Raising Attribute Caps (Guide)

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

What needs work: Guide should mention that at least most advanced stat caps require the skill to be fully trained before increasing the cap.

Late PoSI Content

Main Attributes
Watchful	Shadowy	Dangerous	Persuasive

Skills
Monstrous Anatomy	Kataleptic Toxicology	A Player of Chess	Glasswork	Mithridacy	Shapeling Arts	Artisan of the Red Science	Steward of the Discordance	Zeefaring

Introduction

Late PoSI Content

Attributes are what might in other games be described as stats. Attributes are used to complete challenges in Fallen London. They might also be used as unlocks/locks for storylets and actions. If you're interested in how a number translates into completing a challenge and the math behind it check Broad difficulty and Narrow difficulty. Pages which unlock/lock based on a quality can be found on that Attributes page.
On 3 June 2020 Failbetter games started introducing new ways to overcap some of these Attributes to new and giddy heights. As a consequence this also dramatically changed how achieving Paramount Presence works.

The "Main" Attributes

Main Attributes
Watchful	Shadowy	Dangerous	Persuasive

The cap on all of the Main attributes can be raised to 230. This means completing the Great Hellbound Railway all the way to Marigold (Watchful, Persuasive) and finishing three campaigns in the Parabolan War (Dangerous, Shadowy).

A curated shorthand table to jump to the right section on this page, with links to corresponding storylets:

Attribute, cap	203	206	209	212	215	218	221	224	227	230
Watchful	203	206	→	212	215	218	221	224	227	230
Persuasive	203	206	209	212	215	218	221	224	227	230
Dangerous	203	206	→	212	→	218	→	224	→	230
Shadowy	203	206	209	212	→	218	→	224	→	230

Watchful

The actual cap is: 200 + Watchful Gains. So to raise this attribute above 200 you'll need to first increase "Watchful Gains". Except for raising Watchful Gains from 27 to 30, your Base Watchful must equal 200 + Watchful Gains to reach the next step.

Raising Watchful to 203

To raise the cap of Watchful to 203 you'll first need to have reached unmodified 200 Watchful and have 40 x The Prestige of your Laboratory. Once you've reached 40 x The Prestige of your Laboratory you will be able to play the storylets under A Luncheon with the Dean of Supernumerary Fellows, providing you have the other prerequisites. Any option under that storylet will redirect you to In the Course of the Meal. The subsequent Action called Demand to know what is going on will set your Watchful Gains to 3 which allows you to get a max of 203 unmodified Watchful. This will also give you a single piece of Railway Steel allowing you to start on the cool new railway content (yes, technically you can start it without it. You won't get far though).

Raising Watchful to 206

After having raised your unmodified Watchful to 203 thanks to the options outlined in the previous section, the Dean will send you another invitation for tea. Apparently Mr. Fires has stolen something from Mr. Spices and wants it investigated; and of course you're the perfect person for the job. Finishing the investigation will set your Watchful Gains to 6, allowing you to raise your Watchful another 3 levels. My, my, we are getting smart now aren't we?

Raising Watchful to 212

If Watchful 206 still isn't enough for you there is one last experiment you can do on Mr Spices' Private Stash called Test Spices' drug on various animals. After completing that one you can either lie to the Dean about the results or tell him the truth. Regardless you'll once again double your cap to 212 Watchful which marks the limit for a while.

Raising Watchful to 215

Raising Watchful beyond 212 comes much later than the previous steps. You must build your Railway all the way out to Station VIII. Once there, you must develop the Station for Factory VIII, or 'Station VIII' until The Business of Manufacture is level 6, and then break in to the factory. Keep breaking in and searching the factory until you have Discovered: a Dirigible Mast.

After you have discovered the Mast, you will be able to draw Something is Landing in Station VIII. This card is Abundant Frequency, and after it is played once, you must wait 24 hours for a Living Story to let you play it again. After playing this card two times, on the third time you will be able to bring Mr Fires to Station VIII. Now you may simply have a Conversation with Mr Fires. One of two options will be available to you, depending on whether you lied to the Dean or not, but both will raise your cap to 215 Watchful.

Raising Watchful to 218

After having a Conversation with Mr Fires, you must wait for the Dirigible to depart so that you can draw Something is Landing one more time. This time, bring Mr Spices. While you are having a Conversation with Mr Spices, you can offer Mr Spices your medical opinion on its peculiar health, raising your cap to 218 Watchful. Playing this option requires raising your base Watchful to 215, as well as several items which can only be acquired at Station VIII.

Raising Watchful to 221

With a Violant-filled Mirrorcatch Box, an Irrigo-filled Mirrorcatch Box and a station built at Marigold, you may investigate the tears you recovered from Mr Spices in your Laboratory to raise your cap to 221 Watchful.

Raising Watchful to 224

By talking to the Baroness in Moloch Street, talking to Mr Spices at Station VIII or both, you may acquire a Design for an Unusual Locomotive. With a variety of materials, you may then Build a Locomotive for Mr Spices in your Laboratory to raise your cap to 224 Watchful.

Raising Watchful to 227

Head to Moloch Street, and climb aboard your train. The train will travel imprudently fast toward Marigold as you assist Mr Pages with Mr Spices. Upon reaching the station, the baby is born, and your cap increased to 227 Watchful. Note that from the time the baby is born until you decide its fate, you will find it somewhat of a burden, and that there is no backing out once the train journey has begun.

Raising Watchful to 230

You may choose how the infant is raised, delivering it to either the Bazaar or the Magistracy of the Evenlode to be raised by one of its parents. Alternatively, if the baby is a Curator (i.e. if The Fate of Mr Transport is exactly 10) you may Learn of an alternative in the Bazaar Side-streets and deliver the baby beyond the Avid Horizon; if the baby is a devil, you may deliver it to Hell.

Persuasive

The actual cap is: 200 + Persuasive Gains. To get Persuasive Gains you'll need to start the Railway storyline, and raising your gains beyond 3 requires having completed at least the first section of the Watchful overcap. This is necessary to properly start the Railway storyline which is required for continuing to overcap Persuasive and to overcap Dangerous

Raising Persuasive to 203

After having started building your own Railway to Hell you run into a problem; the Brass Embassy who already operates one is not happy with your plans. After placing a few bribes they seem happy, only for you to find out there apparently is a Tracklayer's Union. One morning interview later however the Union joins your plans and you're 3 Persuasive Gains richer. See, diplomacy really solves everything.

Raising Persuasive to 206 and further

Every Railway station raises the cap by another three levels, culminating with 230 once you build the stop at Marigold Station

Dangerous

The actual cap is: 200 + Dangerous Gains.

To start raising the cap on Dangerous you'll first need to have built the station at Ealing Gardens to unlock Ealing Gardens as a reachable location.

Raising Dangerous to 203

Once your Railway has a station in Ealing Gardens you can draw a card called The Incident of the Honey-Mazed Bear. After promising to find their Bear, once you have Base Dangerous 200, you'll need to track it down in Parabola and capture it so you can return it to its owners. Capturing it will raise the cap to 203 and give you A Hunter's Instinct for Nightmares which is needed for the next two steps.

Raising Dangerous to 206

After you have successfully hunted and captured the Honey-Mazed Bear and raised Dangerous to 203, a new hunt will open up to kill the Pinewood Shark. This requires Parabolan Defences. Successfully completing this hunt will raise the dangerous cap to 206.

Raising Dangerous to 212

For the next part of the Dangerous overcap, once you have Base Dangerous 206, you'll need to travel to the Viric Jungle and help the Efficient Commissioner with her nightmares which in Parabola can be a real problem. Completing this raises the cap to 212.

Raising Dangerous to 218 and further

The next three upgrades are part of the Parabolan War. You will need to wage a campaign allied with each of the three Powers (Cats, Snakes, Chessboard), and appoint their respective Generals while doing so. You gain access to the Generals by spending 3 Human Arms after completing a tutorial campaign. The first time you complete a Campaign with each General, you can increase your Dangerous Gains by 6. Then you should upgrade that General through a research project in your laboratory. Winning a Parabolan War with all three Generals will bring your gains to 230.

Each of these Dangerous Gains increases require Dangerous Gains 12 and a Base Dangerous of 212. These requirements are the same each time. Your second and third cap increase in that manner do not require you to have leveled your Dangerous beyond 212.

Shadowy

The actual cap is: 200 + Shadowy Gains.

To start raising the cap on Shadowy you'll need to have a Parabolan Base-Camp and a Base 200 Shadowy.

Raising Shadowy to 203

Once you have access to Parabola, you should have access to the Parabolan Base-Camp. Within the Parabolan Base-Camp, you should see a storylet called Search Parabola for a Place in the Neath. In that storylet, choose the option Look for Mr Iron's Warehouse (note that you must have 15 An Identity Uncovered! and base Shadowy of 200 to unlock this option). This will make you "Lost in Strange Lands". You will need to go through the same process as you do when hunting Parabolan quarry. See Parabolan Hunting (Guide) for an explanation of this part. When you finish the process, you will be able to choose "Seeking a Mirror from the Far Side". Success will raise your Shadowy Gains to 3. (Note that you can repeat this process to get the rewards again, but you can't raise your Shadowy Gains beyond 3 in this way)

Raising Shadowy to 206

After raising your base Shadowy to 203, go to your Parabolan Base-Camp. Go to the storylet "Search Parabola for a Place in the Neath" and choose the option Case the townhouse of a Discerning Deviless (note that this option requires you to have at least base Shadowy 203, and 7 Favours: Hell). This will start a "hunt". Successfully completing the hunt will give you A Deviless' Address, which allows you to start a heist via Planning a Heist for The townhouse of a Discerning Deviless. (See On a Heist (Guide) for an explanation/refresher of the Heist process). This particular Heist requires you to have both A Deviless' Address and 5 Criminal Favours to start. Upon successfully completing the heist, Shadowy Gains will be raised to 6

Raising Shadowy to 209

After raising your base Shadowy to 206, go to your Parabolan Base-Camp. Go to the storylet Search Parabola for a Place in the Neath and choose the option Find the weakness in an opponent's defences.

Raising Shadowy to 212

Raised with Track down evidence against you, in Parabola, once Base Shadowy 209 has been reached.

Raising Shadowy to 218 and further

After you complete a campaign in the Parabolan War, storylets will unlock in The Dome of Scales. The available Storylet will change depending on the outcome of the most recent Campaign, but they are mechanically similar and can be freely intermixed. Each storylet contains three successive actions, each of which raises Shadowy Gains by 6. After playing one action, you must raise your Base Shadowy to the new cap before playing the next.

Advanced Stats

Advanced Stats
Monstrous Anatomy	Kataleptic Toxicology	A Player of Chess	Glasswork	Mithridacy	Shapeling Arts	Artisan of the Red Science	Steward of the Discordance	Zeefaring

Wiki note: For a great Guide to raising these stats see this amazing Reddit post by u/konradkurze202 parts of which are also used below

Monstrous Anatomy

The cap on Monstrous Anatomy is raised by doing two experiments in your Lab. Each time you must be at the cap, before you can raise it further.

The first of these anatomy experiments is Work toward a fuller understanding of monstrosities 1 which requires 3 x Focused Albatross and 500 x Cheerful Goldfish. After finishing this project your cap will be raised to six.

The second experiment is Work toward a fuller understanding of monstrosities 2 which requires 3 x Storm-bird. After finishing this project your cap will be raised to seven.

Glasswork

The glasswork cap starts at 5. Each time you must be at the cap, before you can raise it further.

It can be raised using options in The Dome of Scales, depending on the faction in control of the dome. (Changed by the outcome of the most recent Parabolan War. If you have not participated in the war, the Fingerkings are in control by default.)

Parabolan Dominance	Glass Studies 1 (Raise cap to 6)	Glass Studies 2 (Raise cap to 7)
Fingerkings (default)	Be introduced to the enormous snake (Costs 50 x Memory of Light) Recognise the Fingerking (With 15 Touched by Fingerwork)	Purchase a greater freedom of the place (Costs 7 x Favours: Fingerkings)
Cats	Be instructed in the traversal of mirrors (Costs 5 x Baptised Rattus Faber Corpse)	Be instructed further in the traversal of mirrors (Costs 5 x Baptised Rattus Faber Corpse, Favour in High Places)
Chessboard	Procure a patron in matters of Glasswork (Costs 5 x Vienna Opening	Flatter your patron in matters of Glasswork (Costs 1 x Queen Mate)

A Player of Chess

Both of the stat cap increases can be found on The Chessboard. Each time you must be at the cap, before you can raise it further.

The first one requires you to lose with 7 x Strategic Weaknesses, the second one to win with 23 Positional Advantages.

Kataleptic Toxicology

The cap on Kataleptic Toxicology is raised by doing two experiments in your Lab. Each time you must be at the cap, before you can raise it further.

For the first cap increase you'll need to poison yourself. A second experiment involving less poisoning yourself will raise the cap to its max.

Artisan of the Red Science

The cap on Artisan of the Red Science is raised by doing two experiments in your Lab. Each time you must be at the cap, before you can raise it further.

In the reflection of your lab you can start a very, very long research project to increase the cap to 6 and then an even longer project to raise it to 7.

Mithridacy

The cap on Mithridacy is raised by publishing two different newspapers. Each time you must be at the cap, before you can raise it further.

Both options are on the storylet Rumours about the Great Hellbound Railway. The first option requires some Rumours of the Upper River, a Corrective Historical Narrative and your own newspaper. The second option requires more rumors, some Revisionist Historical Narratives and again requires your own newspaper.

Shapeling Arts

The cap on Shapeling Arts is raised at Helicon House. Each time you must be at the cap, before you can raise it further.

Solicit Guidance in the Below-Stairs area of Helicon House. Requires a bunch of Amber and some Fitting in at Helicon House, which might take you multiple trips to the place. Solicit Further Guidance will raise it to 7. Requires more amber and some specific bones.

Steward of the Discordance

First Discordant Studies (or "Featherlight") can be gained in a card drawn at Cave of the Nadir - Rip out the words. You will need to have obtained a Discordant Law at the Hurlers to be able to draw it.
Second cap raise is obtained shortly after the Unlock deeper Discordant Studies storylet. To get there in the first place, raise your Crystalline Knowledge to 6, and then speak with the Stewardess at the Adulterine Ruins.

Zeefaring

After you have reached Zeefaring level 5, you can spend a Relatively Safe Zee Lane at A Return to Terra Firma in Wolfstack Docks to discover Gaider's Mourn.

Pack the following items:

• 4000 x Piece of Rostygold
• 3 x Strong-Backed Labour
• 1 x Use of Villains
• 15 x Mourning Candle
• 50 x Zee-Ztory
• 5 x Aeolian Scream

... and then set zail to Gaider's Mourn by selecting The Corsair's Forest at the very center of the zee map. Following the storyline there will both raise your maximum Zeefaring to 6 and give you an Almost-Tame Blue Prophet, a companion that boosts your Zeefaring by another point.

Once your base Zeefaring is 6 and you have gotten access to Irem (by following the Evolution storyline), zail there and bring with you:

• 7 x Zee-Ztory
• 7 x Memory of Distant Shores
• Eastern Wind (will not be consumed)
• Northern Wind (will not be consumed)
• Southern Wind (will not be consumed)
• 777 x Stashed Treasure (will not be consumed)

... which allows you to play Sit at the edge of the jetty, which raises your Zeefaring Ztudies to 2 (and wipes your Troubled Waters as a bonus).