Bond, hearts and levels

Bond and hearts

Each companion has its own bond, from zero to 100 points. Every 20 points is a heart, so a companion can reach 5 hearts. Your first companion starts with 10 points, and so does a stray you take in.

Bond moves with what you do together on an outing:

• An outing can raise bond by at most 20 when you and your model walk it together, or 6 when the model walks it alone. A solo outing never takes a companion past 40 points; only outings together get it higher.
• An outing counts as together when it isn't hands-on and you, the pilot, made at least 3 moves in it.
• Only the first 3 outings of a day that change bond count. After that, bond holds still, wins and losses alike.
• Praise and scolding count only when your companion fought.
• If your companion sat a fight out because your model was away, nothing about it changes.

Hearts also help when you meet a stray: your companion's hearts make a new stray trust you faster.

The duo bond level

Your duo, you and your model, has its own bond level, shown on the duo's card. It grows with every rewarded outing that had an adventure in it (a new region, a win or a loss):

• an outing together: +10, and +10 for each win;
• a solo outing by your model: +3, and +2 for each win, but solo outings alone never push your progress past 40.

Each level costs 20 more points than the one before (the first costs 20 plus 20), and progress starts again from zero at each level. Hands-on outings don't count. The duo bond level decides which strays you can take in.

Taking in a stray

Your duo can have up to 2 companions, one of each species. To take a stray in during or after a fight with it (or at the crossing in a hands-on outing):

1. Read its tell. Each temperament gives itself away, and each likes and dislikes one approach.
2. Approach it: offer a treat, show strength or wait calmly. An approach it likes adds 40 trust, one it dislikes takes 20 away, anything else adds 15, give or take 5.
3. Trust starts at 5 for each heart your companion has, plus 15 if the stray is down to half HP or less. You, the pilot, can encourage once for 10 more.
4. At 70 trust the stray joins you, and you name it. Below zero, or after 3 approaches, it slips away into the vale.

Offering a treat uses one. An outing starts with 2 treats and you can carry up to 4: forage for more, or ask Hob. Taking a stray in costs 5 stamina.

Levels and difficulty

Your hero and each companion level up to 10 with XP. A finished fight gives 20 XP for a win and 5 for a loss, scaled by how hard the stray was for you. Keeper tasks give XP too. Each of you can earn at most 60 XP a day. Retreating gives none.

A stray's level comes from the region it lives in. Its difficulty colour compares its level with yours, sets your XP, and nudges its damage a little:

Levels unlock your kits: specials at 2, 4 and 6, the super at 8 (hero classes). Your duo's level also sets how big the squads you meet are (strays): the hero's level when the hero fights, the companion's when it fights alone.