XP is a Mentalic resource attached to the Mind. It advances only Mind-owned skills:
earned XP → skill training → skill points → new or improved Mind skillsThere are no character levels. Earning XP does not automatically grant skill points, and XP can never become Embodiment Points.
A character may train and convert 100 XP into 1 skill point. The XP is spent by the conversion. The new skill point can then be spent to learn a skill at +1% or improve one known skill by +1%.
| XP spent through training | Skill points produced |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
| 100 | 1 |
| 500 | 5 |
| 1,000 | 10 |
| 1,500 | 15 |
| 2,000 | 20 |
| 2,500 | 25 |
These are conversion examples, not automatic milestones. Unspent XP remains XP until the character completes the required training.
An Embodiment never earns XP. Each Embodiment records its own accumulated usage time. Usage time represents time actually spent operating, inhabiting, exercising, or training that specific body; it remains with that Embodiment when the Mind changes bodies.
Usage time is not a universal currency. Its consequences depend on the Embodiment:
Each body or training program must state how much usage time is required, whether that time is consumed or merely checked, what facilities or materials are needed, how any attempt is resolved, and what maintenance, conditioning, or EP result follows. Until such a rule is defined, usage time is recorded but grants no automatic EP.
Embodiment Points (EP) are a physical development resource recorded on one specific Embodiment. XP cannot purchase or create EP. EP may be acquired in either of these ways:
EP remain on that body or machine and cannot transfer to the Mind or another Embodiment. Skill points and EP cannot substitute for one another. Buying an upgrade does not create Mind knowledge; training a Mind skill does not physically improve a body.
EP use the same spending structure as skill points, but not the same acquisition method. One EP purchases +1% in one eligible embodiment-upgrade Item. Each named upgrade caps at +5%; an applicable root-to-specialization path normally caps at +25%. An Item granting a new physical capability or a non-percentage enhancement uses its explicit EP cost.
One additional Ninefold Hit Die is a non-percentage Embodiment upgrade. It costs 10 EP and adds one 1d6 Hit Die, equal to 3.5 maximum Hit Points, to that Embodiment. Hit Dice are always purchased as whole dice. A progression granting an additional half die per level instead grants one additional Hit Die after every completed two levels.
A cyberware system is the standard model for Embodiment Points. A character buys or fabricates an implant, obtains compatible parts and facilities, and spends downtime having it installed and calibrated. That process supplies EP to the receiving body and spends them on the implant's upgrade nodes. Improving optics, armor, reflex hardware, limbs, or integrated weapons changes that Embodiment only. Moving the Mind into another body preserves XP and skills but leaves those cyberware upgrades behind.
Biological growth, magical body modification, vehicle refitting, and machine reconstruction use the same model with different fictional requirements.
Training is associated with the skill being practiced. Using Mining can support improvement of Mining; it does not justify spending the resulting point on an unrelated skill. Learning a new skill requires practice that can establish that skill, normally through instruction, study, experimentation, or guided use. If that skill lists prerequisites, all of them must be met before its training can produce the first +1%.
The exact amount of practice required and the acceleration supplied by a trainer are not yet defined.
Record earned but unconverted XP, XP converted into skill points, and spent and unspent SP on the Mind. On each Embodiment, separately record accumulated and spent usage time, maintenance or conditioning state, and acquired, spent, and unspent EP together with the purchase, installation, or training record that produced those EP.
| Skill purchase | Skill-point cost |
|---|---|
Learn a new skill at +1% proficiency | 1 |
Raise one known skill proficiency by +1% | 1 |
One skill point always becomes +1% in one specific Mind-owned skill-tree node. A node normally caps at +5%; further training proceeds into an eligible child specialization. The effective bonus sums the applicable root-to-leaf path, normally to a maximum of +25%. Skill points never modify an Embodiment: they cannot change physical stats, hit dice, armor, movement, senses, attack hardware, Stamina, base size, or any other bodily property.
Embodiment Points are the only universal advancement points that purchase Embodiment upgrades. They cannot purchase Mind skills.
Universal skill points also do not purchase capabilities supplied only by a particular virtual world. World-local powers, permissions, and similar mechanics advance within that world's character layer rather than consuming persistent Mind skill points.
The normal upper limit for one complete root-to-leaf skill path is +25%: five fully trained +5% nodes costing 25 skill points and requiring 2,500 XP converted through training. Shared ancestor points transfer to every descendant path beneath them; points on a specialization apply only to that branch.
Each point spent on proficiency raises one specific skill-tree node by +1%. Every named skill caps at +5%. The shared proficiency bands are defined in Skill Development.