D&D 5E Level Up! DING, fries are done!

[Riley37]

"For example, if a druid trains from level 19 to 20, where does that 80 GP go?"

Drugs.

Consider a level 19 druid's ability to find whatever herbs and/or mushrooms they might need to open their mind to level 20.

Wait, there's someone who has a *better* ability, and the level 19 druid would pay that guy 80 gold, rather than hand-pick their OWN vision-inducing plants?

...well, I guess a level 18 Bard or Rogue with Expertise, could have a higher total modifier to their Medicine check, than a level 19 druid. Hunh.

 

[wedgeski]

Do you apply any rules from earlier editions? Do you apply any non-rule traditions? What has happened, at your table, when PCs gain levels?

I award XP at the end of an encounter or on the fly when it's appropriate. PC's must take a long rest to level-up. I don't apply the training rules...although if the PC's have a stable home-base and access to civilization, I have sometimes stripped them of some cash during downtime to reflect ongoing training.

Bruenor, who had two levels of Fighter, decides to multiclass as Druid. He instantly learns Druidic, so he pulls out that scrap of bark with the druidic inscription, and reads it. He's wearing a +1 studded leather armor; the studs are iron, and druids do not wear metal armor. Is he simply limited as if he were wearing armor without proficiency, or is he unable to read the Druidic reading on the bark until he doffs the armor? What if he doesn't take off the armor, but he just removes the metal studs?

For me this would be a level of rules pernickity...ness that I don't care for. He knows the armour is going to have to come off before it makes any real difference. However, I also like [MENTION=97077]iserith[/MENTION]'s suggestions for in-fiction consequences.

Kairon's player to DM: Hey, with my new proficiency and expertise, I reconsider what the goblin said about "No more snake coin people found.” Now do I know what that means?

Sure, why not? It could have been that very exchange that allowed the PC to make those final connections with the bardic traits in question. Never turn down an opportunity to let the players feel good about their choices.

 

[PnPgamer]

We get xp, but can only level up when we take a long rest

 

[Kikuras]

Obviously any strict method of XP awarding and leveling is going to leave something to be desired on the logical-functional-fun matrix. I personally design my adventures so that the XP they gain doesn't grant a level until after they've completed it. For those adventures that are a bit longer, and may grant multiple levels, I will usually grant the XP that puts them over the top at a place where they are naturally going to want to take a break, lick their wounds, and otherwise rest before boldly marching on. Of course I know a lot of folks would just point out that it's easier to just tell the PCs when to add a level, instead of doing a bunch of number crunching... but I really do enjoy a little number crunching. It also lets the players feel like they're earning the level, even if it's still at the DM's discretion.

Anyway, the rule is really "whatever is appropriate for the story, the game, the players, and the DM"

 

[Leatherhead]

This thread reminds me of the final fight scene from The Last Dragon. If there was ever an example of "leveling up" in the middle of combat, that was it.

 

[Bayonet]

Level up after hitting a milestone, announced at the end of the session so people can do the paperwork at home.

Fluff wise, it's nice if it's done during some sort of downtime period (traveling back to Wherever, waiting for an audience with the King, etc) but that's a secondary concern.

 

[Remathilis]

Now you've got me - not owning any 5e stuff save Starter Set and Basic Rules - curious. How do the rules look like? Looking for a trainer, skimming gold, and spending time like in the days of old?

Basically, its a guideline for how much time to spend and gold needed to level up; by tier. Basically, every few levels (2-4, 5-10, 11-16, 17-20) you spend 10 days per tier and 20 gp per tier. The exact info is left to the DM.

Speaking of which.

This would be an *excellent* time to bring up those rules. It might even be the best time to bring up those rules, in the entire history of the Enworld 5E forum!

It's imperfect, that those rules are the only alternative given in the books, to the RAW-but-crazy scenario I described in the first post. They strike me as rough guidelines, and I would never apply them as actual rules. For example, if a druid trains from level 19 to 20, where does that 80 GP go? Does the druid pay GP directly to the oak tree and the holly tree? Does the druid throw it down a well? If they're the world's only Level 20 druid, are they still paying 80 GP to a trainer?

Can a bard skip the training time by arranging a montage?

The 80 gp could be spent preparing for a 40 day journey to the ancient oak grove, preparing a special gift for its unicorn guardian, and preparing special robes and a golden sickle needed to learn the final magic of unlimited shifting.

The important part is that the cost/time is fixed, but the ritual needed is flexible. It can be described as thus, or ignored as "training montage" and move on.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I always hated training rules for d&d. D&ds leveling is so granular that the training rules just thoroughly break verisimilitude, making each character consciously aware of the concept of levels instead of it being an abstract thing.

 

[iserith]

Yes, but it's not his fault! At the time he put the armor on, he was not a druid. At the moment he became a druid, he was *already* wearing metal armor. He did not *put on* metal armor while he was a druid.

Why does this make any difference at all? There are no consequences to wearing metal armor except those the DM chooses to impose. Mine would be the derision of other druids and the spirits of the land, but otherwise no loss of class features.

Does he have to remove the studded leather armor, or can he just yank the metal studs out of the armor? Can he replace them with bone studs, or tortoise shell studs? The druids-and-armor rule has its own issues, aside from level gain; but it has an especially problematic intersection with the DING! approach to levelling.

Only if you create a problem where there isn't one. Sure, he can replace the metal studs with those of bone or shell. Sounds cool. Perhaps through some process of supernatural transmutation, the metal studs begin to corrode and are replaced by petrified wood.

It's a game of imagination - use it!

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Is there a shorthand term for "RAW-but-crazy"? Rules As Written and Played Dysfunctionally

RAWAFU