Builder's Manual · Chapter 1

The Character File Type and Leveling

The Character file type is where a survivor's identity, skills, gear, and progression live. Its defining design decision is that a character's level is computed from its experience, and never stored or set by hand.

The level as a computed field

On /file-types/character/schema.json, level is a computed (read-only) field derived from the stored experience field:

level = min( xp < 210 ? 1 + floor(xp/30) : 8 + floor((xp − 210)/60), 20 )

Every new character stores experience: 0, which computes to level 1.
Leveling only ever happens by raising experience — the GM awards experience, and the level follows automatically.
No sheet field can be typed to a higher level, because the level value does not exist to edit. This is the mechanical backstop against manufactured high-level characters.

This makes the survival-progression philosophy structural, not just narrative: power is earned, and the file type itself refuses a hand-set level.

The curve

Experience is intentionally non-linear, mirroring the "early growth frequent, later growth hard" doctrine:

Levels 1–8: 30 experience per level.
Levels 9–20: 60 experience per level.
Level 20 requires 930 experience.

Tune the two constants (30, 60) and the breakpoint (210 XP = level 8) in the expression if you want faster or slower pacing for your table.

Conventions for a good character entry

Set experience: 0 for a starting character — level derives from here.
Give each character a clear identity, role, primary strengths AND weaknesses, starting skills (as objects with a rank in the name and an xp counter), starting gear, a starting trait, and a growth path.
Match the tone of the existing starters: survivors with useful beginnings, not finished champions.
Keep skill progression tied to the skill system; a character's level should reflect what they have actually lived through.

Manual updated Aug 17, 2026.

Ashfall Deepworld Custom Survival RPG

Ashfall Deepworld

A post-apocalypse fantasy dungeon survival world of crafting, hunger, thirst, skill practice, reading-based knowledge, rune enhancement, and dangerous dungeon exploration.

Crafted by

@jessielovell

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Versionv10

CreatedMay 29, 2026

UpdatedAug 18, 2026

The Premise

Descend, survive, learn, craft, and become stronger in a ruined world beneath the ash.

Ashfall Deepworld is a custom survival-progression fantasy RPG setting where power is earned through practice, study, crafting, preparation, and risk. Hunger, thirst, gear durability, lost knowledge, rune language, and dungeon exploration all shape the player experience.

Author's note

Starter CDF import for building the Ashfall Deepworld Craft project. Expand by adding more locations, skills, recipes, monsters, factions, and dungeon layers.

Inside the World