This system lets your whole party level up together by succeeding on escalating non-combat skill challenges.
Spell "LEVELUP"
Your party needs to earn all 7 letters (L-E-V-E-L-U-P) to gain a level. Each letter represents a major group achievement.
How to Earn a Letter (The Escalating Challenge)
* The Challenge: Your DM will present a significant, non-combat situation. This could be a tricky social interaction, a complex investigation, or a perilous exploration.
* Choose Your Skill & Player: The party decides which skill best applies to the current non-combat challenge. Crucially, only one player can make the skill check to earn a letter. Once a player has used a specific skill to earn a letter for the current "LEVELUP" sequence, no other player can use that same skill to earn a future letter for this level.
* Example: If your rogue uses Stealth to earn the "L," no other player can use Stealth to earn any of the remaining letters (E-V-E-L-U-P) for this level.
* The Difficulty Rises:
* For the first letter, your DM will set an initial Difficulty Class (DC) (e.g., DC 10 or 12).
* For every subsequent letter, the DC for the challenge must be higher than the one before it. Expect the DC to increase by +2 or +3 each time.
* Example: If the first letter was earned with a DC 10 check, the next letter will require a DC 12 check, then DC 14, and so on.
* Make the Roll: The chosen player makes the skill check. Other party members can help by describing how they assist, potentially giving advantage or a bonus to the roll.
* Success = Letter: If the check meets or beats the current, escalating DC, the whole party earns the next letter. Check it off your shared list!
* Failure = No Letter: If the check fails, no letter is earned. The story continues with the consequences of that failure, and the DC for the next attempt at a letter stays the same until a success is achieved. The chosen skill and player are not "used up" on a failed attempt; they can try again or the party can choose a different skill/player for the same letter.
Level Up!
Once the party has successfully earned all 7 letters for "LEVELUP," every character in the party advances to the next level! This is a moment for the whole group to celebrate their combined efforts and newfound power.
This mechanic is to bring players together and get away from the hack and/system that many are used to.
So, the final check is a DC 24 or higher? It could easily become mathematically impossible for a T1 character to get the last letter if skills they are proficient in have already been taken by other characters. And it kind of punishes classes with fewer skills, as they have fewer options to get a letter. Meanwhile bards, after they get jack of all trades, will be racking them up.
Besides that, DMs are, and always haven been, free to give out xp for non-combat encounters. Also, milestone leveling exists.
I do like your outside the box thinking, but the problem you are trying to solve has already been solved, imo.
It's understandable that hitting a 24 might seem hard for a brand new character. But keep in mind, this is a group game, not a solo leveling experience. Your party as a whole should aim for at least 7 distinct proficiencies. If you're all too similar, your DM will likely want to discuss this during session zero.
Even starting out at level 1, a character usually has at least 4 proficiencies. So, for a group of four, that opens up a range of 4 to 16 different proficiencies across the team. The chances of all four players having the exact same four skills are pretty slim!
Instead of rushing to hit a story beat or just hack and slashing through encounters, this approach really highlights the unique proficiencies your party offers. When you mention a bard snagging all the letters before anyone else got a try, that sounds like someone trying to hog the spotlight—we call that 'Batman-ing' in my group, where one person tries to do absolutely everything.
While I appreciate your comments, I respectfully disagree. This is merely an alternative leveling suggestion—one that involves less XP tracking—designed to better engage players with their diverse skills and prompt the DM to offer more creative skill-based challenges.
While I appreciate your comments, I respectfully disagree. This is merely an alternative leveling suggestion—one that involves less XP tracking—designed to better engage players with their diverse skills and prompt the DM to offer more creative skill-based challenges.
I think your argument has some flaws. You say you want less xp tracking, but the leveling system you have proposed actually requires MORE bookkeeping than just tracking your XP. You will have to track what skills have been used by whom, and the DM will have to work to create specific challenges that can be accomplished with the skills the party is good at. It sounds like it might work for a specific campaign, but as an overall leveling mechanic....I am unconvinced.
Milestone, which is already very popular, helps mitigate the bookkeeping and allows parties to avoid combat encounters altogether if they wish while still getting to level up at a reasonable pace. They go on an adventure to get the macguffin, and level once they get the item and get out. They can do that through stealth, trickery, or just plain wholesale slaughter of anyone that gets in their way. Either way, they level once they have the macguffin and are safely away, so the incentive to use their characters strengths outside of combat are right at the forefront.
"LEVELUP" Skill Challenge for D&D
This system lets your whole party level up together by succeeding on escalating non-combat skill challenges.
Spell "LEVELUP"
Your party needs to earn all 7 letters (L-E-V-E-L-U-P) to gain a level. Each letter represents a major group achievement.
How to Earn a Letter (The Escalating Challenge)
* The Challenge: Your DM will present a significant, non-combat situation. This could be a tricky social interaction, a complex investigation, or a perilous exploration.
* Choose Your Skill & Player: The party decides which skill best applies to the current non-combat challenge. Crucially, only one player can make the skill check to earn a letter. Once a player has used a specific skill to earn a letter for the current "LEVELUP" sequence, no other player can use that same skill to earn a future letter for this level.
* Example: If your rogue uses Stealth to earn the "L," no other player can use Stealth to earn any of the remaining letters (E-V-E-L-U-P) for this level.
* The Difficulty Rises:
* For the first letter, your DM will set an initial Difficulty Class (DC) (e.g., DC 10 or 12).
* For every subsequent letter, the DC for the challenge must be higher than the one before it. Expect the DC to increase by +2 or +3 each time.
* Example: If the first letter was earned with a DC 10 check, the next letter will require a DC 12 check, then DC 14, and so on.
* Make the Roll: The chosen player makes the skill check. Other party members can help by describing how they assist, potentially giving advantage or a bonus to the roll.
* Success = Letter: If the check meets or beats the current, escalating DC, the whole party earns the next letter. Check it off your shared list!
* Failure = No Letter: If the check fails, no letter is earned. The story continues with the consequences of that failure, and the DC for the next attempt at a letter stays the same until a success is achieved. The chosen skill and player are not "used up" on a failed attempt; they can try again or the party can choose a different skill/player for the same letter.
Level Up!
Once the party has successfully earned all 7 letters for "LEVELUP," every character in the party advances to the next level! This is a moment for the whole group to celebrate their combined efforts and newfound power.
This mechanic is to bring players together and get away from the hack and/system that many are used to.
So, the final check is a DC 24 or higher? It could easily become mathematically impossible for a T1 character to get the last letter if skills they are proficient in have already been taken by other characters. And it kind of punishes classes with fewer skills, as they have fewer options to get a letter. Meanwhile bards, after they get jack of all trades, will be racking them up.
Besides that, DMs are, and always haven been, free to give out xp for non-combat encounters. Also, milestone leveling exists.
I do like your outside the box thinking, but the problem you are trying to solve has already been solved, imo.
It's understandable that hitting a 24 might seem hard for a brand new character. But keep in mind, this is a group game, not a solo leveling experience. Your party as a whole should aim for at least 7 distinct proficiencies. If you're all too similar, your DM will likely want to discuss this during session zero.
Even starting out at level 1, a character usually has at least 4 proficiencies. So, for a group of four, that opens up a range of 4 to 16 different proficiencies across the team. The chances of all four players having the exact same four skills are pretty slim!
Instead of rushing to hit a story beat or just hack and slashing through encounters, this approach really highlights the unique proficiencies your party offers. When you mention a bard snagging all the letters before anyone else got a try, that sounds like someone trying to hog the spotlight—we call that 'Batman-ing' in my group, where one person tries to do absolutely everything.
While I appreciate your comments, I respectfully disagree. This is merely an alternative leveling suggestion—one that involves less XP tracking—designed to better engage players with their diverse skills and prompt the DM to offer more creative skill-based challenges.
I think your argument has some flaws. You say you want less xp tracking, but the leveling system you have proposed actually requires MORE bookkeeping than just tracking your XP. You will have to track what skills have been used by whom, and the DM will have to work to create specific challenges that can be accomplished with the skills the party is good at. It sounds like it might work for a specific campaign, but as an overall leveling mechanic....I am unconvinced.
Milestone, which is already very popular, helps mitigate the bookkeeping and allows parties to avoid combat encounters altogether if they wish while still getting to level up at a reasonable pace. They go on an adventure to get the macguffin, and level once they get the item and get out. They can do that through stealth, trickery, or just plain wholesale slaughter of anyone that gets in their way. Either way, they level once they have the macguffin and are safely away, so the incentive to use their characters strengths outside of combat are right at the forefront.