Over time, players will earn XP, which can be used to make their characters more powerful. The pool of XP that a character has earned can be spent on making them stronger by increasing their attributes and unlocking new abilities. In Last Odyssey, a character’s level of advancement in relation to other characters is quantified by its tier. Players can spend XP on four distinct improvements to their character: unlocking a new job or unlocking a talent for one they already have, taking what’s known as a flex power, adding 1 to one of their attributes, and advancing 3 total ranks in any jobs they are currently able to occupy. The last two of these can be done twice per tier, while the first two can only be done once. To learn more about how characters can earn XP, see the Earning XP section.
The XP cost of each improvement a character buys is equal to the number of improvements they have already bought plus one multiplied by twice their current tier. For example, at tier 1 the very first improvement a character buys will cost 2 XP, while the last one will cost 12 XP. Once a character has reached tier 10 and then unlocked all of the possible advancements, they may no longer advance in tier. If a character in your campaign reaches max level, this means that it’s time for the campaign to start wrapping up and/or for that character to move on and be changed out for another one. Every time you advance in tier, you also gain access to the archetype ability or statistic bonus of the corresponding rank.
When a character first advances to a new tier, they also advance the rank of their archetype and gain the corresponding advancement. While they occupy a given tier, each character will take each of the following advancements one single time. Once these advancements have been taken, they must advance to the next tier to advance further.
In total, once per tier, a character can take each of the following advancements:
When a player chooses to advance one of their character’s attributes, they add +1 to either their Body, their Mind, or their Spirit. The next time they take this improvement during the same tier, they must improve a different attribute. The maximum value that any of a character’s attributes can have is 12.
When a player advances their character’s Rank in a job, they are now able to use all of the abilities associated with that Rank or lower while they occupy it. Players can save up Ranks whenever they take this improvement until they are ready, but they cannot spend them except when they take this improvement again. Unlocking the capstone ability at the end of a job’s ability list counts as advancing by 2 Ranks instead of 1.
Every tier, players may either choose to give their character a talent or unlock a new job. When a character unlocks a new job, they may now occupy it during combat and gain the associated exploration action during travel. When they first unlock a job, it starts at rank 1.
Instead of unlocking a new job, a player can instead choose to unlock one of the talents listed in their archetype description. Each talent is a passive ability that is only active when a character occupies the corresponding job. There are six talents available to unlock per archetype, one for each job.
When a character takes this improvement, they gain an extra ability called a flex power that they can use regardless of what job they currently occupy. Characters may not take the same type of flex power more than once. For example, a character could have Water Strike and Water Bolt, but could not have two Water Bolt abilities that were both flex powers. Characters may, however, take the flex power versions of abilities that they also have access to in a particular job, so a character could have Water Bolt as a Caster ability and Water Bolt as a flex power. They would simply only be able to use the flex power version of Water Bolt unless they were a Caster. This rule also does not apply to Flex Statistic, which can be taken an indefinite number of times per statistic.
During character advancement, players may purchase any of the following flex powers:
| Name | Type | Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flex Buff | Ally | 10 MP, 1 AP | When you take this power, choose one of the nine character statistics. Using this ability raises the specified statistic of the target by one level on the Bonus Tracker. |
| Flex Debuff | Ranged | 6 MP, 1 AP | When you take this power, choose one of the nine character statistics. Using this ability lowers the specified statistic of the target by one level on the Bonus Tracker. |
| Flex Bolt | Ranged | 10 MP, 1 AP | When you take this power, choose a non-colorless elemental type. Using this ability makes a magical attack of that elemental type against a single target. |
| Flex Strike | Melee | 10 MP, 1 AP | When you take this power, choose a non-colorless elemental type. Using this ability makes a physical attack of that elemental type against a single target. |
| Flex Debilitate | Ranged | 14 MP, 1 AP | When you take this power, choose a status with an elemental type. Using this ability triggers a status-inflicting ability against a single target that inflicts this status on a hit. |
| Flex Shell | Ally | 14 MP, 1 AP | When you take this power, choose a non-colorless elemental type. Using this ability increases the Shell of a single target by your current Magical Attack. This power works the same as the Support’s Shell ability. |
| Flex Protect | Ally | 18 MP, 1 AP | When you take this power, choose a non-colorless elemental type. Using this ability makes you or a single ally Protected against that elemental type. |
| Flex Statistic | Passive | N/A | You gain a permanent +5 bonus to your character’s Health, +5 bonus to their Mana, or a +2 bonus to their Initiative. |
| Flex Proficiency | Passive | N/A | You become proficient in a type of weapon or armor you were not previously proficient in. |
Once you have bought one of each of the six tier improvements, your character is ready to advance in tier. To do so, you must spend 3 Anima to either summon their eidolon in battle or to save them from True Death. Once this has been done, the character advances to the next tier, and automatically receives the advancement corresponding to the rank of their archetype equal to their new tier.
It is inevitable that a character’s Aspirations and Relationships will change throughout the game. The outcome of a Scene may change a character’s Relationships or Aspirations, depending on what was risked in order for them to earn Anima. In addition, whenever player determines that their character’s Aspiration has changed and/or they have acquired or lost a Relationship, they have the ability to modify them at will. They should then announce this to the group so that the other players and the GM can take proper note of the change.