Starting Skills & STats
Dystopia Rising Live is a complex game with various stats, skills, and abilities. If you feel overwhelmed by the choices and options, you can consult the New Player Quick Guide for information on play style and sample builds. The bottom of this page also features the various Sample Builds provided by the Quick Guide to get you started.
Every Survivor is talented at something, and those talents are part of why you are still alive in the post-apocalypse. Skills are abilities you gain in play that augment the natural abilities that you, as a person, have so that you are able to enhance your character’s abilities above and beyond your real-world capabilities. Stats are the core abilities of how tough your character is, what kind of mental fortitude they possess, or even how many times they can die before coming back as a zombie. You can even unlock more powerful versions of the starting skills called Professions as you continue to play the game and progress your character.
Each Character has a few STATS that are based on your starting Strain and Lineage.
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A measure of your toughness, and how much damage you can take in combat.
Similar to Hit Points in D&D or Health in a lot of video games.
You regain lost Body by using healing items or healing skills.
Your starting Body is determined by your choice of Lineage.
Every character starts with at least 5 Body.
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Fuel for a sub-category of Skills called Development skills.
Similar to Mana or Energy in video games.
Restore Mind Points with restorative items, having skills used on you, or helping others use their Development Skills as as “Skilled Assistant”
Starting Mind is determined by your choice of Lineage
Try to have Mind Points divisible by 5
Most skills use 1, 5, 10, or 15 Mind to activate. Having a Mind Pool divisible by 5 helps use your skills most effectively
Every character starts with at least 5 Mind.
We recommend every character have at least one Development Skill because no matter what, you will have Mind Points to use.
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A measure of your will to survive and how you fuel powerful Skills and equipment.
You can’t easily regain Resolve during an event, so spend it wisely!
Each character starts with three (3) Resolve.
New Players have limited uses for Resolve.
While there are available mechanics such as your Lineage Advantage, most are present for higher XP characters. We generally recommend waiting to buy additional Resolve for this reason.
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The number of times you can return from death before becoming a zombie, in most cases.
Think of these like your “lives” where you lose one each time you die until you don’t come back.
Each character starts with three (3) Infection.
When you lose your last Infection, your character is permanently dead!
After that, you’ll need to make a new character!
You can regain lost Infection, but it requires powerful Skills or dangerous procedures to restore.
Even if you succeed, you can only regain infection a few times every year, so be careful!
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You earn XP by attending Dystopia Rising Live events to improve your character and learn new Skills, gain additional Body or Mind, or even earn Professions.
For your first ten events you attend, you’ll earn 10 XP per game, so you’ll quickly be able to purchase new abilities.
You can even purchase up to three (3) additional XP at each event for an additional cost.
you enter the game with fifty (50) Experience Points to start.
You gain this XP as soon as the game begins, so you can use it right away! In Dystopia Rising Live, you can spend these XP before the event if you like, but half the FUN of learning a Skill is getting an in-character lesson from another player in game.
you can read more about experience points, character growth, and XP costs starting on p. 14 in the player’s guide.
You can read more about Body, Mind, and other stats starting on p. 15 in the player’s Guide
spending XP
You can choose to improve your character by spending Experience Points in game. There are several things you can spend XP on, but here’s how it generally works. You can find the complete rules for spending XP on page 14 in the Player’s Guide.
There are several types of skills that you can learn in Dystopia Rising Live: Default, Impact, Development, and Profession.
Every character begins will all of the available Default Skills. These are common skills like the ability to use weapons, shields, and basic wasteland lore.
Impact Skills are powerful active abilities most often used in combat or exploration scenarios. You can only use these skills a number of times equal to how many “uses” you have purchased. These uses then reset every 20 minutes you are outside of a fight. These skills are incredibly valuable as useable again and gain throughout an event.
The first use of a given Impact Skill purchased costs 5 XP, the second costs 10 XP, the third costs 15 XP, and so forth. We recommend purchasing a range of skills at 1-2 uses each.
Development Skills are abilities that use your Mind Points and often involve periods of role play to activate like crafting or healing. These skills are bought in ranks; Basic, Proficient, and Master.
Remember, every character has at least 5 Mind Points, so we recommend everyone have at least one Development Skill.
Development Skills grow in cost as you buy each tier. Basic costs 5 XP, Proficient costs 10 XP, and Master costs 15 XP. While it is possible to start with a Master Development Skill (at a cost of 30 XP total), you’ll need Mind Points to effectively use those skills. We recommend sticking to Basic Development skills early on to maximize your experience.
You can eventually unlock Profession Skills, but these won’t be available right away for a starting character. These powerful roles can be unlocked by purchasing the right combination of Impact or Development skills and can unlock powerful new abilities for your character.
It requires a minimum of 65 experience points to unlock a Profession, so you don’t need to worry about this when you first start.
Body and Mind can be purchased by spending XP. Your first 10 points in each category costs just 1 XP each. This is one of the most efficient ways to spend XP when you first start. As you purchase more points, the cost will begin to scale.
Because most attacks deal damage in multiples of 5, a common strategy is to have 1 more Body than a common attack. Common starting Body totals are 11, 16, & 21 for this reason.
Mind Points fuel your Development Skills. While we recommend every character have at least 1 Development Skill, you don’t need to spend a lot on this stat if you don’t plan to use Development Skills often.
You can buy additional Resolve or Infection for 20 XP. This is a lot and we generally recommend saving this for later.
Remember, you get 50 XP to begin, so you can learn a few different skills and purchase a few stats right from the start!
default skills
These don’t need much of a mention, as every character starts with these for free. You have a basic ability to use every weapon type in the game, including Brawling, Melee Small, Melee Standard, Melee Two-Handed, Bolt Action, Bows, Throwing, Dual Weapons (Florentine), Shields, and additionally you know Basic Wasteland Lore.
impact skills
Impact Skills influence your character’s ability to survive a fight and kill the zombie about to eat your friends. These Skills include a number of “combat tricks” that you can do in combat by spending a use of the skill. Each time you purchase an Impact Skill you get an additional use. Impact Skill uses reset after 20 minutes outside of combat while not using weapons or other Impact Skills.
You don’t have to be good at combat to pick up some Impact Skills.
Some good starting combat-oriented Impact Skills are Blinding, Break, Takedown, or Piercing Strike. These work against most enemies in the game, but certain types of enemies may be immune to skills like Blinding and Break.
There are three primary defensive skills; Avoid, Balance, and Mental Endurance. These are all defenses against most enemies in the game, but Avoid is a VERY good first skill, as it lets you avoid the negative effects of most single melee or ranged attacks in game. This will help you survive until the end of the event!
Some additional less combat-focused Impact Skills that are useful are Double Tap, First Aid, Trap Dis/Arming, and Salvaging. These are great choices if you don’t want to engage in much boffer fighting but still want to feel useful.
First Aid is a great skill for a combat medic type role. This skill will help you save your allies in a fight, or simply patch people up after the skirmish is over. You can even use this skill without spending a use to Stabilize someone for free, so this is a handy skill to have.
Stealth is an amazing skill for survival. Most enemies can’t detect you while you are using this skill, so this can be an excellent way for a new player to survive a tough fight at night or simply get back to your bunk safely.
Remember, as a starting character you can use these skills basically every 20 minutes. You’ll have something you can do in virtually every fight over the weekend, so these definitely feel more rewarding than Development Skills.
development skills
Development Skills represent your learning and education, social and cultural skills, and your mastery of practiced skills that need production and refining to be successful. All of the major Crafting skills are found in this category, as well as healing skills, and skills that rely on social connections.
Artisan & Culinary are the primary crafting abilities, producing useful equipment and consumable items.
Agriculture & Foraging produce crafting components, each in their own unique way. Either by spending time at a Farming Zone or by picking up Foraging Cards found across the site during an event.
Skills like Medical, Financial Influence, and Travel have their own specific uses in given scenarios.
Education gives you access to canon information via a selection of “Lores” that open “Lore Cards” found during specific modules to give additional information.
Criminal Influence is your primary way to get involved in the criminal underworld either as part of the Black Market or the Assassin’s Guild known as Murder Incorporated. Because this includes involvement with existing groups, we ask that New Players do not take this skill at character creation. Instead, talk to your New Player Storyteller about how you might get involved and learn this skill in-game.
Be aware taking this skill will almost always cause you to come into Character-vs-Character conflict with other players. If you want to be everyone’s friend, you should avoid this skill.
Aberrant impact & Development skills
Aberrant Skills represent your characters unique connection to the “magic” of Dystopia Rising, through powers called Psionics, and through your connection to in-game Faiths. There are both Aberrant Impact Skills and Development Skills.
NOTE: Taking even ONE Aberrant Skill gives you the Keyword “Aberrant”. This means that certain zombies, monsters, and items are especially deadly to you, so keep this in mind before you choose one of these skills. However, these skills can be incredibly powerful and useful, so many feel it is worth the risk. This is not a choice you can take back easily, so be careful!
Aberrant Impact Skills like Biogenetics and Pyrokinetics are incredibly powerful combat abilities, instantly healing others or dealing significant damage. Many players choose to be Aberrant just for one or both of these skills.
Aberrant Development Skills can give you an edge in specific aspects of play. Necrokinetics is great if you’re interested in The Mortis Amaranthine and the Faithful skills are useful to get involved in faith roleplay with a mechanical advantage.
Skill Types
As we said above, there are four types of Skills you can learn in Dystopia Rising. The three starting categories of Default, Impact, and Development are available at creation. You won’t be able to purchase Profession Skills until a bit later in your career when you first start out. There’s also a special class of skills known as Aberrant Skills that include some additional disadvantages. You’ll have time to learn about all of these later, but let’s focus on the best Skills you can learn at character creation.
Sample Starter Builds
The “Dystopia Rising Live: New Player Quick Guide” is a great book for getting started easily. It features a variety of Starter Builds, each showing how you can get started with a particular play-style spending just your starting 50 XP.
Remember, you can always ask to rewrite your character’s XP expenditures within your first 3 events.
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Slower “living the world” build that focuses on building and crafting. Spend time assisting others to regain mind and network with others to fill in your skill gaps. Make Friend!
Body: Base | Mind: Base + 10
Impact SkillsBreak x1
Salvaging x1
Trap Dis/Arming x1
Development SkillsProficient Artisan
Basic Travel
Basic Education
Lores: Wasteland Science, Post-Fall History, Raiders
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Single target attacks, get in, get out. Being the lowest rank in Murder Inc means a lot of connections but also a lot of keeping secrets. This is a dangerous road, so learn the culture.
(We do NOT recommend taking Criminal Influence at character creation. Talk to us about getting involved in-game.)
Body: Base + 5 | Mind: Base + 5
Impact Skills
Avoid x1
Awareness x1
Blinding x1
Choking Blow x1
Piercing Strike x1
Stealth x1
Development Skills
Basic Criminal Influence (Murder Inc)
Basic Lockpicking & Security
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Criminality in a post apocalypse setting means being willing to do heinous things for the advancement of you and yours. Dark story lines and dive into living in “two worlds”.
(We do NOT recommend taking Criminal Influence at character creation. Talk to us about getting involved in-game.)
Body: Base | Mind: Base + 10
Impact Skills
Avoid x1
Pickpocket x1
Salvaging x1
Stealth x1
Development Skills
Basic Artisan
Basic Criminal Influence (Black Market)
Basic Culinary
Basic Education
Lores: Aberrants, Post-Fall History, Shady Operation
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Food, drink, and medicines all come from you and yours. If you are not careful, you will find yourself doing nothing but crafting for the needs of entire settlements. Set boundaries.
Body: Base | Mind: Base + 15
Impact Skills
Avoid x1
First Aid x1
Development Skills
Basic Culinary
Basic Travel
Basic Education
Lores: Lineages, Nature, Wasteland Science
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People are always wounded, catching diseases, and eating things that should not be eaten. Getting hurt is so much a part of life in the apocalypse that everyone needs doctors.
Body: Base | Mind: Base + 10
Impact Skills
Choking Blow x1
First Aid x2
Development Skills
Proficient Medical
Basic Education
Lores: Aberrants, Lineages, Medical
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Entertaining people while staying in the post apocalypse genre takes more than people give credit. Entertainers have to build communities while not burning themselves out.
Body: Base | Mind: Base + 10
Impact Skills
Avoid x1
Awareness x1
First Aid x1
Pickpocket x1
Development Skills
Basic Foraging
Basic Medical
Basic Travel
Basic Education
Lores: Faith-Common, Post-Fall History, Pre-Fall History
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Farmers know a ton about a very important skill… making food. When playing a farmer, remember to consider how you bring the immersive experience of farm life to game.
Body: Base | Mind: Base + 15
Impact Skills
First Aid x1
Development Skills
Proficient Agriculture
Basic Foraging
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Running into and out of combats to keep people alive long enough to see a doctor. You don’t fix major diseases but, you prevent people from dying on the spot. Big Labrador energy.
Body: Base + 5 | Mind: Base + 5
Impact Skills
Avoid x1
Awareness x1
Enhanced Movement x1
First Aid x2
Biogenetics x1
NOTE: this is an aberrant skill
Development Skills
Basic Medical
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People make enemies, and when that happens, both sides need guards. Artisans and “civic” folk need guards. Merchants need guards. Just remember a guard has to be reliable.
Body: Base + 10 | Mind: Base
Impact Skills
Avoid x1
Awareness x1
First Aid x1
Mental Endurance x1
Interfere x2
Development Skills
Basic Travel
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Keep track of resources, artisans, supplies, and make artisan shops that people want to spend time in. More money comes from an immersive tea shop than building better weapons.
Body: Base | Mind: Base + 10
Impact Skills
Awareness x1
Mental Endurance x1
Development Skills
Basic Financial Manipulation
Basic Foraging
Basic Travel
Basic Education
Lores: Post-Fall History, Pre-Fall History, Faith-Common
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All game world faiths are designed with conflict points with other faiths to create narrative tension. As a priest style character, learn the genre and your faith and lean into it.
Body: Base | Mind: Base + 10
Impact Skills
Awareness x1
First Aid x1
Mental Endurance x1
Development Skills
Basic Faithful Miracles
Proficient Faithful Will
Basic Education
Lores: Aberrants, Faith-Common, Faith-Cults
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Play this style if you like unwrapping lore layer by layer like an onion. However, you will have the responsibility of reinforcing the core game world lore and genre above all else.
Body: Base | Mind: Base + 10
Impact Skills
Avoid x1
Enhanced Movement x1
First Aid x1
Mental Endurance x1
Development Skills
Basic Lockpicking & Security
Proficient Education
Lores: Any 6 depending on your focus
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If you like stealth play, but don’t want to get into criminal activities or focus on potential CvC, the Scout Recruit is a great way to have a more socially acceptable stealth combat experience.
Body: Base + 5 | Mind: Base + 5
Impact Skills
Avoid x1
Awareness x1
Balance x1
Enhanced Movement x1
Stealth x1
Trap Dis/Arming x1
Development Skills
Basic Foraging
Basic Travel
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If you like fighting but, also have the energy that some would call “zoomies” then consider the Skirmisher Recruit. Fast moving, hit quick, and get out before they realize you are there.
Body: Base + 5 | Mind: Base
Impact Skills
Avoid x2
Balance x1
Blinding x1
Double-Tap x1
Enhanced Movement x1
Stealth x1
Development Skills
Basic Travel
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Choose if you love to fight things. Your big consideration is that different weapons are better against different kinds of enemies. So start with a narrative focus.
Body: Base + 10 | Mind: Base
Impact Skills
Avoid x2
Double-Tap x1
Mental Endurance x1
Salvaging x1
Takedown x1
Development Skills
Basic Financial Manipulation
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Playing a thief means navigating criminal markets and transparent steering conversations with other players. Focus on theft from NPCs until you can have steering conversations.
(We do NOT recommend taking Criminal Influence at character creation. Talk to us about getting involved in-game.)
Body: Base | Mind: Base + 10
Impact Skills
Choking Blow x1
Knockout x1
Pickpocket x1
Stealth x1
Trap Dis/Arming x1
Development Skills
Basic Criminal Influence (Black Market)
Proficient Lockpicking & Security
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Not sure what you want to do? This is a baseline jack-of-all-trades and master of none that gives you a good starting point. You will want to specialize in a play style soon.
Body: Base + 5 | Mind: Base + 5
Impact Skills
Avoid x1
Awareness x1
Balance x1
Double-Tap x1
Mental Endurance x1
Stealth x1
Development Skills
Basic Financial Influence
Basic Travel