Just need 20 more xp!

[Bullgrit]

I remember back in my early gaming days, (BD&D and AD&D1, in my case), the situation would arise occasionally where a PC would end a game session just a few xp short of a new level. The running joke in my group of friends, (and I read/heard references to it in other groups as well), was to find a giant rat to kill to level up.

This has not been an issue in recent memory, but I don't know if it's because of the games, my experienced GM style, or just blind luck of the numbers.

I'm wondering if this phenomenon was a common thing among other groups back in the day, and if it is still a thing for some these days?

Bullgrit

 

[Cor Azer]

Very common in my groups, but I chalk it up to lack of planning - our long ago games were very much a tour de force of the Monster Manual.

Once we switched to actually (sort of) planning proper adventures, such things happened less frequently.

 

[amerigoV]

Happens all the time, as illustrated by this:

Knights Of The Dinner Table: Episode 7 - YouTube


The best XP when you are that close to leveling up is a knife in a fellow PC's back

 

[Joshua Randall]

Still quite common with my groups. Our standing joke is "find some orc(s) to kill", rather than giant rat(s), though.

Sometimes the DM (including me) will let the PC "borrow" enough XP to level up if he's really close. Basically this just means -- go ahead and level up.

 

[Dioltach]

It happened a lot in my 2E campaigns. The 10% bonus XP rule led to lots of very unround numbers.

Of course in 2E it doesn't take long before you're complaining about being 20,000 XP shy of levelling ...

 

[Wycen]

It happened a few sessions ago in our Carrion Crown game. The cleric needed 150 xp to level up. He ended up getting it for a "talk to the hand" moment with another player. And it happened in our sandbox game as well, though it was more like 200. I'm not sure this is exactly the same as the good old days when you'd need just 1 or 10 more, but it's close.

I think Dioltach brings up a good point. XP numbers seem to be much more rounded than I remember in 1E, so it seems we are more likely to be off by 100 xp, in a d20 game, rather than like 17 or some such, though it certainly can happen.

Or, maybe we need more gaming groups with odd numbers of players to divide the XP by 3, 5, or 7.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Another reason why it doesn't come up much in more modern games is, I think, that it doesn't matter so much. If you played 1e by the RAW, if you were 20 XP away from leveling at the end of an adventure and started a new one, you lost ALL but those 20 XP until you got a chance to level. I don't know anyone who didn't hate that rule, and many groups dumped it right quick!

 

[Umbran]

In the SWSE game I play in right now, when informed that we are only a very short distance from leveling usually says, "Okay, so you gain the level."

Mind you, I feel leveling in this game is a bit too fast...

 

[Corathon]

Another reason why it doesn't come up much in more modern games is, I think, that it doesn't matter so much. If you played 1e by the RAW, if you were 20 XP away from leveling at the end of an adventure and started a new one, you lost ALL but those 20 XP until you got a chance to level. I don't know anyone who didn't hate that rule, and many groups dumped it right quick!

That isn't a 1e rule. You don't have to get exactly the amount that you need to break level, losing the rest.

Maybe you're thinking of one of these rules: A) If you get enough XP to break level, and don't train/level up, then you gain no further XP if you continue to adventure. or B) If you get so much XP that you'd break 2 levels, you lose the excess, leaving you 1 XP shy of breaking 2 levels.

To speak to the question in the OP: Yes, I've seen it happen, and "kill a giant rat" was a common (but not serious) suggestion.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

That isn't a 1e rule. You don't have to get exactly the amount that you need to break level, losing the rest.

Maybe you're thinking of one of these rules: A) If you get enough XP to break level, and don't train/level up, then you gain no further XP if you continue to adventure. or B) If you get so much XP that you'd break 2 levels, you lose the excess, leaving you 1 XP shy of breaking 2 levels.

To speak to the question in the OP: Yes, I've seen it happen, and "kill a giant rat" was a common (but not serious) suggestion.

You're right, I was thinking of A. Shoulda looked it up!