Leveling Mid-Dungeon

[ElementalofCuteness]

When you have PCs level mid-way through an important dungeon or question, do you allow the casters to benefit from their new spell slots if they happen to level up into them?

[Mathmuse]

Yes, I let my PCs level up in the middle of a dungeon. If a prepared spellcaster gains new spell slots, I let them fill those slots immediately. For a spontaneous spellcaster, the spell slot issue is simpler: they have the new slots and learned new spells and can use them.

[thenobledrake]

Absolutely.

The game mechanics aren't so directly tied to in-world what-nots as for their to be any reason not to, especially given how this question is limited to a specific subset of characters and there's no "it would be unfair if they did get this benefit like everyone else" argument to be made since spell casters are not outright more potent than other characters.

[The Raven Black]

I usually use milestones leveling, but I would adjudicate that PCs get the benefits of their new level when they do their next daily preparations.

[NielsenE]

When using milestone leveling, it doesn't come up too often (outside of things like Abomination Vaults). But when using exp leveling, or in the rare milestone leveling situations, yes I'll level the characters when they've earned it, regardless of if its back in town/safe/overnight, etc.

My usual approach is to give them everything new while not affecting any spent resources. Ie they get their new HP, without healing any current damage, they get new spell slots (and can prepare into those slots only), etc. If a fighter has gotten to one of hte new daily flexible feats, they get that, etc. They don't get to refill used spell slots -- its not a full heal like in some video games.

Now there might be occasions, where I do just say its a full heal/free overnight rest/daily prep instead, but typically that would be something more tied to a deities blessing, artifact, or something like a 1e mythic ascension. This is most common in a scripted situation where the level-up is designed to happen after the penultimate encounter for a major arc for instance and you want the party going in at full strength to an extreme/sever encounter without a long delay in in-game time.

[steelhead]

Although I usually use milestone leveling, I generally say they need a full night’s rest before they can level. The assumption is that they’ve been incrementally working on new battle actions, trying new magical formulas (not necessarily literal alchemist formulas), researching things related to their class, etc. At a certain point all that training results in everything clicking and the PC waking up refreshed with some new tricks. I’ve allowed that to happen in dungeons or the middle of outdoor exploration - whatever works for the campaign.

[Perpdepog]

We also tend toward needing a rest before a level takes effect, though that's more for convenience than anything else. The PCs resting is a good chance for us to take a break from game, or ending a session so the party starts fresh next time, so it became the natural point to insert the level up. Nobody in my group requires everyone to be safe back in town or anything like that, however.

I suppose that if we really needed to we could level up without resting, but generally folks haven't got their feats and things picked out ahead of time. I could see it absolutely murdering the pacing.