Leveling (Guide)

Early MYN Content and Onwards

This guide is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

What needs work: More information needed on levels beyond 130.

This guide explains the basics of leveling your main attributes— Watchful, Shadowy, Dangerous, Persuasive—and directs you to the appropriate places to grind each attribute depending on your current level.

Leveling basics[edit]

If you're already familiar with how leveling works, feel free to skip this section.

The basic unit of leveling is Change Points (CP). CP is awarded by most attribute-based challenges, as well as certain other types of actions (e.g., finishing major grinds or storylines, trading in Second Chances, and other sources we'll get to later).

For each level of an attribute, you need a certain number of CP to reach the next level. Up to level 70, the CP needed to raise an attribute a single level is the same as the level it's reaching—to go from level 5 to 6 requires 6 CP; from level 6 to 7 requires 7 more CP, etc. From level 70, each successive level only requires 70 CP.

The main sources of main attribute CP, especially early in the game, are attribute-based challenges. These award varying amounts of CP depending on the difficulty of the challenge, which is calculated based on your current level in that attribute:

Table 1	CP on success	CP on failure	CP on average
Straightforward (91-100%)	1	1	1.0
Low-Risk (81-90%)	2	1	1.9
Very Modest (71-80%)	2	1	1.8
Modest (61-70%)	2	1	1.7
Chancy (51-60%)	3	1	2.2
Very Chancy (41-50%)	3	1	2.0
Tough (31-40%)	4	2	2.8
High-Risk (11-30%)	5	3	3.6
Almost Impossible (1-10%)	6	4	4.2
Almost Impossible (0%)^[1]	-	4	4.0

Challenges award CP even if you fail them—and, as the table shows, you can actually earn more CP by failing at harder challenges than by succeeding at easier ones.

This opens up a couple of basic strategies for attribute-based challenges:

Aim for 90% to get 1.9 CP per action. This is ideal if you want to keep progressing fairly quickly through a story, since you'll still pass most checks, but it gives you nearly twice as many CP as you'd get from 100% checks. You'll generally earn more items per action as well.
Aim for 10% to get 4.2 CP per action. If you don't mind failing a lot of actions, and taking longer to get through the story, you get significantly more CP from Almost Impossible checks. This is best done when you have difficult challenges available that don't give Menaces on failure.

We'll look at some additional strategies, such as those involving Social Actions, in a later section.

Note that you can manipulate your odds somewhat using stat-increasing and -reducing equipment. A particularly helpful item for this is the Talkative Rattus Faber, who reduces each of the four main attributes by a whopping 25 levels while equipped—meaning you can continue to do high-difficulty actions even once you've leveled up quite a bit. Once you are sufficiently rich, consider investing in a Weasel of Woe. This little scamp reduces the four main attributes by a respectable 300 levels (and also has other woeful effects) when equipped, so if all you care about is training your stats, wear the weasel and take low-level 0% checks.

If you're aiming for a certain level in an attribute, use the calculator below to determine the total number of CP needed to get there from your current level.

CP Calculator[edit]

 template = Template:Calculator/CP
 form = CPCalc
 result = CPCalcResult
 param = level0|Initial Level||int|0-250
 param = level0cp|+ CP|0|int|-50-70
 param = level|Target Level|200|int|0-250
 param = levelcp|+ CP|0|int|-50-70
 param = threshold|Level Threshold|70|select|50,70

Calculator loading...

Now that you know the basics of leveling and how to optimise your CP gains, let's talk about which actions are the best for grinding depending on your current levels.

Locations[edit]

This is a quick-reference list of the locations associated with certain attributes, and the general level range of the challenges there. Some of these locations also have challenges based on additional attributes.

Early-game leveling (5–100)[edit]

(Note that there's no formal designation for early-, mid-, and late-game; for the purposes of this guide, we'll call anything up to level 100 early-game, 100–200 mid-game, and 200+ late-game.)

When you first start the game, you shouldn't worry too much about leveling, and certainly not at the expense of enjoying the story. You'll do most of your leveling just by playing through the early storylines, and there are several mechanics built into the early game that make this easier.

Training Professions[edit]

For more information, see Professions (Guide).

There are four professions you can choose from as soon as you have lodgings, each of which is associated with a particular main attribute. Pick your first profession from the storylet Adopt a Training Profession, in Your Lodgings.

Attribute	Training Profession
Watchful	Enquirer
Shadowy	Pickpocket
Dangerous	Tough
Persuasive	Minor Poet

Each week, when Time, the Healer visits (beginning a week after your arrival), your profession will bring you A Professional Reward containing 5 worth of items and 250 CP in the associated attribute, up to level 70. Once you reach this milestone, it's time to switch to a new training profession: Resign from your Profession under Your Social Engagements, and then return to the Adopt a Training Profession storylet to select a new one.

Making Your Name[edit]

For a more thorough walkthrough of these storylines, see Making Your Name (Guide).

Early in the game, you'll notice certain storylets stand out due to their gold-bordered images, and titles beginning with the phrase "Making Your Name". Each of the four starting locations has a Making Your Name story that starts there, and each story primarily involves challenges based on the attribute associated with that location.

Location	Attribute	Making Your Name
Ladybones Road	Watchful	A Name in Seven Secret Alphabets
Spite	Shadowy	A Name Whispered in Darkness
Watchmaker's Hill	Dangerous	A Name Scrawled in Blood
Veilgarden	Persuasive	A Name Signed with a Flourish

These are storylines that can only be played through once (though some related storylets remain after you've completed the main story). When you complete a stage of one of these stories, you'll get a pretty significant amount of CP in the associated attribute.

Making Your Name is essentially the main storyline of the early stages of the game, and these stories also open up new locations in London with more difficult challenges that will help you continue to level up.

Combined with the training professions, these stories should make it fairly easy for you to reach the first major leveling milestone: level 100 in each attribute, which makes you eligible to become A Person of Some Importance (PoSI). (See the associated guide for more details.)

In addition to the large CP boosts you get for finishing a stage of a Making Your Name story, there are also regular storylets that are ideal for leveling (especially using the high-difficulty strategy mentioned above) without risking Menaces. All the storylets in this list are repeatable, and have no requirements other than the Making Your Name level, if applicable, and access to the location where they appear.

Watchful Challenges
Level	Storylet	Location	MYN Level
13	Frequent the public house across from Clathermont's Tattoo Parlour.	Ladybones Road	Alphabets 1
15	Note down descriptions of the visitors	Ladybones Road	Alphabets 1
18	See if you can get the names of the visitors.	Ladybones Road	Alphabets 1
18	Get casual work sweeping the parlour floor – and listen in	Ladybones Road	Alphabets 1
21	Snatch a glimpse – and memorise it	Ladybones Road	Alphabets 1
24	Make clandestine sketches, right there in the shop!	Ladybones Road	Alphabets 1
57	Watch from the rooftops	Ladybones Road	Alphabets 4–7
78	A distinctly cautious approach	Base-Camp	Alphabets 5–7

Shadowy Challenges
Level	Storylet	Location	MYN Level
6	Catch a tabby cat in the alleys of Spite	Spite	NA
12	Catch a ginger tom on the rooftops	Spite	NA
18	Catch a white cat: Softly now...	Spite	NA
24	Catch a grey cat in the nave of the church of All Christs	Spite	Darkness 2–7
48	Catch a black cat	Spite	NA
51	Disguise yourself as an invalid	Ladybones Road	Alphabets 4–7
68	A little light legerdemain	The Flit	NA

Dangerous Challenges
Level	Storylet	Location	MYN Level
13	Play it safe	Medusa's Head	Blood 2–7
15	Fight!	Medusa's Head	Blood 1–3
16	Turn it up a notch	Medusa's Head	Blood 2–7
18	Take on all comers!	Medusa's Head	Blood 1–3
39	Jack's claimed dibs!	Watchmaker's Hill	Blood 3–5

Persuasive Challenges
Level	Storylet	Location	MYN Level
15	Take notes on your experiences	Veilgarden	Flourish 1
17	"My watch? That's not my watch!"	Veilgarden	Flourish 1–2
47	Pose as an investigator for the Ministry of Public Decency	Veilgarden	Flourish 3
64	Publish poetry in praise of the Duchess	Shuttered Palace	Flourish 4–7
89	Attend courtly functions	Empress' Court	NA
95	Perform artistically	Empress' Court	NA

Patrons[edit]

A patron is another player who is a Tier 2 Person of Some Importance, enabling them to give classes in the attribute of their specialisation to a protégé, provided the protégé has a (modified) level below 100 in that attribute. A patron who is a Tier 3 Person of Some Importance, aka a Paramount Presence, do not have this limit. This costs a Free Evening for both participants, and grants the protégé up to 70 CP in the attribute. (The patron gets a few CP of Making Waves for their efforts.) The best way to find a patron is by asking in one of the Fallen London forums.

Other[edit]

For those still looking for ways to maximise CP gains early on, there are a few storylets that are ideal for the high-difficulty strategy mentioned above, as they don't cause Menaces on failure

Watchful 95: A stroll around the quad in The University
Dangerous 37–48: The Fighting Rings in Watchmaker's Hill.
- 3 levels, with caps of Dangerous 60, 70, and 80, respectively. However, this is modified Dangerous, so you can use a Talkative Rattus Faber and especially Weasel of Woe to get more out of this storylet.
- If you need Rostygold to pay the entry fee for the first ring, The Ring of Meat, then Contract: a Worryingly Large Rat in The Department of Menace Eradication makes a decent source, as it pays 200 Rostygold (of which 100 is needed per fight) and, like the Rings, it also awards bonus Dangerous CP (assuming 100% success odds, 12 CP total, for 3 CP/action over 4 actions).
Dangerous 74: Boast about your wounds in a dockside tavern in The Blind Helmsman

Mid-game leveling (100–200)[edit]

This section of the guide is a work in progress and needs more information.

Many of the useful grinds at this point take place in locations you opened up towards the middle or end of the Making Your Name stories, or places you need a ship to reach.

Professional Activities[edit]

All Tier 3 Professions have a main attribute + advanced skill check on every action, and all challenges check one of two main attributes. Below are the menace-free challenges. Most are very difficult for a mid-game player but give 2 EPA even on failure. Available actions are based on Airs of Industry, and some require A Professional Specialisation: and additional items/qualities.

Correspondent[edit]

Watchful 90, Artisan of the Red Science 0: Defend a client with applied counterepistolography
Watchful 90, Artisan of the Red Science 0: Design a skin-safe tattoo
Watchful 180, Artisan of the Red Science 10, Epistolant: Translate a Möbius text
Watchful 200, Artisan of the Red Science 12, Crimson Engineer: Perform an odontographic augmentation
Persuasive 90, Artisan of the Red Science 0: Compose a nostalgic ode
Persuasive 140, Artisan of the Red Science 12, Crimson Engineer: Engineer a flying contraption
Persuasive 200, Artisan of the Red Science 12, Epistolant: Operate from first principles

Licentiate[edit]

Shadowy 90, Kataleptic Toxicology 0: 'The Greenfinch'
Shadowy 90, Kataleptic Toxicology 0: 'The Rabid Hound'
Shadowy 200, Kataleptic Toxicology 12, Fractionist: 'The loyal servant whose final duty must be discharged'
Shadowy 200, Kataleptic Toxicology 12, Siopian: 'The Spider in the Web'
Dangerous 90, Kataleptic Toxicology 0: 'The Blunt Instrument'
Dangerous 180, Kataleptic Toxicology 4, Fractionist: 'The subject of a suspended writ'

Monster-Hunter[edit]

Watchful 90, Monstrous Anatomy 0: Profit from tales of hard-won battles
Watchful 140, Monstrous Anatomy 10, Teratomancer: Dissect an anomalous carcass
Watchful 200, Monstrous Anatomy 12, Teratomancer: Untangle an ancient web
Dangerous 90, Monstrous Anatomy 0: Retrieve an escaped darling
Dangerous 90, Monstrous Anatomy 0: Track down an invasive species
Dangerous 140, Monstrous Anatomy 10: Escort academics through the Wastes
Dangerous 200, Monstrous Anatomy 12, Hierarch of the Hunt: Eliminate an epistemological aberration

Midnighter[edit]

Shadowy 90, A Player of Chess 0: Catch up with international affairs
Shadowy 90, A Player of Chess 0: Exploit God's Editors
Shadowy 180, A Player of Chess 4, Iniquitor: Manipulate a European power
Shadowy 200, A Player of Chess 12, Iniquitor: Corrupt a rival network
Watchful 140, A Player of Chess 10, Letheologist: Take confession from a Bohemian Intelligencer
Watchful 90, A Player of Chess 0: Play correspondence chess
Watchful 200, A Player of Chess 12, Letheologist: Perform a Gibeon ritual

Silverer[edit]

Dangerous 90, Glasswork 0: Guide a gaggle of Bohemians through Parabola
Dangerous 90, Glasswork 0: Lance a persistent anxiety
Dangerous 140, Glasswork 10: Recover an infernal artifact
Dangerous 200, Glasswork 12, Ontological Cartographer: Uncover a dark secret
Persuasive 90, Glasswork 0: Extricate a half-lost memory
Persuasive 140, Glasswork 10, Ontological Cartographer: Chart the edge of the Is-Not
Persuasive 200, Glasswork 12 Oneirotect: Engineer a fortification

Crooked-Cross[edit]

Shadowy 90, Mithridacy 0: Reconcile newcomers to the halakha of the Neath
Shadowy 140, Mithridacy 10, Schismatic: Sever unwanted allegiances
Shadowy 200, Mithridacy 12, Beatificator: Retrieve the hagiographies of the lost and unlived
Persuasive 90, Mithridacy 0: Challenge a clergyman's faith
Persuasive 90, Mithridacy 0: Pen a flood of contradictory gospels
Persuasive 180, Mithridacy 4: Banish bitter bygones
Persuasive 180, Mithridacy 4 Beatificator: Canonise a virtuous ancestor
Persuasive 200, Mithridacy 12 Schismatic: Cleave a madman from his certainties

Other actions[edit]

Watchful[edit]

Menace-free challenges

Watchful 125: Defect to the Flint while playing Flint or Dagger in The University. Note that you cannot draw cards when doing this.
Watchful 150: Sift through the pages of The Censored Census of 1862, available from the Bazaar Side-Streets
Watchful 178: Seek out spy-holes in the Sunken Embassy beneath Moloch Street. Note that you cannot draw cards when doing this.
Watchful 200-: Work with your Equipment in your lab. It's actually accessible for an early PoSI, and recommended because it progresses your game even in failure.

Non-challenge sources

Watchful +20CP: She's not alone from a very infrequent card Coffee with the Last Constable drawn if you keep Family and Law under level 4. The action needs The Airs of London 40-59, so hold the card till the air is OK.

Watchful +50CP in 5 actions: Eldritch Symbols from a rare card The Skin of the Bazaar.

Shadowy[edit]

Menace-free challenges

Shadowy 120: Lurk in the eaves in Polythreme Streets
Shadowy 178: Assist with assembly at L. B. Industries beneath The Blind Helmsman

Non-challenge sources

Shadowy +10 CP: Pass on information to a colleague to convert Casing...
Shadowy +35-70 CP: Completing the heist on The mansion of an Unsympathetic Landlord (gain is inversely related to base Shadowy)
Several options during a trade of reputations gives training or second chances on rare successes.
Shadowy +275 or +250 CP: Various options in The Dome of Scales, in exchange for 4 x Vitreous Almanac, 20 Glass Gazette, or 450 x Sighting of a Parabolan Landmark depending on Parabolan Dominance; requires access to Parabola.

Dangerous[edit]

Menace-free challenges

Dangerous 125: Defect to the Dagger
Dangerous 150: Classic Bone Market grind—Build on the Human Ribcage, then break it down

Non-challenge sources

Dangerous +30 CP: Fail Step into the ring and fight without mercy in Watchmaker's Hill with A Name Scrawled in Blood 4 while wearing a Weasel of Woe to bypass 80 modified Dangerous cap. Requires but cross-converts 3 Presbyterate Passphrase into Extraordinary Implication
Dangerous +5 CP: Turn a blind eye in Concord Square with Riding the Savage Cobbles 7

Persuasive[edit]

Menace-free challenges

Persuasive 125: Extract confessions from the Calcified Men
Persuasive 230: Suggest that they define knowledge at the Spider Symposium beneath The Singing Mandrake.

Non-challenge sources

Persuasive +10 CP: Pass information to the Brass Embassy to convert Casing...
When patrons won't help you anymore, it may be worth it to spend your Free Evenings on drinking tea instead. This provides 35 CP Persuasive per free evening, in addition to giving Making Waves and reducing one of your menaces.
Several options during a trade of reputations gives training or second chances on rare successes.

Late-game leveling (200+)[edit]

This section of the guide is a work in progress and needs more information.

Main attributes are initially capped at 200 and require the completion of certain quests to increase them further, up to 230. See the main article Raising Attribute Caps (Guide).