D&D General New Critical Role Method for Leveling

Blue said:

Polygon is really positive on this and other house rules Brendan made. But it feels like the writer is either a fanboy or has no experience outside 5e. For example, some of the stuff they are praising as new and exciting in the linked house rules article existed in 13th Age before 5e was published -- it's not groundbreaking and new.

Same for the main article. They talk about leveling up when the players want, but that's doesn't seem to be true, since they talk about rolling their HPs and listing what options they want. So they've picked their class, rolled their HP, presumably gotten things like the proficiency, users per day, spell slots, it's just that they haven't finished choosing what options they want at that level.

If they really haven't levelled up, they'd be able to do things like multiclass mid combat when they choose to level up.

That's still exciting, but it's not what is listed on the tin at all. I like BLM doing that, but I dislike how Polygon is covering this -- either their writer lacks the basics of what they are covering or they lack integrity to try to get a better tagline.

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Charlaquin said:

I think what sets the method Brenan is using apart is the fact that he’s leaving it up to each individual player to decide when they want to level up. So, some of them might decide to do it during a long rest, while others have already decided to do it in the middle of the action. And there will be at least some amount of time where the party’s levels are uneven, because some of them have taken the level and others are still waiting for the right moment.

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Blue said:

Polygon is really positive on this and other house rules Brendan made. But it feels like the writer is either a fanboy or has no experience outside 5e. For example, some of the stuff they are praising as new and exciting in the linked house rules article existed in 13th Age before 5e was published -- it's not groundbreaking and new.

Same for the main article. They talk about leveling up when the players want, but that's doesn't seem to be true, since they talk about rolling their HPs and listing what options they want. So they've picked their class, rolled their HP, presumably gotten things like the proficiency, users per day, spell slots, it's just that they haven't finished choosing what options they want at that level.

If they really haven't levelled up, they'd be able to do things like multiclass mid combat when they choose to level up.

That's still exciting, but it's not what is listed on the tin at all. I like BLM doing that, but I dislike how Polygon is covering this -- either their writer lacks the basics of what they are covering or they lack integrity to try to get a better tagline.

Click to expand...

Blue said:

Polygon is really positive on this and other house rules Brendan made. But it feels like the writer is either a fanboy or has no experience outside 5e. For example, some of the stuff they are praising as new and exciting in the linked house rules article existed in 13th Age before 5e was published -- it's not groundbreaking and new.

Click to expand...

Polygon said:

However, instead of picking exactly what they wanted and leveling up immediately, Mulligan decided to shake up the level-up process by allowing each player to choose when they would level up in future episodes, in a narratively satisfying moment for their characters to acquire more power and health, including in the middle of combat. As Mulligan explains to the table, "You have earned your level-up, it's just you taking a narratively satisfying moment to do it."

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Sorcerers Apprentice said:

This sounds like a cool method for leveling in a performance game, but I think 95% of real players are going to decide that the appropriate narrative moment to level up is immediately, during breakfast.

(The remaining 5% will forget that they are eligible to level up until the other players remind them sufficiently many times)

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Charlaquin said:

For the two who have leveled up this way in Critical Role, it was kind of like a Second Wind situation (spoilers ahead for episode 10):
Thimble was squaring off against the “boss” enemy, the knight of Seremai, who was mostly unharmed while Laura was on very low HP. Sam leveled up on his turn, mainly to gain the extra sorcery point he needed to use Hightened Spell and give the knight disadvantage on his save, which Sam framed as Wick trying to prove himself to Thimble. Of course, the knight succeeded his save even with the disadvantage, so it ended up a little anticlimactic. Then on Laura’s turn, she decided to take her level up as well. Even after gaining that extra HP she was still bloodied, but she attacked, presumably to activate her Swashbuckler ability to retreat without taking an opportunity attack, and rolled a critical hit. So, she also used Brennan's homebrew Desperate Measures mechanic, giving herself two pre-failed death saves in order to add extra dice of damage to the hit, which were then doubled by the crit, and ended up bloodying the knight in a single attack, and then Dashing away.

So, I kind of saw those level ups as adrenaline rush moments. Much as people occasionally perform incredible feats of strength and endurance in desperate moments, the PCs were backed into a corner by a superior foe, and that survival instinct kicked in, allowing them to push past their limits. And then, I don’t know, I guess via anime logic, after pushing past those limits, it’s no longer a limit for them, they’ve just unlocked a new extent of their capabilities they hadn’t realized before?

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