Leveling up is divided into two phases. The first phase is all about "rolling the dice for" health, stamina, and psycrum. The potency of these rolls is based on the main attributes. Endurance governs health, agility governs stamina and willpower governs psycrum. Higher governing attributes mean rolling better "dice". Luck, will strongly impact these rolls and allow you to re-roll the "dice" for a limited number of times equal to its raw score.
The second phase revolves around unlocking and upgrading skills. With each level gained, characters receive on average 10 learning points (LP). If you are familiar with the Gothic series, the mechanics are pretty much the same, only in Underlair, intelligence takes part in the amount of LP earned.
There are 32 skills available in Underlair which are divided into 4 groups: Combat, Survival, Psycrum, and Scholar and each skill has 10 abilities that can be unlocked and upgraded. LP is cumulative and it's up to the player to decide when they should be used. To spend learning points, players need to find trainers, non-playable-characters (NPC), found throughout the world but mostly in settlements. Some trainers can provide training in multiple skill groups but usually, they will provide services only to one skill group.
Often, requesting training costs coin, but depending on circumstances, you may train for free. Some trainers may ask you to do something for the first or even refuse to train you if they have a problem with you, mostly because you did or say something they didn't like. Trainers are procedurally generated and their expertise varies greatly. This ensures that each adventure will be as unique as your first run and motivates you to keep exploring the world to find other trainers. Trainers are ranked from Novice, Apprentice, Proficient, Master, and Grandmaster. Below is a table that represents the number of skills and abilities points each trainer receives accordingly to their expertise:
| Skill group 1 | Skill group 2 | Skill group 3 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Chance | Skl / Abl. | Level | Chance | Abl. | Level | Chance | Abl. | Level |
| Novice | 100% | S2/5-9 | Novice | 10% | S1/5-9 | Novice | - | - | - |
| Apprentice | 100% | S3/10-14 | Apprentice | 20% | S1/5-9 | Novice | - | - | - |
| Proficient | 100% | S4/10-14 | Apprentice | 20% | S2/5-9 | Apprentice | 10% | S1/5-9 | Novice |
| Master | 100% | S5/20-24 | Master | 30% | S2/15-19 | Apprentice | 20% | S1/15-19 | Apprentice |
| Grandmaster | 100% | S6/25-30 | Master | 40% | S3/20-24 | Master | 20% | S2/15-19 | Apprentice |
[Skl / Abl] - The number of skills and corresponding abilities the NPC provides training on. The abilities are randomly selected and whenever the same ability is scored, it will be upgraded 1 level, up to the trainer's maximum level allowed.
When hiring a trainer, you first choose the skill group you wish your character to train on, then an available skill, and finally one of the skill's abilities to upgrade or unlock. The chosen ability is then targeted for a chance of success. This chance is strongly affected by the fate attribute which is multiplied by 10%. Ergo, a fate score of 4 (average), will grant you a success rate of 40%. If the roll fails, a random ability belonging to the skill you selected, is then unlocked or upgraded, depending on what you decided previously. If the ability selected is the only thing you can learn from the trainer, then you will automatically succeed, no matter what.
It costs 8 LP to unlock a new ability and 6 LP to upgrade one. This means that characters with a high intelligence score can have their abilities upgraded 2 times with a single level. Furthermore, each time an ability is unlocked or upgraded, it will add 1 point to the skill group that the ability belongs to. When this value reaches 20 points, the character increases randomly one of their main attributes governed by that skill group. For example, the Combat skill group is governed by Strength and Endurance, ergo, this bonus would apply randomly to one of these attributes.
Please note that all numbers presented, can and will probably change.
Trivia:
The reason for having a leveling up system with chance goes back to 2000, where I used to play Wizards & Warriors 2000; a fun game that remains as so, even today. You see, I used to have an OCD about leveling up characters to their highest potential and Wizards & Warriors had this random attribute boosting when leveling up; this would force me to reload the game constantly to get the most out of new levels. It got to the point that I would spend an hour doing just that. Shortly after this, I realized I was savescumming more than playing and enjoying the game. So, I stop playing it altogether.
Several months passed before I tried again, and this time I said to myself: "I'm going with whatever values appear when leveling up". To my surprise, leveling up in Wizards & Warriors then became both interesting and exciting, more than I initially predicted. It just made everything else much more rewarding and enjoyable and this what I want to recreate with Underlair's leveling up system, even though it won't be as erratic as Wizards & Warriors' leveling system was.
