D&D General New Critical Role Method for Leveling

[Charlaquin]

Polygon is really positive on this and other house rules Brendan made. But it feels like the writer is either a fanboy or has no experience outside 5e. For example, some of the stuff they are praising as new and exciting in the linked house rules article existed in 13th Age before 5e was published -- it's not groundbreaking and new.

Same for the main article. They talk about leveling up when the players want, but that's doesn't seem to be true, since they talk about rolling their HPs and listing what options they want. So they've picked their class, rolled their HP, presumably gotten things like the proficiency, users per day, spell slots, it's just that they haven't finished choosing what options they want at that level.

If they really haven't levelled up, they'd be able to do things like multiclass mid combat when they choose to level up.

That's still exciting, but it's not what is listed on the tin at all. I like BLM doing that, but I dislike how Polygon is covering this -- either their writer lacks the basics of what they are covering or they lack integrity to try to get a better tagline.

During the leveling up episode, Brennan confirmed with each player what class they were leveling up in. Presumably if any of them had been intending to multiclass, they’d have been able to let Brennan know then too. It also wasn’t a level where any proficiency bonuses increased. We do know though that they only rolled HP but didn’t gain them yet, and that limited-use class features didn’t increase yet, since the main reason Sam decided to level up in the next session was that he needed another sorcery point to use Heightened Spell.

 

[Dire Bare]

I think what sets the method Brenan is using apart is the fact that he’s leaving it up to each individual player to decide when they want to level up. So, some of them might decide to do it during a long rest, while others have already decided to do it in the middle of the action. And there will be at least some amount of time where the party’s levels are uneven, because some of them have taken the level and others are still waiting for the right moment.

That, and the DMG standard "immediate" level up isn't going to be in the middle of combat or a dramatic moment, it will be afterwards when you've earned a bit more XP from the encounter. Also, instead of the leveling up after the next long rest . . . a player could plan out something more narratively driven. Maybe something like, "When we get back to town, I'm going to spend the evening with my wizard mentor poring over her spellbooks . . ." That could be several long rests away!

Mulligan's leveling up house rules are most definitely a hack of the standard rules . . . a small tweak with big narrative impact. I like it!

 

[Distracted DM]

Polygon is really positive on this and other house rules Brendan made. But it feels like the writer is either a fanboy or has no experience outside 5e. For example, some of the stuff they are praising as new and exciting in the linked house rules article existed in 13th Age before 5e was published -- it's not groundbreaking and new.

Same for the main article. They talk about leveling up when the players want, but that's doesn't seem to be true, since they talk about rolling their HPs and listing what options they want. So they've picked their class, rolled their HP, presumably gotten things like the proficiency, users per day, spell slots, it's just that they haven't finished choosing what options they want at that level.

If they really haven't levelled up, they'd be able to do things like multiclass mid combat when they choose to level up.

That's still exciting, but it's not what is listed on the tin at all. I like BLM doing that, but I dislike how Polygon is covering this -- either their writer lacks the basics of what they are covering or they lack integrity to try to get a better tagline.

I had thought of 13A at first as well, I adapted their incremental advances into my 5e games so PCs can get things from the next level mid-session, but they aren't tied to story beats and/or pre-made decisions like these rules, so this is different from 13A in that aspect.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Polygon is really positive on this and other house rules Brendan made. But it feels like the writer is either a fanboy or has no experience outside 5e. For example, some of the stuff they are praising as new and exciting in the linked house rules article existed in 13th Age before 5e was published -- it's not groundbreaking and new.

The Polygon writer strikes me as someone whose primary experience of D&D is watching Critical Role and certainly not engaging with any content that's not from WotC or Darrington Press.

 

[GMMichael]

However, instead of picking exactly what they wanted and leveling up immediately, Mulligan decided to shake up the level-up process by allowing each player to choose when they would level up in future episodes, in a narratively satisfying moment for their characters to acquire more power and health, including in the middle of combat. As Mulligan explains to the table, "You have earned your level-up, it's just you taking a narratively satisfying moment to do it."

In a profit-oriented D&D production, this is a lovely idea.

In your home game with Steve doing every munchkin thing possible, it amounts to right now being the most narratively satisfying moment to do it. And I'm not sure I'd want to tell the players they can level up whenever they want, because that might just stretch the level-up process out way longer than it needs to be. Really, "level up right now, and introduce your new powers whenever you want" seems much more practical.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

This sounds like a cool method for leveling in a performance game, but I think 95% of real players are going to decide that the appropriate narrative moment to level up is immediately, during breakfast.

(The remaining 5% will forget that they are eligible to level up until the other players remind them sufficiently many times)