Levelling

In Cosmic Odyssey, you do not track experience points. Your character grows when the story reaches key milestones such as defeating a major foe, completing a quest, or returning to regroup and learn.

At the first levels your growth is more restricted by your chosen profession and class, reflecting your early training. As you gain more levels these boundaries loosen and your character begins to truly come into their own, developing skills, unlocking new abilities, and finding a unique place in the story.

Levelling marks your journey as a hero, and each level is a reward for the story you have helped shape.

Levelling Tables

This first section gives you all the tables for levelling that you’ll need. They’re designed for quick reference, so don’t worry if something looks brief or unclear at first glance. Further down the page, you’ll find full explanations for each entry. To make things easier, most subjects in the tables are clickable - just tap one to jump straight to its detailed description.

The Levelling Script

Ability Stat Gain Rolls

The player roll on the Ability Stat Gain Roll table to see if any of the abilities of the character increase and if any hit the Ability Stat Wall.

Development Points

The character gains level Development Points to be distributed on weapons, skills, magic and tech modules

Health Gain

The character gains 1d4 health

Class Bonuses

The character might gain class bonuses.

Choosing Categories

The player can choose to put points in any categories that they have access to from their class and profession but have not yet invested in.

Learning new Categories

The character might learn a new category.

Choosing Skills

The player can choose to put points in any skills that they have access to from their categories but have not yet invested in.

Spending Development Points

Lastly, the player spends the rest of the development points available on categories (2 dev points per rank) and on skills (1 dev points per rank).
Ability Stat Gain Table
Current Ability
Dice Roll
1-20
4d4
21-30
3d4
31-40
2d6
41-50
1d12
51-60
1d10
61-70
1d8
71-80
1d6
81-85
1d4
85-90
1d3
91-95
1d2
96-100
1d1*
*On a 1d1 you roll a 1d2. On a success you only increase the stat by 1 and if not successful, the stat does not increase and is locked.

The Ability Stat Wall: The Ability Stat Wall occurs when all dice in a stat gain roll show 1, preventing further increase of that ability - ever.

Further, your ability cannot go higher than 100.

Levelling in Detail

The journey of a hero is written not only in battles fought but in the steady rise of power and purpose. Levelling in Cosmic Odyssey marks the turning of those pages, where each step forward reflects triumphs gained and destinies taking shape.

Progression is more than numbers. It is the sharpening of skill, the hardening of body, and the awakening of potential hidden within. Early levels are guided by the training of class and profession, but as characters ascend, those limits fall away and individuality shines.

The following pages describe this path in detail. Here you will find the framework for growth, the rules for advancement, and the structure that supports the unfolding of your story from humble beginnings to legendary heights.
Milestone Levelling
Growth comes with deeds
In Cosmic Odyssey, levelling follows the Milestone system. Characters gain levels when they reach key story points, such as completing a major quest, defeating a powerful foe, or returning to a hub city. Unlike experience point systems, progress is not tied to small actions but to meaningful achievements.

Early levels come quickly to let players explore their abilities, while higher levels may take many sessions depending on the campaign’s scope. Levelling often happens during moments of rest, giving space to learn new skills and reflect on the journey. Each level is a chance to revisit goals, celebrate victories, and mark the growth of heroes within the unfolding story.

How Often Should Characters Level?

Levelling is paced by the Game Master, but a clear rhythm creates the right balance of excitement and mastery. At the beginning of a campaign, characters should usually level after one or two sessions. This quick progression lets players get a feel for their heroes and unlocks core abilities early.

After the first few levels, the pace can slow to every three or four sessions. This gives time to explore new powers, build teamwork, and let growth feel earned. By the time characters reach level five, most groups will be ready for a slower rhythm, where levelling may happen every four to six sessions.

As the story climbs higher, around level ten and beyond, levelling can be spaced out even further. Characters will have many tools at their disposal, and the focus should be on using them to their full potential. In a long campaign, reaching level twenty will often take around one hundred sessions or more, while shorter campaigns may accelerate the pace to reach higher levels more quickly if that is a goal.

Why Milestone Levelling?

Milestone leveling is an easy to manage leveling system, where characters level when they have reached a milestone. A milestone can be anything, but examples are main quest completion, epic monster battles or completing all quests in an area etc. 

Thus, it is not a matter of gaining experience through a lot of minor actions, such as in an experience point based system. Often, leveling will take place, when the player characters have time to rest and learn new abilities. 

The focus in Cosmic Odyssey is the magnificent stories that heroes create. It is about their narratives, and each level should be accompanied by revisiting the goals of the party and of each individual. Their heroic deeds should be re-told and celebrated and they should have time to relax and enjoy being heroes - in whatever scale that is. 

We feel that milestone leveling best suits this purpose.
Levelling Development Points
In the chaos of combat, Actions set the stage - Re-Actions steal the moment.
When a character gains a level, they receive Levelling Points. These points represent focused training, practice, and growth, allowing each character to shape their development in a direction that fits their story. Levelling Points are calculated from a base value, combined with bonuses from Memory and from class abilities, with a minimum of twenty points guaranteed each level.

Levelling Points can only be spent on categories and skills the character already has access to, reflecting the idea that growth builds on established knowledge. They can be used to strengthen known areas or to expand within familiar categories, but not to learn entirely new ones without in-game justification. In this way, Levelling Points give players meaningful choices while keeping advancement grounded in the character’s journey.

Levelling Points

Each time your character gains a level, you receive Levelling Points to spend on improving skills and categories you already have access to. The number of points is based on a base value (10) plus bonuses from your Memory score and class features, with a minimum of twenty points each level.

The 20-Rule

20 is the minimum leveling points, so if a character has below that number, then it is raised to 20.

Levelling Points

10+
Memory Ability Bonus
Class Ability Bonus 1
Class Ability Bonus 2
The Ability Stat Wall
All ones, the ceiling is reached.
The Ability Stat Wall represents the natural limits of growth within a single ability. Each time you roll to increase an ability score, there is a small chance that progress halts. This occurs only when every die in the roll shows a one. At low scores the risk is very small, but as abilities climb higher the probability of hitting the wall increases, reflecting the difficulty of pushing beyond mortal limits.

When the Ability Stat Wall is reached, mark the ability with an asterisk on the character sheet. This signifies that no further gains can be made in that ability. Characters are still free to grow in other areas, but the wall stands as a permanent boundary, a reminder that even heroes cannot master everything without limit.

The Ability Stat Wall Rule

The ability stat wall is met, whenever all the dice in the stat gain roll is a 1.

Class Abilities

For class abilities, the Ability Stat Wall only comes into effect once the score reaches 90 or higher. Below this threshold, every roll has the potential to increase the ability without restriction. Once the ability is at 90 or above, however, rolling all ones on a stat gain roll means the wall has been reached. When this happens, the ability can no longer be improved and should be marked with an asterisk on the character sheet.

This rule allows your core strengths to grow higher than other abilities, but still acknowledges that even the most defining traits of a character eventually meet their limit.

The Risk of Htting the Ability Stat Wall

The chance of hitting the wall is very small at first but grows steadily as abilities climb higher. For example, with a roll of 4d4 the chance is only 0.39 percent, while with 2d6 it is 2.8 percent. At 1d10 the risk rises to 10 percent, and once you are down to 1d4 the chance is already 25 percent. At the extreme end at 91+ with 1d2 or 1d1, the wall becomes a 50% risk each time you level.

Ability Stat Wall Exception

Once all abilities have reached the Ability Stat Wall, you gain a single chance to roll for one ability. Roll 1d12 to determine which ability (1 = Strength, 2 = Constitution, and so on). For that ability, make one Ability Stat Gain Roll using the Ability Stat Roll Table. Even if the roll succeeds, the ability remains locked by the wall.

‍Example: A character has reached the Ability Stat Wall in all twelve abilities. The player rolls 1d12 and gets a 5, which corresponds to Intuition. On the character sheet, Intuition is currently at 67, which means the Ability Stat Roll Table requires a 1d8 roll. The player rolls 1d8 in an attempt to increase the score. Even if the roll is successful, Intuition remains locked and must be marked with a star (*) on the sheet.
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