D&D 5E How/when Do You Level?

[DND_Reborn]

Hi all,

So I was thinking about the idea of leveling on the drive home tonight. In past games, I've played with training and downtime needed to level, in other games leveling was after the scene, or when the characters "got back to town" or something.

At our current table, we level after a long rest (8 hours), and don't pay or train, etc. How do you do it in your group(s)?

 

[iserith]

In most of my campaigns, the characters get XP after a challenge that awards XP and can level up immediately if they hit the amount they need.

In my next campaign, they will buy XP from a trainer during downtime using GP.

 

[Umbran]

Current game I am playing is milestone leveling.

 

[The Green Hermit]

XP immediately after combat.

 

[Jd Smith1]

It takes three days downtime. No other expenses involved.

Instead of XP, I award Honor; you receive a base amount of Honor for attending the session, plus extra for roleplay, ideas, innovations, investment in the character, etc.

It takes 40 Honor to level up, which as noted requires down time. A session's Honor is handed out at the very start of the next session. It usually takes 3-5 sessions to level up, although the base allocation is higher n the first three levels.

We're 27 sessions into the current campaign, and the PCs are 6th, 7th, and 8th levels.

 

[Zardnaar]

Milestone leveling plus handwaveium.

 

[ccs]

Depends upon the campaign.

My Thur night campaign is technically running on XP. I'm supposed to be handing out the XP at the end of each session. But....
The 1st "adventure" wich took 3 sessions covered one night of wild partying. Depending upon what each PC did (or didn't do) it was possible come dawn to have earned enough to reach 2nd, 3rd, or, at the extreme, 4th lv. (everyone ended up at various stages of 3rd). PCs got one lump sum of XP at dawn.
Then it ran XP each session for about two months.
From then - present I've been tallying & handing it out about once a month.

In my Fri game the PCs are working their way through The Dragon of Ice spire Peak. So they're lv after x # of quests/jobs as written. Once they finish the actual dragon I'll aim to do XP per session.

 

[Tallifer]

Characters grow in power and understanding between sessions if they have enough glory.

 

[commandercrud]

Downtime to level, at least 30 days, plus training costs.

 

[Hriston]

I voted my preference, which is that leveling costs gold and downtime once the required number of XP have been earned. In practice though, I let the group decide how this is handled, which has included immediately leveling upon attaining enough XP. I never award XP, however, until the party leaves off from adventuring and is back at a suitable “home-base”.