How do you handle level progression in your D&D games

[Asmor]

I think it's silly to make PCs train. Exp is short for experience, after all, the best teacher there is. Their "training" is delving through dungeons and fighting the mean, nasty stuff that lives there. When they get enough experience points to gain a level, that literally means that they've gained so much experience that they're now just plain better than they used to be.

I mean, I can see an argument being made if they're taking a new class in something they've never done before (and that's on a case-by-case basis; for example, I'd have no problem with a fighter multiclassing into sorcerer as he discovers his latent magical abilities).

 

[paradox42]

My games have never used training rules, though I occasionally toy with the idea of using one when I go to start a new game. What I've done all through 3.X D&D, though, is allow characters to level-up as soon as they get the XP- with one caveat. They must get a rest sufficient to allow recharging of spells and psionic power points before the new levels happen; before that rest they're stuck at whatever level they were while gaining the XP. This is even true of fighter-types; they need time to rest and think on the battles they've recently fought before they can truly learn from them- at least a good night's sleep-worth.

On a slightly-related tangent, scientists who study sleep have, in recent years, largely come to the conclusion that one of the primary functions of sleep is to help fix memories in place and let the brain reconfigure itself to use them. Creatures deprived of sleep after a training session show less learning in the next session- showing less skill acquisition, more confusion in the face of related new situations, and so on- than creatures set to sleep a standard period (say, 8 hours for human subjects). So my level-up rule dovetails with this perfectly.

I also do away with the rule that says you can't gain enough XP to gain two or more levels beyond your current one, so it is possible (and for characters significantly lower-level than the party average, likely) for a levelling character to go up two or more levels in one rest period. Personally, I never found that "XP-cap" rule to be adding to the fun of the game, either as a DM or as a player. It usually just screws the lower-level party members out of catching up to the rest of the party at a reasonable speed.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

No explicit training in my D&D games.

I had it done to me in the past by those DMs I consider to be overly anal about things to this day. The most extreme example was a character of mine lacking only a couple hundred XP for the next level (in a 2e game). The next encounter would probably send him over the edge for the next level.

The problem was that we would enter a dungeon now, so I would have to run around in the whole dungeon a level lower than I could be because the DM refused to make en exception. Some other characters would already train their level-up before the dungeon.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

We don't train. These days I hand out XP at the end of sessions and the level when they level. Next campaign though I'm going for a goals oriented XP system so they will only gain levels after the completion of goals and try that for a while.

I certainly like the idea of a goals oriented system. Clever.

Currently I make the players pay 100 gold per level they are heading towards. Keeps the economy in good shape.

 

[Thanee]

No training, but leveling does not (usually) happen during the game... only when there is a bit of downtime.

There are XP handed out for solving encounters and for achieving goals.

Bye
Thanee

 

[RigaMortus2]

We usually can not afford to spend 1 week or so training. It's not realistic from an in-game perspective. Either we are in the middle of a dungeon with no access to a place to train, or we are on a time sensitive mission where we can't afford to waste a week to train.

So we house rules the following:
1) When you gain enough XP to level, you get your bonus HPs immediately.
2) You have to simply rest/camp for the night, then you rise in level (add skills, feats, etc). If by chance you have enough XP to rise more than 1 level, we allow that.
3) If you only have a small amount of XP to go before you level (say you are 100 XP short of leveling) we allow you to borrow 1% of the XP that you would need to level. You of course have to pay this back as you gain XP. This doesn't help the lower levels out much, but at higher levels, it's come into play more than once.

Example: Level 9 character has 44,800 XP when it is time to rest. He is a mere 200 XP short of 10th level. So he is allowed 1% of the XP of next level (to hit next level, he needs 45,000 XP so 1% of that is 450XP he is allowed to "borrow"). He borrows the 200 XP that he needs, and the next 200 XP he gains from combat/quests/etc. gets applied to that so he can pay it back. (It sounds more complicated than it actually is, and it has come into play many many times).

 

[Gold Roger]

Generally, when characters gain the xp to level, they level. This includes:

-HP

-BAB

-Saves

-Skillpoints

-Spell slots

-Feat slots

-Improvements of class features the characters already possess

However, the actual feats and skill ranks as well as new spells and class features have to be aquired in game, usually via training.

That training can be so simple that it's assumed to happen along the way, like additional climb ranks after adventuring in a rocky area or researching the improved version of an already known spell, or as complex adventuring for lost magic or searching out a master (PrC class features, obscure spells, forgotten martial arts etc.).


I just don't like the idea that new knowledge just zapps up in the mind and wizards never have to research or trade for their spells. I also draw a good amount of inspiration from shonen manga where training for new combat abilities is almost as big a part of the story as combat itself.

 

[Aeric]

The only time I require PCs to learn from a trainer is when they dual-class and when they enter a PrC. And there are exceptions to both of those as well.

Adventuring is on-the-job training.

 

[Shades of Green]

I require training when multiclassing - that is, when taking the first level in a new class. You can't just get all of these completely new abilities from the thin air - for example, a Wizard taking his first Fighter class will neeed to learn the basics of fighting. So a few weeks (for the very least) will have to be spent on a "boot camp" level of training to become a fighter.

Similarly, taking the first skill rank in a skill requires training (2 weeks) - you can't learn, say, to pick a lock by jabbing your sword into monsters.

 

[arscott]

Every four sessions of my Dark•Matter game, I say "alright, everybody level", and they do. But my game is structured into very episodic missions, and there's a reasonable amount of time that takes place between each episode--So they've certainly got enough downtime to train.