced character development experience by:

• Preventing unintended stacking of effects (e.g., damage bonuses, resistances, resource regeneration).
• Encouraging build diversity by incentivizing players to explore a broader range of options.
• Maintaining system integrity and simplifying character audits during campaign play.

Exceptions

Only Traits and Abilities that explicitly state they may be taken more than once are exempt from this restriction. These exceptions often include scalable systems such as:

• Spell Study Traits (e.g., Druidic Apprentice Studies, Spell Collection, etc.)
• Modular progression chains, where each level of a trait or ability represents a new tier of effect.

Narrator Enforcement

Narrators and campaign organizers should reject character builds that violate this rule, even if the system technically allows the XP purchase. The absence of the “may be acquired multiple times” clause serves as a hard cap on acquisition.

Ignoring this Rule

Choosing to ignore this rule or forgo enforcing it could result in unmanageable or even outright broken character builds within the campaign.