I've been playing since 1st edition, and am now running a Pathfinder campaign. Way back in the day, most groups I ran in the DM said you had to rest overnight to gain the benefits of a new level. My group at present is in a dungeon, but not far from a safe haven. There's nothing I can find in the Core book or Gamemastery Guide that says anything about needing to 'rest and contemplate' I believe the wording was, the experiences that gained you a level. So, do you GM's out there allow 'instant leveling' even in the middle of a dungeon, or do you make them wait until they reach a place of relative safety?
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Our GM ruled early on that "physical" attributes (HP, Saves, BAB) and improvements in existing abilities (e. g. 1 more d6 sneak attack damage for a rogue, or 1 more ki point for a monk) happen when the characters sleep at night. Other things (new abilities, skill points, most feats, rogue talents, spells etc.) come only when the character is in a town or at least the local fort, depending on the nature of the improvement. This system works well for us.
We typically level at the end of the night or between sessions.
I generally award players xp at the end of the session. If they level up, they level up regardless of where they are. Of course prepared casters would need to rest in order to make use of their new spell slots, and all loss of hp or other resources remains.
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My last group tended to the overly well prepared end of the spectrum. Levels were usually mapped out well ahead of current progress, so the level-up was a fairly on-the-fly event. If you get the XP to level, you get the level, althoug I did tend to hold the XP until I was pretty sure the entire party would be leveling, so the breaks to do so were few and often included bathroom breaks and snack runs (or purposely conincided with them).
I allow mid-dungeon leveling, but you always need a full nights' rest. Basically if the wizard gets to re-slot his spells, the party gets to level.
I've been playing since 1st edition, and am now running a Pathfinder campaign. Way back in the day, most groups I ran in the DM said you had to rest overnight to gain the benefits of a new level. My group at present is in a dungeon, but not far from a safe haven. There's nothing I can find in the Core book or Gamemastery Guide that says anything about needing to 'rest and contemplate' I believe the wording was, the experiences that gained you a level. So, do you GM's out there allow 'instant leveling' even in the middle of a dungeon, or do you make them wait until they reach a place of relative safety?
Logistically, it works best depending on the real world. Between sessions is generally best. Whether that falls mid-dungeon, middle-of-nowhere, or even in the middle of a fight. We of course almost always try to end the session at a logical point, so I don't ever recall leveling in the middle of a fight.
Unless, you've developed a world in which the PCs need to seek out trainers or discover new spells on their own, there is no need to wait for them to level.
New spells, new skill, new abilities, appear just as if they had always been there. You can even justify a new spell appearing in mid-combat as the wizard using a spell he had be working on off screen for the first time in combat. Even additional hit points bringing an unconscious character back as a 'second wind' caused by the additional training.