Do you have to rest to level up?

[RoboEmperor]

I can't seem to find the rule for it. Player Handbook says you automatically attain a level when you get the necessary XP, but I remember it as having to rest to receive the benefits of the level up, but I can't find that quote. Does anyone have that handy, or is it a house rule?

[Bakkan]

It's a house rule, though there are variant rules in the PHBII that involve greater requirements for leveling up.

[Dante Daylight]

In my group we need to train for 1 week in town to get used to our new abilities to get the level.

[Lazymancer]

I can't seem to find the rule for it. Player Handbook says you automatically attain a level when you get the necessary XP, but I remember it as having to rest to receive the benefits of the level up, but I can't find that quote. Does anyone have that handy, or is it a house rule?

I'm assuming you refer to this bit:

If you dislike the idea of all this formalized training getting in the way of the heroic, epic campaign you have going, simply require that whenever a character gains a new level she must spend one day per level (or just 1d4 days) in downtime. During this period the character is busy training, focusing, or simply resting and cannot cast spells, go on adventures, and so on.

AFAIK, mandatory weeks of training were abandoned during transition from AD&D1 to AD&D2.

[Florian]

IIRC, that was some FAQ based on the question when the actual mechanical change to a character would happen, if, say, a Sorcerer would gain new slots and spells known the moment the last XP *dings*, and so on. The answers was that while you gain the level right now, you have to wait for a rest to gain the actually mechanical benefits from it.

[RoboEmperor]

In my group we need to train for 1 week in town to get used to our new abilities to get the level.

Out of curiosity, why? What is the point? Adventuring is training, and this kind of needless delay will kill pretty much all campaigns not designed to give copious amounts of down time.

I had a DM that not only did that but also required you to consult with your peers.

[Lazymancer]

IRL you don't become master of anything if you do it once or twice under strenuous conditions.

[Mordaedil]

I kinda like the idea that you spend 1d4 days per level in downtime just attaining the benefits of the level-up as it strains my believability that you become more powerful by murdering monsters and solving puzzles a fourth grader could make up.

[EisenKreutzer]

In our group, we level up the moment we have enough experience, often mid dungeon.

[lbuttitta]

I can't seem to find the rule for it. Player Handbook says you automatically attain a level when you get the necessary XP, but I remember it as having to rest to receive the benefits of the level up, but I can't find that quote. Does anyone have that handy, or is it a house rule?
I believe it's a house rule.

[gogogome]

IRL you don't become master of anything if you do it once or twice under strenuous conditions.

You're supposed to be practicing through out your entire adventure. While you travel, before you sleep, etc.

IRL changes are slow and gradual. You master skills over the course of days. You can't do that in a pen and paper system so they made it a step-by-step. It's not perfect but adding additional weeks of training to get level up seems redundant.

[Elkad]

IIRC, that was some FAQ based on the question when the actual mechanical change to a character would happen, if, say, a Sorcerer would gain new slots and spells known the moment the last XP *dings*, and so on. The answers was that while you gain the level right now, you have to wait for a rest to gain the actually mechanical benefits from it.

I use this. Including the rest of the benefits. You get the hitpoints added to your cap, but not current hitpoints. So you have to rest (or get healed) to reach your new total. You learn new maneuvers, but have to stop and ready them.

But I've used a ridiculous opposite as well in a more fun kind of game. All XP is applied immediately, including in the middle of the fight, and you gain all benefits immediately. Including the benefits of 24 hours of rest. Healing, spells readied, all of it. So halfway through the climatic battle with the BBEG and his minions, someone drops a minion and the whole party is restored to full readiness with new abilities.

[Dante Daylight]

Out of curiosity, why? What is the point? Adventuring is training, and this kind of needless delay will kill pretty much all campaigns not designed to give copious amounts of down time.

I had a DM that not only did that but also required you to consult with your peers.

The explanation is something like that the new abilities, attributes and so on are gained while adventuring but to use them in a fight reliable and on a regular basis, it is a requirement to train them in a safe envoirement (he allowed the druid and ranger to level in the woods btw but my paladin and our fighter had to train in a town).

As I wanted to gain the first level in the Fist of Raziel Prestige class, I had to train for a week in a particular city (where there is a special exalted connection).

I like the style of my DM the most time but as he demanded me to spend 1 year in a cloister or temple if I want to prestige into pious Templar I realized, that sometimes he goes too far or maybe he just dislikes the Templar prc I don't know :)

[Crake]

IIRC, that was some FAQ based on the question when the actual mechanical change to a character would happen, if, say, a Sorcerer would gain new slots and spells known the moment the last XP *dings*, and so on. The answers was that while you gain the level right now, you have to wait for a rest to gain the actually mechanical benefits from it.

The way we do it is this: If the benefits are something that are recharged on a daily basis, such as spellslots, or x/day abilities, you don't gain the benefit until you rest, but other things, such as HP, bab, saves, any passive or at will abilities all come online immediately, so a rogue will be able to get +1d6 sneak attack, a barbarian will get uncanny dodge, a warblade can spend 5 minutes to reprepare his new maneuvers etc.

[RoboEmperor]

Thanks a lot.

To this day the two horrendous DMs I played with still plague my mind with their retarded house rules.

[Lazymancer]

You're supposed to be practicing through out your entire adventure. While you travel, before you sleep, etc.

IRL changes are slow and gradual. You master skills over the course of days. You can't do that in a pen and paper system so they made it a step-by-step. It's not perfect but adding additional weeks of training to get level up seems redundant.
You're supposed to actually know what you are posting about. It's not perfect, but that way people can often avoid writing trite nonsense.

In real games experience for level-up could easily be acquired within a week of adventuring if not less. There is nothing gradual about it.



The explanation is something like that the new abilities, attributes and so on are gained while adventuring but to use them in a fight reliable and on a regular basis, it is a requirement to train them in a safe envoirement (he allowed the druid and ranger to level in the woods btw but my paladin and our fighter had to train in a town).
There is a lot of explanations - reasons why people do this.

Personally, I expect characters to be part of world. While I can simply force them to have some mandatory downtime, it's too hamfisted and railroady. It's so much easier to simply require spending some time not being murderhobos on the run, if they want to level-up. This way they can decide for themselves when and how they take a break from high-octane adventuring and interact with the rest of the world.

Of course, if you do not want any of this, and want characters to exist only within the strict confines of "scenes", then spending downtime becomes unnecessarily convoluted requirement. It's easier to have videogamey *dings* in the middle of battles.

[RoboEmperor]

You're supposed to actually know what you are posting about. It's not perfect, but that way people can often avoid writing trite nonsense.

In real games experience for level-up could easily be acquired within a week of adventuring if not less. There is nothing gradual about it.


He said in real life not in real games. Please read his post correctly before you call it trite nonsense.



There is a lot of explanations - reasons why people do this.

Personally, I expect characters to be part of world. While I can simply force them to have some mandatory downtime, it's too hamfisted and railroady. It's so much easier to simply require spending some time not being murderhobos on the run, if they want to level-up. This way they can decide for themselves when and how they take a break from high-octane adventuring and interact with the rest of the world.

Of course, if you do not want any of this, and want characters to exist only within the strict confines of "scenes", then spending downtime becomes unnecessarily convoluted requirement. It's easier to have videogamey *dings* in the middle of battles.

So a spellcaster trying to learn extend spell would practice extending spells during traveling and before resting, and then when he gets enough experience he is capable of adding it into combat. Rather than create a convoluted system that tracks how many times you practiced extending spells until you reach level 3, it's just ignored like how you ignore the individual spell components with the spell component pouch.

Before you say how can you extend spells if you have no spells per day left and if you don't have the feat, by RAW wizards can experiment with random spell components to cast negligible spells less than cantrips without using a spell slot, so he would try to extend those negligible spells.

RAW even states if you don't train vigorously everyday you receive less experience points or receive some other penalty, but I guess those rules are too hard to read. So everyday vigorous training is not enough, and you need to add a few more days of vigorous trainings.

But then here comes a person like you who says you need to practice extending spells even more than you did for 3 full levels, that you need to train even more vigorously than you did for the past 3 levels to gain that feat. Maybe you're saying in mid fight, *ding* the wizard magically figures out how to extend spells or a fighter figured out how to use an exotic weapon without every touching one and need a few days to practice it.

Yeah... killing stuff with magic missile gave him an idea on how to extend spells. This makes so much more sense than the RAW.

[Beheld]

There is a lot of explanations - reasons why people do this.

Personally, I expect characters to be part of world. While I can simply force them to have some mandatory downtime, it's too hamfisted and railroady. It's so much easier to simply require spending some time not being murderhobos on the run, if they want to level-up. This way they can decide for themselves when and how they take a break from high-octane adventuring and interact with the rest of the world.

Of course, if you do not want any of this, and want characters to exist only within the strict confines of "scenes", then spending downtime becomes unnecessarily convoluted requirement. It's easier to have videogamey *dings* in the middle of battles.

I sure do love it when people imply that anyone who disagrees with them about their houserule is a bad person who doesn't like immersive games. That never gets old.

Meanwhile, back in reality, some people just present players with downtime opportunities during their adventures, and that time can be spent training even if they aren't currently sitting around with full XP to level up, and that way they can decide for themselves when and how they take a break instead of having that time be dictated to them by the DM telling them they can't level until they do it.

[Lazymancer]

I sure do love it when people imply that anyone who disagrees with them about their houserule is a bad person who doesn't like immersive games. That never gets old.
I thought it's story-actors who liked "immersive" "games" - not us, dirty munchkins.


Meanwhile, back in reality, some people just present players with downtime opportunities during their adventures, and that time can be spent training even if they aren't currently sitting around with full XP to level up, and that way they can decide for themselves when and how they take a break instead of having that time be dictated to them by the DM telling them they can't level until they do it.
Explain to me, oh enlightened one: what is the purpose of the training if it has no benefits? What is this opportunity of, if there is nothing to be gained? And if something is gained, is there are benefits to be had from downtime, then why do people go adventuring? Why aren't they spending all of their time as downtime?

And why does GM present players with opportunity? Did they not have it from the get go?