Level Up (A5E) Getting Started With Level Up

[Reynard]

I decided on a whim to buy all 3 core Level Up books as a birthday gift to myself, and I wanted to talk a little bit about the best way to engage the game.

That may sound a little strange but hear me out: for a brand new system, engaging is pretty straight forward -- just read the book(s). However, in my experience, new editions and/or variants are often harder to engage that way because you aren't coming in fresh. You have experiences and knowledge and you are looking for differences and divergences.

So, what I am asking is, given that Level Up is designed to be a "deeper" 5E, what is the easiest and best way to dive in. Does it make sense to "convert" an existing 5E adventure and/or set of PCs to Level Up to get a sense of the differences? Does it make sense to build an adventure for Level Up independent of some existing 5E thing? Is making a bunch of characters a worthwhile path (even though I mostly GM and don't even know all the PC rules for regular old 5E)?

Or am i wrong and I should just read all 3 books?

 

[WarDriveWorley]

Personally I found it better to use a converted adventure that my players were familiar with (after reading the books) and had already run through as an intro for my player so they could see how A5E changes affect the game.

 

[Faolyn]

There's very little conversion that's really necessary. The biggest thing is the journey activities, and unless you're making your own regions, the existing ones are pretty much drag-and-drop.

 

[TheHand]

If you have their official introductory adventure, Memories of Holdenshire you can also see how they constructed a game. Each chapter actually introduces one of their Advanced-5e concepts.

Personally I've been treating Advanced 5e as a giant Toolbox to add into existing D&D games. One of the campaigns I run is mostly vanilla 5e but I've been sneaking in Levelup content like their monster builds and Journeys. My other campaign is using many of the Levelup Features (Classes, Heritages/Cultures/Backgrounds, Maneuvers), but not all (for instance, we're not using the expanded weapon/armor rules... too granular for my players' tastes).

But as the posters said above, really there's not much 'conversion' to do to run a vanilla 5e adventure. I'd say the biggest changes would be if you want to add Journeys or use Level-up monster builds.

 

[R_J_K75]

I'd say the biggest changes would be if you want to add Journeys or use Level-up monster builds.

If I wanted to create a 5E adventure and use LU monsters in an existing 5E game, are they compatible? Are they too strong for O5E PCs, would I need to switch to LU PCs?

 

[TheHand]

If I wanted to create a 5E adventure and use LU monsters in an existing 5E game, are they compatible? Are they too strong for O5E PCs, would I need to switch to LU PCs?

I think they're pretty compatible, and in the cases where the Level Up monsters are stronger the challenge rating is usually a little higher than its O5e counterpart. I haven't found that they're stronger, only that they tend to have more options on their turn.

It's kind of the same idea with the Fighter class in O5e, where the Champion has the very straight-forward "I attack" options that improve with levels, and the Battlemaster has its expertise dice and maneuvers, but in some theoretical sense they're reasonably on par.

 

[R_J_K75]

I think they're pretty compatible, and in the cases where the Level Up monsters are stronger the challenge rating is usually a little higher than its O5e counterpart. I haven't found that they're stronger, only that they tend to have more options on their turn.

It's kind of the same idea with the Fighter class in O5e, where the Champion has the very straight-forward "I attack" options that improve with levels, and the Battlemaster has its expertise dice and maneuvers, but in some theoretical sense they're reasonably on par.

Kind of what I thought from the little I followed of the playtest/previews. I didnt back the KS but just seemed like it was more advanced and more options than Im interested in but Im thinking of buying the MM on pdf.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

If I wanted to create a 5E adventure and use LU monsters in an existing 5E game, are they compatible? Are they too strong for O5E PCs, would I need to switch to LU PCs?

I've used the LU in a 5E adventure and they work fine. Some (shadows, I'm looking at you) are actually less powerful than the O5E version.

 

[Morrus]

If I wanted to create a 5E adventure and use LU monsters in an existing 5E game, are they compatible? Are they too strong for O5E PCs, would I need to switch to LU PCs?

They’re fully compatible. They are adjusted to make them as powerful as their CR says they are with CR math that works, so balance-wise they should work even better than O5E sources. At least that was the intention!

 

[Larnievc]

If I wanted to create a 5E adventure and use LU monsters in an existing 5E game, are they compatible? Are they too strong for O5E PCs, would I need to switch to LU PCs?

It’s not so much that they are stronger than their CR might indicate more than their CR is more dependable as a measure of danger and they have a few more interesting options than MM mobs. But any third party monster book will do that for you. I try to avoid MM mobs for that reason.

 

[Reynard]

I read the Fighter class entry last night and find the design really interesting and dynamic. I'll be curious to see how it works in play.

 

[lichmaster]

They’re fully compatible. They are adjusted to make them as powerful as their CR says they are with CR math that works, so balance-wise they should work even better than O5E sources. At least that was the intention!

Also, the computation on the encounter difficulty is different between o5e and LU. LU's way is simpler but has more solid suggestions (like avoid using monsters with CR higher than 50% average party level)
I'm not sure how it would work if one used o5e encounter building budgets with a5e CR

 

[Reynard]

I guess this is as good a place to ask as any: @Morrus GatePass Gazette #0 is full price on DTRPG. Is that right? I might be misremembering, but I thought Issue #0 was free? Thanks.

 

[Morrus]

but I thought Issue #0 was free?

To Kickstarter backers.

 

[Reynard]

To Kickstarter backers.

Gotcha! Thanks. I misremembered.

 

[thenightgaunt]

I'm running a canned 5e campaign. I just had my players build characters with the new heritage/class system. Most are used to 5e so it really wasn't a huge leap for them and they've taken to it just fine.

 

[Xethreau]

I'm running a canned 5e campaign. I just had my players build characters with the new heritage/class system. Most are used to 5e so it really wasn't a huge leap for them and they've taken to it just fine.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of this approach. Introduce a few A5e elements at a time (origins, new class, monsters, spells, journies, etc.) and before you know it you'll be running the full A5e system.

 

[Reynard]

So, I think I am going to run a short dragon slaying adventure as my first trial. I am inviting two different groups: the Casuals, and the Munchkins. I'm curious to see how the former feel about the added complexity, and how the latter "utilize" all the new options.

I think I want to do five 6th level PCs against what turns out to be a twinned pair of young black dragons (up until that point they will have been told it was one beast). That's a deadly encounter, but its a one shot, and they will be able to mostly nova. Does that seem reasonable for a first test?

 

[TheHand]

So, I think I am going to run a short dragon slaying adventure as my first trial. I am inviting two different groups: the Casuals, and the Munchkins. I'm curious to see how the former feel about the added complexity, and how the latter "utilize" all the new options.

I think I want to do five 6th level PCs against what turns out to be a twinned pair of young black dragons (up until that point they will have been told it was one beast). That's a deadly encounter, but its a one shot, and they will be able to mostly nova. Does that seem reasonable for a first test?

Sounds like a fun experiment! I'd love to hear the highlights from both playthru's