30th level at 21

[S'mon]

That's a good point! I hadn't realized that.
So, a grizzled veteran soldier in D&D is really only 25 or 30 and not 50 or 60 like IRL.

IMC you're adult at 16, in the sense of 'fully grown' - 13-15 year-olds may well fight in wars, but usually in support roles, squiring and such, and if I need to stat the 15 year old Squire I'd probably make him War-1 (or Apprentice Fighter, but that's a bit fiddly), becoming Ftr-1 at 16. A 30 year old soldier would be considered experienced, 35-40 would be veteran ("old man") age. Many people do live to their '60s though - in ancient Sparta the ruling council had to be age 60+. Few normal folks live past '70s as the slightest cold/flu/injury will likely carry them off.

For active military (Warriors) I use very roughly the following:

Age 16 - Novice - War-1.
Age 21 - Trained - War-2
Age 30 - Experienced - War-3
Age 40 - Veteran - War-4

That's for men who have spent their whole adult lives in military service. Most soldiers retire or die before Age 30, so the War-2 is the typical soldier in most armies. If you conscript the 30 year old farmer into service, IMC he's probably an Expert-2 (with good Fort not Will) as I don't use the Commoner class.

 

[TerraDave]

I also have a more artificial rule of thumb that limits advancement to every (current level x 10) days, barring special training.

I used exactly the same rule in my long running 2nd edition campaign. Eery, I guess great minds do think alike

In my current campaign, it is 10 days to train for a new level. But I allow for additional training for additional XP. This is meant to be flexible while encouraging downtime. And not letting advancement drag in real time. So far it has worked ok.

One thing I think is important to establish is that there is a difference in game time and real time, and be carefull using downtime for other purposes: it can be good to do some role playing and to drain some gold from the PCs. But if they see dowtime cutting too much into adventuring, and their resources, they will avoid it.

 

[frankthedm]

I Like "XP is awarded no more than once a week."

 

[Psion]

I used exactly the same rule in my long running 2nd edition campaign. Eery, I guess great minds do think alike

Indeed.

Though the XP for training experience sounds interesting as well. I used to do something like that... sort of based on Bushido's training rules. It would lend itself well to a campaign in which a connection with mentor style NPCs or masters is highly desirable.

I know I mentioned this in another recent thread, so forgive me if I am repeating myself, but I thought about a "matching XP" rule. The idea would be that you can get experience from either training or experience, but you are best off if you have both. The simplest take I have on this is to count 2x the lesser of the two XP totals, plus one half the difference between them, as actual XP. Thus if you have 1000 training XP and 2000 experience XP, you have 2500 actual XP.

 

[JamesL85]

I've talked with the guys in my group about this exact problem. I've suggested augmenting the level tables to 1.5x or even 2x the XP needed to level. Most of them DM and have the same problem, but think the 2x is too extreme. We're gonna take a look at it though....

James

 

[TerraDave]

Though the XP for training experience sounds interesting as well. I used to do something like that... sort of based on Bushido's training rules. It would lend itself well to a campaign in which a connection with mentor style NPCs or masters is highly desirable.

I know I mentioned this in another recent thread, so forgive me if I am repeating myself, but I thought about a "matching XP" rule. The idea would be that you can get experience from either training or experience, but you are best off if you have both. The simplest take I have on this is to count 2x the lesser of the two XP totals, plus one half the difference between them, as actual XP. Thus if you have 1000 training XP and 2000 experience XP, you have 2500 actual XP.

I like both ideas! The players and I have made a little use of the RP possibilities of downtime, but just a little, though that is largely by design to keep the focus on the action.

In terms of matching, hmm maybe something simpler, like the lowest of the two is used, but you can move points from one to the other with "special training" (halving your advancement if not "trained up" and perhaps adding some additional costs).

 

[Henry]

I've suggested augmenting the level tables to 1.5x or even 2x the XP needed to level. Most of them DM and have the same problem, but think the 2x is too extreme. We're gonna take a look at it though....

Quick thought: halving the XP award or 75% of the XP award would be a lot less work on you and the DM.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I've played around with a couple of different options, but have yet to really come to a satisfying solution:

1) Keep a calendar and keep track of all game time, including downtime, healing up from the last adventure, and traveling as well as days spent adventuring. This also solves the "it's been summer for three years" scenario. But it's a whole heck of a lot of bean counting.

2) Add 1 year for every level. That way, a 20th level human is about 40, which sounds better. But since characters could level at different times, what with level adjustments and all, this could get a little wacky.

 

[painandgreed]

Don't forget weather related downtime. Winter snow or spring rain can make passes, roads, and rivers unpassable, especially to lower level characters. Highly likely that if characters are caught on the wrong side of the mountains at the begining of winter, they might not have any choice but to wait for the next three months till passes melt. Then in heavy spring rains, travel may take twice as long on the muddy roads and even impossible with wagons.

In the past with 1E and 2E, much of the downtime was in research. Characters would take weeks or months studying new spells or coming up with their own. 3E sort of takes that out of the game since almost everything along those lines now takes jsut a day or two even with 9th level spells.

 

[kigmatzomat]

1) Keep a calendar and keep track of all game time, including downtime, healing up from the last adventure, and traveling as well as days spent adventuring. This also solves the "it's been summer for three years" scenario. But it's a whole heck of a lot of bean counting.

It's not that bad if you make a habit of doing it with your session writeups. Plus, most travel is between known A and B and as long as you note that it occurs in-game you can go back and figure out how long that actually is later. I ended up with a table of the travel times (in days of summertime horseback riding) between cities that I often use in game.

"You want to go to Gaardwilde? Hmmm, well it's 6 days to Vingaard and 10 days to Gaardwilde. It's January in the lowlands so it's passable but slower, say 24 days total." Poof, there goes a month and I put it in my game calendar. (My Palm Pilot is the best gaming aide I have ever purchased. EVER.)