In my current campaign campaign I'm running, the barbarian player wanted the monk player to teach them how to punch better and use a die for his unarmed strikes. This got me thinking on how to allow players to gain proficiency in things or even be able to train to acquire feats. I couldn't find an official system for this, and I'm addicted to homebrewing just about everything anyway, so I made my own system for training. I'm just going to copy/paste from the word doc:
Training Mechanic 2.0
A number of points are required to achieve proficiency in something. These points are gained through practice, which is done during rests. During a rest you will roll dice and add the result rolled to a running tally.
The type of die rolled depends on favorable or unfavorable conditions; conditions include weather, environment, distractions, equipment, state of mind, physical state, etc.
worst conditions = d4
unfavorable conditions = d6
normal conditions = d8
favorable conditions = d10
best conditions = d12
The number of dice rolled varies depending on what you have at your disposal and time
training from memory alone during a short rest will use 2 base dice
having more time and training during a long rest will use 3 base dice
receiving instruction directly from a trainer gives X2 base dice
using some kind of text, manual, or equipment allows for +1 bonus dice (or more)
children, with their developing minds, may double their dice roll results
After rolling your dice, add (or subtract) your intelligence modifier to the result
Different things require different amounts of points (subject to adjustment at GM’s discretion)
skill, language, or saving throw proficiency: 700-900
gain a feat or +2 to an ability score: 1500-2000
gain 1 class level: 25,000 points
EX: Billy the barbarian is trying to learn Deep Speech. He has a book on Deep Speech from the library, and his friend, Willy the wizard, who is already proficient in Deep Speech, is tutoring him. Billy is also not the brightest, with only 8 intelligence score. In a well-lit and comfortable room at the local inn, Billy rests and focusses on his studies. Billy is training during a long rest, he is using a book and Willy’s guidance, and these conditions may be considered favorable. With all that in mind, Billy will be rolling 7d10-1. This result is added to his running tally, and when Billy reaches the total the GM has set, let’s say 850, he will be proficient in Deep Speech. Good luck Billy!
Thanks for reading, this is my first post on any forum on DnD Beyond. Please tell me what you think, I'd appreciate the criticism or suggestions, or just to know if you like it enough to use it yourself.
Obviously "conditions" are subjective. Short from "pulling out the Deep Speech book on the battlefield," what would you consider worst conditions? And for the children bit, are you talking your players could play as a child or train an NPC child? I find it's inevitable that if players find an adorable child or sometimes wander into the orphanage, they'll "adopt" a child. A few of my campaigns have resulted in this; so, I'm curious exactly how you intended for the child mechanic to come into play. And if Billy the Barbarian were a child in the above scenario, what is the Order of Operations for base dice calculation? (1) Long Rest, 3 dice; Wizard teacher, double for 6 dice now; Book, 1 die, 7 dice; and Child double for 14? or (2) LR, 3 dice; Wizard, double for 6; Child, double for 12; Book, 1 die, for 13? I'm a fan of the method, I'm just curious of how you implement. I always like clarification.
I'm DMing an Isekai style game right now and have also decided to use some training methods. My players can learn Tool Proficiencies and train NPCs in "class" skills. They'll never make a character sheet for them but I'd allow an Apprentice Wizard. My method awards Downtime Days based on encounter difficulty and they can spend them toward these things.
Thanks for the interest! Well ultimately the conditions are up to the gm, and the conditions also vary depending on the character (like a triton might be better while training at sea that a goliath, but the goliath would be better training while on a mountain peak). For me, I've had my players in the "worst conditions" only once, and that's when they were straight up in chains in a jail cell, likewise they've only seen "best conditions" once, and it was in basically a garden of Eden type paradise. When I determine conditions it has less to do with the place itself, and more so the feel of the environment and state of each character. So like training history in some kind of grand library, or athletics in some elite monk temple, would be the best place, and I'd definitely tack on a few extra dice, but that doesn't necessarily make them the best conditions. I'ts kinda vague I know but it's up to you entirely.
As for the children bit, I actually added that on recently because they came across wyvern eggs, and when they hatch they'll want to teach them things, I'll figure out how this works for non-humans later, but yes, training "children" more quickly was the main goal. Oh and it would double all dice, so (3x2)+1)x2=14 dice
But yeah, this is all about filling downtime, like I tend to have a lot of travel in my sessions, so they have plenty of time to train instead of just doing time-skips. So I hope this gives you some good ideas for your game!
Oh wait, sorry, you don't double the dice rolled for children, you double the result. So Billy the child barbarian rolls 7d10-1 and gets 37, he would add 74 to the tally.
I really like this. I'm guessing they do it with leveling up in RaW to keep it super simple and balance the classes. But it seems like if you are willing to do a little more work along the way, leveling up skills on a points system based on practice of that skill set might be a great incentivizer in most games to try something other than pound and ground.
I had been entertaining a method where I keep track of DCs of the characters and, on top of leveling with RaW, I set additional leveling of skills (Proficiency would be built in to that) based on how much a character actually tried to use a skill. To avoid OP, I'm thinking the number of points to level up would increase exponentially.
Everyone likes leveling up and everyone likes rewards, I feel like an additional points based leveling of skills ads a bit of excitement to the game, as well as more reason to use a wider range of the game mechanics, for a more dynamic game. While I had been thinking of a more general approach, your method gives strong mechanics to a concerted effort to train up on a skill, which seems like an awesome opportunity for the players when allowed by the flow of the campaign.
Thanks for the work! Cheers!
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In my current campaign campaign I'm running, the barbarian player wanted the monk player to teach them how to punch better and use a die for his unarmed strikes. This got me thinking on how to allow players to gain proficiency in things or even be able to train to acquire feats. I couldn't find an official system for this, and I'm addicted to homebrewing just about everything anyway, so I made my own system for training. I'm just going to copy/paste from the word doc:
Training Mechanic 2.0
Thanks for reading, this is my first post on any forum on DnD Beyond. Please tell me what you think, I'd appreciate the criticism or suggestions, or just to know if you like it enough to use it yourself.
So, those points are EXP points ??
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk
Nah, separate from EXP. I'm used to milestone, so I didn't even think of that.
Very nice!
Obviously "conditions" are subjective. Short from "pulling out the Deep Speech book on the battlefield," what would you consider worst conditions? And for the children bit, are you talking your players could play as a child or train an NPC child? I find it's inevitable that if players find an adorable child or sometimes wander into the orphanage, they'll "adopt" a child. A few of my campaigns have resulted in this; so, I'm curious exactly how you intended for the child mechanic to come into play.
And if Billy the Barbarian were a child in the above scenario, what is the Order of Operations for base dice calculation? (1) Long Rest, 3 dice; Wizard teacher, double for 6 dice now; Book, 1 die, 7 dice; and Child double for 14? or (2) LR, 3 dice; Wizard, double for 6; Child, double for 12; Book, 1 die, for 13?
I'm a fan of the method, I'm just curious of how you implement. I always like clarification.
I'm DMing an Isekai style game right now and have also decided to use some training methods. My players can learn Tool Proficiencies and train NPCs in "class" skills. They'll never make a character sheet for them but I'd allow an Apprentice Wizard. My method awards Downtime Days based on encounter difficulty and they can spend them toward these things.
Thanks for the interest! Well ultimately the conditions are up to the gm, and the conditions also vary depending on the character (like a triton might be better while training at sea that a goliath, but the goliath would be better training while on a mountain peak). For me, I've had my players in the "worst conditions" only once, and that's when they were straight up in chains in a jail cell, likewise they've only seen "best conditions" once, and it was in basically a garden of Eden type paradise. When I determine conditions it has less to do with the place itself, and more so the feel of the environment and state of each character. So like training history in some kind of grand library, or athletics in some elite monk temple, would be the best place, and I'd definitely tack on a few extra dice, but that doesn't necessarily make them the best conditions. I'ts kinda vague I know but it's up to you entirely.
As for the children bit, I actually added that on recently because they came across wyvern eggs, and when they hatch they'll want to teach them things, I'll figure out how this works for non-humans later, but yes, training "children" more quickly was the main goal. Oh and it would double all dice, so (3x2)+1)x2=14 dice
But yeah, this is all about filling downtime, like I tend to have a lot of travel in my sessions, so they have plenty of time to train instead of just doing time-skips. So I hope this gives you some good ideas for your game!
Oh wait, sorry, you don't double the dice rolled for children, you double the result. So Billy the child barbarian rolls 7d10-1 and gets 37, he would add 74 to the tally.
I really like this. I'm guessing they do it with leveling up in RaW to keep it super simple and balance the classes. But it seems like if you are willing to do a little more work along the way, leveling up skills on a points system based on practice of that skill set might be a great incentivizer in most games to try something other than pound and ground.
I had been entertaining a method where I keep track of DCs of the characters and, on top of leveling with RaW, I set additional leveling of skills (Proficiency would be built in to that) based on how much a character actually tried to use a skill. To avoid OP, I'm thinking the number of points to level up would increase exponentially.
Everyone likes leveling up and everyone likes rewards, I feel like an additional points based leveling of skills ads a bit of excitement to the game, as well as more reason to use a wider range of the game mechanics, for a more dynamic game. While I had been thinking of a more general approach, your method gives strong mechanics to a concerted effort to train up on a skill, which seems like an awesome opportunity for the players when allowed by the flow of the campaign.
Thanks for the work! Cheers!