Do characters know their class level?

[kitcik]

I believe the number of times is indeed over nine thousand.

I am filled with shame as a result of my lack of knowledge regarding obscure comic & cartoon references.

Perhaps I should wear an emblem of my shame.

Perhaps a hubcap.

 

[Dandu]

I can see it now.

And thanks to the miracle of the internet, so can everyone else.

 

[howandwhy99]

I won't go into the rationale on either side, but I'm curious what others do in their campaigns. Sure, HP's, BAB bonus, Skill modifiers are all metagame, but do people treat class levels as being metagame as well?

In my OD&D game both class names and class level names are part of the map known by NPCs, but some know more than others. Class names are known in most every game I've played in. "We need a cleric" for example. Class level names are used by NPCs when those NPCs know the difference and seek out the High Priest at the cathedral to raise the dead rather than the acolyte who tends the local shrine.

I'm also curious if people who played 1e remember that all classes had labels for each level e.g. Footpad, Acolyte, Strider, Prestigitator, etc. Did anyone think those labels were metagame and unknown to the actual characters?

I don't, but there may be some who do.

Is there anything in the game that specifically says or suggests characters don't know when they advance a level or that they level?

They know when they are level drained. When they decline in their ability to perform their class. Level-based advancement is sort of like punctuated evolution. An aging runner can tell they have lost a step. And when titles are involved it typically comes with a demotion to a level of current capability.

More directly, the players know when the character has leveled up. The character knows he or she can do stuff they weren't able to before, whether in their training or by doing so explicitly.

Another way to put this is to ask whether characters knowing their level is actually intended to be part of how the game is played e.g. Wizard's knowing which spells are 1st level and which are 2nd level.

I don't think the advancement is grasped immediately or so discretely. There are spells M-Us can't manage to learn earlier in their advancement and others they can. They can always try and learn whatever spells they find. Even players can learn by practice what a spell's level may be. It doesn't have to be expressed directly.

This is all learned through trial and error and play of the game. So while a character may not know certain statistics, or a player may not know quite what they mean, both may increase their understanding through play.

 

[kitcik]

I can see it now.

And thanks to the miracle of the internet, so can everyone else.

Actually, you missed one this time...

(try the link, the image below just won't come out properly...)

 

[Dandu]

Actually, you missed one this time...

(try the link, the image below just won't come out properly...)

Have you considered that maybe it is you who is referencing the wrong thing?

 

[Jack Simth]

Have you considered that maybe it is you who is referencing the wrong thing?

In the specific instance of the Hubcap, kitcik is the one who made the reference, so I'm fairly sure kitcik has a pretty good idea of what was referenced, there.

 

[Dandu]

I reject his reality and substitute it with my own!

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I reject his reality and substitute it with my own!

Oh! I'm all over that reference!

I Win!

 

[kitcik]

[MENTION=6674868]RUMBLETiGER[/MENTION] you scored well, but I think [MENTION=85158]Dandu[/MENTION] is WAAAAY ahead of us.

Nonetheless, a couple of points our way deserves kudos of some sort. Too bad I cannot XP you.

BTW, you should both read Knights of the Dinner Table!!!!