Malacoda
First Post
A while back there was a discussion the sweet spot for D&D, where the combination of character power and survivibility was well balanced and the most fun for many people. It was from that discussion that I created the system of Incremental Levels, below. The intent was to have a system that allows the DM to slow down advancement, perhaps even greatly, and yet still allow for characters to feel their characters are improving.
I finally feel like the system is ready to be shared, and see if anyone has any feedback or interest.
Incremental Levels
Character advancement in Dungeons & Dragons is a fairly rapid affair; the authors of D&D 3e designed the system this way purposefully, in order to let players and Dungeon Masters enjoy more levels of play before the campaign ends. But, this style of play is not ideal for all campaigns; some DMs might want to slow it down, let players get to know their given abilities before advancing to more powerful abilities.
But, in D&D, inherent character abilities really only come through level advancement, so if the Dungeon Master slows down advancement, characters can go extended periods of time with no improvement. This is rarely satisfying; most players like to have some appreciable sign that their character is growing from experience, honing their skills and learning new tricks.
The incremental level system is designed to solve this issue. It allows the Dungeon Master to slow down actual leveling while still giving characters advancement. It does all of this will very few modifications to the overall D&D system; it has only minor impact on character power and flexibility, and does not alter other rules such as combat, magic, skills and so on.
Character Creation
Characters are created normally under this system. The only difference is that the character’s next class level is chose at creation, rather than later; this is known as his target class. For example, a player has plans for a fighter/rogue character, alternating between the two over his levels. So, he makes a 1st level rogue, and instead of choosing a level of fighter when he later advances, he chooses Fighter 1 as his target class. He gains no initial benefits of this class, it is simply the class he is working into as he advances.
Experience Points (XP)
Characters receive experience points (XP) just as they did in the normal D&D system, but instead of a running total, XP are a resource that are spent in order to advance their abilities, similar to how a character can expend XP in order to cast powerful spells or craft magic items. Thus it is possible for a character to spend all their XP and have a total of zero, until they gain more.
Advancement Options
Based on the next level in a character’s advancement and the target class he chose for his next level, a character has a “menu” of options for advancement. The possible advancements are:
Target Class Advancements
• Base Attack Bonus
• Caster/Manifester/Initiator Level
• Class Ability (all of them at once, and includes class bonus feats*)
• Hit Die
• Saving Throws (all three at once)
• Skill Points (all of them at once)
• Spells/Powers/Maneuvers Known and Cast per day per Level (all at once)**
Level Advancements
• Ability Score Increase
• Level-based Feat*
Other Advancements
• Action Point (1 per advancement)
* All feats must meet prerequisites as normal. This means some feats might be best to take after other advancements. For example, if 5th level barbarian wants a feat that requires a base attack bonus +6, he needs to take the base attack bonus advancement before he can take the feat. Any feat with a class level requirement can be taken one level prior, if completing the target class would otherwise make you qualify. For example, a 3rd level fighter whose target class is Fighter 4 could use his class feat to take Weapon Specialization, since completing target class would allow him to qualify.
** This selection has a prerequisite of the appropriate increase in Caster/Manifester/Initiator Level. For example, a 6th level psion whose target class is another level of psion cannot advance his powers known unless he has first advanced his manifester level.
Each advancement costs a number of XP equal to [current level x 100]. Once you spend these XP on an advancement, you subtract them from your total.
Each advancement can only be purchased if they are available for the target class or level. This means that at most levels you can’t purchase an ability score increase or a feat, non-casters cannot purchase caster levels, and so forth. You have to buy every option available, and each option only once; this is not an open-ended system.
You do not have to spend XP on things that do not actually advance. For example, fighters do not get class abilities at every level, wizards do not advance in base attack bonus every level, and every class will have levels where their saves do not advance. On those levels, there is no XP need to be spent on those items.
You advance a level when you have bought ten advancements. You must buy all target class and level advancements, and then you buy action points until you have bought a total of 10 advancements. At that point you choose a new target class to advance into. This means the number of action points you get at each level will vary. A 3rd level fighter advancing to 4th level can gain 4 action points, since he has six level and target class advancements. But at 4th level, advancing to 5th, he has only three advancements, meaning he will be buying 7 action points.
You can buy your advancements in any order. You can use your XP to buy available advancements in any order you choose. You should track what you have available and mark them off as you buy them. As long as you track things properly, there is no reason you cannot buy action points before you buy all your advances.
Level Advancement
Once you have bought ten advancements, you advance a level. You choose a new target class, and now have a new selection of advancements to acquire with XP. Note that this means you work into a level. At 3rd level, when you get XP, you can buy an ability score increase. Once you buy ten advancements, you hit 4th, and already have everything you would get for advancing to 4th level in the normal system.
Once a character advances a level, he then choose what his next class level is going to be.
Example
A fighter reaches 3rd level and decides his target class is Fighter 4. After a short session of play he is awarded 400 xp. At his level each advancement costs 300 XP (level x 100) and so he buys his ability score increase. In later sessions he uses his earned XP to buy advancements for skill points, class ability (bonus feat), base attack bonus increase, saving throw increases and hit die.
He has now spent his XP on his level and target class advancements, and can now only spend XP on action points, as the remaining items do not apply for his class and level (caster level, spells per level, level-based feat). Once he buys 4 action points he has bought ten advancements and so he becomes a 4th level fighter and chooses his next target class to grow into.
Character and Class Level
In any case where it is relevant, a character’s total level or class level does not advance until he buys ten advancements. A Fighter 4/Rogue 3 who has eight advancements for his next level of rogue is still only a Rogue 3 and a 7th level character. Once he has two more advancements, he then becomes a Fighter 4/Rogue 4 and an 8th level character.
Action Points
This system does not describe the system behind action points. I use the term in reference to the action point system found in Unearthed Arcana or d20 Modern, but one could use them differently, like bennies from Savage Worlds or the Conviction system from True20. The way the Incremental Levels system is set up, you do not start with action points; players might want to pick some up fairly quickly.
Handing Out Experience Points
The Incremental Level system does not alter the guidelines for handing out XP. If the Dungeon Master so prefers, he can hand out XP using the rules as written in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. But, the Incremental Level system was designed to allow for slower advancement in D&D, and so the DM might want to explore the following options.
Option 1: Reduced Awards
This option is fairly straightforward: the DM figures XP awards using the normal rules, but reduces the final total by some percentage, which reflects the rate the DM wants to slow advancement. For example, a DM wants to slow advancement down by half, and so once he figures out XP awards, he cuts the final award in half. If he wanted to slow it down by more, he could give out 33% or 25% of the final award. Either way, it is recommended that characters get at least one advancement per session; anything beyond this is likely too slow.
When using this option the Dungeon Master will need to adjust treasure awards as well, lest the characters gain too much magic.
Option 2: Advancements Per Session
Instead of using the DMG system to figure out the number of XP to award characters, XP are divorced from Challenge Ratings. The Dungeon Master decides how many advancements he wants to hand out per session of play, on average, and hands out XP accordingly, occasionally awarding extra XP for excellent achievements.
For example, a DM wants characters to gain a level about every three sessions, and so decides to hand out the XP needed for three advancements per session, with an advancement’s worth of XP spread here and there. If the party was 7th level, each advancement is 700 XP, and so he hands out 2,500 XP per session, and after the third session they will have bought ten advancements and so advanced a level.
Note that this option does not model the difference in XP awards between characters of differing levels. Using the default rules, the lower the character level, the more XP they gain for a given Challenge Rating. Depending on the actual Challenge Rating and levels, a character one level lower than another character will gain anywhere from 10% to 42% more XP. If the difference is two levels, the lower level character will gain from 14% to 101%.
If the DM wants to simulate this (and it is recommended you do so, unless you want people who are raised from the dead to permanently fall behind), hand out extra XP to those who are lower level than the highest member of the party. The recommended amount is an extra third (33%) per level.
Class Notes
The following are notes on classes whose class abilities may not be as straight forward as others
Bard: I doubt most people would call the bard a powerful class, but because they have full caster level progression and full spells per day advancement, plus a medium BAB advancement and a number of class abilities, they end up getting fairly few action points. DM’s might want to consider finding a way to give them more, like a bonus number of action points per level or something.
Cleric: Advancing a level in turning power is considered a class ability, meaning clerics need to buy a class ability advancement every level. This makes clerics the most “expensive” class in the system, in that they need to spend more on advancements and less on action points than any other class.
Druid: Improvements to the druid’s animal companion are a class ability, but because the improvements fall on levels when they gain other class abilities, no separate tracking is required.
Paladin: A paladin doesn’t have to buy an advancement for caster level until 4th, and his first advancement is for a caster level of 2 (one-half his level). He only buys an advancement for caster level every other level thereafter. A paladin does have to buy an advancement for Spells Per Day when the only new spell slot is a zero (cannot use it unless he has a bonus spell from Wisdom), even if he cannot take advantage of it. Advancing a level in turning power is considered a class ability.
Ranger: A ranger doesn’t have to buy an advancement for caster level until 4th, and his first advancement is for a caster level of 2 (one-half his level). He only buys an advancement for caster level every other level thereafter. A ranger does have to buy an advance for Spells Per Day when the only new spell slot is a zero (cannot use it unless he has a bonus spell from Wisdom), even if he cannot take advantage of it.
At 4th level a ranger gets the class ability animal companion. Improvements to the ranger’s animal companion are a class ability. It improves at 6th level, but they already have a class ability at this level, so no separate cost is required. It improves again at 12th and 18th level, which does cost a class ability advancement. They pay this whether or not they call an animal companion.
Sorcerer: Improvements to the sorcerer’s familiar are a class ability, which means they need to purchase a class ability advancement for it at every odd level. They must do this even if they do not summon one. As an option, a DM may allow a sorcerer to remove familiar as a class feature entirely, giving the sorcerer one more action point per level that they can buy at odd levels.
Wizard: Improvements to the wizard’s familiar are a class ability, which means they need to purchase a class ability advancement for it at every odd level. They must do this even if they do not summon one. As an option, a DM may allow a wizard to remove familiar as a class feature entirely, giving the wizard one more action point per level that they can buy at odd levels.
Options
Delayed Class Choice
Using the Incremental Level system, it is possible in some cases to delay access to a prestige class, because you have to choose your class before you gain a level-based feat.
For example, a player wants to enter a prestige class that requires a given feat. He can first gain this feat at 6th level. In the normal D&D rules, he can take the feat as his level-based feat that everyone gets at 6th level, and then qualify for the class. Using the Incremental Level rules, he couldn’t do this, since he has to choose a target class when he advances a level; he doesn’t have the feat yet, so he can’t choose that class.
As an option the Dungeon Master can allow players to choose their next target class after they have bought level-based advancements.
Level Loss
What happens if a character loses a level through either being raised from the dead or permanent level drain? When one loses a level in D&D, they are dropped to the mid-point of XP of the previous level. There are several of ways to handle this, which is why it is in the Options section.
Option 1
All current advancements are rescinded, and then five more from the previous level, dropping them to effectively the half way point of their new level. If they do not have enough action points, because they were spent, then either ignore it, or they now have an action point deficit to make up. This option is the closest representation of normal D&D level loss.
For example, Jarok the 7th level rogue dies in combat, and is raised from the dead. He had already bought 6 advancements towards 8th: ability score increase, skill points, hit die, class ability, saving throws and two action points. He loses all of these when raised. In addition, he loses five advancements from the previous level. He is now a 6th level rogue and must buy his advancements back as he continues his adventuring career.
Option 2
The character gains an advancement deficit, set by the Dungeon Master. A deficit of ten advancements might be a good starting point, as it puts the character exactly 1 level behind the rest of the group. When a character has a deficit, each advancement they buy decreases the deficit but grants them nothing.
Maximum Action Points
In order to encourage players to use the action points they buy, you can institute a maximum. 10 points is a good start, but DMs who really want the players to use action points to do exciting and interesting things might go as low as 4 or 5 points.
More Action Points
If you use the Incremental Levels rules to greatly extend the time between each level, you may find that characters run out of action points more quickly than you and they would like. Characters will hoard them primarily for resisting powerful spells or for critical attacks, rather than to do interesting things. If you want to make action points a larger part of the game, hand out more than 1 action point per advance, perhaps 2 action points per advance if you go five sessions per level, and as much as 3 action points per advance if you go ten sessions per level.
Action Points & Balance
The incremental level system adds some small measure of power to characters, mostly in the form of action points. But, there is more to it than that. It adds a different amount of power to different classes. On the average, buying advancements over 19 levels, a fighter buys 4.8 advancements per level for things other than action points, which means he gains an average of 5.2 action points per level. A cleric, though, buys 7 advancements on the average, and thus gains only 3 action points per level.
If you like the Incremental Level system, but otherwise believe classes are already balanced, and some classes getting more action points than others is unfair, then you will need to find a way to fix this. Personally, after doing all the math, I find that in most cases the number of action points you get for a given class is inversely proportional to the inherent power of the class, and so I see action points as a minor balancing measure. The one notable exception to this is the bard, as mentioned below under Class Notes. Rogues stand out as being somewhat “cheap” but I am not inclined to take away from a class for such a thing.
Character Points
For Dungeon Masters and groups looking to abstract things more, to reduce the amount of math required for most characters, there is the option of using character points. Instead of handing out XP, the DM hands out character points. Each advancement costs 1 character point, and once you have spent 10 character points, you go up a level. The DM decides how many character points to hand out each session based on how quickly he wants the party to advance, much like Option 2 for handing out XP. If the DM wants characters to advance one level per five sessions, for example, he can hand out two character points per session.
Characters can trade in 1 character point for a number of XP equal to [current level x 100]. These XP can be used for creating magic items or casting spells.
The benefit of this option is that it is simpler, and requires less math. Plus, some Dungeon Masters may feel that having to buy XP for magic item creation in chunks is a benefit, since it will make players think hard before making magic items or casting more powerful spells. The downside of this option is that it prevents the DM from using the built-in system of XP awards while still allowing for gradual advancement. Plus, with direct XP awards there is no middle ground when using XP for magic item creation or spells.
I finally feel like the system is ready to be shared, and see if anyone has any feedback or interest.
Incremental Levels
Character advancement in Dungeons & Dragons is a fairly rapid affair; the authors of D&D 3e designed the system this way purposefully, in order to let players and Dungeon Masters enjoy more levels of play before the campaign ends. But, this style of play is not ideal for all campaigns; some DMs might want to slow it down, let players get to know their given abilities before advancing to more powerful abilities.
But, in D&D, inherent character abilities really only come through level advancement, so if the Dungeon Master slows down advancement, characters can go extended periods of time with no improvement. This is rarely satisfying; most players like to have some appreciable sign that their character is growing from experience, honing their skills and learning new tricks.
The incremental level system is designed to solve this issue. It allows the Dungeon Master to slow down actual leveling while still giving characters advancement. It does all of this will very few modifications to the overall D&D system; it has only minor impact on character power and flexibility, and does not alter other rules such as combat, magic, skills and so on.
Character Creation
Characters are created normally under this system. The only difference is that the character’s next class level is chose at creation, rather than later; this is known as his target class. For example, a player has plans for a fighter/rogue character, alternating between the two over his levels. So, he makes a 1st level rogue, and instead of choosing a level of fighter when he later advances, he chooses Fighter 1 as his target class. He gains no initial benefits of this class, it is simply the class he is working into as he advances.
Experience Points (XP)
Characters receive experience points (XP) just as they did in the normal D&D system, but instead of a running total, XP are a resource that are spent in order to advance their abilities, similar to how a character can expend XP in order to cast powerful spells or craft magic items. Thus it is possible for a character to spend all their XP and have a total of zero, until they gain more.
Advancement Options
Based on the next level in a character’s advancement and the target class he chose for his next level, a character has a “menu” of options for advancement. The possible advancements are:
Target Class Advancements
• Base Attack Bonus
• Caster/Manifester/Initiator Level
• Class Ability (all of them at once, and includes class bonus feats*)
• Hit Die
• Saving Throws (all three at once)
• Skill Points (all of them at once)
• Spells/Powers/Maneuvers Known and Cast per day per Level (all at once)**
Level Advancements
• Ability Score Increase
• Level-based Feat*
Other Advancements
• Action Point (1 per advancement)
* All feats must meet prerequisites as normal. This means some feats might be best to take after other advancements. For example, if 5th level barbarian wants a feat that requires a base attack bonus +6, he needs to take the base attack bonus advancement before he can take the feat. Any feat with a class level requirement can be taken one level prior, if completing the target class would otherwise make you qualify. For example, a 3rd level fighter whose target class is Fighter 4 could use his class feat to take Weapon Specialization, since completing target class would allow him to qualify.
** This selection has a prerequisite of the appropriate increase in Caster/Manifester/Initiator Level. For example, a 6th level psion whose target class is another level of psion cannot advance his powers known unless he has first advanced his manifester level.
Each advancement costs a number of XP equal to [current level x 100]. Once you spend these XP on an advancement, you subtract them from your total.
Each advancement can only be purchased if they are available for the target class or level. This means that at most levels you can’t purchase an ability score increase or a feat, non-casters cannot purchase caster levels, and so forth. You have to buy every option available, and each option only once; this is not an open-ended system.
You do not have to spend XP on things that do not actually advance. For example, fighters do not get class abilities at every level, wizards do not advance in base attack bonus every level, and every class will have levels where their saves do not advance. On those levels, there is no XP need to be spent on those items.
You advance a level when you have bought ten advancements. You must buy all target class and level advancements, and then you buy action points until you have bought a total of 10 advancements. At that point you choose a new target class to advance into. This means the number of action points you get at each level will vary. A 3rd level fighter advancing to 4th level can gain 4 action points, since he has six level and target class advancements. But at 4th level, advancing to 5th, he has only three advancements, meaning he will be buying 7 action points.
You can buy your advancements in any order. You can use your XP to buy available advancements in any order you choose. You should track what you have available and mark them off as you buy them. As long as you track things properly, there is no reason you cannot buy action points before you buy all your advances.
Level Advancement
Once you have bought ten advancements, you advance a level. You choose a new target class, and now have a new selection of advancements to acquire with XP. Note that this means you work into a level. At 3rd level, when you get XP, you can buy an ability score increase. Once you buy ten advancements, you hit 4th, and already have everything you would get for advancing to 4th level in the normal system.
Once a character advances a level, he then choose what his next class level is going to be.
Example
A fighter reaches 3rd level and decides his target class is Fighter 4. After a short session of play he is awarded 400 xp. At his level each advancement costs 300 XP (level x 100) and so he buys his ability score increase. In later sessions he uses his earned XP to buy advancements for skill points, class ability (bonus feat), base attack bonus increase, saving throw increases and hit die.
He has now spent his XP on his level and target class advancements, and can now only spend XP on action points, as the remaining items do not apply for his class and level (caster level, spells per level, level-based feat). Once he buys 4 action points he has bought ten advancements and so he becomes a 4th level fighter and chooses his next target class to grow into.
Character and Class Level
In any case where it is relevant, a character’s total level or class level does not advance until he buys ten advancements. A Fighter 4/Rogue 3 who has eight advancements for his next level of rogue is still only a Rogue 3 and a 7th level character. Once he has two more advancements, he then becomes a Fighter 4/Rogue 4 and an 8th level character.
Action Points
This system does not describe the system behind action points. I use the term in reference to the action point system found in Unearthed Arcana or d20 Modern, but one could use them differently, like bennies from Savage Worlds or the Conviction system from True20. The way the Incremental Levels system is set up, you do not start with action points; players might want to pick some up fairly quickly.
Handing Out Experience Points
The Incremental Level system does not alter the guidelines for handing out XP. If the Dungeon Master so prefers, he can hand out XP using the rules as written in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. But, the Incremental Level system was designed to allow for slower advancement in D&D, and so the DM might want to explore the following options.
Option 1: Reduced Awards
This option is fairly straightforward: the DM figures XP awards using the normal rules, but reduces the final total by some percentage, which reflects the rate the DM wants to slow advancement. For example, a DM wants to slow advancement down by half, and so once he figures out XP awards, he cuts the final award in half. If he wanted to slow it down by more, he could give out 33% or 25% of the final award. Either way, it is recommended that characters get at least one advancement per session; anything beyond this is likely too slow.
When using this option the Dungeon Master will need to adjust treasure awards as well, lest the characters gain too much magic.
Option 2: Advancements Per Session
Instead of using the DMG system to figure out the number of XP to award characters, XP are divorced from Challenge Ratings. The Dungeon Master decides how many advancements he wants to hand out per session of play, on average, and hands out XP accordingly, occasionally awarding extra XP for excellent achievements.
For example, a DM wants characters to gain a level about every three sessions, and so decides to hand out the XP needed for three advancements per session, with an advancement’s worth of XP spread here and there. If the party was 7th level, each advancement is 700 XP, and so he hands out 2,500 XP per session, and after the third session they will have bought ten advancements and so advanced a level.
Note that this option does not model the difference in XP awards between characters of differing levels. Using the default rules, the lower the character level, the more XP they gain for a given Challenge Rating. Depending on the actual Challenge Rating and levels, a character one level lower than another character will gain anywhere from 10% to 42% more XP. If the difference is two levels, the lower level character will gain from 14% to 101%.
If the DM wants to simulate this (and it is recommended you do so, unless you want people who are raised from the dead to permanently fall behind), hand out extra XP to those who are lower level than the highest member of the party. The recommended amount is an extra third (33%) per level.
Class Notes
The following are notes on classes whose class abilities may not be as straight forward as others
Bard: I doubt most people would call the bard a powerful class, but because they have full caster level progression and full spells per day advancement, plus a medium BAB advancement and a number of class abilities, they end up getting fairly few action points. DM’s might want to consider finding a way to give them more, like a bonus number of action points per level or something.
Cleric: Advancing a level in turning power is considered a class ability, meaning clerics need to buy a class ability advancement every level. This makes clerics the most “expensive” class in the system, in that they need to spend more on advancements and less on action points than any other class.
Druid: Improvements to the druid’s animal companion are a class ability, but because the improvements fall on levels when they gain other class abilities, no separate tracking is required.
Paladin: A paladin doesn’t have to buy an advancement for caster level until 4th, and his first advancement is for a caster level of 2 (one-half his level). He only buys an advancement for caster level every other level thereafter. A paladin does have to buy an advancement for Spells Per Day when the only new spell slot is a zero (cannot use it unless he has a bonus spell from Wisdom), even if he cannot take advantage of it. Advancing a level in turning power is considered a class ability.
Ranger: A ranger doesn’t have to buy an advancement for caster level until 4th, and his first advancement is for a caster level of 2 (one-half his level). He only buys an advancement for caster level every other level thereafter. A ranger does have to buy an advance for Spells Per Day when the only new spell slot is a zero (cannot use it unless he has a bonus spell from Wisdom), even if he cannot take advantage of it.
At 4th level a ranger gets the class ability animal companion. Improvements to the ranger’s animal companion are a class ability. It improves at 6th level, but they already have a class ability at this level, so no separate cost is required. It improves again at 12th and 18th level, which does cost a class ability advancement. They pay this whether or not they call an animal companion.
Sorcerer: Improvements to the sorcerer’s familiar are a class ability, which means they need to purchase a class ability advancement for it at every odd level. They must do this even if they do not summon one. As an option, a DM may allow a sorcerer to remove familiar as a class feature entirely, giving the sorcerer one more action point per level that they can buy at odd levels.
Wizard: Improvements to the wizard’s familiar are a class ability, which means they need to purchase a class ability advancement for it at every odd level. They must do this even if they do not summon one. As an option, a DM may allow a wizard to remove familiar as a class feature entirely, giving the wizard one more action point per level that they can buy at odd levels.
Options
Delayed Class Choice
Using the Incremental Level system, it is possible in some cases to delay access to a prestige class, because you have to choose your class before you gain a level-based feat.
For example, a player wants to enter a prestige class that requires a given feat. He can first gain this feat at 6th level. In the normal D&D rules, he can take the feat as his level-based feat that everyone gets at 6th level, and then qualify for the class. Using the Incremental Level rules, he couldn’t do this, since he has to choose a target class when he advances a level; he doesn’t have the feat yet, so he can’t choose that class.
As an option the Dungeon Master can allow players to choose their next target class after they have bought level-based advancements.
Level Loss
What happens if a character loses a level through either being raised from the dead or permanent level drain? When one loses a level in D&D, they are dropped to the mid-point of XP of the previous level. There are several of ways to handle this, which is why it is in the Options section.
Option 1
All current advancements are rescinded, and then five more from the previous level, dropping them to effectively the half way point of their new level. If they do not have enough action points, because they were spent, then either ignore it, or they now have an action point deficit to make up. This option is the closest representation of normal D&D level loss.
For example, Jarok the 7th level rogue dies in combat, and is raised from the dead. He had already bought 6 advancements towards 8th: ability score increase, skill points, hit die, class ability, saving throws and two action points. He loses all of these when raised. In addition, he loses five advancements from the previous level. He is now a 6th level rogue and must buy his advancements back as he continues his adventuring career.
Option 2
The character gains an advancement deficit, set by the Dungeon Master. A deficit of ten advancements might be a good starting point, as it puts the character exactly 1 level behind the rest of the group. When a character has a deficit, each advancement they buy decreases the deficit but grants them nothing.
Maximum Action Points
In order to encourage players to use the action points they buy, you can institute a maximum. 10 points is a good start, but DMs who really want the players to use action points to do exciting and interesting things might go as low as 4 or 5 points.
More Action Points
If you use the Incremental Levels rules to greatly extend the time between each level, you may find that characters run out of action points more quickly than you and they would like. Characters will hoard them primarily for resisting powerful spells or for critical attacks, rather than to do interesting things. If you want to make action points a larger part of the game, hand out more than 1 action point per advance, perhaps 2 action points per advance if you go five sessions per level, and as much as 3 action points per advance if you go ten sessions per level.
Action Points & Balance
The incremental level system adds some small measure of power to characters, mostly in the form of action points. But, there is more to it than that. It adds a different amount of power to different classes. On the average, buying advancements over 19 levels, a fighter buys 4.8 advancements per level for things other than action points, which means he gains an average of 5.2 action points per level. A cleric, though, buys 7 advancements on the average, and thus gains only 3 action points per level.
If you like the Incremental Level system, but otherwise believe classes are already balanced, and some classes getting more action points than others is unfair, then you will need to find a way to fix this. Personally, after doing all the math, I find that in most cases the number of action points you get for a given class is inversely proportional to the inherent power of the class, and so I see action points as a minor balancing measure. The one notable exception to this is the bard, as mentioned below under Class Notes. Rogues stand out as being somewhat “cheap” but I am not inclined to take away from a class for such a thing.
Character Points
For Dungeon Masters and groups looking to abstract things more, to reduce the amount of math required for most characters, there is the option of using character points. Instead of handing out XP, the DM hands out character points. Each advancement costs 1 character point, and once you have spent 10 character points, you go up a level. The DM decides how many character points to hand out each session based on how quickly he wants the party to advance, much like Option 2 for handing out XP. If the DM wants characters to advance one level per five sessions, for example, he can hand out two character points per session.
Characters can trade in 1 character point for a number of XP equal to [current level x 100]. These XP can be used for creating magic items or casting spells.
The benefit of this option is that it is simpler, and requires less math. Plus, some Dungeon Masters may feel that having to buy XP for magic item creation in chunks is a benefit, since it will make players think hard before making magic items or casting more powerful spells. The downside of this option is that it prevents the DM from using the built-in system of XP awards while still allowing for gradual advancement. Plus, with direct XP awards there is no middle ground when using XP for magic item creation or spells.
