Sorry for the late reply. I had family in town from Texas, and I wanted to visit before they left tomorrow. Hopefully you'll get this later today.
Good point. I don't want players to be hoarding their XP and not spending it. Each time they level up, they should be improving their characters at least a little bit. Saving might be necessary, but it should not need to happen more than once before the wanted upgrade becomes affordable.
Yeah, that's my preferred model, too. In my game, people improve their characters basically every session, but it's not uncommon to see one player per week save his points for a more expensive ability. I agree with that model.
Yeah, this is probably the way to go. I had considered something like this to begin with but rejected it because it didn't conform to the model. But it's better, I think, because it lets the player have more control over creating the character.
Well, maybe you can change the "Improved" Warrior tree while you're at it. Instead of how it is now, maybe you given blanket bonuses to all of the maneuvers at once.
Rank 1: You get a +2 bonus to all the listed maneuvers.
Rank 2: None of the listed maneuvers provoke attacks of opportunity anymore.
Rank 3: You get an additional +2 bonus to all the listed maneuvers (+4 total).
Rank 4: If you successful use one of the listed maneuvers, you get a free attack on the enemy as well.
Rank 5: You get an additional +4 bonus to all the listed maneuvers (+8 total).
Or something along those lines.
It's funny. When I began this project, the first things I wrote were "no classes, no levels, no hit points." I still don't have hit points, but classes are kinda there. And even though I've been referring to it as "leveling up" I have nothing tied to the level up process. Yet, I kinda like the idea of setting a skill cap based on level. That is a very d20 thing to have.
Yep. Even though I got rid of classes in my game, I left levels. I really like the way it plays out, but it does feel different from a level-less game. I think it really helps scale for d20, though.
If that was true and there really are levels in the game, it would mean that a base 100XP character is level 1. So do you think I should adjust down the allowed skill rating purchasable at character creation? Right now you can buy skill rating 4 when you make your character. I could set the cap to level + 3, or like you said, class skills have a cap of level + 1, non-class skills have a cap of your level. Which would mean a Warrior could have Martial Weapons 2 at 1st level, but a Rogue or Mystic could only have Martial Weapons 1.
I like the cap being level +1 (it's what I use in my game), so I can see it being level +1 for all skills, or only for class skills (the rest are capped at level). I could go either way; it really depends on how fiddly you want it. The nice things about making it level +1 only for class skills is that it helps define the archetypes better (which, if that's what you're going for, is good). Since you made different archetype bases, rather than just went completely classes (no class skills, no path-only feat chains, etc.), I assume the archetypes are important to you.
Something you should consider is how high do you want the level system to go? Indefinitely? Level 10? Level 10 is a nice easy stopping point if you can get Level +1 as a skill cap, as that puts you at Epic for that skill (11 ranks). In fact, if you could only get Level +1 in your class skills, it means that a Warrior path character could become Epic in Martial Weapons, but nobody else could. Only a Mystic could become Epic in Spellcasting, and only a Rogue could become Epic in Disarm Trap. This seems pretty intuitive to me, which is probably a good thing.
If I was to actually use a real level system, do you think it would need to be XP based? Like, every 100XP, you level up. I think it would. This would be instead of having a rough guideline as to when you can spend XP (i.e. every 4-5 sessions), but the GM having the authority to say, "OK, you finished raiding the castle. Now you can level up." Or maybe it's a combination of both? What about the player who just misses the mark with 95XP when his buddies are leveling?
I think basing it on XP earned total is the way to go, yes. That is, again, what I do in my game. Maybe every 25 XP? That's 5-7 sessions at 4-5 XP each, which is just over 1 to nearly 2 months per level. If you play less often, it's even longer. So, a group that gets together every 2 weeks would take 2 to 3½ months to level, while a monthly group would be closer to 5 to 7 months (that is, without tweaking the XP track).
In my system, I base XP on two factors:
(1) How much danger was the party in?
(2) How much story was there?
I like this setup because it allows for a wide range of options when answering the questions. You can have political or social danger, or you can have physical danger. Story can vary from "we went to the castle" (very low) to "we saved the castle from an undead army" (very high). What I like about this is that it gives uniform XP to everyone. If anyone was in danger, everyone gets the benefit of it happening. If anyone progresses the story, everyone gets the benefit.
If you like the setup, maybe you can have a scale to both? Like, a scale of 1-3 on each, so that you can earn anywhere from 2-6 XP per session? That might be too variable, or on the low end for you. Just trying to kick ideas around so you don't have a situation where you've got 3 guys who hit level 3, and one guy is stuck at level 2.
If it takes 25 XP to level, and you're averaging 4 XP (you get a 2 on a scale of 1-3 for danger, and a 2 on a scale of 1-3 for story), it'll take a little bit to hit the next level, but not so far that players don't think about it. If they're more adventurous, they'll level faster (more story, more danger). If they're more cautious, it'll be a little slower (less story, less danger). This encourages proactive players, which may or may not be to your tastes.
If you think the players will be getting into life or death fights as part of the adventuring career every session, that's a guaranteed 3 XP. Then if you only expect moderate amounts of story, that's a guaranteed 2 XP. If that's the norm for your group, they'll average 5 XP per session. You should base the level up XP required depending on your norm. So, if you like 4-5 XP per session, how often should they level up in your mind? 25 XP is 5-7 sessions. 50 XP is 10-13 sessions. 100 XP is 20-25 sessions.
