D&D 5E What homebrew rules are you using for level advancement?

[Hrothgar Rannúlfr]

My "homebrewed" rules for level advancement are "borrowed" from the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.* It just takes their 10 level XP chart and extrapolates it up through 20th level.

Each encounter (or other experience point worthy objective or experience) is worth from zero to 4 experience points per party member. Zero means that the party didn't have any trouble (probably taking little if any damage) and 4 means that the encounter was deadly and at least one party member died and/or the party had to retreat or use out of the box tactics to survive. Two is the average encounter's experience point value.

50 XP are required to advance to 2nd level; 110 for third; 190 for 4th; 290 for 5th; all the way to 4,190 for 20th.

Characters must complete a long rest after earning the requisite XP in order to level up.

They can earn XP through training at about the rate of 1 or 2 XP per year of training, but it's more efficient to level up through adventuring (and less expensive).

Multi-classed characters keep track of XP earned by class, divided as the player sees fit. So, theoretically a 20th level Wizard, 20th level Cleric is possible, but if a player can successfully keep a character alive (or keep bringing them back from the dead) long enough to earn 8,380 XP, they deserve it. Multi-classed characters use the proficiency bonus of their highest levelled class and if there's ever a question as to what abilities stack, assume that most don't. Multi-classed characters will fall behind single-classed characters; it's to be expected when one diversifies, rather than specializes. Multi-classing is something that favors the longer-lived races, as they have more time to develop a variety of talents. Also, I don't worry about ability score pre-requisites for multi-classing... If the character doesn't have the requisite scores, it probably won't work out, anyway. And, if it does (through skillful play), the story will likely be worth it.

Overall, because I use monsters from a variety of editions, homebrewed to my heavily houseruled version of 5E, this XP system works well for me because it's fairly simple. I'm not so much interested in the CR of a specific monster, but the feel of the encounter as a whole.


* Why doesn't our group use the DCC RPG for our main game? In our experience, it was extremely deadly. Last summer, we ran a few hundred zero-level characters through an attempted escape from a prison at the bottom of a dungeon, where escape attempts were permitted, but the consequences were on you (and most of the prisoners were too timid to attempt an escape through such a death trap). We used Gygax's random dungeon from AD&D's DMG... While fun and probably too deadly of an adventure set up for zero-level characters, after having stacks of characters die, we decided to return to our 5E-ified version of AD&D, converting the actual AD&D classes to 5E-ish semblances of themselves and realized that we could do the same with lots of 3X/PF classes, too. So, the game is a mashup of our favorite player options from all editions. Sure, some things are stronger than others, but the DCC RPG XP system helps to balance it all out.

 

[Soul Stigma]

I use milestones. You have to have players that trust you on that, since XP goes out the window. But it can really make sense in a story context, slowing down or speeding up certain levels as pacing for the tale.


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[hastur_nz]

It's a story thing, like shopping; not something to spend lots of time on around the table when (most?) people would rather be playing the game.

So if your story wants to take a long time, so it feels more natural or whatever, sure, make sure the plots are slower, and just say "after a few weeks, you're all newly trained, researched etc, and you are all up a level".

Personally I don't use XP any more, although I can certainly see it's a useful carrot for some players. As a DM, as well as a player, I prefer a very simple rule: on average, a PC gains a level every month (of real-world time), except 1st and maybe even 2nd level, for which a session or so is probably enough. We only play once every fortnight, so that's +1 level per 2 sessions, on average. Is it realistic? I'm not worried - it's what's allows us to have fun playing a campaign for around 6-24 months, seeing characters level up at a reasonable pace.

 

[MNblockhead]

When I was setting up my current campaign a couple years ago I used the rules below. My game meets once per months for an eight-hour session. After the first session, however, I went to a pure milestone approach. Now we are at the point where every session we play at a different level. I try to write my adventures so that they can be completed in the session.

If I were to go back to an XP-based approach, I would probably go back to something similar to the guidelines below, but I really detest XP book-keeping.

HOW EXPERIENCE IS REWARDED

1. Combat/Encounter Based.

This is the XP values of the creatures defeated (not necessarily killed). If a particularly clever use of diplomacy, subterfuge, or other non-lethal method results in "defeating" or avoiding opponents in an encounter, I will award XP based upon the challenge involved. If, compared to a head-on fight, the non-violent or non-combat-victory solutions was very easy, you'll be awarded no, or only a token amount of XP. An example would be that the village asks you to defeat the orgre terrorizing them and you say "no thanks" and head on your merry way leaving them to deal with the problem themselves. You won't get XP for that. If you successfully convince another hero to go in your stead, maybe I'll throw 5% of the challenge your way. See table below:

Alternative is...
XP%
Example

Very Easy
0-5%
You ignore the problem. Do nothing (5% if you arrange for someone else to take care if the issue)

Easy
25%
You sneak past, arrange a distraction

Medium
50%
Political or diplomatic solution. Bold intimidation pays off.

Hard
75%
Elaborate trap or distraction, dangerous and difficult stealth

Very Hard
100%
Exceptionally dangerous ruse. Trap that involves using a character as bait with a chance of great harm or death to that character

Nearly Impossible
150-200%
You convince the chromatic dragon to give its horde to charity and devote its life to protecting the weak.


For certain non-combat encounters like traps and mazes, a Challenge Rating is assigned and XP awarded based on DM's Guide parameters.

General negotiations, investigatory and exploratory activities, however, are covered by milestone awards (see below).

2. Milestone Awards

Rather than come up with a challenge rating for every non-combat encounter, I set milestones. So, for example, rather than award any XP for your various farmstead investigations, after you "crack the case" and/or find a solution to the problem, you'll be awarded XP for successfully completing the mission... even if you had never engaged in any combat.

3. Story Awards

Because we meet infrequently, I may provide experience or level ups to advance the campaign. For example, I allowed some players to roll-up and begin with level 2 characters. If a player misses a couple sessions and rejoins later, I may work with that player on what their character was doing in the mean time and bring the character up to a level where the player can meaningfully participate in the game. ​

 

[MNblockhead]

To elaborate on my current pure session-level approach:

Every session has a level, so a campaign would have 20 sessions. A session is eight hours. Take away lunch and time wasted at the beginning of the sessions as folks settle in—but also accounting for going over time, we a probably looking at six to seven hours of solid game time per session.

You level up your character to match the session.

If you start at session 1, but miss session 2, you still play session 3 at level 3.

This works well for my group. We meet monthly and we all have demanding jobs and family lives. Nobody needs to feel guilty about missing a session. You actually get to play all tiers of play and (if you don't miss a session) all levels in a under two years (we meet monthly).

Some lessons learned on the session-level approach:

1. This approach works best when you are creating your own adventures for the party or modifying more old-school one-shot modules.
2. Spend time communicating with players between sessions to make sure that they are leveled up and understand their characters new abilities before a session. Since you only play a level per session, it is harder to become familiar with new abilities.
3. Often a sessions does not pick up chronologically from where the last left off. Have the players go around and say what their characters have been up to since the party was last together. Some of my players like to go over downtime activities and have side quests between the main sessions. I do most of that by e-mail with the occasional extra in-person solo/small party game thrown in. But you only level up for the main session.

 

[Ketser]

I usually demand several days of downtime for characters to train, study, meditate on their experiences or experiment with their powers. The only thing they get automatically are hit points and probably proficiency bonus (thinking about it). his allows to avoid mid dungeon leveling weirdness, but also allows players to describe how they unlock their new skills/spells/feats/class features. While the hit point and prof bonus increase still allow to gain some immediate benefit.

As a side benefit, it can allow lower xp characters to catch up with others and also avoid major power boosts mid dungeon/adventure.