Introducing FaB PvE: Quests

I love PvE games. Awhile ago I set out to make a FaB PvE that I would enjoy; however, I had some caveats for it. I wanted to make it Scenario based, it would be AI controlled and it had be using FaB cards. This obviously made things a bit tricky but overall I was proud of what I made and left it there.

Since then I have played other FaB PvE modes that community members have made and they have been an absolute blast. Things like the Overlord Engine II and Rathe Adventures are incredibly fun and thought in marvelous ways. But they were missing something that I really enjoyed... a quest and level system. So I went back and revamped the system I had so that it could be used in any PvE system that you want! You can view and download everything you need to add to your PvE experience with FaB PvE: Quests here.

What is FaB PvE: Quests?

This is a leveling system to give you the feel of progression that you might get from a Co-op game such as DnD. There is a market to purchase equipment from that is dependent on your level; each character sheet has quests, most of them for specializations, that a character can start once they reach that level to unlock it! If you want more RPG style, Rares or higher will cost you XP and you cannot go over your total XP (which you'll earn by completing bosses/levels), so it creates a fun deck building challenge!

How Do You Start?

Initially you start with a commoner deck, and some equipment (outlined on your character sheet) and 1 gold. As you complete bosses or levels in your PvE games you will gain XP and Gold. In between sessions you can update your deck or purchase new items or equipment from the market. The market is really what holds the Quest system together.

The Market

As you hit certain thresholds, you level up and unlock the rewards. Let's use level 2 as an example. When you hit 10xp, you become level 2. You may now purchase token/common weapons and equipment for 1 Gold, you have unlocked rares for deck building and you can choose a mentor (if your class has one) as well as start doing level 2 quests that are on your character sheet (note: not all heroes have level 2 quests).

The idea behind the market sheet is to give you all the basic knowledge that you need to know so that your character sheet can focus on what your hero is all about.

Character Sheet

Here is an example of a character sheet for Rhinar. This is really where the Quests come into play. All specializations are available in quests that let you get access to the cards a level early! When you reach 10 XP (which you can track on the left side of the page) you'll reach level 2! When Rhinar is level 2, you may immediately choose a mentor and receive one copy that you can use and you can start questing! Each quest will be at step 1 and when you complete the required task you check off a bubble. Once all bubbles are marked off, you can move to step 2 in that quest and when that is finished you will have 2 copies available to you to add to your deck! Anything that is a quest can only be earned from quests and not purchased at the market.

For example, in a turn you play Lead the Charge and then Bare Fangs which draws a card and discards and you gain an action point. You would check off a bubble in Step 1 of Sand Sketched Plans quest but would not check off anything in step 2 of Sand Sketched Plans because you have not finished step 1 and you would not check off anything in Step 2 of Montrous Veil if you have not completed step 1 of that quest. Then on the opponents turn you block with your armor, which you would then check off a bubble under Step 1 in Monstrous Veil quest.

If you had completed Step 1 on Monstrous Veil before anything else, then anytime you draw and discard a card, you will actually get to check it off in Step 1 of Sand Sketched Plans and Step 2 of Monstrous Veil!

The Rewards section is really for you to track anything and everything that you might need! Initially this section shows your starting equipment. If you do not own a copy of the starting equipment or just want to switch it up, you may change it. The general rule is to use a token/common weapon of the hero and a generic/talent chest. On the right you can track your Gold, Silver, and Copper than you earn throughout your journey and you can spend that in the market.

One additional note, there is only one character sheet per hero. What this means is if you play Kayo or Kayo, Berserker Runt, you would only need the Kayo character sheet.

Deck Building XP System

There is an optional addition for those that want even more depth in a leveling system. That is that every Rare, Majestic and Legendary that you did not purchase from the market cannot exceed your xp. Rares cost 3xp, Majestics 10xp and Legendaries 20xp.

For example, when you turn level 2 with 10xp even though you have access to Rares, you would only be able to 3 Rares in your deck which equals 9xp because you cannot go over 10xp. At 12xp you would then be able to have 4 rares. The exception to this rule is items and equipment purchased from the market do not go towards your total xp since you paid for them with gold.

There will be times when your hero has a quest for a specialization that is an equipment. Because that equipment is tied to a quest, it will cost you xp in order to equip it. For example, Victor has Aurum Aegis which is a shield that is his specialization. He unlocks the quest on level 4 when most characters do not have access to legendaries until level 5. When you complete that quest, it will actually cost XP to equip it since it was not purchased through the market. This can clearly be tracked because it is in the quest section of his character page.

The XP system is completely optional. If you don't want to have limitations on your deck building then this is an add-on that is easily skipped. Or you may want to tweak it a bit and just have all equipment cost no xp. The choice is yours!

Party Level

What if your group decides to bring in a new player that is level 1 into the middle of a difficult level? The best way to approach it is to have the average level of everyone and that is your party level. While no FaB PvE currently uses party level, it is a sure fire way to help establish a baseline of what might be too difficult for the party to handle.

Future Updates

Upcoming plans is to add in Legendary Quests to create a fun end game for PvE: Quests. However, this does have some ramifications to the system. Because you will be questing for the legendaries, they will cost 20xp to equip them once you unlock them. This helps to differentiate from Majestic equipment as they will be bought from the market and thus do not cost any xp to equip. There is a section on your character sheet where you can track your legendary equipment so that it separates it from your inventory. With this differentiation you can see that anything in your inventory will NOT cost xp and anything that is in the quest section you will need to xp.

One System for all!

This is a system that I see as a good foundation and I encourage everyone to utilize it and build off of it. TekloCrow, creator of Rathe Adventures, is already looking at ways that they can bring in the Quest system to Rathe Adventures which is super exciting to me! If you have any ideas on how you can use it in your own PvE system or in your PvE sessions I'd love to hear all about your ideas or experiences and if you changed parts of the system to make it more fun for your group!