I have actually done a Milestone base (when big story moments really push them forward in their growth) combined with a custom XP system. Since I don't like crunching numbers a whole lot, I decided that every level requires 10 points. But to get those points, you need to either train with someone who can teach you more, or you need to take out monsters that are tough (near, or above your level in CR). But my favorite part is: Whenever you roll a nat 20, you immediately make a raw skill check (I currently use Wisdom, but might switch to Int/Wis), and if you pass, you gain a point from that check. That way, players seek out those d20 tests to level up a lot. Sure, combat is still fun, but it gives a reason as to why that lowly farmer who has killed hundreds of rats doesn't just learn how to cast fireball.

@slayersentience666

Жыл бұрын

I will probably use that ! And combine some of the "XP eyeballing" too, just for me personally to have an idea of the leveling pace and go from there. I've never DM'd before and wanna try and keep things balanced yet story driven in my homebrew setting.

Exactly what I was looking for! Perfect timing as I start a new campaign this week!

I use the milestone method for my campaign, but I had wondered about if there was a way of using EXP in a way to help me as the DM see if the players would level around certain story beats. This video helped remind me of that, so thank you! 😊

I bought Alkander's Almanac and it is a work of love, people. Give it a go: you won't be disappointed.

@TheDungeonCoach

Жыл бұрын

Omg! Thank you for stopping to say that!

@DiscoSamurai

Жыл бұрын

@@TheDungeonCoach It's my pleasure! I was very happy with my purchase and all the love you and your team poured on it truly showed. :)

I definitely prefer just leveling by gut... If my players start asking about when they level next, then we'll talk about it, because it probably Has been awhile, and I tell them what goals they can accomplish to hit a level. Mercer stopped using the tally points in c2. Everyone levels at the same time, even if they miss sessions.

Yes. I want more on how players level up at different rates

Definitely interested in a video on running characters at different levels!

@CaseyWilkesmusic

Жыл бұрын

You just run them the same as if they were the same level…

I love this! I'm actually going to be starting a new campaign soon so this was perfect timing.

Loving the videos focused on leveling & xp, Coach! Absolutely do a followup!

ive been trying to come up with a system just like this. Love it! Thanks for the break down!!

This was so helpful! I am going to be DM-ing my very first campaign here soon (due to me being the only person in the circle who has actually played). We are doing Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, and taking the Discord/ Roll 20 route due to us all living far apart. But I just wanted to let you know that your vids have been a GODSEND in helping simplify the game as a DM. Just wanting to make sure the game is fun for the players especially since it is all of their first time playing the game in general lol

Kind of like your tally points, I give an on-time bonus of XP. It gives just enough incentive to help keep the commitment they’ve made to the group and to the timeslot. It helped when we were irresponsible kids, and it’s still helps now that we’re in our 40s with jobs and families and life hassles. Since 2E I used to give individual XP awards for in game moments. But over time, it stopped helping as it started to feel unfair for different player types. With 5E, inspiration fills this gap for us now, but I might bring back XP bonuses again, inspired by this video tally marks. Hmmm…

Great ideas. I've used various types of rewards like this for years. Low XP for small tasks and then large XP for plot moving adding individual actions.

Absolutely expand on this! Im going to start a new campaign in the next few months. I'm going to talk to my players about using this!

I've started to do this type of combination, but because there are some more shy members (and a mom that is distracted by our young child most sessions) I've decided to have them level up when their average XP is at or above the level-up point.

Started with my DM and some friends 1 year ago and we are having a session 0.2 check in to see how we feel about gameplay and overall health of the game. This is super relevant to how we feel we are being rewarded and I forwarded it to my DM. Its a crime you have less than 100k subs but you just got 1 more.

Nicely done

I still have a fondness for the advancement requirements from Earthdawn... more skills at a certain threshold as characters level up, and Legend Points based on the Fibonacci sequence.

Probably not for me. I like the milestone method. But to each their own and he gave me some thoughts about maybe future games.

There's a thing I've seen groups do where, after the session, each player says what their favorite moment was. I'm thinking you could combine that with Matt Mercer's Tick system.

New DM here, this video was a massive help, thanks! I prefer the milestone as I don't like crunching and adding numbers, but this sounds balanced, in the session, I'd say chat with the players and Make the session more about having fun, I prefer simplifying the combat and level ups to make things less complicated, they like it, It does the job. If you're a DM, have it your way, you can create your system too. HAVE FUN!

Yeah, I'm currently having some rough experience with my DM using the milestone method. I think I greatly prefer this hybrid method and plan to apply it to my own games (kind of already do)

Right, so the idea is you use experience points to determine when a milestone level up event should happen. Makes sense.

I love this idea. I was looking around the internet after having the feeling, my player's are not motivated enough to engange more with the game. They could use some more incentives to allow themselves to really dive into the game, lose themselves a bit in it and forget about the reality of sitting around a table on a normal monday night. Which, I came to think after beeing frustrated a bit, is really a lack of good game design or reward system on my part. I was thinking of switching to XP instead of milestones to get them more active instead of passively consuming whatever I put together in my precious free time. But this idea seems like a step up above that. I will try it for the next 2 or 3 levels of the party and see whether it fits. Thanks =)

I think that I would use some kind of hybrid becouse in my experiance when players reach level up point campaign flow stops to get PH book and add changes on players sheets so in my campaign their level up always at the end of seasons

The main system I use is a modified version of the xp system from Cypher System games. When players roll a nat 1 they get 2 xp. 1 to keep and 1 to give to a party member. When anyone rolls a nat 20 everyone at the table gets 1 xp. When they roll above a 20 on Int or Wis info gathering or exploration checks they get a couple xp based on how high the roll was. Saving lives, ending combat encounters without combat, dipolmancy, and taking the initiative to move the plot forward all reward xp. Anyone who pulls ahead of the rest of the party in xp can give their extra xp to a party member in exchange for other benefits like advantage on however many rolls, temporary boons, or other things. Or the party can decide to dump all their xp on one of their allies to make an unstoppable tank, glass cannon, or other munchkin nonsense In base Cypher System your character sheet has 4 buckets. Putting 4 xp into any one of those buckets upgrades that bucket. Upgrading all buckets gains you a level up. I tend to say level ups cost xp equal to X times your level, or X times your proficiency bonus, or some other similar variation. Usually 1, 2, or 4 times whatever. I like this system over the default dmg methods and most other systems I've heard of. It turns XP into a player controlled resource, puts leveling in the player's hands, and when used correctly creates a feedback loop that encourages players to engage with the game world.

My personal favorite way I've done XP+Milestones is the "Chunky" process. Levels *cost* [5 + Next Level] XP You get 1 XP when: • Session ends • Challenge endured • Personal quest progressed • Shared quest progressed So here we can get ever so slightly staggered xp flow depending on personal quests, and as a gauge for the GM for how to look at Challenges and which characters can use a special moment. If there's big progression or challenge, a thing can provide more XP. If it's not enough to matter, just don't track the XP. Or if wanting to be more generous and use tallies, you can let the "chunks" be 20 XP per Level for easy scaling.

Basically what you're looking for is pathfinder 2e, every level is 1000xp, making it very easy to then give out worthwhile xp for out of combat tasks What I do on top of that isn't milestone per say, its level unlocks. My players' xp bar is frozen until I unlock their next level, which will happen when they achieve something significant storywise. I also let them pick a direction (category). If they pick say the "politics" category then next unlock will happenafter they achieve something significant in that area of expertise. There's like 7-8 category types all on a grid that get scratched as they use them up, which also means they'll have go to thro the whole thing to hit lvl 20. They get to pick direction, I get to dictate pace, they then get to "math" their xp, everybody wins.

Our system we use is quest based xp that we use in the 40k systems and moved it over to DnD and pathfinder we do this cause there is mass combat in most things we do (we are all wargamers) so you have Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary objectives (300, 150, and 50xp respectively) and then add the difficulty Veteran, Skilled, and Novice (100, 50, and 25) if we playing dnd and pathfinder we double the xp for things out side of missions/quests you reward cp based on difficulty. We don't do xp the enemies give cause we have alot on table and we play where each PC has a unit they are leading so xp per enemy would suck to calculate lol But mission/quest structure is easy You need a minimum of 1 Primary: Main objective 2 Secondary: steps to achieve primary More can be added of each type but don't have entire over arching story plot as a mission/quest but these missions are steps to complete the main arch Tertiary objectives are ones of opportunity or targets of opportunities Example being you are on a mission to raid orc encampment and on the way there is a bounty hunter mark walking down the street do you take them basically side quests baked in a mission /quest where as all the other side quests just give xp like you normally would for them doing something

You’re describing exactly how I level a party up.

@TheDungeonCoach

Жыл бұрын

I love it when I get synced up with people that I have never met! That’s so cool!!

I love the ideas and definitely want a 3rd way, but my absolute stupidity with numbers means I can't follow the method! It sounds cool though

More Spicy Content please!

I use xp for combat & treasure plus milestone exp. The problem is that leveling happens way too quickly---players need time to see their characters "grow up" from level 1--they need to push them to their limits and really fear for their survival for a while before getting more comfortable in mid levels, 4-6. So I use a modified version of first edition experience point tables

Alright coach Im gonna ask you for the big one. Iv been looking everywhere and I cant find where I got the inspiration from please tell me you know. But I want a whole ass advanced smithing system. Metals with various attributes AND "Enchantability" stats I KNOW I HAVE SEEN IT. But I cant find it. I was going to build upon it, a Mithral sword etched with gold was going to be incredible at storing enchantments ect. But I cant find the source that inspired me in it. It was largely on the subject of metals and the biggest point to pique my interest was the idea of an "Enchantability" stat

@TheDungeonCoach

Жыл бұрын

I have a PDF with new materials and armor types/ weapon types like stuff made from mothril/ oak/ dragon scale Combat overhaul PDF on my website, but I didn’t do a full video on it (because it’s the next Kickstarter I am doing) 😆

Hmmmm. I'm wondering how i can utilize this with a slower leveling campaign. Like, my players will be hitting lv 3 around session 35, coming on session 30 now. I think i could run this like you said, but after multiplying for team size, i double or triple that number. Then, when they hit a time they would get a level, if it doesn't feel right yet, I could give out a feat point (in your feat point buy system), a renown reward, or another bonus level up perk. Could be interesting to toy with

@eddieblanton2981

Жыл бұрын

I can't imagine your game has much combat. It would be stressful trying to survive 30 sessions with like 10-20 hit points.

@BigCowProductions

Жыл бұрын

@@eddieblanton2981 You're right. They like Social Encounters and town shenaniganery haha. We've done two dungeons (both lasted multiple sessions) and done some battles aside. A big one is coming tonight too. Though, there are homebrews and systems in place to help. I use Coach's EC-AC system with an extra roll for health for them, and they are pretty tough, having had the feat point system for character creation. We'll be doing another dungeon, soon, too. They wanna see a castle/fort kinda thing, and I think one of the Dukes or something will ask them to help clear it for them or something like that.

i disliked milestone leveling as a player because it felt too arbitrary and i have adhd so the challenge of working towards the next level-up is great motivation and helps me stay engaged. i think this system is a great compromise, especially when you can apply the easy/medium/difficult/deadly tier system to non-combat encounters as well.

These are some really good ideas. I'm in one campaign where the DM is doing milestone. I like this combo method much better. In another game the DM seems to only be giving out points for combat. It feels like there is no incentive to actually role play my character. Why waste time stressing about a "funny voice" or interesting "how would my character react" moments if there is only reward for surviving a fight or completing the overall quest?

Do i not get a hard copy of alkanders almanac? I cant find one that doesn’t say it’s a PDF

@TheDungeonCoach

6 ай бұрын

During the next Kickstarter it will be an addon! Search DC20 on Kickstarter and you’ll see! Thanks man!

@cosmicdebris2174

6 ай бұрын

@@TheDungeonCoach Woo! Looking forward to it!!

im starting that cult minus the worship. level 7s unite.

I use "milestone" leveling, but I've always kinda just done it my own way. I never liked the idea of xp for d&d only because as a DM I'll end up crafting battles based solely on CR and xp to try to get the players further ahead. I much prefer to narrate and roleplay leveling up rather than being like oh hey that got you to level 4 go ahead and tell me what feat you now have. I'll introduce mentors to teach new spells and abilities, and have players narrate how they practice or train to better themselves. If a player has spend most of their time not participating or being unconscious in fights they might not level as fast. And I may give out free feats for cool roleplay moments too.

Dumb question, level 1 to level 2 is 300, then level 3 is 900. so is that just 600 more xp. or does xp reset to zero each level up. So 300, then another 900, so 1200 all together ?

@ZialShade

3 ай бұрын

I watched the video again and I think he explains it at around the 2:05 mark - it will not reset to 0 and you'd just need the 600 more xp.

420 likes W

This just feels like regular XP with extra steps. I'll stick to my milestones.

I still prefer PDM’s fast and easy way (similar to the mercer tally in this vid). You need 10 or so points, attained through hard won glory and achievements. Higher levels makes it harder to get points as you have to do cooler things to warrent challenge. I currently have it set as 5X level for my long running campaign My party is at 30 out of 65. Averaging 4 a session, hitting 8 or so on big success

I am playing with the idea of personalized levelling. Basically, each player has specific tasks that contribute to them levelling up, for example the paladin needs to save or help 5 NPCs to level up, the cleric must gain 5 acolytes to their dirty, or the wizard needs to discover 5 ancient secrets, etc... I feel like that would supercharge investment in the world and campaign.

@NazraT1704

Жыл бұрын

That's just going to turn leveling up into a grind for those specific situations, so I'd argue it'll cause *less* investment, not more

Neat idea, but hard no for me.

I personally as a Player don’t like EXP method because my Character doesn’t know what is level and EXP. It’s kind of meta gaming to rush for level. And leveling should not be a purpose of DnD. It is not a video game where can win in game. I love to be on same level for a long time, to really feel the weight of that level. You should always separate game mechanics from role play and how you as player thinking. Just try to role play your character best you can and don’t worry about level. Level is not important it’s all about fun with people at table. It’s not about destination it’s about a journey.

@Redthedemon227

Ай бұрын

You should obscure your characters HP too because we don't think of our physical wellbeing in terms of an integer so neither would the characters in an rpg

Milestone alone is much better. It removes any need to track individual XP by the DM and the player (no bookkeeping, arguments, or cheating). The DM can say the level everyone should be at any given time without question, and can level up in appropriate spots instead of "ding!" after a combat in the middle of a dungeon. Milestone avoids favoritism - overcoming challenges as a team should be equally rewarded. Individual rewards should be given out as inspiration, or loot. Without planning the leveling up points, you are not doing milestone leveling. You are doing whimsy leveling and the players will pick up on it - leading to pestering. Plan it out, and tell them no when they ask for it.