Level Advancement

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

dungeondude

Oct 21, 2014 20:46:46

Hey there!

 

Curious, how are you handling level advancement during play?

 

I've just started running my group, and they will pop up to 2nd on our next session.

 

SO, do you give them the level at the end of the session? OR, if you are awarding experience as you play, when they hit during the adventure?

 

Do you have them train (I know, old school) Anything special?

 

I was thinking of simply having them be awarded the skills. In a nut shell, as they have adventured, they have been working on new spells, communing with their god(s), experimenting with new abilities, etc... When they level, they "get it".

 

To simple?

 

Thanks for feedback!

#2

MechaPilot

Oct 21, 2014 21:43:42

dungeondude wrote:
#3

Nevvur

Oct 22, 2014 0:11:07

I award experience as they complete the challenge to earn it, but only level up on a long rest, with the assumption they've been training the skills they acquired.

 

I try to time long rests to occur at end of session. If it happens mid-session, I'll present the choice of pausing to level up or moving on. If they opt to pause and spend much time on the process -- can't decide on which spells to grab, for instance -- I'll tell them to just pick something quick now and change it at the end/start of session later. A mid-game level up only occured once since I started running 5e, everyone was done within 10 minutes, and no one needed a retcon. It happened more frequently in 4e, but I was running the game like a meatgrinder, so I can understand why they wanted to pause. 

#4

paulstrait

Oct 22, 2014 1:47:43

Wait until the end of the session.  Why waste precious game time on something that can be done alone?  As for training, I don't always require it, but I do sometimes if it helps advance the story for some reason.

(Reply to #4)

NoNeedForNames

paulstrait wrote:
#6

Elsabeth

Oct 22, 2014 6:09:24

I only let them level up during downtime / long rests but if I know that the characters will level up during the next session I will have them do the work in advance to make thier selections, which would otherwise slow down game play.

 

 

#7

iserith

Oct 22, 2014 6:11:47

When players are getting close to leveling, I ask them to tell me and then start thinking about what they're taking next level (if they have to make choices). Then during the session after achieving an objective or taking out some monsters that provides them with sufficient XP, I tell them to go ahead and level up on the spot.

#8

Theros

Oct 22, 2014 6:23:52

I have them level up before the game. I've found it's a good way to get people into the right frame of mind.

Plus it pumps them up a little, kinda like the music at the beginning of a Hockey game.

#9

Timborama

Oct 22, 2014 7:09:55

dungeondude wrote:
#10

dungeondude

Oct 22, 2014 7:40:23

Great feedback, thanks for the responses!

 

MUCH to chew over... 

 

 

#11

Ansbach

Oct 22, 2014 19:17:35

I strongly agree with the "always level between sessions so that it doesn't waste precious game time" crowd.  I also use Story XP only - beancounting XP doesn't add anything to the game and is just a pain in the butt, imho.

#12

TheNovaLord

Oct 26, 2014 3:32:57

Levelling is pretty fast process to do. I dont think it took more than 15 minutes for the party to level, which means as Gm you have timeout to prep next scenes etc

#13

Goober4473

Oct 26, 2014 22:27:56

It varies by game for me. In one of my games, I'm running updated version of the 3.0 adventure line that started with the Sunless Citadel, and the advancement assumptions are pretty different since 3rd used a linear XP chart. At first I just added in some bonus XP for quests to cover the gaps, but we're up to 10th level at this point and the amount of quest XP would be getting pretty absurd, so I've switched over to the "tell them when they gain a level" model rather than tracking XP.

 

For games that don't have as directed a progression, where I don't need them to be level X by time Y, I just give XP as I feel is appropriate, usually in chunks after it feels like enough has happened. Typically every 1-4 sessions.

 

In either case, I usually have them actually level up during a long rest, though in my latest game I wanted them to reach level 2 before starting the next section, and they didn't have the time to long rest yet, so I jsut had them level there.

#14

trebor_rjf

Oct 27, 2014 11:54:52

XP gets awarded after each encounter and level ups are done on any rest.

#15

TheNovaLord

Nov 02, 2014 4:25:55

Yep, trebor thats what I have been doing

 

in a decent session you can get from 1st to 3rd in HOTDQ for example