Levelling up

[TerraDave]

I require training. Mostly for pacing reasons (like that cat) and also to limit "free cash flow" a little bit.

I am also allowing additional training for additional XP: the idea is to allow faster leveling in real time while having it take longer in game time.

 

[Davelozzi]

I don't require training, but I make them wait until they have a safe time and place to rest.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I generally require training for the first level of every class that the character takes, with training assumed for level 1. A PC hoping to multiclass can begin training before they actually have enough XP to reach the next level, and they can train with the appropriate party member during downtime each day, which allows them to level up simultaneously with everyone else unless they are multiclassing into a class to which the party has no access in the middle of the wilderness. But at that point, it seems implausible for the barbarian gain wizardly knowledge out of the blue anyway. For PrCs, the character usually has to learn from an organisation or a previous member as well (although PCs with access to memory stones have been able to circumvent this when there was no NPC handy). If they want to advance in a class to which they already belong, I let them train themselves and assume that they do so during watch hours or other downtime, unless they specifically tell me "I choose not to train at all, so I'll have to spend some time to level up when everyone else already has their level." For obvious reasons, this doesn't really come up much.

 

[FireLance]

No training required, but for administrative convenience, levelling up is usually done between sessions, and at the conclusion of the adventure. It is a convention in my group that every adventure (which may stretch a few sessions) will provide enough XP for every character to level up.

Training as a concept works fine if you're running a game in which there is always someone more powerful/more experienced than the PCs. However, in a setting like Eberron, which is set up so that high-level PCs become the best at what they do, you get the annoying question of: who's going to train them?

 

[Ranger REG]

Depends on how you view training. For me, I don't level up characters in the middle of the adventure. They do that during their downtimes (period in-between adventures). After all, this is not a videogame, unless you're referring to Might & Magic (you need to go into town and find a specific trainer for your skills to improve or gain new traits).

The less I treat it like a videogame, the better.

 

[Jdvn1]

If you're getting Power Attack, you probably don't need to train. If you want to join the Order of the Arcane Mages, you might need some downtime to do that.

 

[Starglim]

Characters become more skilled in the abilities that they use, and in which they perform exceptional deeds. Mostly it's fine for a character to gain another level of a class that he already has, or another rank of a skill that he has, or a spell or new ability related to things that the character already knows or possesses.

I'd look for a stronger in-game reason to pick up an unrelated class, a new skill, or for a wizard to pick up a spell he "was researching over the last level" when he had no obvious resources or time to do research on such a spell. The most fitting and easiest explanation is for the character to get training.

 

[Staffan]

I answered "No, adventuring is how you get better at adventuring", but on second thought I would require training in some circumstances: certain prestige classes and feats would require access to someone to learn them from. Those are exceptions, and not the rule, though.

 

[Ranger REG]

I answered "No, adventuring is how you get better at adventuring", but on second thought I would require training in some circumstances: certain prestige classes and feats would require access to someone to learn them from. Those are exceptions, and not the rule, though.

What about new features, like a Paladin being able to cast divine spells at 4th level? Is that suddenly granted to him, or should he require some kind of training much like 1st-level clerics would go through? Or how about Ranger gaining a new Favored Enemy? Should I limit his choice to the monsters he's exposed prior to gaining this feature, or should I allow him to seek training from another ranger for a monster he never knew?

Hmm. Just adding to the discussion.

 

[ph34r]

In the games I play in (and the few I run) players can level when they get the XP. No need to train since that's what you've been doing since the previous level.