Rank Promotion (p. 225) #

An adventurer’s rank is a rating for them determined by the Adventurers Guild.

Adventurers start at the tenth rank, Porcelain, and are considered fledglings through the ninth and eighth ranks—Obsidian and Steel respectively. Fledgling adventurers have trouble making much money, since they can’t take on very significant quests.

The seventh through fifth ranks, Sapphire, Emerald, and Ruby, are for adventurers of middling standing. An adventurer who has reached this point can be trusted with more relatively major tasks, and they can make more money from them in turn.

Once an adventurer reaches Copper, Silver, and Gold, the fourth through second ranks, they are treated as veterans, respected not only by other adventurers but also by the common people as well. Adventurers of these ranks are paid large sums for quests, earning a high income.

Platinum rank is beyond the reach of most adventurers, and only a few people in history have reached this point and become heroes.

To be promoted, the Adventurers Guild must determine that the adventurer has the ability, achievements, and character suited to a higher rank.

The minimum requirement for promotion is to have a high enough adventurer level, adventure count, and completion count for the rank in question. Only then will an adventurer gain the right to take a promotion exam. The required adventurer levels and completion counts are listed in the following chart.

Required Adventurer Level and Completion Count for Rank Promotion #

An adventurer’s abilities are measured by their adventurer level and their level of contribution to the Adventurers Guild, and their achievements are evaluated by the number of adventures they’ve completed. However, meeting these conditions grants the adventurer no more than the qualification to be promoted.

The Adventurers Guild searches for people with the appropriate conduct and character for higher ranks. Because of that, those who perform acts that are undesirable or those who are immoral cannot be promoted to higher ranks.

The GM should consider the actions of the PCs—but only insofar as the residents of the Four-Cornered World that they are portraying—when deciding whether to promote them. Then if the GM approves the promotion, that PC’s rank can increase by 1.

The following is a list of examples of PC actions that can negatively influence rank promotion.

• Being a criminal
• Not saving hostages, civilians, entrapped adventurers, etc. when they could have been rescued
• Deceiving allies and unfairly gaining extra rewards
• Destroying or damaging buildings or property without any reason
• Not reporting negative or inconvenient things to the Adventurers Guild or falsifying reports
• Having a completion count of less than two-thirds the number of adventures they’ve completed
• Engaging in other acts that mar one’s own honor as an adventurer

If the GM decides that a PC is not a good candidate for rank promotion because of such acts, they should put off promoting them. At that point, the GM may set up a special quest or adventure to put that PC to the test as atonement for their actions. The GM may also simply prepare a special quest or adventure as part of the promotion exam even if the PCs haven’t done anything particularly harmful. In either case, if the PCs complete the adventure, they should be paid the rewards as normal. A GM cannot make promotion the only reward.

Once a PC has been promoted, they need to complete at least 1 additional adventure in order to be promoted again.