Fri Jun 02, 2006 6:47 am  
Age and Level

I have been working on a new leveling system which I am implementing in my current campaign. I posted it in another forum [quote]IMC I have implemented a new standard. All pc races gain xp in life. At 15 years of age a human gains their 1st level (or equivalent age for non-humans). If they are not in serious training, they get a npc class. If they are in training of some sort, they gain a PC level.

Every 7 years after this they gain an additional level. Thus the distribution looks like this:

15 yrs - 1st level
22 yrs - 2nd level
29 yrs - 3rd level
36 yrs - 4th level
43 yrs - 5th level
50 yrs - 6th level
57 yrs - 7th level
64 yrs - 8th level
71 yrs - 9th level
78 yrs - 10th level
85 yrs - 11th level
92 yrs - 12th level
99 yrs - 13th level
106 yrs - 14th level

These are generally npc classes. However, if a 3rd level fighter challenges a 12th level warrior, they may find themselves a wee bit overmatched.

I have a house rule that a character will get a npc level if they sit around for 7 years, they choose which. Also, if a npc is seriously training in a class (warrior/expert/adept) they can gain a level in 5 years. I also leave the training option open to PCs, but they cannont double dip (train 2 years, adventure and gain a level, then train for three and gain a level, for example). This may push a character into epic level early, which could anger someone who has munchkined out their character to maximize every aspect.

Thus, IMC, level is generally by age. The village elders may be 8th level commoners, but they are still 8th level.

You also take the age factors into account... 106 year old warrior is not nearly as formidable as a 106 year old adept. I should note that my campaigns often have significantly more down time than the adventure paths, for example. They characters are expected (and enjoy) becoming part of the community, and generally will spend months to years between adventures.

One final note... they do not get xp over time in this system. After 5 years they gain a level and xp. This prevents the long lived races from having 800 magic items. They cannot sit around and burn xp on item creation and then go adventuring again with no penalty.

However, I thought I would post here an expaned schedule of age related advancement for each race. Also, remember in Gran March every male participates in the Army for 5 years at their age of majority, so nearly every male will have one level of warrior. Also note that IMC, there is no penalty for multiclassing into NPC classes.

Level By Race and Age

Human
Age Level Max Age 110
15 1 Age Increment 7
22 2
29 3
36 4
43 5
50 6
57 7
64 8
71 9
78 10
85 11
92 12
99 13
106 14

Dwarf
Age Level Max Age 450
40 1 Age Increment 32
72 2
104 3
136 4
168 5
200 6
232 7
264 8
296 9
328 10
360 11
392 12
424 13
- 14

Elf
Age Level Max Age 750
110 1 Age Increment 49
159 2
208 3
257 4
306 5
355 6
404 7
453 8
502 9
551 10
600 11
649 12
698 13
747 14

Gnome
Age Level Max Age 500
40 1 Age Increment 35
75 2
110 3
145 4
180 5
215 6
250 7
285 8
320 9
355 10
390 11
425 12
460 13
495 14

Half-orc
Age Level Max Age 80
14 1 Age Increment 5
19 2
24 3
29 4
34 5
39 6
44 7
49 8
54 9
59 10
64 11
69 12
74 13
79 14


Halfling
Age Level Max Age 200
20 1 Age Increment 14
34 2
48 3
62 4
76 5
90 6
104 7
118 8
132 9
146 10
160 11
174 12
188 13
- 14

I apologize for the spacing, but this is the best that i can do in this