Gaining Experience
Source: Necromunda Core Rulebook (2023)
During any battle, a fighter (including vehicle crew) can gain Experience (XP) in a number of ways. The standard ways in which Experience is gained are detailed here. Experience is also gained by completing scenario objectives – these will be detailed in the scenario. Players should note that, for the purposes of gaining Experience, vehicle crew are considered to be fighters.
A model gains XP for any of the following actions:
- 1 XP if their action directly causes an enemy fighter to suffer one or more Serious Injuries.*
- 2 XP if their action causes an enemy vehicle to become Wrecked.
- 2 XP if their action directly causes an enemy fighter to go Out of Action.*
- If the enemy fighter is a Leader or a Champion, gain an extra 1 XP.
- 1 XP if they took part in a battle (this XP is only gained if the scenario does not grant XP for a model taking part in the battle).
- 1 XP if they are Broken and successfully rally.
- 1 XP if they provide Assistance to another fighter making a Recovery test who becomes Prone and Pinned.
*Note that fighters can only gain XP for Seriously Injuring or taking an enemy fighter Out of Action once per enemy fighter per activation. For instance, if a fighter causes an enemy fighter to suffer a Serious Injury, and then performs a Coup De Grace (Free) action, they would only gain the 2 XP for causing the enemy fighter to go Out of Action.
Additonal ways to earn XP:
- D3 XP for the MVP of each playing team. This is nominated by your opponent at the end of the match.
- D3 XP for each fully painted model. This is awarded at the start of the campaign (or when they join your gang). If a model is unpainted, it gains the D3XP when it becomes painted.
- +1 additional XP when taking a Brute Out of Action.
Advancements
At the end of a battle, during the post-battle sequence, each player has the chance to purchase Advancements for any of their models by spending some or all of the XP that model has accrued. The XP cost of these Advancements is shown on the following tables. The model’s card is updated accordingly with the Advancement taken, the model’s XP is reduced by the amount spent to purchase the Advancement, the model’s total number of Advancements is increased by one (on the gang roster) and the model’s Cost is adjusted by the amount of credits shown, which will in turn increase the Gang Rating.
The more experienced a model is, the more certain Advancements cost to purchase in terms of XP. The cost of each characteristic Advancement for the same characteristic taken is increased by 2 XP for each instance after the first. For example, a Champion may increase their Initiative by 1 for 5 XP, but to increase it by 1 a second time will cost them 7 XP. Juves and Prospects however are particularly fast learners, and as a result they suffer no such penalty on characteristic increases; they may increase a characteristic any number of times (up to the maximum – see Fighter Profiles) for the basic XP cost shown each time.
| Cost | Advancement (Leaders, Champions, Crews, Prospects, Juves & Specialists) | Cost Increase |
|---|---|---|
| 3 XP | Improve the fighter’s Willpower or Intelligence characteristic by 1. | +5 credits |
| 4 XP | Improve the fighter’s Leadership or Cool characteristic by 1. | +10 credits |
| 5 XP | Improve the fighter’s Initiative characteristic by 1. | +10 credits |
| 5 XP | Add 1" to the fighter’s Movement characteristic. | +10 credits |
| 6 XP | Improve the fighter’s Weapon Skill or Ballistic Skill characteristic by 1. | +20 credits |
| 6 XP | The fighter gains a random skill from one of their Primary Skill Sets. | +20 credits |
| 8 XP | Increase the fighter’s Strength or Toughness characteristic by 1. | +30 credits |
| 9 XP | The fighter gains a skill of your choice from one of their Primary Skill Sets. | +20 credits |
| 9 XP | The fighter gains a random skill from one of their Secondary Skill Sets. | +35 credits |
| 12 XP | Increase the fighter’s Wounds or Attacks characteristic by 1. | +45 credits |
| 12 XP | Specialists only: Promote the fighter to a Champion. They gain a random skill from one of their Primary Skill Sets. | +40 credits |
| 12 XP | The fighter gains a skill of your choice from one of their Secondary Skill Sets. | +35 credits |
| 15 XP | The fighter gains a random skill from ANY Skill Set. | +50 credits |
Gangers
Whilst Leaders, Champions, Prospects, Juves and Specialists are central to a gang’s narrative, Gangers are its ‘supporting cast’. As such, they spend Experience and gain Advancements in a simplified manner.
If during the post-battle sequence a Ganger has 6 XP or more, the controlling player must roll 2D6 on the table below, and then update the Ganger’s Fighter card and their Cost accordingly, before finally reducing their XP by 6.
| 2D6 | Advancement (Gangers, not including Specialists) | Cost Increase |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | The fighter becomes a Specialist and gains a random skill from one of their Primary Skill Sets. | +20 credits |
| 3-4 | Improve the fighter’s Weapon Skill or Ballistic Skill characteristic by 1. | +20 credits |
| 5-6 | Increase the fighter’s Strength or Toughness characteristic by 1. | +30 credits |
| 7 | Either add 1" to the fighter’s Movement characteristic, or increase their Initiative characteristic by 1. | +10 credits |
| 8-9 | Improve the fighter’s Willpower or Intelligence characteristic by 1. | +5 credits |
| 10-11 | Improve the fighter’s Leadership or Cool characteristic by 1. | +10 credits |
| 12 | The fighter becomes a Specialist and gains a random skill from one of their Primary Skill Sets. | +20 credits |
Specialists: Two of the results on the table above allow a Ganger to become a Specialist. They are still a Ganger, but from now on gain all the benefits of being a Specialist, as described in their entry in their Gang list.
Maximum Characteristics
As mentioned in Fighter Profiles, each of a fighter’s characteristics has a maximum value. In addition to these maximums, no fighter may improve their Movement, Strength or Toughness characteristics more than twice beyond that given in the basic profile for a fighter of their current category. No fighter may improve their Wounds or Attacks characteristics more than once beyond that given in the basic profile for a fighter of their current category.
If a roll on the Advancement table for a Ganger has no option but to increase a characteristic beyond its maximum, treat it as a roll of 12 instead.
The fighter keeps improved stats above the new class maximum characteristics (for example Movement). However, if the fighter (after promotion) later receives stat decrease injury bringing them back to the current class max, the fighter will forever be unable to go above the max again (with future advancements or bionics).
Skills
Skills can be obtained by Leaders, Champions, Prospects, Juves, crews and Specialists. The skills that are available are divided into a number of universal Skill Sets. In addition, most gangs have their own unique Skill Set that represents the unique character of that gang or the House to which it belongs. These Skill Sets are presented alongside that Gang list.
Each gang fights in its own way, and this is reflected by the Skill Sets that are available to the fighters that make up that gang. All fighters have different levels of skill access depending upon their type and the gang to which they belong; for example, a House Goliath Forge Boss (Champion) can gain Brawn skills more easily than a House Escher Little Sister (Juve). In each Gang list, and for certain other types of fighter (Exotic Beasts and Brutes, for example), details are given showing the Skill Sets available to those fighters. Fighters have Primary access to some Skill Sets, and Secondary access to others. Certain fighters can access skills from other sets, but to do so is more expensive in terms of XP.
Gaining A New Skill
Whenever a fighter gains a new skill, it will either be chosen by the controlling player or determined randomly. How a new skill is determined will depend upon how much XP has been spent to gain the skill or if the skill is Primary, Secondary or neither, as detailed in the Advancements table.
Choosing a Skill: Choosing a skill is a simple matter of selecting a desirable skill from one of the Skill Sets available to that fighter.
Gaining a Random Skill: Every skill in each Skill Set is numbered between 1 and 6. When a fighter gains a random skill, the player chooses a Skill Set to generate that skill from and rolls a D6. This roll determines which skill from the chosen Skill Set the fighter gains. If the fighter already has that skill, or cannot take that skill, simply re-roll the D6 until a skill the fighter does not have or can take is rolled.