Stage 1: Ascending Walls + your first sword

Course progressStage 1 of 10

~50 min

Before you start

Finish the Setup page. Your file should have a Start Platform, a SpawnLocation centered on it, and both ServerScriptService and StarterPack open in Explorer.

Build

a three-block climbing wall, the Stage 2 checkpoint, a sword Tool every player spawns holding, and the leaderstats that show a Level and XP

Learn

how a Tool in StarterPack arms every player on spawn, and how leaderstats puts your RPG numbers in the top-right of the screen

Ship

a playable first obstacle where you spawn holding a sword and your name shows Level 1 and XP 0

Teacher demo

Before campers start, run this demo (90 seconds):

• Open a finished Stage 1 file in Studio. Press Play.
• Notice you spawn holding a sword — the Backpack slot at the bottom is filled. Click to swing it (it doesn't hurt anything yet).
• Look at the top-right of the Roblox UI: it shows Level 1 and XP 0 next to your name.
• Climb the wall to the second checkpoint and reset — you respawn on the new pad.
• Explain: "Every anime fighting game starts you with a weapon and a level. By the end of Stage 1 you'll have both."

The big idea

Every obby in this course is the same shape you've seen before — a climbing wall, a checkpoint, a chain of obstacles. What's new is that this is a fighting game. So Stage 1 lands two combat foundations on the very first obstacle: a weapon in your hand, and the RPG numbers that will grow as you fight.

A weapon you can hold is called a Tool. A Tool lives in your Backpack — the row of slots at the bottom of the screen. If you put a Tool inside StarterPack, Roblox copies it into every player's Backpack the moment they spawn. That's how a whole server full of players can all start armed without you wiring anything per-player.

The numbers — your Level and your XP — live in a special folder called leaderstats. Roblox watches every player for a folder with exactly that name and shows whatever's inside it in the top-right. You don't build a UI; you just fill the folder. Today the numbers just sit there at Level 1 and XP 0. Stage 2 makes them climb.

New words

Tool

an item a player holds and uses, like a sword; it appears in the Backpack and in the player's hand when equipped

Handle

the part inside a Tool that the player actually grips; a Tool needs a part named exactly Handle

StarterPack

a service that copies whatever is inside it into every player's Backpack when they spawn

leaderstats

a magic Folder name Roblox watches — anything you put inside it appears in the top-right player list

IntValue

a Roblox object that holds one whole number, like 0 or 1 or 100

PlayerAdded event

fires once for every player who joins the game; the right place to set up their leaderstats

Build it

Step 1 — Build the climbing wall

Same three-block staircase as the base obby. You've seen this shape before; the recipes go fast.

In Workspace, insert three Parts. Tune each one.

Build this part

ClimbBlock_Short

Block

Open recipe

Size

4 × 5 × 2

Color

Medium stone grey

Material

Slate

Anchored

✓ Yes

Place

In front of the Start Platform, sitting on the ground

Build this part

ClimbBlock_Mid

Block

Open recipe

Size

4 × 7 × 2

Color

Medium stone grey

Material

Slate

Anchored

✓ Yes

Place

Right next to ClimbBlock_Short, taller

Build this part

ClimbBlock_Tall

Block

Open recipe

Size

4 × 10 × 2

Color

Medium stone grey

Material

Slate

Anchored

✓ Yes

Place

Right next to ClimbBlock_Mid, tallest

Press ▶ Play and confirm you can climb all three. If not, move the blocks closer together.

Step 2 — Wire the Stage 1 and Stage 2 checkpoints

First, lock the starting SpawnLocation to Stage 1 so it matches the rest of the obby family.

• Select the original SpawnLocation on the Start Platform.
• In Properties, check AllowTeamChangeOnTouch.
• Uncheck Neutral.
• Add a StageNumber attribute (number type) with value 1.
• In Teams, insert a Team named Stage 1. Match its TeamColor to the starting SpawnLocation and leave AutoAssignable checked.

Now add the Stage 2 SpawnLocation on top of the tallest block. Same pattern as the base obby — but the StageNumber attribute is what the XP script will look for in Stage 2, so don't skip it.

Build this part

SpawnLocation (Stage 2 — top of the climb)

Block

Open recipe

Size

6 × 1 × 6

Color

Bright red

Material

Plastic

Anchored

✓ Yes

Place

On top of ClimbBlock_Tall

Also: check AllowTeamChangeOnTouch. Uncheck Neutral. Set TeamColor to Bright red.

2.1 Tag it with its stage number

In the Attributes section of Properties, add a StageNumber attribute (number type) with value 2. Stage 2 of the course finds this exact pad by that attribute — not its name, not its color.

If you forgot how: Properties → scroll to Attributes → click + → name StageNumber, type number, value 2.

2.2 Create the matching Team

• In Explorer, find the Teams folder. If it doesn't exist, right-click Explorer → Insert Service → Teams.
• Right-click Teams → Insert Object → Team. Rename it Stage 2.
• Set TeamColor to Bright red. Uncheck AutoAssignable.

Press Play. Climb the wall, touch the red pad, reset your character. You should respawn on red.

Step 3 — Build the sword every player spawns with

This is the combat twist. You'll build a Tool named Sword and park it in StarterPack so every player spawns holding it.

3.1 Make the Tool

• In Explorer, right-click StarterPack → Insert Object → Tool.
• Rename the Tool Sword.

A brand-new Tool is empty — it has no part to hold yet. That's the next step.

3.2 Give it a Handle

A Tool needs a part named exactly Handle. Roblox uses that part as the thing the player grips.

• Right-click the Sword Tool → Insert Object → Part.
• Rename the new part Handle (exact spelling, capital H).
• Select Handle and set in Properties:

Build this part

Handle

Block

Open recipe

Size

1 × 1 × 5

Color

Light stone grey

Material

Metal

Anchored

✗ No

Place

Inside the Sword Tool — Roblox positions it in your hand automatically

Leave Anchored UNCHECKED. A held Tool must move with your hand; an anchored Handle would freeze the player's arm.

Press ▶ Play. You spawn holding the sword, and its slot is filled in the Backpack. Click the mouse to swing — nothing happens to the world yet. That's expected: Stage 3 teaches the sword to deal damage. For now, you're armed.

Step 4 — Start your RPG with leaderstats

In Explorer, right-click ServerScriptService → Insert Object → Script. Rename it CombatStats. Double-click to open it and delete the placeholder line.

You'll build this in two passes. Press Play and read Output after each one.

Pass 1 — Give every joining player a Level

local Players = game:GetService("Players")

Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
  local stats = Instance.new("Folder")
  stats.Name = "leaderstats"
  stats.Parent = player

  local level = Instance.new("IntValue")
  level.Name = "Level"
  level.Value = 1
  level.Parent = stats

  print(player.Name, "joined at Level", level.Value)
end)

Press Play. The top-right should show Level 1 next to your name, and Output prints "Player1 joined at Level 1".

If you don't see Level in the top-right, the folder name is wrong — it must be exactly leaderstats (lowercase L, no space). Stop.

Pass 2 — Add XP next to the Level

Inside the same PlayerAdded function, below the level block and above the print, add an XP value:

  local xp = Instance.new("IntValue")
  xp.Name = "XP"
  xp.Value = 0
  xp.Parent = stats

Press Play. Now the top-right shows both Level 1 and XP 0. Both numbers sit still for now — Stage 2 is what makes XP climb and the Level rise with it.

Understand it

The leaderstats folder is a Roblox convention, not a feature you import. Roblox watches every Player for a child Folder named exactly leaderstats. Whatever values sit inside show up in the top-right. Misspell the name and nothing appears — no error, just silence.

The PlayerAdded event is the only safe place to build per-player state. If you built the folder when the script first ran, you'd build one folder for nobody. PlayerAdded fires once per joining player, so each one gets their own Level and XP.

The sword needed no script at all today — that's the point of StarterPack. You built the Tool once, dropped it in StarterPack, and Roblox handles copying it into every Backpack. The same idea will arm a whole server of players in a published game. The sword only becomes a weapon in Stage 3, when you put a Script inside it that turns a swing into damage.

Script anatomy

How CombatStats arms every player with a Level and XP

The whole script is one event handler: when a player joins, build their leaderstats folder and fill it with the two RPG numbers.

local Players = game:GetService("Players")

Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
local stats = Instance.new("Folder")
stats.Name = "leaderstats"
stats.Parent = player

local level = Instance.new("IntValue")
level.Name = "Level"
level.Value = 1
level.Parent = stats

local xp = Instance.new("IntValue")
xp.Name = "XP"
xp.Value = 0
xp.Parent = stats

print(player.Name, "joined at Level", level.Value)
end)

1. Line 1Grab the Players service.

   Players is the Roblox service that tracks who's in the game. Every combat script in this course starts here because every fighter is tied to a specific player.

2. Line 3Run this for every joiner.

   PlayerAdded fires once per player who joins. The function inside gets that exact player so we can build their own folder.

3. Lines 4–6Build the leaderstats folder.

   A Folder named exactly leaderstats, parented to the player. Roblox watches for that spelling and shows whatever's inside it in the top-right.

4. Lines 8–16Fill it with Level and XP.

   Two IntValues — whole-number holders. Level starts at 1, XP at 0. Parenting them to the leaderstats folder is what makes them appear on screen.

Try this

Learning beat

Try this

Three short experiments. Predict before you run, then test your guess.

Predict first

Before you press Play, open the Sword Tool and rename Handle to handle (lowercase). Predict: will you still spawn holding a sword? Run it. What does that tell you about how strict Roblox is about the name Handle?

Compare

Change the Level IntValue's starting Value from 1 to 5 in the script. Press Play. Compare what the top-right shows. Why is editing the script better than editing the value by hand in Explorer?

Connect

Right now XP sits at 0 forever. In Stage 2 you'll add XP every time the player reaches a checkpoint. Where in this script — or in a brand-new script — would the "give the player XP" code naturally go?

Test your stage

• Press ▶ Play. You spawn holding a sword; its Backpack slot is filled.
• Click the mouse — the sword swings (nothing is damaged yet; that's Stage 3).
• The top-right shows Level 1 and XP 0 next to your name.
• Climb the wall to the red pad and reset — you respawn on red.
• The starting SpawnLocation has StageNumber = 1, the red SpawnLocation has StageNumber = 2, and only the Stage 1 Team is AutoAssignable.
• Output prints "PlayerN joined at Level 1".
• Design check. Does spawning with a sword feel like the start of a fighting game? If the sword is hard to see in your hand, make the Handle a brighter color or a different shape — the weapon should read instantly.

If it breaks

• I don't spawn holding the sword. The part inside the Tool must be named exactly Handle. Check the spelling and the capital H. Also confirm the Sword Tool is inside StarterPack, not Workspace.
• The sword is stuck in mid-air or freezes my arm. The Handle is Anchored. Uncheck Anchored on the Handle — a held part must move with the hand.
• The top-right doesn't show Level or XP. The folder name is wrong. It must be exactly leaderstats — lowercase L, no underscore, no space.
• Output says attempt to index nil with 'leaderstats'. Lua is case-sensitive — check for Player where you meant player.
• Studio crashes when I press Play. Open Output (View → Output) and read the red error. The most common Stage 1 cause is a missing end) on the PlayerAdded function.

Coach notes

The biggest pedagogical risk in Stage 1 is rushing past the two-pass script. Pass 1 (Level) and Pass 2 (XP) each teach one idea — building a value and parenting it so Roblox sees it. If a camper types both at once and it works, they learned one thing instead of two.

• The sword Tool is the headline moment — let campers spend a minute swinging it before you explain that it doesn't hurt anything yet. The anticipation is what makes Stage 3 land.
• Common confusion: putting the Sword in Workspace instead of StarterPack. In Workspace it sits on the ground; only StarterPack copies it into every Backpack on spawn.
• Total time: 50 minutes. Climbing wall 15, SpawnLocation + attribute 10, sword Tool 10, two-pass script 15.

Stage 1 complete

You finished Stage 1!

You built the same climbing wall the base obby starts with, then turned it into the opening of a fighting game: a sword Tool in StarterPack that arms every player on spawn, and a leaderstats folder holding the Level and XP that will grow as you fight. The numbers in the top-right are the proof — your RPG has begun.

Stage builtPlaytested

Stage 2: Sphere Staircase + XP and leveling→