Wayfarers groups play into four tiers. Each tier represents an approximate level of power and ability, and gives a good sense of what could and should be happening in a campaign.
- Longer campaigns can use tiers to break a story into acts.
- The GM should use each new tier to take inventory of the players and what their characters are up to, much as Session Zero does at the start of a campaign.
- Tiers replace proficiency bonuses in many places. Because tiers only run 1 to 4, numbers are easy to adjust. A recurring philosophy: start small and scale accordingly.
- Each character’s secret or background thread is checked in on at each tier (see Design Pillars).
Tier play styles
- Tier 1 is great for gritty realism and horror campaigns.
- Tier 4 has fully realized characters.
Attribute caps by tier
From Attributes:
| Tier | Highest attribute |
|---|---|
| 1 | 4 or 5 |
| 2 | 7 |
| 3 | 9 |
| 4 | Can max some attributes at 10 |
Tiers in class progression
Class abilities are grouped by tier. In the Soldier draft, new tiers unlock at levels 6, 11 and 16, and each new tier grants an extra Action Point (see Action Points).
How do levels map to tiers?
The Soldier page mentions levels 1–20 with tiers unlocking at 6, 11 and 16, and the Berserker’s Brutal Critical refers to “your Berserker level”. Most other rules scale off tier level only. Confirm whether characters have levels as well as tiers, and write the mapping here.
Campaign types
From the Additional Info notes (not written yet):
- Low-level campaign
- Unlocked campaign
Wayfarers also aims to support rules-light, tactical and narrative play (see Core Mechanics).