Progression

Through gaining power, characters are able to overcome larger and larger obstacles. On the road to the strongest, there are many steps to climb. Your players will want to feel themselves become stronger, so let’s discuss what that means.

Progression

With all the tools available to make your players stronger, it may seem a little overwhelming at first. Here, we’ll break down some of the options and generally how we think they should be used.

Power Levels. This is the main way in which you will increase your player’s strength, allowing them to gain more Life Points, Ki Points, Character Perks (or the derivative options of them), and to make their Stress Tests easier to handle more powerful transformations. Usually, we suggest giving a total of 5 Power Levels over a large, overarching story arc. Think, for example, like the Namek Saga. If your players were to go through that, entering at Power Level 5, then they will leave at Power Level 10. The mark of a new Tier of Power can be useful to make an exciting climax or to be a huge incentive to finish the current story and give a huge reward, ready for the next upcoming saga of your overarching narrative.

Downtime. Every tool for progression can be handled purely narratively and thus, Downtime is an Optional Rule that is not required in most campaigns. It is an option for if you want players to spend dedicated time away from the campaign readying themselves, rather than focusing deeply on the current plot. Although an Optional Rule, it is a wonderful tool for allowing players to take the reins on their own growth. Though, as a result, it does require constant observation but it can be very fun to allow your players to sit down and figure out, for themselves, how they prepare for the next encounter.

Other Rewards. You can also reward players’ efforts by granting them pieces of equipment that have powers beyond what they could typically obtain (Special Items, Special Weapon Qualities, and Special Apparel Qualities) or give them more indirect tools for Progression through Dev Points (which can allow for more options to gather resources and strength).

Transformations

Aside from Power Levels, one of the most important mechanics of DBU is Transformations. They tend to have the biggest impact on a Character’s strength and, as a result, should be handed out with some degree of reverence. Gaining a new Transformation should be done as the apex of a character’s current story arc or a culmination of various efforts they’ve put in throughout the current saga. The most obvious example would be the Super Saiyan Transformation. It is a form awoken by anger, but there’s more to it than that. Vegeta became furious any number of times but hadn’t achieved the form. In a similar vein, you can hold off similar transformations in which the ‘trigger’ would seem to be pulled until a character seems worthy of it or has properly earned it.

Generally, it’s up to each ARC how they want to handle Transformations but the best way to consider it is to think of Transformations as a numbers game and to what extent you wish to play it. Below is a rough idea of what we encourage for Transformations depending on Transformation Type:

• Manifested Power. Realistically, you should be looking at no more than 1~2 stacks of Manifested Powers per Tier of Power – for newer ARCs, it’s best to stay closer to 1 Manifested Power per Tier of Power. It is worth noting that usually granting an additional stack of a Manifested Power is typically weaker than granting a new Manifested Power and can be considered a ‘half’ Manifested Power if you want to look at progression purely numerically. In some builds, such as those that require Pure Resolve/Built Different, you may consider adding more to make up for a disparity in Attributes and Traits when comparing Enhancement Powers to Alternate Forms, but ultimately it depends on your generosity and how the power dynamics are present in your game. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that all of your players are having fun: so if someone is feeling left behind, giving a MP is an easy way to give them a quick boost!
• Enhancement Powers. Enhancement Powers play an interesting role in the scope of Transformations, as usually they fulfill different niches of combat and therefore a plethora of them can be obtained without causing much fuss. Still, you should consider no more than 1~2 Transcendent Enhancements across a Character’s entire lifespan (usually gaining the second one around Tier of Power 4+ for things such as Awoken), while allowing a more generous 1~4 non-Transcendent Enhancement Powers depending on what occurs in your story and how many different skills or techniques a Character picks up. While it’s fine to give someone either just one Enhancement Power or multiple if they don’t intend to use a Transcendent Enhancement, do not go overboard and give them more than 4, realistically. The more options a Character has, the stronger they are, and it can result in a Character becoming a swiss army knife ready to deal with any situation (potentially undermining the value of their Allies – the other players).
• Alternate Forms. Alternate Forms should generally be split into two categories: those with multiple Stages or those with the Scaling Aspect. Either way, you don’t really want to give more than one Alternate Form Transformation Line as it may create a plethora of Life/Ki recovery through uses of Legend Realized. The occasional variant may be fine, such as Ascended Super Saiyan for the Super Saiyan Transformation Line but, for instance, if you were going to give someone the Future Super Saiyan Transformation, then there’s no reason to give them access to the normal Super Saiyan Transformation Line.
• Legendary Forms. When it comes to Legendary Forms, it’s a similar situation to Alternate Forms – either a single Transformation Line or a single Legendary Form with the Scaling Aspect. Sometimes, a variant may suit the character (such as Condensed Legendary Super Saiyan), but otherwise they shouldn’t be looking at additional Legendary Forms until Tier of Power 6+, where Transformations like Ultra Instinct begin to creep up. Aside from stages of a singular Legendary Form, no Character should realistically have 2 Legendary Forms – with some exceptions being considered for Characters who reach Tier of Power 6.

Ultimately, how you handle Transformations is up to you, but do consider the route that Goku went as a potential guide to how we’d suggest their usage. That is to say, Goku obtained the Unlocked Potential Manifested Power first from the Ultra Divine Water, followed by Kaioken through King Kai’s teachings, then the Super Saiyan Transformation and its following upgrades before finally stepping into the realm of the gods through the Super Saiyan God Legendary Form. While this will vary from build to build (especially in the case of players interested in Pure Resolve or Awoken), Manifested Powers are a great ‘soft’ start to building strength due to their typically lower power, while Enhancement Powers are great for bursts of strength and Alternate Forms are wonderful to indicate reaching a whole new level of power thanks to the Ki Multiplier effect and their easier Stress Tests. Legendary Forms, as a culmination of all other Transformation Types, exist in a realm beyond the others and therefore should be given out with great care due to their amazing might.

We’d suggest newer ARCs definitely lean to a lower amount of Transformations, as the increased amount of power and number of Traits may make things difficult to follow at first and may make balancing encounters a little tricky as a result.

Keep in mind that while Dragon Ball Z is the influence, generally speaking the Characters there sway in power by such huge amounts that you shouldn’t be looking to what people have gained there as a rule for your own game.

Mastery. While Mastery and other mechanics tied to it (such as Exceed and Unlimited) can bring new levels of power to your party’s Transformations, it’s worth considering when it is appropriate. Generally, the idea is that you shouldn’t be giving out Masteries or other increases to the power of a Transformation until after the player has used it for a good amount of time. You could mark it in Power Levels, waiting until they’ve at least been using it for a whole Tier of Power, or perhaps you could wait until they’re on the cusp of getting a new power altogether. Either way, it depends on your own game but don’t rush the path to mastery – your players will appreciate it more if they have to use a transformation without mastery before getting it.

Balancing Power

Sometimes in a game of DBU, there will be some imbalance of power among your players. Don’t sweat it! It happens. You can’t always have everyone gain power at the same time. If everyone became the Super Saiyan of legend at once, it wouldn’t feel very legendary, would it? There will be times where certain Characters in a party may be stronger than others, but as long as you don’t pile onto that and make the strong stronger, you should be able to avoid a terrible power disparity.

Generally, if you find any player who seems to be trailing behind, it may be good to dive into that Character’s backstory and direct motivations in the upcoming story. Give them a clear reason to be impassioned, to train hard and, if they play into it, give them rewards to help them catch up. You, the ARC, are in control of how strong each Character is and how strong they become. Through one method or another, you can always make them become stronger to fix any imbalances in a party.

Strange Interactions

Sometimes, with Transformations, there are some interactions that may seem a little odd. As a result, we will use this section to point out anything we think that you, as an ARC, should be aware of. Specifically, what you should change from the RAW (rules as written) system to suit a more narrative element.

Body Change. The Body Change Unique Ability is a can of worms, for sure. The Transformations are retained between the Characters themselves, rather than the bodies, and while this generally makes sense… There are some cases in which it’d make more sense for them to remain with the body. For those, please look to the Transformation Guide.

If a Racial Trait gives a Transformation, such as through Saiyan Heritage or Divergent Evolution, the original owner of the body will lose that Transformation, while the one who gained it will gain that Transformation, along with any options chosen by the original owner of the body. Mastery, however, will be retained only by the original owner of the body and if they, therefore, regain access to those Transformations then they will automatically apply their mastery to it.

Any attempt to Body Change with a Fusion should automatically fail.

Possession. When a Neo-Tuffle uses the Possession Maneuver to take over another character, if they would use the Transformation Maneuver to enter a Transformation possessed by that character, then that character will also have entered that Transformation. This is important, as if the Neo-Tuffle is removed from the body while that character is in that Transformation, then while the Neo-Tuffle will lose access to the Transformation and therefore forcefully exit it, the possessed character will still be in that Transformation.

Absorption and Fusion. If a Temporary Fusion becomes an Absorbed Character, the amount of Combat Rounds until their Fusion ends continues to tick down. If it would reach 0, then choose the Fused Character with the higher Cognitive Saving Throw. They become the Absorbed Character for this stack of Absorption, though the other Fused Character is also tied to this stack of Absorption, they just have no mechanical effect on this stack of Absorption. If you would lose that stack of Absorption, both Fused Characters become free simultaneously.

Any Signature Techniques or Magical Abilities gained from the Fusion are retained until this stack of Absorption is lost, even if the Fusion would run out of time.