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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7807840" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>AD&D was particularly bad at dealing with non-combat skills, and I think it just assumed that the PC's starting languages would be supplemented with Comprehend Languages or Tongues eventually.</p><p></p><p>More seriously, this is a special case of a more general problem with any class based system, which is, "If the player in character is practicing something, how do they get better at it?" Like, you could make the same argument about carpentry - "If a PC has been sawing wood and cutting logs to build a cabin in game for a month or two, when do they add 'Craft (Carpentry)' to their character sheet"?</p><p></p><p>And the answer in a class based game in general is, "You don't.", because that sort of low granularity improvement isn't something that the game really tracks. In theory, a good RPer will now put ranks (or NWPs) into whatever it is that in game they've been practicing at the next opportunity, but in D&D at least that sort of micro-improvement isn't easily tracked the way it would be in BRP or GURPS. </p><p></p><p>Now, that isn't to say that non-class based games are better or more advanced than class based games, because there are advantages to class based as well, but you have to be honest about the limitations.</p><p></p><p>Personally, I've always assumed that NPCs (or PCs) get most of their XP from practicing, and the way I handle this is 'bonus XP'. Practicing a skill like speaking a language gives you bonus XP in say 'Speak Language'. This virtual XP can be traded in for normal XP but with some restrictions - you can only do it when you take a level, you must take a level in a class that has that skill as a class skill (say Bard, Explorer, or Scholar in my game), and you must put at least one rank into that skill when you take the level. This is actually how NPCs level up. But 'bonus XP' from activities like that is acquired at a much slower rate than overcoming life and death challenges, so for PC's unless they are taking years of down time, it's not really a practical manner.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7807840, member: 4937"] AD&D was particularly bad at dealing with non-combat skills, and I think it just assumed that the PC's starting languages would be supplemented with Comprehend Languages or Tongues eventually. More seriously, this is a special case of a more general problem with any class based system, which is, "If the player in character is practicing something, how do they get better at it?" Like, you could make the same argument about carpentry - "If a PC has been sawing wood and cutting logs to build a cabin in game for a month or two, when do they add 'Craft (Carpentry)' to their character sheet"? And the answer in a class based game in general is, "You don't.", because that sort of low granularity improvement isn't something that the game really tracks. In theory, a good RPer will now put ranks (or NWPs) into whatever it is that in game they've been practicing at the next opportunity, but in D&D at least that sort of micro-improvement isn't easily tracked the way it would be in BRP or GURPS. Now, that isn't to say that non-class based games are better or more advanced than class based games, because there are advantages to class based as well, but you have to be honest about the limitations. Personally, I've always assumed that NPCs (or PCs) get most of their XP from practicing, and the way I handle this is 'bonus XP'. Practicing a skill like speaking a language gives you bonus XP in say 'Speak Language'. This virtual XP can be traded in for normal XP but with some restrictions - you can only do it when you take a level, you must take a level in a class that has that skill as a class skill (say Bard, Explorer, or Scholar in my game), and you must put at least one rank into that skill when you take the level. This is actually how NPCs level up. But 'bonus XP' from activities like that is acquired at a much slower rate than overcoming life and death challenges, so for PC's unless they are taking years of down time, it's not really a practical manner. [/QUOTE]
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