Adaptables, Leveling and Slow Progression

[Ricky Bobby]

So yesterday a bunch of us ran through Fellnight Queen, and one of the players who was on slow progression leveled up after the adaptable was over.

But here's the thing - he had 23 xp, received 1.5 xp for the mod, leaving him technically at 24.5 xp. However, he wants to switch back to Fast Track at 9th level (24 xp).

So does he eat the .5 xp and just sits at 24 xp, or would he sit at 25, allowing the .5 to round up (since he is in the Fast Track and it "sorta" is equivalent to a full point of xp)?

I looked around some, but couldn't find any definitive answer...anyone have any type of official answer?

[Chris Mortika]

Officially? He can't switch.

He would have had to have switched at the beginning of 9th level, when he had 24.0 experience points. However, he never had 24.0 experience points, going straight from 23.0 to 24.5, so he never got a chance to switch from slow to normal progression. (In the same way, a PC with 14 xp, who plays a module and earns 3 xp, can't decide to take one 1xp, rise to 6th level, switch to slow progression, and then take the other experience points.)

He'll have to stay at slow experience progression through 9th level, and if he gets to 27.0 (exactly) he'll be able to switch to normal experience progression when he gains 10th level.

A generous table GM might decide to rule differently, allowing him to shift gears. In that case, he'd have 24.5 experience points. After one scenario, he'd have 25.5, and so on.

[Mike Lindner]

I agree with Chris on everything except that I don't think this is up to GM interpretation. The only time a character can switch from normal to slow or slow to normal is when reaching a new level exactly. You can't choose to only apply part of the experience, level up, then apply the rest of the XP; all the XP is applied at once.

[Chris Mortika]

(To be clear, I don't think it's up to GM interpretation, either, Mike. But I've seen enough to know that there are enough folks in the PFS community who'll want to make EvolvingMonkey's friend happy, that he will be able to shop around and find someone who will tell him he can shift gears.)

[Don Walker]

The only quasi-legal way to do it is if the GM only awarded the PC 1 XP on slow track. Since he was already given the 1.5 this really isn't an option this time.

[TetsujinOni]

The solution of course would've been to skip a session's worth of the module so as to miss a third of the rewards...