I've been thinking of starting a 5e game, but I have some house rule ideas. I don't want to go over all of them but I have a kind of 'radical' idea that I am wondering what people may think of...
I was considering the idea of a more mercenary bent campaign where people would basically buy levels with gold. So instead of xp they would be paid by a guild/sponsor/etc. who would offer say 8 gold per orc head or such. The XP would essentially be the bounty for whatever monster/enemy they killed, lair rewards or maybe what they can sell pelts etc. for. They would use the gold to train new skills i.e. levelling.
I think I would run each level as a day of training to learn the skills or bonuses or bonuses for said level. There are some obvious issues. For example, what about a druid who doesn't care about money? It kind of inhibits player creativity in character creation. For a cleric or paladin they could use the gold as a donation to church, a monk donates ot their tmeple, a rogue or fighter buys a new rank in a guild and so on. These are all simplistic ideas, but the bones of what I am thinking.
I would have ot (I think) cut back on the xp (gold) needed per level or they might never level, or my world economy would be really off. I'm not sure on that yet. I hate to mess with the level tiers. It might also create an imbalance in leveling as one player may find gold that another does not, like a thief who pickpockets. In the long run it won't make a difference. but it might be hard to track evenly. It would be cool though if say the wizard is 100 gold short of paying a trainer for new spells and so the paladin decides to give it up to him for the good of the group. Also, a player has to decide if he wants to spend that 1000 gp on a +1 sowrd or save it for a level.
Also, I am not sure how to factor in rp'ing. I end to be very generous in giving xp for roleplaying or co-storytelling like describing characters actions or attacks. I might be able to work that into discounts on items or training, but I'm just not sure.
Sorry for the long post! The idea is just kind of stuck in my craw right now and I think I am goign to try it. What do you think? Any suggestions, or would you be interested in something like this?
DM14548 wrote:
The idea has merit, but several flaws, which you already identified. Having players spend downtime and gold on training costs to acquire the next level's class features is fine, but the level itself shouldn't be buyable (as with the example of the charitable paladin/poor wizard). I would stick with normal XP acquisition to gain class levels as described in the manuals. How about faction levels with a wealth-based progression table and its own perks? Something like this:
Mercenary Level Gold Required Features
0 0 Mercenary Rank - Soldier
1 200 Quartermaster and Armory Access
2 600 Tactical Training
... ... ...
5 3000 Mercenary Rank - Sergeant
.... .... ....
9 20,000 Renown
10 30,000 Mercenary Rank - Captain
Mercenary Faction Features
1) The character gains access to the quartermaster and armory. The guild pays for equipment repairs, and provides free ammunition, rations and other basic supplies
2) Tactical Training: The character has mastered the basic drills and standard operating procedure of the guild. He gains advantage on one attack roll if an allied mercenary is in sight. He must finish a short rest before using this feature again
... (come up with something for each faction level, or leave some levels blank)
5) Rank - Sergeant: As a Sergeant, the character is assigned a team of three soldier rank hirelings.
...
9) Renown: For better or worse, the character has acquired a degree of fame for his mercenary exploits. NPCs react to him based on their opinion of the guild (possible advantage/disadvantage on social checks)
10) Rank - Captain: As a captain, the character is assigned two sergeants, each with a team of soldiers
As I said, you might also consider different faction features according to character class, to represent his specialty in their overall operations. A unique spell, or class-appropriate feat, for instance.
I remember reading somewhere about a setting that had some kind of alchemical substance that basically acted this way.
It was hoarded by the rich (who then became powerful) and doled out as payment to their minions etc.
It sounded interesting, leading to events where the players would retrieve a shipment of said substance for their employer and then have to decide whether to return it or use it and suffer the wrath.
It's a really cool concept. I'm eager to hear how it plays out for you.
Honestly, I've gotten to the point where I don't even hand out XP anymore. At some point I just say "Everybody level up! Yay!" I do it either as the story allows (some downtime makes sense), if the plot "requires" them to be a higher level (either immediately or eventually), if we have a great session and I want to reward them, or "just cause" (either it has been a while since they've leveled, or they've participated in a fair amount of battles and used enough of their spells/abilities to warrant new ones so their characters remain new/fresh/interesting). In fact, some of my friends when they DM'd would have us level up after every session or two! I'm not quite THAT fast-tracky, though...
Everyone's mileage may vary, of course, because some PCs like accruing XP more than they like getting gold. Essentially, they view XP as a treasure or a reward. So throwing out XP at the end gives them a sense of accomplishment. Same goes for the DM side of things, wanting to say "great jorb!" to players with more than just imaginary monies. Obviously there is nothing wrong with this, and is a personal playstyle. It just so happens that my players don't care about such things, so it works for us. Or, at least, we like leveling more than "partially leveling"! 
So what I'm getting at, OP, is that maybe after a certain amount of heads (total or per individual) or a certain amount of camps cleared, they level up/are promoted. That way you don't create some sort of convoluted numbers system that isn't playtested/balanced, or just ends up confusing everyone in the process (perhaps even yourself!). But...maybe I'm just giving you the lazy-man's way out 
DM14548 wrote:
Thanks for the responses guys... even the not so happy ones. 
Honestly though any feedback is helpful. There are some obvious issues. One of the things with my gorup is we play at best every other week for 2-4 hours a pop. To have to grind XP gets a bit old for them. I am just trying to come up with something new. In 4e I gave them a very generous amount of xp, and so they are kind of used ot that now.
I WANT them to have to decide on a new sword or a level. I want them to choose quests based on risck versus reward. I don't want to make them all materialistic asses though. In a game I play in our party just kind of runs past everything (unless we are promised good gold/items for limited risk) and just kind of abandon plots everywhere. It's frustrating. Even if they want to become Wolf Killers of New Haven (and play Wow I guess) then they are makign a choice based on what they want for their characters. However eventually they will relaize that they cannot ocntinue to level that way. We can totally build characters still, beyond and apart from levels.
I;m going to talk to my players about it an see what they think.
DM14548 wrote:
If you're having trouble engaging the players, try to think about the kinds of things that motivate them. Ask about their characters' goals, their back stories, and try to work those into the campaign. If you're frustrated that they're choosing to abandon or bypass certain plot elements, that should be an indication to you that those things don't interest them. So, having made that observation, your next step is to restructure your campaign to incorporate elements which do interest them.
Choosing between a magic item or a level up isn't an interesting choice, because there will almost always be a "correct" choice, based on the comparable benefits of each.