Careers

Careers are occupations held by characters over the course of their lives. Characters may hold multiple careers over a period of many years, and gain knowledge and skills from each.

What’s O.L.D. Is N.E.W. uses a “life-path” system to create and advance characters. Characters begin play with five careers. Choose one origin and four further careers. When you choose a career, you gain attribute increases, skill ranks, and access to unique exploits.

Prerequisites

Careers sometimes have prerequisites, which can be thought of as qualifications—demonstrated competence in a given area. Specific game settings may have more stringent prerequisites; for example, a secret spy organization might require that a character complete an army tour before becoming a secret agent. The GM should inform players of any setting-based prerequisites such as organizational career ladders.

Skills

Characters may choose two skills from each career grade. Defensive skills—for example, acrobatics, bravery, concentration, conviction, discipline, dodging, foresight, leadership, meditation, psychology, religion, and rulership—are always available. Listings in [square brackets] indicate categories; the character may choose a skill from the indicated category or create a new, relevant skill.

A completed grade 5 character will have a total of 13 skill ranks (3 race skills and 2 career skills per grade).

Attributes

Characters advance 4 attribute points from each career grade. Apply all listed attribute adjustments.

Exploits

Choose one of the listed exploits for your career or select a universal exploit. You may only choose a given exploit once, unless that exploit specifically indicates otherwise. Some exploits require prerequisites, which are noted in their description—you must meet that prerequisite before selecting the exploit. Occasionally, an exploit may appear in more than one career; you may still only select it once, even if you choose both careers.

Repeating Careers

You can take careers multiple times (except after you have taken a career other than your origin, you cannot take your origin again). Each time you take the career, you choose two skills, apply the attribute increases again, and select one of the available exploits. Once you have exhausted all of the listed exploits through repetition of a career, you may select a universal exploit instead when you advance a grade in that career.