Training Costs to Level Up

[LostSoul]

Here is the first draft of the rules to level up.

Note that it's only for Heroic Tier, and that there will be other things that you can do each week if you don't have enough XP to make you eligible for a new level.

I'm not sure the GP values balance out between classes.

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CYCLES OF PLAY
Heartbeat
Time: 6 seconds or less
Requires Safety: No
You struggle in combat, deal with traps, or engage in social conflict.
-HP, -Encounter Spells and Prayers, -Daily Powers

Dungeoneering
Time: 5 minutes
Requires Safety: No
You take a breath, bind wounds, meditate on spells and prayers, search a room, loot the dead, or travel a short distance.
+Wandering Monsters (dungeon only), +HP, +GP, +Encounter Spells and Prayers, -Healing Surges

Overland Travel
Time: 4 hours
Requires Safety: No
You travel across the wilderness, explore hexes, or otherwise deal with the wilderness.
+Wandering Monsters

Rest
Time: 6-8 hours
Requires Safety: Yes
You rest in a town, carouse, meditate on spells, perform Liturgies or Rites, and sleep.
+XP, +1 Healing Surge, +Daily Exploits, Spells, and Prayers

CHARACTER GROWTH
Time: 1 week
Requires Safety: Yes
You spend a week applying your experiences to hone your skills, develop and research new ones, create magic items, create masterwork items, or practice.

Training
When you have gained enough experience points to reach a new level, you are eligible to advance in level. Acquiring a new level requires a great deal of focus, which is sped up by training with NPCs (fellow PCs are too familiar with you to be able to point out flaws in your techniques).

The type of training you require depends on your class, level, and method of training.

MARTIAL TRAINING
In order to aquire a new level, martial characters must put into practice what they've learned over the course of their adventures. Exploits must be tested; flaws and advantages must be discovered before they are ready to be put on the line in life-and-death struggle.

Martial characters learn best when challenged by another character. This character is referred to as a Tutor. The level of the Tutor in comparison to your own determines how much time and gold you must spend training.

Sidebar: Tier Bands
Levels are broken down into three Tiers: Heroic (1-10), Paragon (11-20), and Epic (21-30). These Tiers can be broken down into "Bands":

• 1-3: Apprentice. Your average joe falls into this Band.
• 4-6: Journeyman. Characters in this Band are highly-skilled experts in their fields.
• 7-9: Master. These characters are among the elite in the world, true masters of their craft.
• 10: Grandmaster. This Band represents the pinnacle of human ability, before characters cross the threshold into Paragon Tier and become slightly more-than-human.

• If the Tutor's level puts him in or above your tier Band, you can gain a level after one full week of training, spending 16 hours a day on the practice field. This training time cannot be broken up; if the character is unable or unwilling to spend this much time, all progress is lost and training must start again from the start. The Tutor requires one random monetary treasure parcel (RMTP) based on the Tutor's tier Band.
• If the Tutor's level puts him one tier Band below yours, you can gain a level after two full weeks of training, spending time as indicated above. The Tutor requires two RMTPs based on the Tutor's tier Band.
• If the Tutor's level puts him two or more tier Bands below yours, you can gain a level after a month training. The Tutor requires four RMTPs based on the Tutor's tier Band.
• If you decide to self-train on your own or with other PCs, you can gain a level after six weeks of training. This requires 420 GP.

Table 1: RMTP GP Value By Tier Band
			Number of RMTPs
Tier Band	1	2	4	6
Apprentice	70	140	280	420
Journeyman	175	350	700	--
Master		500	1000	--	--
Grandmaster	1100	--	--	--

DM's Notes
The intent here is to get the PCs to spend money on a settlement, tying the adventuring cycle into a larger area of play. As PCs adventure, they recover gold, which is spent in town; money spent in town changes the town by raising its level.

Players have to decide if they want to spend money or time when choosing Tutors. In addition, higher-level Tutors tend to have agendas and goals of their own which may not always mesh well with the PC's Goals. Another choice must be made - to feed the coffers of a potential rival or take extra time training.​

DIVINE TRAINING
In order to acquire a new level, Divine characters must meditate on their experiences adventuring and how these experiences mesh with the philosophy or worldview that gives them the ability to cast Prayers. Any conflicts between the character's worldview and the character's experiences must be worked out before the benefits of a new level are acquired.

Meditation requires one full week, where the character spends 16 hours a day under the influence of mind-altering drugs. Meditation cannot be broken up into smaller chunks; if the full time is not taken, the character loses all progress and must begin again from the start.

Sanctified Incense is required to place the character in the right frame of mind for meditation. The value of Sanctified Incense required is equal to one RMTP of the character's level.

Broken Oaths: Divine characters who are carrying penalties for breaking their Oaths must complete an Act of Contrition (see Rituals) before they can acquire a new level.

Divine characters don't need tutors, never need to take longer than a single week, but they must buy Sanctified Incense, must spend more GP, and have to complete the Act of Contrition ritual. It may not be balanced. Playtesting will have to reveal that.

I might add something to reinforce the colour of the character's faith - requiring/giving bonuses for meditating in an environment that reinforces the faith. Melora would require the wilderness or sea, Kord would require a storm, etc.​

WIZARD TRAINING
In order to acquire a new level, wizards must experiment with the spells they have uncovered in their grimoires. Recall that wizards do not gain access to new spells except through research or "acquisition" (ie. looting the bodies of dead spellcasters). Wizards must spend time mastering the spells they have discovered before they can be cast.

Wizards require one full week of experiment, taking 16 hours a day. The cost of arcane experiments require Arcane Reagents equal to a RMTP of the wizard's level. As with other characters, this time cannot be broken down into chunks; if interrupted, all progress is lost.

The second-easiest way to train up (wait for Warlocks). The balancing factor is that wizards don't actually gain spells when they level up; they need to have them in their spellbooks.​

WARLOCKS
Warlocks do not need to train in order to acquire a new level. The powers a warlock commands are not his own; they come from the warlock's Patron. What each individual warlock must do in order to acquire a new level depends on the specifics of the warlock's Pact.

When the Pact is forged, the warlock commits to a specific Obligation. Fulfilling this Obligation is all that is necessary to acquire a new level. However, when the Warlock moves from one Tier Band to the next (ie. levels 4, 7, and 10), the Patron will require something extra. This should be determined when the Pact is forged between warlock and Patron.

Warlocks are cool.​

 

[Saeviomagy]

There's obviously a lot of information about the campaign that's not presented here. It's hard to make a judgement or comments without it.

My own personal view is that forcing downtime where you can't do anything except say "I train" over and over again is not a net positive for the playing experience. Neither is holding people back from gaining the benefits of a level up until they complete what seems to be a pretty arbitrary task.

Additionally, what you've done here is potentially tell some players "I'm sorry, but you don't get to play for the next few weeks while you level up. The warlock meantime will spend all those sessions performing an interesting plotline for his patron. Sucks to be you."

 

[LostSoul]

Yeah, there's missing information there. Probably the biggest factor is that you wouldn't allow purchase of magic items as a general rule.

As far as having one PC sit out training while another adventures, there are a number of options:

• Research new Prayers/Exploits/Spells/Skills/Feats/Rituals. Especially useful for Wizards, since they don't gain new spells automatically. I limit character options to the PHB only, so this would allow you to gain access to the whole range of options. I also use a different skill system.
• Retrain the above. You don't have to wait for a new level to change character components.
• Create magic items.
• Create masterwork/mundane/technological items.
• Practice, gaining XP. I'm not sure how much XP it should be; I was thinking about a flat value - 100.
• Create a new PC (at level 1) and send him out on the adventure, or send a Henchman on the adventure, running him as your PC.

That's what I meant when I said:

You spend a week applying your experiences to hone your skills, develop and research new ones, create magic items, create masterwork items, or practice.


It isn't an arbitrary exercise - training - since the GP you spend in a town is going to change the town and your relationship to it. That's the next, higher-level cycle of play:

Reaction
Time: 1 month
Requires Safety: No
NPCs react to your actions, settlements grow, NPCs spend and acquire resources, and new threats come to life.

 

[Sully33]

So, my first question is this: is there a tangible benefit to the town "Gaining a level"? How does this affect the PCs?

If you assume a party of 5 PCs, even at the lowest cost, for them to go from level 1 to 2 you eat up half their monetary treasure parcels. Just to level up. Do you give out more gold per level than the recommended treasure parcels in the DMG?

Also, really, it makes no sense for someone to be trained by someone of a lower level than themselves, unless it's something specific, like a certain power they happen to know perfectly. No matter how much time a journeyman spends with an apprentice, it's the apprentice doing most of the learning. You don't gain a level unless you learn from either 1) someone who's better than you or b) your own damn mistakes. I make this statement as a union construction worker who is going through his apprenticeship. Sure, you can learn little things from someone of a lower level, and maybe a thing or two from the experiences they share with you, but you can't gain a level. Really what would happen under your system is that a foolish journeyman would pay an apprentice to be his student. An apprentice doesn't yet really know enough to "train" a journeyman.

I only bring this all up because a training system like this is generally introduced for the sake of verisimilitude, and in this case, makes no sense to me. Really, all training should be done by someone of a higher level. That's what guilds (UNIONS) are for.

Also, why mind-altering drugs for your clerics? Is this a part of your campaign setting? That seems more appropriate for primal power source characters like the druid or seeker.

I do like the idea of forcing down-time for training and other tasks, if for nothing else than to move the calendar along and change seasons.

 

[LostSoul]

So, my first question is this: is there a tangible benefit to the town "Gaining a level"? How does this affect the PCs?

One thing at a time, my friend! At this point I'm not sure. The ideas floating around in my head: specialists, troops, fortifications, greater population & industry. So you will (assuming the town is favourable to you) have wizards to craft magic items and cast rituals, assassins, sages, troops, master weaponsmiths, spies, scouts, etc.

If you have any ideas I'd be glad to hear them.

If you assume a party of 5 PCs, even at the lowest cost, for them to go from level 1 to 2 you eat up half their monetary treasure parcels. Just to level up. Do you give out more gold per level than the recommended treasure parcels in the DMG?

Maybe; it depends on what the PCs do and the challenges they face. Like I said above, there isn't that much to spend GP on if you take out magic items.

I only bring this all up because a training system like this is generally introduced for the sake of verisimilitude, and in this case, makes no sense to me. Really, all training should be done by someone of a higher level. That's what guilds (UNIONS) are for.

I think of it like sports - you can get better practising with weaker players, but it takes more time. I wouldn't mind requiring higher-level tutors, but that means one of two things: PCs are going to have to seek out these tutors (could be interesting, but possibly too restrictive), or I'm going to have to put a lot of high-level NPCs in the campaign world (which I'm not fond of doing).

Also, why mind-altering drugs for your clerics? Is this a part of your campaign setting? That seems more appropriate for primal power source characters like the druid or seeker.

It's a part of the campaign setting, yup. Divine characters don't actually get their prayers from the gods; the relationship is a little more complicated than that. Basically, it's faith + Supernal that powers the spells, and the drugs help get the characters into the right frame of mind.

Plus, swords & sorcery.