Variation to Level up

[DeathBecomesus]

Long ago in earlier editions it was suggested that characters needed to undergo "training" from mentor/teacher to level up. I think most groups just ignored this and leveled up when ever.

My experience is that experience pts awarded at end of gaming session. Should you have enough to level up, then you would level up on your own time and next session you character has magically improved (reguardless of gaming situation) Could just level up after a encounter (and then end of gaming night) and next encounter (next gaming session) character has leveled up.

How/when do you "level up"
Does any one follow the "training" idea?

My thought/idea that I would like some feedback on:

When it is time to level up player has the option. Immediate level up for character (no training) exactly as is written in books.
OR Player has choice to go back to mentor and "train", this would require creative solutions to roleplaying and campaign issues. But should you choose to delay leveling up, and wait until you can train you would receive a bonus.
Perhaps an additional skill points (2?) or extra hit points?

My thoughts : doing this training one time would be no big deal, and character would just have a few extra skills points/hit points
But should the player/character choose to do this EVERY time, could be a big deal after 10 levels (or something like that) Gaining an extra 2-3 skills points (x10 levels) is30 extra points. Or 2 extra hit points (X10 levels) = 20 extra hps.

What this lead to imbalance? What could be a modest bonus that a character could receive for Training and leveling up?
Your thoughts?

[thejeff]

We never did in combat leveling. It almost always required at least a night of rest. Once in a long while we would leave between encounters (and sessions) if the next game was to be a epic important battle.

The problem with training always was a playstyle issue. If your game is one of trips from a home base to loot dungeons or perform discrete missions then training to level isn't really a big deal. If you're on a long-term quest and traveling or working with a time limit, it's going to be much harder if not impossible.

This makes it not really the character's choice or the player's, it's much more a group decision. If one player wants to go home and train and the others want to keep going, what happens? Character A isn't going to not level if the others level and keep going for another few sessions. Not if he's going to keep going with them and he's not going to go back to town and miss out on the next few gaming sessions and maybe another levels worth of experience.

If everyone likes the training idea and the game's going to be structured so that it works, then require it. If not, then don't. I don't think bonuses for doing it are needed or a good idea.

[Morgen]

While there are no rules about training time or the like in the main Pathfinder books the game certainly does not support in combat leveling. Usually experience is given to players at the end of a session, or at points in the story where they get a bit of down time and can rest. Not every time or every game, GM's different on this like they do on most other things but I have not ever even heard of a GM running things as instant.

that would be a nightmare to run.

[ZugZug]

I haven't used (DM or player) training rules since 2e, or maybe the beginning of 3e.

Training also (usually) cost money as well, which needs to be compensated usually (in order to keep up with WBL). Quest rewards could be to use the facilities for free as well though.

As was stated, its success will depend on the campaign. If there's a time limit (or a series of them), you might end up not being able to train to the level you need to succeed in the mission.

[Ragnarok Aeon]

I don't let players level in the middle of a dungeon and certainly not in the middle of combat. I don't even give xp till the end of the session. I instead require that they have down time to level. They don't need any trainers or gold, but they don't just magically have these abilities. If I was really going to send them on some time sensitive mission where the characters just don't have time to develop, I'd just start the game at that level. For my group, it kinda just kills the immersion to just pop a level like a video game character.

[David knott 242]

We generally require a night's rest to gain a level (since the end of a session could be arbitrary, especially if we finish up the previous week's adventure in the first half hour of a session). The problem with requiring training is that it could interfere with the DM's plans -- his adventure may not include the down time required to seek out and undergo that training, especially for characters with classes that are very rare in the game world.