In 5E, my only house rule is that the PCs have to be in a relatively safe place to level up and they have to complete a long rest. They can do it in town, on a level of the dungeon that they might have cleared or even resting within the box at the top of the rope trick spell.
In 3.5E, I used to require that they seek out a master, and pay that master a fee, but only if they switched to a class or prestige class that they hadn't already gained a level in.
I view leveling up (which I agree with most people is best done as part of a long rest) as an RP opportunity. No, I don't suddenly 'poof' have new spells -- I've been practicing those spells all along, and this morning I've just really got my mojo working and got it right for the first time. (I often feel like I've 'leveled up' in real life -- when I perfect a recipe I've been working on for a while, or when I figure out something I didn't fully get before, but to be fair, I have been gaming for more than 30 years so it's sort of fully integrated into my personality at this point.)
I will usually have an idea ahead of time what options I plan to choose when I do level up (although it sometimes changes due to immediate campaign circumstances), and I think that's pretty realistic -- if your current activities call for a better understanding of something you don't already know, you're going to Google it, right? So, for example, when my current character, a tiefling warlock, hit 2nd level:
She got a third Level 1 spell. I chose 'Expeditious Retreat' not because I wanted to be able to run away from things, but because I thought it would be supercool to be able to combine it with acrobatics to move around very quickly in combat. That would be a spell I'd been studying for a while, and practicing on a regular basis. Hey presto, it worked this time!
She got a second Level 1 spell slot. Wow! I cast a new spell just now and I don't feel like I'm out of magic. I think I could do it again. My stamina is definitely improving!
She got two Eldritch Invocations.
Beguiling Influence gives me proficiency in Deception and Persuasion, which I RP as having learned (ostensibly through studying others, but her patron may have been influencing her behaviour subtly for reasons of his own) that sometimes you catch more flies with honey than you do with a long, sticky tonguevinegar.
Eldritch Sight lets me cast Detect Magic at will without expending a spell slot, which I RP as fooling around with an object I think is magical and sensing a faint trace of old, faded magic coming off it. To test myself, I go around casting Detect Magic on everything in sight, and end up getting caught at it by someone with whom the party is attempting to negotiate for a map. He makes fun of me for being obvious, and I mutter to another character that his magical staff is OBVIOUSLY overcompensation for SOMETHING.
This might not be the way someone else would RP these things (and your DM may not be in favour of your using Expeditious Retreat that way), but this is the beauty of 5e -- you can add whatever flavour you want to explain the mechanics. The mechanics are just a foundation.
I don't like breaking up the game session where everyone takes a half hour to fret about feats, new spell selection, etc., so I usually just announce that they've gotten sufficient XP to advance a level and tell them to have their new stuff ready to go at the start of the next session.
You dont need a trainer. Normally when I have played with other people we have gone by getting the level advantages either after the encounter (when XP is awarded), or at the next short / long rest.
The DM's guide has some suggestions on alternate level up options, so I would check that out.
Majority of DMs I've played with or spoken to only hand out XP at the end of the session, not as you defeat each encounter, trap, etc. I've also never seen anyone level up until a long rest situation (and normally need to be in a safe area, like a town).
Can they level up in the middle of a fight? Well sure, if you as the DM lets them. Would I as a DM allow this in my game? Absolutely not.
PS: Totally forgot about the older editions training requirements. Totally having that in my next campaign.
The only time I allowed a level-up in the middle of a fight was when my players encountered a chest in the abyss that contained trapped souls. The chest was designed such that if the chest opened, a light - the light of one of the trapped souls - would emit out of it. This had two effects. Number one, it was a weirdly shaped flashlight that could reveal the location of invisible creatures due to their interaction with the soul-light. Number two, the closest living creature to the box who had the light shine on them would effectively eat the soul, immediately healing to full and gaining some experience points as they absorbed the knowledge of the soul. They'd also have some personality changes associated with the soul that they ate, and a very minor benefit. The players weren't told the effects of eating a soul or how it would get resolved, and they took the chest with them and continued on, since they knew that souls in my campaign could be used to enchant magic items ala The Elder Scrolls.
So, one character tied the chest - which was not small - to his back and they continued to explore until they wound up in the boss fight of the area, fighting a dragon construct made out of blood. The blood-dragon was having a grand old time hurting things and turning people against one another with his breath attack and the character who had the chest attached to his back got knocked prone. I rolled to see what would happen and - lo and behold - the fall knocked the chest open, spilling its light onto the party's sorcerer. The sorcerer was immediately healed to full and rejuvenated, as if he had taken a long rest. At the same time, the amount of experience the soul gave him was enough to level him up. I ruled that due to the nature of the situation he leveled up immediately, which allowed him to access a new level of spells which he used to good effect in the rest of the fight.
Afterwards, a few other characters also chose to eat some souls, though of course doing so meant that they were damning the people whose souls they were eating to never be revived. It was meant to be a moral choice of a quick, short-term power-boost or actually working to return the innocent souls to their shells. My players mostly chose the short-term power boost and ignored the moral quandary.
They then proceeded to burn down the entire village after it was deposited back in the overworld. My party is not filled with the best people. At least they can say that the burning of the village - and the starting of the war that sparked - were mostly accidental, more occurring due to negligence than malice. Though the original fire they started that eventually spread to the rest of the village *was* entirely out of malice.
I am very much against “poof” you level up. I understand what folks are saying in regards to using skills and finally succeeding but there are some classes in which that makes no sense. Bards can at some point learn any spell from any class. How does that happen without some kind of guidance? If you’re in a dungeon earn some exp as a Wizard then decide instead of leveling up you multiclass into Monk when there is no Monk in the party - how does that happen?
It’s up to each DM to run their game their way but there should be some logic to it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
As a DM I give XP at the end of sessions, so my players can level up between them. That said, I never let them use nifty new tricks until after a long rest. Meaning that while they do get their extra health, maybe a stat increase or an extra spell slot, they can't use "new" features such as Uncanny Dodge, a combat maneuver or a spell of a level they could not use previously. I picture them using their time during any and all long rests for self-reflection, some training and coming up with ideas even though this may sometimes not be part of the active narration. However, things like health and saving throw bonuses are abstract so that's fine by me if that "just happens".
I typically have always done (even back in the AD&D days) that character level up at the end a long rest (in 5th ed terms). However if they learn any completely new class abilities (not spells or ability upgrades), feats or pick up a subclass they need do some training in a "safe" (typically a town or stronghold) place to do so. That said I also let characters take time to start training an ability/subclass before they would gain them from their level. Players generally do take the option to do training before hand, often adding it in as flavourful aspects of morning exercises or the like (after the initial teaching), while a few like the flexibility of holding of to a later point.
Thus they gain HP, new spells, ASI or ability upgrades (eg. more uses per day or an improvement) and the like after a long rest, including any pre-trained features or feats. While gaining anything else only after spending time training for it (holding off for a while to really decide on what they want to do).
Characters level up when they are awarded xp. However, it is up to the DM when to award xp and whether this is on the basis of encounters, play sessions, achieving some particular goal within the storyline or some other method is entirely up to the DM. Since the DM controls when xp is awarded, they also control when leveling up occurs.
So, there won't be any leveling up mid combat unless the DM wants to award xp like a video game. Also, unlike some video games, there is nothing in the rules about leveling up restoring your hit points. You'd probably add the new hit points for leveling up but that would be it. Hit points are only restored by healing spells, short rest hit die uses, some class abilities and they are fully restored after a long rest. Since most leveling up is often associated with the end of a session which also often coincides with a long rest ... it can feel like leveling up restores the hit points.
Finally, the game itself doesn't impose any requirements beyond the requisite xp. However, the DM may have their own rules for their own world which might add flavour or interest and make leveling up a little more involved than just achieving a certain level of xp. From a play perspective though, it is probably best not to make the leveling up process too onerous since the players might not find it that much fun.
The way our DM handles this is similar. Since we have a large party, we level up in between sessions. So we gather once a month, and the DM calculates our XP between each gathering. We then begin the next gathering by leveling our characters before continuing the game. This allows the game to go uninterrupted every few defeats.
Now with a smaller party, you could establish check points throughout your story (like the guards mentioned above) and alow time for leveling and such. This will allow the kids to level more frequently without mid battle boosts and such.
I play with milestone leveling but depending on when that milestone occurs I either let them level up straight away (most of my players have planned ahead for next level, or can do so on the fly) or occasionally at the end of the session (if it's a tier-defining level like 5th or 11th).
As for in-game time, I just assume that anything new the characters "suddenly learn" are things they actually practiced during the most recent downtime or earlier stages of the journey, but didn't have a chance to actually show off yet.
I'm putting this here because I have no idea where else it might go. I recently played a session on Sunday 12/2/2018 at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia where they were using D&D Beyond as the engine to make characters. Where would I put the XP and other things on here to level up my character?
I'm putting this here because I have no idea where else it might go. I recently played a session on Sunday 12/2/2018 at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia where they were using D&D Beyond as the engine to make characters. Where would I put the XP and other things on here to level up my character?
When you create the character on its home tab there’s a bunch of items to chose from. Sliders that allow you to include things like homebrew content, and dropdown boxes for things like advancement type. Everyone defaults as Milestone advancement, and in that system you just select the level of your class on the class creation/editing tab. But if you switch the home tab over to XP advancement, you have a new “manage xp” area of your character sheet that’s simple enough to navigate.
I'm putting this here because I have no idea where else it might go. I recently played a session on Sunday 12/2/2018 at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia where they were using D&D Beyond as the engine to make characters. Where would I put the XP and other things on here to level up my character?
When you create the character on its home tab there’s a bunch of items to chose from. Sliders that allow you to include things like homebrew content, and dropdown boxes for things like advancement type. Everyone defaults as Milestone advancement, and in that system you just select the level of your class on the class creation/editing tab. But if you switch the home tab over to XP advancement, you have a new “manage xp” area of your character sheet that’s simple enough to navigate.
Even if you use xp, you can still just select your character level. It then just automatically sets your xp at the minimum amount for that particular level. Then there's a slider at the top right of the sheet you can click on to add more xp as earned.
Consider this complex solution: A weapon causes a specific amount of damage. A mace for instance does 1d6+modifier. At first level that attack is significantly greater than it is at second level. Does that mean the mace got weaker? No. It means that the 2nd level character has developed enough skills to avoid such a massive attack. Given that, I normally allow a character the immediate benefit of level advancement given reason. For instance, A wizard does not learn that new spell instantly they need to prepare that spell and couldn't have prepared it up until that point. However, that same wizard has obviously gain enough knowledge to better avoid attack (then when they began the level that are leaving)... So let them roll thier next level hit point gain and add that roll to current hit point total... (Not gain a health boost to thier now new hit point maximum). Other abilities can be granted... Proficiency bonus or skills such as the Rogues cunning action that develops due to practice in combat.
This is all DM choice however... But remember the idea is that the characters are heroes in thier own story...but most importantly remember the most important rule... have fun.
I award exp at the end of each session, mostly for bookeeping purposes, and so I know how things are progressing. Every 3-5 sessions I expect they'll gain a level.
I feel like its something you should have to spend a little time on, but maybe not a lot. Its not about going and getting more training, per se, because adventuring is like on-the-job training. Much more valuable. However they do need to check in with a mentor of some kind to make sure that they are taking the right lessons from their experience.
I don't think that should take more than a day, but its definitely not "poof", or even just a short rest. The mentor should be significantly higher level, of a similar alignment, and of a similar class. An evil fighter can't mentor a good fighter. A rogue can't mentor a cleric.
I have a kind of cool situation right now. The party just made it to a particular tomb they've been trying to get into, fought some stuff, and now several of them have enough exp to level. In this tomb, there is the ghost of a high level paladin, who is friendly to them. They are going to have to rest for a bit here anyway, since one of their party lost over half his max hitpoints fighting a wraith. A high-level friendly ghost paladin seems like a pretty damn fine mentor for a lawful good cleric or any good-aligned fighter, and we have both of those in the party. The mage, rogue, and druid are out of luck, but I am going to let the fighter and the cleric level up by spending 8 hours discussing their advancement in their chosen path with this ghost.
We use milestones in my table top game because that's what the players prefer. But it's still a given that they are leveling up through their experiences in and out of combat, so they learn new things about themselves as they go. We do have characters find someone to teach them if they are multiclassing, whether that be a higher level (in that class) party member, or someone they hire to train them up.
I always do milestones at the end of a session, and I let them level up between that session and the next, but there are some things you just want to have downtime for and we do that too. It mainly just depends on how you want to do things at the end of the day. :)
When it comes to levelling, I have made some house rules to overcome the "poof" effect previously described while not breaking up the adventure severely.
As mentioned earlier in this discusstion, the variant rule provided in the Dungeon Master's Guide provides a good start.
[DMG p. 131] TRAINING TO GAIN LEVELS As a variant rule, you can require characters to spend downtime training or studying before they gain the benefits of a new level. If you choose this option, once a character has earned enough experience points to attain a new level, he or she must train for a number of days before gaining any class features associated with the new level. The training time required depends on the level to be gained, as shown on the Training to Gain Levels table. The training cost is for the total training time.
TRAINING TO GAIN LEVELS Level Attained Training Time Training Cost 2nd-4th 10 days 20 gp 5th-10th 20 days 40 gp 11th-16th 30 days 60 gp 17th-20th 40 days 80 gp
As a DM, I have always made major level gains require training and a cost. This requirement removes the "poof" effect where on instantly transforms. Based on the variant rule, class features would require training. Then, however, training at each level would break up a campaign quite considerably. As a compromise, I have picked what I think are major levels where requiring training would most likely be required, such as levels 3, 6, 9 and 12. Beyond 12, you pretty much are the trainer so a long rest may do. I base these levels on the tiers. [PHB p. 15] The Player's Handbook outlines tiers for levels of characters. Tier 1 includes levels 1-4, Tier 2 includes levels 5-10, Tier 3 includes levels 11-16, and Tier 4 includes levels 17-20. Each of these tiers has a growing level of achievement and independence.
Having said that, universal features for all classes could be increased automatically without training. These features would include increased ability scores, hit dice, hit points, spell slots, and proficiency bonuses. Class features such as new spells, new skills, new proficiencies, and feats would require training and associated costs.
The challenge for the GM then becomes to create opportunities within a campaign for training. A GM must ensure spells can be acquired through tomes or scrolls discovered. Mentors must present themselves. In fact, training can become an adventure sidequest. While training in the city, who knows what else might happen or what quests must be undertaken to acquire that feat or proficiency?
So, since there is very little written about how this goes, by the book. It comes down to a few things
a) How much time do you have to play? If you have a multiple times per week session, then your players (if they can choose quickly) should level up whenever the experience matches whats required on the leveling table. That's the bonus of questing and adventuring, you're gaining experience ON THE SPOT, and so.. when you reach a certain amount of experience, you level up. Fighting that goblin made your character realize this particular skill, xyz, would be a great thing to do in combat, so they start trying to use it.
a1) If you're players aren't quick at choosing how to level, then definitely save it for the end of the session when everyone isn't using their last hour of freetime this week to play dnd.
B) You level up by training- If your game is Rp heavy, and there isn't a pressing concern (rescue the dwarf now, or he'll die) Then make leveling up require some training time at a professional place. The game slows down, and it costs gold to level, but hey, who cares, you have time.
C) If you hate your players, use Milestones lol.. I'm kidding. But for me and my players, Milestones makes it so there is very little reason to do anything. Why fight that orc if getting to the finish line gives me the same amount of experience? Sometimes it really is just easier on the dm to do milestones, so totally do it if you are in a rush, and don't want to take the time to dole out EXP every battle.
The final answer here is... it's up to the DM. or why not have everyone vote? It's about everyone, including the Dm, having fun..
When I play, my DM likes to require training but half the time he gives it to us for free - sometimes holding back stuff (like spells or feats).
When I DM, I prefer to say you need no training for most levels, but a teacher to hit major levels, aka when your proficiency bonus goes up (1st, 5th, 9th, 13th, 17th) - UNLESS you tithe 10% of your XP away for that level. If they do that I tend to give them something extra i.e. if you want to design your own X or get something from Unearthed Arcana, Those are the levels to do it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
In 5E, my only house rule is that the PCs have to be in a relatively safe place to level up and they have to complete a long rest. They can do it in town, on a level of the dungeon that they might have cleared or even resting within the box at the top of the rope trick spell.
In 3.5E, I used to require that they seek out a master, and pay that master a fee, but only if they switched to a class or prestige class that they hadn't already gained a level in.
I view leveling up (which I agree with most people is best done as part of a long rest) as an RP opportunity. No, I don't suddenly 'poof' have new spells -- I've been practicing those spells all along, and this morning I've just really got my mojo working and got it right for the first time. (I often feel like I've 'leveled up' in real life -- when I perfect a recipe I've been working on for a while, or when I figure out something I didn't fully get before, but to be fair, I have been gaming for more than 30 years so it's sort of fully integrated into my personality at this point.)
I will usually have an idea ahead of time what options I plan to choose when I do level up (although it sometimes changes due to immediate campaign circumstances), and I think that's pretty realistic -- if your current activities call for a better understanding of something you don't already know, you're going to Google it, right? So, for example, when my current character, a tiefling warlock, hit 2nd level:
a long, sticky tonguevinegar.This might not be the way someone else would RP these things (and your DM may not be in favour of your using Expeditious Retreat that way), but this is the beauty of 5e -- you can add whatever flavour you want to explain the mechanics. The mechanics are just a foundation.
I don't like breaking up the game session where everyone takes a half hour to fret about feats, new spell selection, etc., so I usually just announce that they've gotten sufficient XP to advance a level and tell them to have their new stuff ready to go at the start of the next session.
You dont need a trainer. Normally when I have played with other people we have gone by getting the level advantages either after the encounter (when XP is awarded), or at the next short / long rest.
The DM's guide has some suggestions on alternate level up options, so I would check that out.
The only time I allowed a level-up in the middle of a fight was when my players encountered a chest in the abyss that contained trapped souls. The chest was designed such that if the chest opened, a light - the light of one of the trapped souls - would emit out of it. This had two effects. Number one, it was a weirdly shaped flashlight that could reveal the location of invisible creatures due to their interaction with the soul-light. Number two, the closest living creature to the box who had the light shine on them would effectively eat the soul, immediately healing to full and gaining some experience points as they absorbed the knowledge of the soul. They'd also have some personality changes associated with the soul that they ate, and a very minor benefit. The players weren't told the effects of eating a soul or how it would get resolved, and they took the chest with them and continued on, since they knew that souls in my campaign could be used to enchant magic items ala The Elder Scrolls.
So, one character tied the chest - which was not small - to his back and they continued to explore until they wound up in the boss fight of the area, fighting a dragon construct made out of blood. The blood-dragon was having a grand old time hurting things and turning people against one another with his breath attack and the character who had the chest attached to his back got knocked prone. I rolled to see what would happen and - lo and behold - the fall knocked the chest open, spilling its light onto the party's sorcerer. The sorcerer was immediately healed to full and rejuvenated, as if he had taken a long rest. At the same time, the amount of experience the soul gave him was enough to level him up. I ruled that due to the nature of the situation he leveled up immediately, which allowed him to access a new level of spells which he used to good effect in the rest of the fight.
Afterwards, a few other characters also chose to eat some souls, though of course doing so meant that they were damning the people whose souls they were eating to never be revived. It was meant to be a moral choice of a quick, short-term power-boost or actually working to return the innocent souls to their shells. My players mostly chose the short-term power boost and ignored the moral quandary.
They then proceeded to burn down the entire village after it was deposited back in the overworld. My party is not filled with the best people. At least they can say that the burning of the village - and the starting of the war that sparked - were mostly accidental, more occurring due to negligence than malice. Though the original fire they started that eventually spread to the rest of the village *was* entirely out of malice.
I am very much against “poof” you level up. I understand what folks are saying in regards to using skills and finally succeeding but there are some classes in which that makes no sense. Bards can at some point learn any spell from any class. How does that happen without some kind of guidance? If you’re in a dungeon earn some exp as a Wizard then decide instead of leveling up you multiclass into Monk when there is no Monk in the party - how does that happen?
It’s up to each DM to run their game their way but there should be some logic to it.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
As a DM I give XP at the end of sessions, so my players can level up between them. That said, I never let them use nifty new tricks until after a long rest. Meaning that while they do get their extra health, maybe a stat increase or an extra spell slot, they can't use "new" features such as Uncanny Dodge, a combat maneuver or a spell of a level they could not use previously. I picture them using their time during any and all long rests for self-reflection, some training and coming up with ideas even though this may sometimes not be part of the active narration. However, things like health and saving throw bonuses are abstract so that's fine by me if that "just happens".
Subclass: Dwarven Defender - Dragonborn Paragon
Feats: Artificer Apprentice
Monsters: Sheep - Spellbreaker Warforged Titan
Magic Items: Whipier - Ring of Secret Storage - Collar of the Guardian
Monster template: Skeletal Creature
I typically have always done (even back in the AD&D days) that character level up at the end a long rest (in 5th ed terms). However if they learn any completely new class abilities (not spells or ability upgrades), feats or pick up a subclass they need do some training in a "safe" (typically a town or stronghold) place to do so.
That said I also let characters take time to start training an ability/subclass before they would gain them from their level. Players generally do take the option to do training before hand, often adding it in as flavourful aspects of morning exercises or the like (after the initial teaching), while a few like the flexibility of holding of to a later point.
Thus they gain HP, new spells, ASI or ability upgrades (eg. more uses per day or an improvement) and the like after a long rest, including any pre-trained features or feats. While gaining anything else only after spending time training for it (holding off for a while to really decide on what they want to do).
- Loswaith
Characters level up when they are awarded xp. However, it is up to the DM when to award xp and whether this is on the basis of encounters, play sessions, achieving some particular goal within the storyline or some other method is entirely up to the DM. Since the DM controls when xp is awarded, they also control when leveling up occurs.
So, there won't be any leveling up mid combat unless the DM wants to award xp like a video game. Also, unlike some video games, there is nothing in the rules about leveling up restoring your hit points. You'd probably add the new hit points for leveling up but that would be it. Hit points are only restored by healing spells, short rest hit die uses, some class abilities and they are fully restored after a long rest. Since most leveling up is often associated with the end of a session which also often coincides with a long rest ... it can feel like leveling up restores the hit points.
Finally, the game itself doesn't impose any requirements beyond the requisite xp. However, the DM may have their own rules for their own world which might add flavour or interest and make leveling up a little more involved than just achieving a certain level of xp. From a play perspective though, it is probably best not to make the leveling up process too onerous since the players might not find it that much fun.
The way our DM handles this is similar. Since we have a large party, we level up in between sessions. So we gather once a month, and the DM calculates our XP between each gathering. We then begin the next gathering by leveling our characters before continuing the game. This allows the game to go uninterrupted every few defeats.
Now with a smaller party, you could establish check points throughout your story (like the guards mentioned above) and alow time for leveling and such. This will allow the kids to level more frequently without mid battle boosts and such.
I play with milestone leveling but depending on when that milestone occurs I either let them level up straight away (most of my players have planned ahead for next level, or can do so on the fly) or occasionally at the end of the session (if it's a tier-defining level like 5th or 11th).
As for in-game time, I just assume that anything new the characters "suddenly learn" are things they actually practiced during the most recent downtime or earlier stages of the journey, but didn't have a chance to actually show off yet.
I am one with the Force. The Force is with me.
I'm putting this here because I have no idea where else it might go. I recently played a session on Sunday 12/2/2018 at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia where they were using D&D Beyond as the engine to make characters. Where would I put the XP and other things on here to level up my character?
When you create the character on its home tab there’s a bunch of items to chose from. Sliders that allow you to include things like homebrew content, and dropdown boxes for things like advancement type. Everyone defaults as Milestone advancement, and in that system you just select the level of your class on the class creation/editing tab. But if you switch the home tab over to XP advancement, you have a new “manage xp” area of your character sheet that’s simple enough to navigate.
Even if you use xp, you can still just select your character level. It then just automatically sets your xp at the minimum amount for that particular level. Then there's a slider at the top right of the sheet you can click on to add more xp as earned.
Consider this complex solution: A weapon causes a specific amount of damage. A mace for instance does 1d6+modifier. At first level that attack is significantly greater than it is at second level. Does that mean the mace got weaker? No. It means that the 2nd level character has developed enough skills to avoid such a massive attack. Given that, I normally allow a character the immediate benefit of level advancement given reason. For instance, A wizard does not learn that new spell instantly they need to prepare that spell and couldn't have prepared it up until that point. However, that same wizard has obviously gain enough knowledge to better avoid attack (then when they began the level that are leaving)... So let them roll thier next level hit point gain and add that roll to current hit point total... (Not gain a health boost to thier now new hit point maximum). Other abilities can be granted... Proficiency bonus or skills such as the Rogues cunning action that develops due to practice in combat.
This is all DM choice however... But remember the idea is that the characters are heroes in thier own story...but most importantly remember the most important rule... have fun.
I award exp at the end of each session, mostly for bookeeping purposes, and so I know how things are progressing. Every 3-5 sessions I expect they'll gain a level.
I feel like its something you should have to spend a little time on, but maybe not a lot. Its not about going and getting more training, per se, because adventuring is like on-the-job training. Much more valuable. However they do need to check in with a mentor of some kind to make sure that they are taking the right lessons from their experience.
I don't think that should take more than a day, but its definitely not "poof", or even just a short rest. The mentor should be significantly higher level, of a similar alignment, and of a similar class. An evil fighter can't mentor a good fighter. A rogue can't mentor a cleric.
I have a kind of cool situation right now. The party just made it to a particular tomb they've been trying to get into, fought some stuff, and now several of them have enough exp to level. In this tomb, there is the ghost of a high level paladin, who is friendly to them. They are going to have to rest for a bit here anyway, since one of their party lost over half his max hitpoints fighting a wraith. A high-level friendly ghost paladin seems like a pretty damn fine mentor for a lawful good cleric or any good-aligned fighter, and we have both of those in the party. The mage, rogue, and druid are out of luck, but I am going to let the fighter and the cleric level up by spending 8 hours discussing their advancement in their chosen path with this ghost.
We use milestones in my table top game because that's what the players prefer. But it's still a given that they are leveling up through their experiences in and out of combat, so they learn new things about themselves as they go. We do have characters find someone to teach them if they are multiclassing, whether that be a higher level (in that class) party member, or someone they hire to train them up.
I always do milestones at the end of a session, and I let them level up between that session and the next, but there are some things you just want to have downtime for and we do that too. It mainly just depends on how you want to do things at the end of the day. :)
When it comes to levelling, I have made some house rules to overcome the "poof" effect previously described while not breaking up the adventure severely.
As mentioned earlier in this discusstion, the variant rule provided in the Dungeon Master's Guide provides a good start.
[DMG p. 131] TRAINING TO GAIN LEVELS
As a variant rule, you can require characters to spend downtime training or studying before they gain the benefits of a new level. If you choose this option, once a character has earned enough experience points to attain a new level, he or she must train for a number of days before gaining any class features associated with the new level. The training time required depends on the level to be gained, as shown on the Training to Gain Levels table. The training cost is for the total training time.
TRAINING TO GAIN LEVELS
Level Attained Training Time Training Cost
2nd-4th 10 days 20 gp
5th-10th 20 days 40 gp
11th-16th 30 days 60 gp
17th-20th 40 days 80 gp
As a DM, I have always made major level gains require training and a cost. This requirement removes the "poof" effect where on instantly transforms. Based on the variant rule, class features would require training. Then, however, training at each level would break up a campaign quite considerably.
As a compromise, I have picked what I think are major levels where requiring training would most likely be required, such as levels 3, 6, 9 and 12. Beyond 12, you pretty much are the trainer so a long rest may do. I base these levels on the tiers. [PHB p. 15] The Player's Handbook outlines tiers for levels of characters. Tier 1 includes levels 1-4, Tier 2 includes levels 5-10, Tier 3 includes levels 11-16, and Tier 4 includes levels 17-20. Each of these tiers has a growing level of achievement and independence.
Having said that, universal features for all classes could be increased automatically without training. These features would include increased ability scores, hit dice, hit points, spell slots, and proficiency bonuses. Class features such as new spells, new skills, new proficiencies, and feats would require training and associated costs.
The challenge for the GM then becomes to create opportunities within a campaign for training. A GM must ensure spells can be acquired through tomes or scrolls discovered. Mentors must present themselves. In fact, training can become an adventure sidequest. While training in the city, who knows what else might happen or what quests must be undertaken to acquire that feat or proficiency?
Carey Hilgartner
Dragons in Dungeons
So, since there is very little written about how this goes, by the book. It comes down to a few things
a) How much time do you have to play? If you have a multiple times per week session, then your players (if they can choose quickly) should level up whenever the experience matches whats required on the leveling table. That's the bonus of questing and adventuring, you're gaining experience ON THE SPOT, and so.. when you reach a certain amount of experience, you level up. Fighting that goblin made your character realize this particular skill, xyz, would be a great thing to do in combat, so they start trying to use it.
a1) If you're players aren't quick at choosing how to level, then definitely save it for the end of the session when everyone isn't using their last hour of freetime this week to play dnd.
B) You level up by training- If your game is Rp heavy, and there isn't a pressing concern (rescue the dwarf now, or he'll die) Then make leveling up require some training time at a professional place. The game slows down, and it costs gold to level, but hey, who cares, you have time.
C) If you hate your players, use Milestones lol.. I'm kidding. But for me and my players, Milestones makes it so there is very little reason to do anything. Why fight that orc if getting to the finish line gives me the same amount of experience? Sometimes it really is just easier on the dm to do milestones, so totally do it if you are in a rush, and don't want to take the time to dole out EXP every battle.
The final answer here is... it's up to the DM. or why not have everyone vote? It's about everyone, including the Dm, having fun..
When I play, my DM likes to require training but half the time he gives it to us for free - sometimes holding back stuff (like spells or feats).
When I DM, I prefer to say you need no training for most levels, but a teacher to hit major levels, aka when your proficiency bonus goes up (1st, 5th, 9th, 13th, 17th) - UNLESS you tithe 10% of your XP away for that level. If they do that I tend to give them something extra i.e. if you want to design your own X or get something from Unearthed Arcana, Those are the levels to do it.