Resolve Level

Resolve Level governs the overall strength of heroes, increasing their resistances and allowing for improvements on their abilities and equipment.

Effects and drawbacks
Each resolve level increases hero resistances to stun, blight, bleed, move and debuff by 10%, while increasing the chance to successfully disarm traps by the same amount.

Resolve level also unlocks access to stronger equipment to be purchased at the Blacksmith and higher levels for the hero's abilities to be acquired at the Guild.

A hero will always refuse to take part in expeditions that are two or more levels lower than their Resolve. Additionally, the prices for stress relief activities or disease and quirk treatment at the Sanitarium in the Hamlet will increase consistently with the hero's Resolve Level.

Gaining Resolve Experience
Heroes will gain experience when successfully completing an expedition. Retreating from an expedition will never grant any experience to the surviving heroes, regardless of the amount of enemies slain or objectives partly completed.

Expeditions will reward higher amounts of Resolve Experience depending on their difficulty and length. Likewise, different Resolve Levels require increasing amounts of experience in order to pass on to the next level.

Levelling strategies
In order to replace high level heroes dying, it is possible to speed up the levelling process for lower level heroes by bringing a newly gained or low level hero to a high level expedition, accompanied by high level heroes. The low level hero will be subject to very high amounts of stress, but will also gain very high experience rewards once the expedition is completed. In order to counter the drawbacks, the levelling hero should wear protective trinkets to increase the chance of getting virtues when he inevitably incurs in the risk of gaining an affliction, as well as trinkets to reduce stress damage in order to prevent heart attacks. Since the low level hero's offensive damage will inevitably be ineffective against high level foes, it is recommended to employ support abilities and buffs that could grant benefits to the rest of the party. It is also recommended to lock any valuable positive quirks before the hero levels up, in order to save on expenses. Notably, this method is not risk-free and forces the other three heroes to face the dangers of the expedition without much help.