Powers are awesome abilities in Classcraft that grant students special privileges in class or in Classcraft. To use their powers, students need Crystals. As soon as they have enough Crystals, your students will gain access to their very first power!

Learn more about:

• Crystals
  • Earning Crystals
    • Level up
    • Powers
    • Automatic regeneration
• Powers
  • Types of powers
    • Universal powers
    • Character-specific powers
    • Game-based powers
    • Collaborative powers
  • Learning powers
  • Adding powers
  • Editing powers
  • Deleting powers
  • Using powers
    • Delayed damage queue

Crystals

One of the core resources in Classcraft, Crystals enable students to use powers that grant them special privileges in class or in Classcraft. You can view how many Crystals students have in the:

• Class Dashboard: The number of Crystals appears on every student’s profile icon.
• List view: You can see the numbers of Crystals your students have in the Crystals column.
• Profile view: Hover a student's icon and click View profile. The number of Crystals they currently have appears on the points tab as well as the powers tab.

Each student can hold only up to four Crystals. If they level up and already have four Crystals, their new one simply disappears and can never be gained again.

Encourage your students to use their powers to make sure they don’t miss out on resources! 

The collaborative mechanics introduced in the Collaboration phase mean that students will use their powers more often. The maximum of Crystals is now different for each character class, depending on how much they rely on their powers:

• Guardian: 4 Crystals
• Healer: 5 Crystals
• Mage: 6 Crystals

Earning Crystals

There are several ways students can earn Crystals in Classcraft! This resource is meant to be spent, too, creating a natural flow in the game.

Level up

Whenever a student’s level increases, they also gain a single Crystal up to the maximum they can hold (which depends on the current phase as well as their character class).

Powers

Once you reach the Mastery phase, students will start using their powers more often, spending far more Crystals. This is where the Mages come in! Their special ability is restoring their teammates' Crystals.

Encourage Mages to support their teammates so that everyone can benefit from more powers at the end of the day!

Automatic regeneration

Students will automatically regain their energy overnight. Check in your class settings to view how many Crystals your students will regenerate every day.

If you’re using an individual license, you can set regeneration rates manually in your class settings. With school licenses, administrators manage this setting.

Powers

Powers are real privileges that students earn automatically at set levels for demonstrating positive behavior over time. Students use these powers by spending their Crystals.

Types of powers

There are several types of powers students may learn over the course of a school year.

Universal powers

All students have access to universal powers as soon as they reach the level a power is unlocked, regardless of their character class (or lack thereof), and even if they don’t have an account!

There are three powers determined when creating a new class, but you can add more in your class settings. The three initial powers in your class are all universal, which means that all the students in your class will have access to them equally.

You can add new powers and edit at which powers students unlock universal powers in your class settings.

Character-specific powers

Each character class gains access to unique powers, some of which are collaborative, some of which aren’t. This means that a level 14 Guardian and Level 14 Healer will be able to use some powers that are the same (universal powers) and some powers that are unique to their character class.

You can edit at which powers students unlock their class-specific powers that are not game-based in your class settings.

Game-based powers

When you reach the Mastery phase, you’ll be able to remove Hearts from students who misbehave. Game-based powers are a special kind of privilege that affects your student’s Classcraft experience directly. Each character class has access to different powers, which further fosters collaboration in the classroom, and everyone’s role on the team becomes more obvious:

• Guardians can prevent teammates from losing Hearts
• Healers restore lost Hearts to their teammates
• Mages recharge their allies Crystals

This creates a cycle of teamwork and collaboration in Classcraft. A balanced team, with at least one character of each role, will eventually have access to all the powers in the game.

Most of these powers are collaborative powers, but some aren’t such as First Aid, which enables a Guardian to recharge some Hearts to themselves.

Unlike other powers, game-based powers can’t be edited beyond their name even by school administrators to maintain a balanced experience.

Collaborative powers

Certain powers grant an advantage not to the student who activates it, but to someone else or their whole team. We call those “collaborative powers.” They may be universal, character-specific, or game-based powers.

When a student activates a collaborative power, they’ll automatically receive a few Experience Points for putting the needs of others ahead of their own. In your class settings, you can decide which powers are collaborative and which aren’t!

Learning powers

Powers are automatically unlocked when students reach specific levels. You don’t need to do anything to unlock them, except progress to the phase in which a power unlocks. Check a student’s level track to see when they’ll learn a power.

You can also see the three character classes side by side in your class settings to know and compare when they each learn new powers.

Adding powers

If you have a free or Premium license, you can add universal powers to your class. To do so, proceed to your class settings then:

1. Click on Powers in the side navigation
2. Click Add power
3. Select an image, name, description, level, cost, and type
4. Click Save to add the power to your list

You can add as many universal powers as you want, so it's a great place to get creative!

Editing powers

To edit a power proceed to your class settings then:

1. Click on Powers in the side navigation
2. Scroll down to the power you want to edit
3. Click on the power on the list
4. Enter a name, description, level, and cost
5. Decide if this is a collaborative power or not
6. Click the checkmark icon to confirm

Please note that only the name of game-based powers (such as Protect and Heal) can be edited.

If you edit a power previously set by your school or district, it will automatically become a custom power. If your school administrators later edit your custom power, yours will remain as is.

Deleting powers

If you no longer need a universal power in your class, you can delete it. You can only delete universal powers, not class-specific powers. To do so, proceed to your class settings then:

1. Click on Powers in the side navigation
2. Scroll down to the power you want to edit
3. Click on the More options (...)
4. Select Delete in the list
5. Click Delete to confirm

Using powers

As long as your students don’t have accounts, you’ll have to activate their powers for them.

When a student wants to use a power, they should first let you know — don’t be afraid to set limits like “Only when class starts.” To use a power for a student:

1. Find your student on the list
2. Make sure that they have at least 1 Crystal
3. Hover your mouse over their icon and click View profile
4. Click on Powers
5. Select the power in the list!

The cost in Crystals will automatically be subtracted from the student’s total. Make sure to grant your student their privilege before moving on!

When students have their own accounts, they’ll be able to access their powers from their profile and activate them the same way. It’s recommended to ask your students to let you know when they use a power. You’ll also be notified in your Activity Center!

Delayed damage queue

When students lose Hearts, their teammates or themselves can use their powers to help them out. These powers can sometimes be used directly from the powers list (as above) or may be used from the delayed damage queue at any time before you deal with the damage.

In the Proactive mode, powers are used before any damage occurs. You can still delay damage to give students time to use their powers, but powers are always used from the student's power list.

You can learn more about the delayed damage queue here.

More information:

• Positive behaviors, Experience Points, and Gold Pieces
• Negative behaviors, Hearts, and pledges
• Student accounts and character classes
• Class progression and chapters — your very own Classcraft journey!