Opinions - You just gained 3 levels

[Aazenius]

Lets say that you are new to a world. You started at level 13. Everyone else has been there for since day 1. You've played 3 game sessions. In the third session, you get caught up in this massive war. Lets say that this war splits the group up, forcing everyone to have their own one on one game sessions until they are able to find the others.

However, the DM decides that the easiest way to get everyone back together is to pass the time. He assumes that 3 months go buy, and during these 3 months he assumes the characters gain enough experience to gain 3 levels. Suddenly your no longer level 14 (you leveled the second game session), now your level 17, and your back with the group.

How would you feel? Would this upset you? or excite you?

 

[Voadam]

It would bug me, nobody needs to advance in this situation. It can happen as downtime without skipping the fun of progressing through the levels and having the character develop due to ingame experiences.

 

[Orias]

In all actuallity, I love to play out as many levels of my characters as possible. Although I do like having characters sometimes seperate for an extended time off before they get back together to catch up on things & hit the road again, I think understanding where each one of your levels come from is important. Just being like "Oh, we are all in the war, & now we are together" would be boring. This is kind of both up to the characters & DM, but I wouldn't want to do it unless each character had some interesting set of situations that lead them to that strength.

 

[Darth Shoju]

I wouldn't be a big fan of it. I personally enjoy some of the lower levels of play (although high level can be fun too!), and I like to earn my levels. Gives me a sense of accomplishment and lets me get attached to the character. I once had a DM that in one session told us the entire campaign up until that point had been a dream and then handed us 4 levels. I didn't like that too much.

All just IMO, of course.

 

[Chingerspy]

I'm one of the people that like to feel what being each level is like. Playing from 1st through to 9th has been a journey and a half! It gives you a greater appreciation of what you have become. And along with it comes a proper playing experience.

Tell your DM quickly if this levelling up bothers you.

 

[Tabarnak Smokeblower]

Our DM has also told us that this was going to happen (for the second time in the campaign). The first time was when a big demonic catastrophy hit the known world, and a few years passed, while things started to return to normal, and during which we basically defended the little town in which we were staying against monster invasions. I didn't mind that time since we were low level and had not played high level games much.

When he gives us a few levels more soon, uh, I guess I won't mind too much, because my older character died, and I made a new one, so the character doesn't have a real "history" with me. Starting him up at level x or x+3 doesn't really matter. If I had my old character, I wouldn't be all for it. I'm sure the other players won't mind, since they'll be happy to play at even higher level than before.

TS

 

[Seonaid]

I would want the opportunity to actually have those one-on-one sessions, whether it be in person or over email, or something else. Depending on how boring (!?!) the war is, it could be one session, or many. I really enjoy being able to role-play every single level. It excites me to start at level 1 and work my way up.

 

[Umbran]

I'm not the greatest fan of such manuvers, but sometimes they can be used to good effect. If, for example, the character does dangerous work that is dramatically unintersting, then a fast forward may be in order. The question basically becomes one of story - is the overall story better if you skip over what happened in those three levels, or not?

Mind you, I'd find it hard to believe that 14th level chaaracter can gain three levels doing "dramatically uninteresting" things, YMMV.

 

[MarauderX]

Yeah, it would be a bit weird. I would want to play out the levels as it always fun, and you might want to ask your DM to tone down the next adventure (if he has one) to keep you all at 14th. That is, if the rest of the group wants to...

 

[DaveMage]

Lets say that you are new to a world. You started at level 13. Everyone else has been there for since day 1. You've played 3 game sessions. In the third session, you get caught up in this massive war. Lets say that this war splits the group up, forcing everyone to have their own one on one game sessions until they are able to find the others.

However, the DM decides that the easiest way to get everyone back together is to pass the time. He assumes that 3 months go buy, and during these 3 months he assumes the characters gain enough experience to gain 3 levels. Suddenly your no longer level 14 (you leveled the second game session), now your level 17, and your back with the group.

How would you feel? Would this upset you? or excite you?

It depends.

For the next campaign I'm playing in, we are starting at level 8. The DM is writing a backstory for the party (with help from the players) which will include what adventures they have been on, and what they have acquired (both materially and reputation-wise).

If the DM creates a similar story for a move from level 14 to 17, I might be fine with it, as long as it was plausible and I had input into it.

However, if there's no story, and no description of what happened during that time ("you fought in the war" is not sufficient), then I'd probably not like it. I mean, when you're 14th level, you have a pretty impressive arsenal at your disposal - why not play it?