I am glad I am finding someone that backs up my ideas on character advancement. We recently started playing D&D4, and I only DM’ed a 3.5 game like three times, and at first I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to go to Epic Tier, as it seemed so silly. I am getting back from that opinion slowly, and this article just inspired me immensely to incorporate some well thought out reason as to how characters can become THAT strong.

It also helps me to force just that tiny bit of extra roleplaying onto my players. One of them is a hardcore metagamer, one likes the story element but finds it difficult to incorporate it and steer away from metagaming. This way I can ease them into roleplaying by asking them how they would go about learning this or that skill or power. It could be part of their “experience” (what a good word for it) to explain to me how they would go about it. It could be those final 100 exp points they need to advance. If you can give them experience for succesfully solving a puzzle, then you could just as well give them experience for succesfully coming up with a solid reason as to how they go about learning a new skill.

So thanks!

I think it’s part of the level structure of D&D.

We’ve tried different options and ideas, but my current group has the most fun with rapid level gains, no training requirements, ding fries are done.

I compensate with the world reflecting this possibility. NPCs will shock players by being two levels higher since their last trade of insults yesterday, folks are constantly assessing each other before taking aggressive actions, and he who takes initiative will be rewarded (pun not intended, maybe).

@Matt
I never thought about the difference between the tiers. I agree that moving from heroic to paragon to epic should require significant down-time to explain the huge power shift. And you’re right that normally you’d expect that when this power shift occurs, the direction of the campaign is also likely to change as well.

@Groumy
I find it’s often difficult to put the campaign “on hold” while the PCs spend some down-time leveling up. At the same time I don’t like to hold back XP, keeping the PCs below where they know they should be for too long. It just makes them angry.

I would think that because everyone levels up simultaneously in 4e it would make in-game down-time easier. But I remember how quickly some classes advanced in previous editions (like the Rogue) and think that equalizing that aspect of the rules was a great improvement.

The “blame” for rapid advancement (if blame is the right word) seems to be with the DM. I know it is in my case. I tried to create an adventure the PCs would find compelling, but in doing so I put enormous pressure on them to act quickly. Because I didn’t build in many opportunities for down-time between levels, the problems I’m facing are essentially of my own making.

@Neuroglyph
I really like to idea of down-time, but I don’t think I’d enforce any mechanics that depleted the PCs of resources, even for day-to-day expenses. I’d just assume that they’d do some odd jobs during that time which would keep their finances about the same. Of course, if they wanted to spend money I wouldn’t object, especially if it provided good role-playing opportunities or developed an interesting back-story.

I’m not opposed to the PCs becoming powerful while their young, but I have issues when it happens with every PC in every campaign. Once and a while, sure, but not all the time.

@btorgin
The only time my group ever seems to get down-time is when they travel. We play in Eberron so travel is a big part of the adventure. Initially travelling took weeks, but as the PCs got rich and famous (or more accurately infamous) they could afford to take the lightning rail and elemental ships which reduced travel time from weeks to days.

I have taken advantage of the PCs being away from home and the longer they’re on the road adventuring the more their enemies plan and scheme back home, much like you’ve described.

@Ashenblade
Whenever PCs gain new abilities, feats or powers I ask them to explain how and why they got them. I like your suggestion to incorporate some training into the preceding level. If you’re going to take a weapon proficiency next level then I want to see you practice and train with it before you take the feat. I don’t always do this, but it does add something to the game when it’s taken into considerations. Great suggestion.

@yongkyosunim
For adventures like the RPGA sanctioned LFR games it’s a lot easier to incorporate down-time. I agree that if you’re adventures are self-contained then everyone should realize that there was some down-time between games. For home games DMs need to work harder to build chapter breaks.

In a previous campaign we had an Artificer in the party and he was always making new magic items. Knowing he required time to do this the party was a lot more aware of down-time in the campaign and often they decided to rest at times I wasn’t expecting. In the current campaign the PCs are social chameleons and like to use Streetwise to keep in touch with their contacts whenever the campaign takes them to the city. They often take a break in-game to account for this. I in turn reward this by giving them access to information they wouldn’t otherwise get, even with an awesome Streetwise roll.

@Liam Gallagher
Thanks for the praise and the great feedback. Your questions raise a good point that I hadn’t considered. Are some levels more difficult to attaint than others? If you’re going to gain a daily power when you level does that require more work than a level where all you’re going to get is a feat? I’ve never encountered a player who didn’t want to level immediately, but holding back for role-playing purposes is a great aspect to explore. It’s comments like this that make you such a great DM. (Note: Liam is the DM for one of my home campaigns and was my DM for weeks 1-3 of D&D Encounters).

As a DM I don’t let the party advance a level until they do arrive at some down time. While I think the weeks of dedicated study called for in the first addition rules is a bit heavy for learning your new fighter power where you mash your shield into someone’s face, it makes sense for someone who gains the linguist feat. Learning three languages would take years of dedicated study for most; growing up I had a friend who could speak 12 languages, but it still took her 6 months to learn Greek.

My rule is that players have to come up with a reasonable explanation for why it is that their character can do this new thing. If they can’t come up with a good explanation they don’t get to use it. Perhaps one of the most important levels to consider in this manner are the levels that increase your base ability scores.

I have a few questions that might deserve consideration though.
Do some levels require more time than others? Is level 2 easier to get to from level 1 than level 17 is to get to from level 16? Considering that you’re a player who wants to be rewarded, at what point is it not ok to withhold levels from your players? Is there a situation where you would choose to not level with the rest of the party for story reasons?

There’s an advantage in gaming this way:

1. If you’re the type of DM who wants their players to be managing their character’s upkeep, having a set time for a module is an easy way. For example, if the standard upkeep is 40 gp per month (making this up), then the PC’s know to spend 80 gp at the end of the module (1 month for adventuring, and 1 month in between).
2. Also, it allows DM’s to arbitrarily set a specified time for player’s who have crafting characters. If a character wants to brew potions, make magic items, or forge armor, then can they do it in the time frame provided? Having a set time in between adventures also allows such characters to do this.
3. For characters who are not crafters, maybe they can ply their trade, seek training, or do other things. I have two players whose characters are professional jugglers and singers. In between adventures, they are performing. If they know that they get 15 days worth of performance checks, they I have them roll, tally up the silver and gold and they’ve earned their keep.
4. It makes tracking the campaign timeline a lot easier. Tracking by days can be a headache because the DM has to keep a handy calendar that shows all the days of the month and then pick when it is. When tracking adventures by weeks or months, then your increments are cut down to just 52 (for weeks if using standard calendar year) or 12 (for months using standard calendar year). If there are special festivals and religious holidays, you just include them at some in the adventure where it would overlap these days if it’s feasible.

Ultimately, it’s up to the DM’s judgement as to how long an adventure will last. I usually set any adventure that involves overland travel to last for a month and a break in between adventures to be 1 month as well. If the adventure is a city adventure and the PC’s encounters are going to be short and small, then the adventure will last 1 week with a similar break. In my current campaign, I had the adventures last as little as 1 week to 2 months (this adventure going from one end of the continent to the other).

Lately I’ve been trying to encourage my players to pick what skills and powers they will gain at their next level well in advance, so we can build their development into the game. You want to learn how to ride a horse? Great, then spent some time practicing that on your way to the next dungeon. Your warlock is learning a new power to conjure flaming acid to smite her enemies? Then perhaps you need to touch base with your demonic patron to get access to those new abilities. We don’t necessarily have to devote a ton of role-playing or in-game time to these actions, but as long as we know they’re happening, the characters’ advancement makes a little more sense, and I feel it adds a lot of depth to the characters as well.

One way of slowing down the game time is to have periods between adventures and not hook from one adventure to the next, if appropriate. You can say, six months have passed since you defeated so-and-so, but there is word a new evil is on the rise.

Also, travel time stretch out game time. “You spend four weeks traveling to the mysterious lair of the arch demon.” Or, “It takes several weeks of searching for the hidden tomb of the Dread King.” All these little things add up to periods of time passing in the adventure.

These also allow you to advance things at the home base or town while the heroes are away, a la 300 when the bad Senator is making a power play against the King.

I’ve debated about adding a downtime factor between levels to my 4E games, but I came to realize that this really would only have the effect of draining the party’s cash on inn and stabling bills and bar/restaurant tabs. I agree that it does seem odd to have young adventurers gaining immense power and achieving great things. But it happens all the time in fairy tales, and even in books like Eddings “The Belgariad”, where the scullery boy goes on an adventure at age 14, and by 16, he’s become a sorcerer, been made king, got engaged, and was out thrusting an artifact sword through a god’s chest. Not bad for 2 years of exp’ing.
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