How does LitRPG passive skills level up?

[Juia_Darkcrest]

They just level when the plot demands it. You don't need to use your brain to write this stuff.

"OPMC grit his teeth as his opponent's latest blow struck him square in the chest. He could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage, the sound echoing through his eardrums thanks to his [Invincible Omega I Can Hear God and Anime] skill. Instinctively, he knew there was no chance of surviving this encounter unless—

DING!
DING!
DING!
DING (gotta get a fourth one in here to boost wordcount)!

[Plot Armor Skill] has leveled up!

[Plot Armor Skill] has leveled up!

[Plot Armor Skill] has leveled up!

[Plot Armor Skill] has leveled up!

Heh. Just in time. OPMC smirked. He stood, his wounds regenerating in an instant. Receiving that one attack had managed to increase his [Plot Armor Skill] just enough for him to recover."

Ad nauseam. This works for literally any skill in a litRPG.

see you need to remove some of that plot armour skill.

My MC has died once, has been laid up for weeks when an orc slashed his face, cutting his his ear of and destroying his eye. Bunch of bad shit has happened to him, despite his luck being fairly high... Oh and he was being turned into a zombie from a bite too.

He wakes up to another unfamiliar ceiling way too often.

 

[HungrySheep]

see you need to remove some of that plot armour skill.

My MC has died once, has been laid up for weeks when an orc slashed his face, cutting his his ear of and destroying his eye. Bunch of bad shit has happened to him, despite his luck being fairly high... Oh and he was being turned into a zombie from a bite too.

He wakes up to another unfamiliar ceiling way too often.

True! I don't write litRPGs. This is just stuff I see that's common, especially on RoyalRoad's rising stars section.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

See, here's my issue. How is it a passive skill instead of an active one, considering that you need to "activate" it to use it?

Also, do you have an example of an active skill?

Lastly, I believe ditching the "passive/ active" label makes sense because of pigeonholing, but I still want to hear about your side regarding "passive/ active"

Yeah I agree, but as an abuser of my own smack, I still want a level of deniability instead of this "subversion and being openly about plot armor" thing. Personally I don't like reading those kinds of novel. I like reading embellished BS that bothered to think of convoluted reasoning for said BS.

He doesn't activate it, it's on all the time. It just doesn't improve unless something important happens.

An active skill? Like a spell? well that is pretty easy. "Heal!" look he casts a healing spell lol

 

[NotaNuffian]

He wakes up to another unfamiliar ceiling way too often.

Sounds like either a very good night or a very bad one.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

True! I don't write litRPGs. This is just stuff I see that's common, especially on RoyalRoad's rising stars section.

Yeah, my writing is kind of a different take on LitRPGs... he hops around to 10 different worlds, some have systems, some don't. His system is basically just keeping his aging body from falling to pieces, and only dribbles stuff to him as he world hops, basicly im a 118 chapters in, and he still isn't up to speed with a normal healthy human yet, though he has a bunch of skills that help him along in some situations... I still am not sure what to do with his skills, Gardening - Novice and Animal Husbandry - Adept, yet... but I will figure something out.

Sounds like either a very good night or a very bad one.

Evangelion joke.

 

[HungrySheep]

I still want a level of deniability

You can just invent whatever reason passive skills level in your world. Maybe they level from being affected. Perhaps a skill that passively boosts defense levels when you get hit enough. Maybe a skill that passively boosts attacking strength levels when you attack enough. Etc.

There's an old MMORPG I still play on and off called Mabinogi and there are a ton of passive skills there. Examples that fit the above are "Heavy Armory Mastery" and "Sword Mastery." They can't be activated and apply bonuses passively. Heavy Armor Mastery increases your defense when wearing heavy armor and it was leveled by taking hits while in heavy armor. Sword Mastery increases your minimum and maximum damage range when you're using a sword and it was leveled by hitting things with... you guessed it: a sword.

 

[Deleted member 34529]

In a lot of way, passive skills can also be active skills.

 

[NotaNuffian]

In a lot of way, passive skills can also be active skills.

At this point, I'm fucking it and shall call skills as skills.

No passive, no active.

Screw the flimsy terminology

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

At this point, I'm fucking it and shall call skills as skills.

No passive, no active.

Screw the flimsy terminology

Did you use a passive or active skill to determine that?

...

...

...

I'll see myself out

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Most skills can be passive or active. Passive use has a lower chance of success, and gains fewer "level up points" but still can increase.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Most skills can be passive or active. Passive use has a lower chance of success, and gains fewer "level up points" but still can increase.

So level up passively?

God I hate my joke.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

So level up passively?

God I hate my joke.

That's why you shouldn't take your litRPG system too seriously. It isn't a video game, it is a novel. You have the creative license to level your MC however you want. If you want to have a more rigid system, that is fine, but you are just going to make a lot more work for yourself, which the majority of your readers will probably gloss over, or at best go. Oh that is cool, wait they did the math wrong here, it should be 56 strength now not 54.

 

[NotaNuffian]

That's why you shouldn't take your litRPG system too seriously. It isn't a video game, it is a novel. You have the creative license to level your MC however you want. If you want to have a more rigid system, that is fine, but you are just going to make a lot more work for yourself, which the majority of your readers will probably gloss over, or at best go. Oh that is cool, wait they did the math wrong here, it should be 56 strength now not 54.

Yeah, you aight.

I too as a reader is also an asshole for spotting the mistakes made by the works I follow and therefore I try not to

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Yeah, you aight.

I too as a reader is also an asshole for spotting the mistakes made by the works I follow and therefore I try not to

In my work MFGR, I started off making a system status screen that had a lot of numbers to it, then gave it to every one of his party members too. Then I worked it to look nicer in an Excel doc and had to post links so people could see them. I was beginning to spend more time adjusting/posting the Excel docs than actually writing the story, so I made the executive decision to pretty much stop. They were not adding anything significant.

 

[Deleted member 34529]

Thought
You cant level up with repetitive actions
But can level up with specific "achievements".

 

[CharlesEBrown]

In some actual games there are very convoluted systems. For example, in the original version of RoleMaster, you got 10x experience points the first time you did ANYTHING - stand, speak, eat... So you started with 1000, reflecting the experience of a young adult.
Each time you face a specific monster type, you get 10x the first time, 5x the next ... I think it was 2, then the listed value the next five times, and then half, and then 1 point per time after. This also applied to skill use in a specific mastery band. You can get that complicated.

Or you can go by milestones - for my LitRPG, his passive skills advance the first time with three successful uses (and his System does not tell him about failed attempts) but then he has to spend earned advances (gained by completing tasks) to advance them farther, unless a task has a specific skill increase "attached" to it.

 

[corruption]

The simplest answer for this in your story is: However you want them to work.
For in other people's stories: however that author wants.

Just please have it make sense.

 

[Anonjohn20]

Just please have it make sense.

Why do you think he's asking for ideas? He's trying to find something that makes sense for his story.