Advancement

One of the best parts of Astrabound is watching your character grow from a hungry Outer Rim nobody into someone the Commonwealth, the Syndicate, and the things in the dark all learn to respect.

Advancement in Savage Worlds depends on the length of your intended campaign.

Gamemaster Advice

For short campaigns of 10 sessions or fewer, consider granting an Advance after each session. In a one-shot, you might allow an Advance mid-adventure if there is downtime, a training montage, a dockside refit, or a hard-earned narrative turning point. For longer campaigns, consider granting an Advance every other session, or every third session for very long arcs. You can also award Advances when objectives are met, such as surviving a disastrous run, securing a major contract, recovering a Remnant artifact, or making first contact on a Rimworld that should not exist on any chart.

An Advance lets a character do one of the following. Remember that no Trait may be raised above its ancestral maximum (usually d12).

• Gain a new Edge.

• Increase a skill that is equal to or greater than its linked attribute one die type.

• Increase two skills that are lower than their linked attributes by one die type each (including new skills the character didn’t have before at d4).

• Increase one attribute by a die type. This option may only be taken once per Rank (see Rank, below). Legendary characters may raise an attribute every other Advance, up to the ancestral maximum.

• Permanently remove a Minor Hindrance, or reduce a Major Hindrance to a Minor (if possible).

Gamemaster Advice

If it makes sense for the campaign, allow two saved Advances to remove a Major Hindrance. Work with the player on when and how this change happens in the story. In Astrabound, it might follow a wrecked ship, a hard lesson on a lawless station, a quiet vow after tragedy, or a long rehabilitation period while the crew hides out and repairs both hull and soul.

Rank

As a character gains Advances, she goes up in “Rank.” This is a rough measure of how capable she is in the wider galaxy. Each Rank allows access to more powerful Edges and certain abilities (such as powers).

Ranks

Advances	Rank
0-3	Novice
4-7	Seasoned
8-11	Veteran
12-15	Heroic
16+	Legendary

Starting With Experienced Characters

If you start a game with more experienced characters, still build them as Novices and Advance them normally. This keeps characters balanced as if they had earned experience through play.

Gamemaster Advice

Determine additional goods, equipment, or other assets by campaign needs. In Astrabound, money and gear are not the only wealth that matters; reputation, safe ports, trusted contacts, and access codes can matter more than credits. As a quick rule of thumb, a character’s starting funds can double with each Rank after Novice, and you can trade part of that value into story assets that fit the crew’s life.

Replacement Characters: When a character dies, we recommend creating a new Novice hero, then granting them the same number of Advances the previous character had when they fell. In Astrabound, this can represent a new hire, a rescued prisoner, a survivor from a wreck, a colleague pulled from a Syndicate favor, or a contact who finally decides to come along.

Allies & Advancement

Followers and other allies who stay with the party for extended periods can improve their abilities as well.

At the end of a game session in which allies had a significant role, Advance them just as you would player characters. In Astrabound, a crew that survives together learns together, and even an “Extra” can become someone with a name, a scar, and a reason to stay.

Gamemaster Advice

Use your judgment on what counts as a significant role for allied advancement, usually meaningful participation in the session’s major conflicts.

Character Creation Summary

CONCEPT

• Start with a general idea of what you want to play. Your setting book likely provides many ideas.

ANCESTRY

• Choose your character’s ancestry and apply any bonuses or special abilities it grants.

HINDRANCES

• Select up to four points of Hindrances (Major Hindrances are worth 2, Minor are worth 1).
• For 2 Hindrance points you can raise an attribute one die type, or choose an Edge.
• For 1 Hindrance point you can gain another skill point, or gain additional starting funds equal to twice your setting’s starting amount.

ATTRIBUTES

• Attributes start at d4. You have 5 points to distribute among them. Each step costs 1 point.
• Attributes may not be raised beyond d12 unless your hero’s ancestry states otherwise.

SKILLS

• Athletics, Common Knowledge, Notice, Persuasion, and Stealth are core skills and start at d4 for free.
• You have 15 points to put into these or any other skills.
• Each die type costs 1 point up to and equal to the linked attribute; then 2 points per step after that.

DERIVED STATISTICS

• Standard Pace is 6″, but may be changed by ancestral abilities, Edges, or Hindrances.
• Parry is 2 plus half of Fighting.
• Toughness is 2 plus half of Vigor, plus any Armor.

Note the amount of armor in parentheses like this -

Toughness: 11 (2). This means 2 points of the total 11 Toughness comes from Armor. An Armor Piercing attack could bypass those 2 points but not the other 9.

EDGES

• Use any leftover Hindrance points to take Edges if you like.
• Each Edge costs 2 Hindrance points.

GEAR

• Purchase up to $500 worth of equipment.