Apocalypse Redux

Not a Chapter [Class] Principles

Evolution Thresholds

1st Evolution: Level 10

2nd Evolution: Level 25

3rd Evolution: Level 50

4th Evolution: Level 100

5th Evolution: Level ???

Evolution Gains

1st Evolution: [Inspect] and [Privacy] and [Class]-specific upgrades

2nd Evolution: [Aura]

3rd Evolution: [Bloodline] creation/empowerment, possibility of strengthening relatives

4th Evolution: Interpersonal interaction improvement, quality of life enhancements, possibility for a last-ditch respec

5th Evolution: ???

Rarity Explanations (Starter Class)

To start with, you unlock any [Class] that describes anything you do, from your job to your hobbies. In addition, most standard RPG classes are freely available, though [Mage] requires some degree of scientific expertise (good highschool education/first semester university) while [Healer] requires some medical expertise (more than the first aid most people know, but not by much).

Unsavory [Classes] are also unlocked for everyone so anyone who wants to go down that route can quickly and easily start gaining the [Skills] to avoid law enforcement.

Common: Common, Garden variety, basically just a job title.

Uncommon: Harder to obtain job title, experts in their field

Rare: World-class capabilities, other standout qualities

Epic: Best-on-the-face-of-the-planet

Legendary: Basically impossible

Rarity Explanations (Evolution)

The more impressive things someone has done before evolving, the better their new [Class] will be. This includes things such as Aspects, powerful monsters beaten, and being the first to reach a certain level or do a certain thing.

However, taking the easy route will end badly. Only levelling by killing weak monsters will only net you a common or uncommon [Class] even if you’re the first person in the world to reach a certain Level, and buying Aspects won’t get you nearly as far, quality wise, as ones you hunted yourself.

It’s important to note, though, that such consequences are lessened when the thing you’re being “lazy” on isn’t what the new [Class] is based on. For example, you could get a rare or epic [Class] for [Skill] Levels even if you only killed the weakest of monsters for XP, or get buy Aspects if you’re going for a [Class] based on your achievements.

Common: Straight upgrade for the most unexceptional of people

Uncommon: Straight upgrade for the previous [Class], ‘nuff said

Rare: Stronger than uncommon, based on at least some degree of effort put into levelling at least a few [Skills], slotting some Aspects, or a decent degree of focus on general self-improvement

Epic: Unusually large number of Aspects, extreme focus and dedication on levelling certain [Skills], extraordinary achievements

Legendary: There is no one given requirement for a legendary [Class], but it can generally be summed up as “not cookie-cutter”, not something that can be easily replicated or formulaically written down (the few exceptions are very, very hard).

Gaining a legendary Evolution requires all [Skills] to be levelled to a degree that can only be described as insane, Aspects personally earned and more slotted than should be possible (example: 8 Aspects before 1stEvolution, meaning 7 Aspect slots have to be unlocked for a cost that doubles with every new one, for the final one costing 1*2^6 for a grand total of 64k XP for the final one).

Or maybe you can hold off a city-destroying kaiju before it can get to said city, or beat a dozen or more people with the same Stats, [Skill] Level and [Class] so the only difference between combatants is grit, determination and fighting spirit.

There are a lot of options, but they’re hard to describe beyond “deeds worthy of legend”

Point Gains per Level

Starter [Class]: 10 Stat and 3 Skill points

1st Evolution: 10 Stat and 3 Skill points

2nd Evolution: 10 Stat and 2 Skill points

3rd Evolution: 20 Stat and 1 Skill points

4th Evolution: 20 Stat and 1 Skill points

5th Evolution: ???

Skills Explanation

The cost of [Skills] changes based on their rarity, starting at one for common ones and reaching up to five for legendary ones.

Every [Class] except the Starter also has two core [Skills] with double the cost but they also carry a lot of the power of a [Class]. Some of them are also known as “cooldown [Skills]”, which have a separate mana pool that can even exceed the user’s own and allow the use of that [Skill] without requiring a large portion of one’s mana pool to be reserved.

Aspects

Most Aspects give a choice of offensive, defensive and movement [Skills], but monsters that lean more heavily in one direction can have two or even three [Skills] focused in one of those things, or just have utility [Skills] instead, but it can vary heavily on the Aspect in question.

An Aspect can offer between one and five [Skills], with higher Tier ones granting a higher number of them.

Everyone starts out with one open Aspect slot and will gain an additional one each Evolution. Further ones can be purchased for XP, the first one will cost 1,000, with the cost doubling for each subsequent one.

Up to four Aspects can be slotted into each slot, with one each from the Tier 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 and Tier 10 groupings, and they must all be slotted sequentially, from lowest to highest. When stacking Aspects, the [Skills] from the weaker Aspects are upgraded into the version the new Aspect holds, and the user can take on additional [Skill] from the stronger Aspect.

As the Aspect’s Tier increases, this “stronger version” becomes less about doing the exact same thing but better and more about sharing same spirit of the weaker [Skill].

XP Gains

You can only gain XP from a certain maximum number of creatures per category, limited based on the Tier, and as you exhaust more categories, the number of creatures you can hunt dwindles in the remaining ones of that power grouping.

Tier 1-3 lets you hunt 100 monsters per category for XP.

Tier 4-6 lets you hunt 50 monsters per category for XP.

Tier 7-9 lets you hunt 25 monsters per category for XP.

Tier 10 lets you hunt 10 monsters per category for XP, but that number does not dwindle as categories are exhausted.

Aura

You can buy as many [Auras] as you want for 10 [Skill] points each. Everyone unlocks one for each Aspect and [Class] they hold, as well as one for their personality and one for their goal, and a series of them for random achievements gathered throughout one’s lives.