User:CodeGlaze/Shatner's USE System

=Shatner's d20 USE System=


 * USE : Unskilled, Skilled, Expert (d20 skill system)


 * Shatner : Dennizen and lurker of TGD

Original USE/ELO (public) post

"Classic" d20 / DnD 3.X Multi-class Progression
Under the DnD 3.x rules, the numeric progression of your base attack bonus (BAB) and saving throw bonuses advanced based on the individual classes you took.

In other words, if you took a level of wizard and a level of sorcerer then you added the BAB and saves:
 * level 1 wizard wizard (+0 BAB, F/R/W of 0/0/2)
 * level 1 sorcerer (+0 BAB, F/R/W of 0/0/2)

... for a net of terrible BAB and fort/reflex saves but one insane will save.

This made multi-classing (including prestige classes) a really weird thing where you'd have 8th level characters with some numbers being reflective of a 3rd level character and others beating what a straight-classed 20th level character would have (my wizard/cleric/sorcerer/druid has the BAB of a goblin and the will save of a GOD).

That 'needs to end.

Shatner's d20 USE BAB/Save
Now each level advances you along a numeric progression track. (Related to base attack bonus and each of the three saves.)

USE Save Bonus Tracks
There are two tracks for each save: and
 * fast (2 + 1/2 round down like the fort save on a fighter)
 * slow (0 + 1/3 level round down like the will save on a fighter)

All of the classes with a favored fort save (fighter, barbarian, cleric, druid, monk, etc.) advance you down the fast fort save track while all the classes with an unfavored fort save (wizard, rogue, sorcerer, etc.) advance you down the slow fort save track. Ditto for all the other saves.

To determine your save, you look at your position on the slow track, look at your position on the fast track and add the bonuses together.

So, a Fighter 2/Sorcerer 3/Cleric 1/Rogue 1 would have 3 levels of Fort(Fast) save (fighter 2 + cleric 1) for a bonus of +3, a Fort(slow) save (sorcerer 3 + rogue 1) of +1 for a total fort save of 4. He would also have a reflex save of 4 (6 levels of Ref(slow) save, 1 level of Ref(fast) save) and a will save of 4 for a total F/R/W of 4/2/4.

To put that in contrast, under the old style that same character would have a F/R/W of 6/3/5.

USE BAB Tracks
In DnD there are three BAB tracks:
 * 1/1 (fast, like a fighter)
 * 2/3 (medium, like a cleric)
 * 1/2 (slow, like a wizard)

Here you do the same thing, advancing along those tracks and adding the results together.

If our Fighter 2/Sorcerer 3/Cleric 1/Rogue 1 took a level of barbarian and then a level of Rogue, he would have done the following...


 * 3 levels of fast (fighter 2 + barbarian 1) = +3
 * 2 levels of medium (cleric 1 + rogue 1) = +1
 * 3 levels of slow (sorcerer 3) = +1

...for a total BAB of +5. Under the old system they would have a BAB of +4.

Reasoning
I have actually hewn to this particular house rule since my first major campaign way back in 2007; I've just never bothered to codify it. So I'm doing that now.

'''The motivation behind this is to prevent polarized numeric progressions. '''

The old multi-classing progression allowed for saving throws to occupy an enormous range. (At level ten you could have a character with a base saving throw bonus of +0 for one save and a +20 for another... that's the entire random number generator for saving throws!)

Making some high level saves impossible to succeed against for some and impossible to fail against for others. That's bad.

Furthermore, it could do nothing but penalize base attack bonuses, causing further success/failure extremes. So in an effort to keep the math on the rails, to not overly penalize a player who wanted to multi-class in a non-synergistic way, and to not overly incentivize a player who wanted to multi-class for munchkiny reasons I am making these changes.

If it helps you think about it better, you can pretend your Cleric 3/Monk 2 (or what-have-you) effectively took 5 levels of monk when determining their BAB, fort save and will save (since those are all on the same tracks) and effectively took 2 levels of monk and 3 levels of cleric for determining their reflex save (since those are on separate tracks). That's what I do.

An Explanation
Now we start to get into the meat of the revisions I've come up with.

Before I actually explain what I mean by re-rolls, let me tell you a thing or two about 3.X DnD.

Third Edition has a problem with bonuses. It's a junkie. It just can't get enough bonuses.


 * Racial bonuses
 * circumstance bonuses
 * attribute bonuses
 * inherent bonuses
 * profane bonuses
 * dodge bonuses
 * synergy bonuses
 * even nameless bonuses

And they all stack. This causes problems, especially at the higher levels.

However, it's not just an issue with equipment, wherein a high level character can afford to load themselves up with:
 * mask of bluffing
 * a potion of glibness
 * a snake's tongue amulet
 * a serpent familiar
 * +4 underwear of deceit

...so their bluff check is several times larger than what anyone else could overcome.

Even without equipment, it is entirely feasible for a mid level character to have a combined bonus of +20 or higher in some skill and another character still have a +0... or lower. As I said before, that's bad.

DnD is ideally a game about character specializations and a revolving spotlight. So you want some divergence in the numbers.

DimWit the Barbarian gets to look badass when he smashes through a door Cool-Aid Man Style and Swordy McSmiteEvil gets to smirk as he diplomances the party past the guards with his stirring rhetoric and shiny, shiny armor.

However, you need to keep everyone numerically within reach of one another. Otherwise DimWit's player stacks dice until the party finishes talking. Meanwhile Swordy stays in the tavern when he learns the next dungeon crawl involves stealth.

Since the roll to determine a skill attempt's success or failure only goes from 1 to 20, the bonuses a character has to their skills RELATIVE TO OTHER SIMILARLY LEVELED CHARACTERS needs to be no more than 20 better or worse than the others. (Ideally we should strive to keep that range around 10.)

That way Swordy isn't expected to sneaky as well as the party rogue, but he can at least show up wearing camo and not embarrass everyone. While the party is genuinely glad to have DimWit around because he actually does notice someone lying through their teeth about one time in four.

As far as gratuitous bonuses go, the skill sub-system is among the worst offenders. So that stops. The number of bonuses given out to skills will get paired way, WAY down.

Re-Rolls
So, fewer skill bonuses. Okay.

If that's the case, what benefit do you actually get when you wear camo and are hiding or have on boots of Superior Leaping and are trying to jump from one rooftop to another?

One answer is... re-rolls.

One way to represent a really skilled character who gets performance-enhancing equipment is to allow them to roll one or more extra dice and choose the result they want.

So Swordy McSmiteEvil gets Robes of the Diplomat. They allow him to, once per session, re-roll his diplomacy check. This means:


 * he rolls a d20 and adds his bonus to diplomacy
 * is dissatisfied with the result
 * uses his robe's power to roll another d20 and choose whichever one he wants

In contrast to unmitigated bonus accumulation, re-rolls allow for consistent success (which is good) without resulting in guaranteed success (which is bad). More of the particulars concerning re-rolls will be explored in subsequent sections, but I wanted to introduce them here because they really are one of the fundamental changes I am introducing with these revisions.

Using re-rolls
Whenever you use a re-roll of any kind you will roll an identical number of the same kinds of dice as the first roll and then choose between the results.

If you are still not satisfied with the results and you have re-rolls remaining, you may do additional re-rolls until you get a number you like or run out of re-rolls.

'''Let's say... ' a strong rogue (+3 strength mod'') sneak attacks (+4d6 sneak attack damage) with a longsword (1d8 weapon damage)

He would roll 4d6 + 1d8 and add 3 to the result to see how much damage he did. For example, say he rolled a total of 8 on the 4d6 and 5 on the 1d8 for a total of 8 + 5 + 3 = 16.

If he used a general re-roll for his attack's damage, he would roll another set of 4d6 + 1d8 and add 3 to that result as well. Say he rolled 16 on the 4d6 and 2 on their 1d8 for a total of 16 + 2 + 3 = 21.

The rogue could then choose between the original 16, the new 21 (note that he can't mix-and-match the numbers between the rolls) or choose to use another general re-roll if he had one.

So, under the new rules, each character will start each session with one general re-roll and one skill re-roll. Certain feats, equipment, class skills and racial bonuses will grant additional re-rolls (for example, instead of an halflings getting a +1 luck bonus to all saves, they now get one general re-roll per session which can only be used to re-roll a saving throw). Skill re-rolls can, as the name implies, only be used to re-roll skill attempts. Skill re-rolls will be fairly common as far as re-rolls go, but general re-rolls will be much rarer. That's because general re-rolls can be used to re-roll anything: saving throws, attack rolls, skill checks (if you are out of skill re-rolls) or even damage rolls.

All re-rolls are refreshed at the start of a session and unused re-rolls are lost at the end of a session. I'm favoring a "per session" usage over the more typical "X times per day" mechanic because re-rolls represent a meta ability that heroes have. This is their ability to overcome steep odds and get by with determination, grit and luck. And the pacing by which a party needs heroic luck has little-to-no basis on the passage of in-game time and everything to do with the passage of in-session time. The amount of in-game time a session represents is very meta in that one session might cover a span of in-game hours if the scene is particularly tense (pitched combat, tense negotiations or a particularly fraught escape, to name a few examples) while another session might cover multiple days, weeks or even months if it's just a DM monologue or a travel montage. Put another way, if the four of us agree to dedicate 4+ hours to a session of DnD, your characters are going to have an adventure, otherwise we'd have been better off playing board games or throwing a frisbee around. It doesn't matter if your characters were about to square off against a draco-lich or if they just walked into a tavern to hear the local gossip; heroic shit is going to happen and the need to not fail during said heroics begins and ends with the session.

USE: Untrained, Skilled, Expert
In regular 3rd ed. a character could have as many ranks in a skill as their level + 3. They would then add their ability modifier and any other bonuses (oh so many bonuses) to those ranks to determine their skill bonus when attempting a skill. Then they'd roll a d20, add their skill bonus to that and see if it met or exceeded whatever the DC (difficulty challenge) was for that skill check. If they did, they were successful; if not, their attempt was a failure. Let's say you were a halfling cleric with an int-mod of +1. You got 2 (base ranks for being a cleric) + 1 (your intelligence modifier) in skill ranks each level, for a total of 3. Most of the time that meant you had three skills you had max ranks in (in this case, say knowledge: religion, spellcraft and healing). So, for those three skills you were an expert and at everything else you were a newb. Now at low level, having a high dex or racial bonus meant you could sneak almost as well as the guy you had max ranks in hide and move silently. At higher levels, this was absolutely not the case. Not cool. So, that entire way of doing things is being replaced with the USE system.

When a character is created they start out unskilled in all skills. Every time they level up they get one skill upgrade they can use for any skill and one or more skill upgrades they can use on their class skills (a cleric, for example, would get one skill upgrade while a rogue would get two). These upgrades can be used to, well, upgrade a character from (U)ntrained to (S)killed, or from (S)killed to (E)xpert. You can't go any higher than Expert and your skill level only goes down if you get level drained or were getting boosts from temporary sources (like spells or equipment). Most of the bonuses in the game have been converted to skill upgrades and/or re-rolls. For example, elves start out with a skill upgrade to spot, listen and search instead the old +2 bonus to each. This makes even the lowliest 1st level, elven commoner as skilled at spotting stuff (for their level) as a skilled 1st level human guard. Elves need to invest less to become experts but, and this is important, the greatest elven look-out is on par with the greatest human look-out. That's because anyone described as "the greatest ____" is going to be a hero and it's important that the heights of success someone can accomplish be limited by their level, not their race/class combination, because that's the entire point to playing a leveled role-playing game where players are free to multi-class.

Whenever you use a re-roll on a skill check, you get a +3 re-roll bonus to the result you choose. Always. No matter what your skill level is, nor what kind of re-roll you used (general vs skill).

Untrained
When an Untrained character attempts a skill check, they roll a d20 and add half their level to the roll (rounded down) to determine their skill bonus. That's it. No synergy bonuses, racial bonuses, your-mom bonuses, etc. Your not even adding your attribute modifier. Just d20 + 1/2 level. An unskilled character is not allowed to use a skill re-roll if they don't like the result; they'd have to use a precious general re-roll instead. However, if they do re-roll they get the +3 re-roll bonus to the result they choose. Example: a 5th level DimWit the Barbarian attempts an unskilled bluff check. He rolls a d20 (gets a 9) and adds half his level (+2). If he doesn't like his 11 then he'd have to spend a general re-roll to change it, but he would get a +3 to whichever result he chose.

Skilled
When a Skilled character attempts a skill check, they roll a d20 and add their level to the roll to determine the skill bonus. They are allowed to use skill re-rolls if they don't like the result. If they use a re-roll of any kind, they get an extra +3 re-roll bonus to the result they choose. Example: DimWit attempts a jump check and needs a result of 15 to succeed. He rolls a d20 (gets a 8) and adds his level (+5). He doesn't like the 13 he got so he uses a skill re-roll. He rolls another d20 and gets a 4. Since he used a re-roll, he'll get an extra +3 bonus to the result. His options are his original 13, or the new 9. He chooses the 13 and, with the +3 re-roll bonus he got, gets a result of 16 allowing him to succeed at his jump check.

Expert
When an Expert character attempts a skill check, they roll a d20, add their level and add an extra +3 expert bonus to their result. If the d20 was less than a 10, they are considered to have rolled a 10 instead. They are allowed to use skill re-rolls if they don't like the result. If they use a re-roll of any kind, they get an extra +3 re-roll bonus to the result they choose. DimWit is an expert at the survival skill. He attempts to hunt up food for the party while in the wilderness (DC 16 since it is himself and three other party members). He rolls a d20 (gets a 2, but is considered a 10), adds his level (+5) and the +3 expert bonus for a result of 18. If he for some reason wanted to, he could use a re-roll and gotten the additional +3 re-roll bonus to whichever result he chose.

You'll notice in the last example, it was impossible for DimWit to fail that check.

This last example shows another reason I'm switching to the USE system: there are some checks which aren't worth being able to fail. At 5th level the party is suppose to be able to pull through against Huge Earth Elementals, Stone Giants or an evil Wizard guarded by a pair of hellcats.

At that level, it should be assumed that DimWit can pick enough berries and hunt enough rabbits to feed the party while they trek across some generic, medieval hinterland.

Under the normal system, no matter how easy or trivial the task, you can always fail.

Sometimes rolling something low, like a 5, is enough to cause failure. But no matter what, there is always rolling the dreaded natural 1. There are lots of occasions in DnD when the awesome character can fail at their awesome skill and, while this does add unpredictability to the game, it can often times derail a good scene.

Now, it is important that the characters face the threat of failure for important tasks, otherwise the adventure lacks suspense. However, it is not important that the characters face the threat of failure for unimportant tasks.

3rd ed. does recognize this with the "Take 10" and "Take 20" system, but I want to take it a step further. So an expert is guaranteed success against modest tasks for their level. At the very least, they're guaranteed to not fail spectacularly. They are, after all, an expert.

Numerically, a character at Xth level who is an expert at some skill has the exact same bonus (X + 3) as a normal 3rd ed. character who has max ranks in a skill (level + 3). The only way they can get that bonus higher is to use a re-roll (getting them another +3) and hope to roll higher. Also, a character at Xth level who is unskilled has roughly the same bonus (X/2 rounded down) as a normal 3rd ed. character who has max ranks in a cross-class skill ((level + 3)/2). At 10th level, everyone will have at least a +5 bonus to all skill attempts; that's more than most 3rd ed. characters have when they are working outside their specialty. This means that the best an expert at Xth level can hope to roll on a skill check is 20 + X + 6; the best that an unskilled character at Xth level can hope to roll on a skill check is 20 + X/2. This means that even at 20th level, the difference between absolute mastery and absolute incompetence RELATIVE TO OTHER SIMILARLY LEVELED CHARACTERS is less than 20 (max bonus of 20 + 6 = 26, min bonus of 10, difference of 16) meaning that each character has a chance to contribute at every task at every level because they can always roll an 17 or better while their opponent rolls a 4 or worse. At 20th level, that's a 4% chance of an upset; much better than the 0.25% chance of an upset you get from normal 3rd edition.

Rolling USE
Unskilled + it's just d20 + level/2 (round down) + can only use general re-rolls (with additional +3 re-roll bonus)

Skilled + d20 + level + can use skill re-rolls (with an additional +3 re-roll bonus)

Expert + max(d20, 10) + level + 3 expert bonus + can use skill re-rolls (with an additional +3 re-roll bonus)

Changes to Ability Modifiers
You'll notice that ability modifiers have been removed from skill rolls (i.e. you no longer add your charisma mod to your bluff check). That was a very, very hard decision to make but it needed to happen to keep the numbers from diverging too much. However, this has the side effect of making ability modifiers less important... in fact, charisma is used for nothing BUT skill checks unless you have a class-specific power (like a paladin's Divine Grace, or a sorcerer's spell casting). So, I'm making some changes to the ability modifiers to make them more useful in this brave new revision.

The party's combined ability modifiers will be averaged to determine the average bonus (hereafter referred to as the AMA or ability modifier average) the party would be receiving to their skill checks if they weren't using the USE system. The AMA will be used as a penalty for determining the skills of monsters out of the Monster Manual. In effect, the party will be suffering a penalty equal to the AMA whenever they make skill rolls so it balances out the math by applying the same penalty to the opposition. This way I don't have to go in and convert all the skills for all the monsters in the MM, something I'm glad of.

Physical Stats
No general changes, read below for specifics...

Strength: Str has plenty of job security; after all it determines how hard you hit something in a game that is primarily about hitting monsters repeatedly until they let you take their stuff. Strength is not changed: your strength mod is added to melee damage, melee to-hit, thrown weapon damage, many advanced combat maneuvers (grappling, tripping, etc.) and used to determine your carrying capacity.

Dexterity: Dex, even more-so than Str, has plenty going for it so it is unchanged: your dex mod is added to ranged to-hit, armor class, initiative and reflex saves.

Constitution: Con has always been prized but narrow in it's application. Everyone wants a better fort save and more hit points. Plus, it only applied to the concentration skill so removing it from skill bonuses has pretty minimal effect. However now your con mod gets added (even if negative) to the amount of health you regain each night from rest, for a minimum of 1hp. As such, a 3rd level character with a con mod of +2 would gain 5 hp per night of rest, 10 hp per day of rest and twice those numbers when cared for by a healer. A 2nd level character with a con modifier of -2 would gain 1 hp per night of rest, 2hp per day of rest and so on because they can't gain less than 1 hp per night. This last tweak is just to prop up an otherwise underwhelming mechanic (natural healing).

Mental Stats
All mental stats give you one skill re-roll per session equal to half your ability modifier, if positive (round up). However, these skill re-rolls can only be applied to skills which are associated with that attribute (such as bluff being associated with charisma, spot being associated with spot and spellcraft being associated with intelligence). Therefore, a character with an int mod of +1, a cha mod of +2 and a wis mod of -1 would get 1 extra intelligence related skill re-roll per session (1/2 round up), 1 extra charisma re-roll (2/2 round up) and 0 extra wisdom re-rolls (since a negative modifier doesn't count against you).

Intelligence: Int used to determine your number of starting languages and the number of skill ranks you got each level. It still determines the number of bonus languages you start with but clearly the skill ranks thing is out because we aren't using skill ranks anymore. Instead, when your character is created, you get one additional skill upgrade per point of your int mod (or less if your int mod is negative). For each point your int mod increases between leveling you gain one additional skill upgrade. Also, you get skill re-rolls equal to half your intelligence modifier (round up), usable only for intelligence-related skills.

Wisdom: Wis is used as a bonus to your will-save, which makes it pretty important on it's own. Which is good because that's all it does. Other than get skill re-rolls equal to half your wisdom modifier (round up), usable only for wisdom-related skills.

Charisma: Cha has it rough with this change. It isn't used for anything at all except skill bonuses which has made it the dump-stat of choice for characters for years. In an effort to give it something to do, I am making it so that you can use your cha mod in place of your wis mod for will saves. After all, your will save is meant to represent your strength of self and force of personality so I'm cool having meditative monks (high wisdom) and ego-powered sorcerers (high charisma) both able to shrug off enchantments. Also, you get skill re-rolls equal to half your charisma modifier (round up), usable only for charisma-related skills.

Note that when creating characters, we will be using the usual "4d6 drop the lowest" to generate a stat array. Any stat array with a net bonus of less than +2 can be re-rolled (when you add all the modifiers up, if the sum is less than a +2 than you can scrap that array and start over). Each player will generate a stat array and then each player can pick any of the stat arrays created (so if Larcy got the array 12/9/12/16/15/13 and Jacob got the array 8/11/12/18/18/8, both Jacob and Larcy could choose to use the numbers from Jacob's array if they wanted to).

Changes to skill boosting items and spells
As part of my campaign of numeric responsibility, I'm changing the nature of skill boosting items and spells. It's a pretty simple change, in part because I'm keeping things vague. Instead of something offering a +2 to this or a +10 to that, it will instead increase your rank in that skill by one or more steps (taking you from U -> S -> E). For every step beyond Expert an item or spell would take you, you instead gain one skill re-roll per session that can only be used for that skill. Spells which give out insane bonuses (invisibility to hide, glibness to bluff) will be altered as well. Now, there are a hell of a lot of skill boosting spells and items out there so I'm just going to hand wave this and say that I will translate those from 3.5 rules to revised rules as needed. However, to give you a feel for what I'm talking about, here are a few

Examples
Boots of Elvenkind - OLD VERSION These soft boots enable the wearer to move quietly in virtually any surroundings, granting a +5 competence bonus on Move Silently checks. Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must be an elf; Price 2,500 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Boots of Elvenkind - NEW VERSION

''These soft boots enable the wearer to move quietly in virtually any surroundings, granting a skill upgrade to Move Silently. If the wearer already has a rank of Expert at Move Silently then they instead get one extra skill re-roll per session that can only be used when using the Move Silently skill. This re-roll is lost if the boots are removed. If the re-roll has been used, another re-roll isn't gained if the wearer puts on a different pair of Boots of Elvenkind.''

Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must be an elf; Price 2,500 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Invisibility: Consider the following a revision to the hide skill definition... no more +40 to hide checks. While under this effect, you are automatically considered to have rolled a 20 during all hide skill attempts against all enemies who would rely on sight to detect you. You must roll normally against enemies which use other means (tremor sense, scent, etc.) of detection.

Glibness: Your speech becomes fluent and more believable. You are automatically considered to have rolled a 20 during all Bluff checks made to convince another of the truth of your words. (This bonus doesn’t apply to other uses of the Bluff skill, such as feinting in combat, creating a diversion to hide, or communicating a hidden message via innuendo.)

If a magical effect is used against you that would detect your lies or force you to speak the truth the user of the effect must succeed on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) against a DC of 15 + your caster level to succeed. Failure means the effect does not detect your lies or force you to speak only the truth.

Changes to a few of the skills
First, skill synergies are gone. However, if you are at least Skilled in a knowledge skill then you gain one re-roll per session which can only be used for the skill it used to grant synergy to (e.g. so a diplomacy re-roll with knowledge: nobility).

There is no more Skill Focus feat and no more generic "+2 to two skills" feats. All of those are replaced by the following: Skillful [General] Benefit: you gain two skill upgrades. Both can be applied to the same skill or split between two different skills. Special: You can gain this feat multiple times.

And then there are the changes to some of the skills themselves; namely speak languages and craft (which is being turned into two 2-part skills).

Speak Language U: like normal S: you get a number of bonus language slots equal to your level. You may fill one for free every time you level. Also, once per session you can fill another slot with any language you are exposed to. E: you get three additional bonus language slots. You may fill in any unfilled bonus language slots as a free action. You get one additional skill re-roll per session which can be used for bluff, diplomacy, decipher script or forgery in any language you know. Note that skill re-rolls can't be used for a skill you are untrained in. NOTE: characters in this campaign are not literate by default. To attain literacy, a character must spend one bonus language slot on "Literacy" as though it were a separate language. The only ways to gain bonus language slots is through a high intelligence modifier or through skill upgrades for the Speak Language skill.

Craft (Alchemy/Poison) U: you may not attempt to craft either poisonous or alchemical substances unskilled. S: pick Alchemy or Poison. You can attempt to craft substances of that sort (see PHB and DMG for details) and gain the usual benefits of being skilled (re-rolls, full level bonus) E: You can attempt to craft both poisonous and alchemical substances and gain the usual benefits of being an expert (+3 bonus, minimum result)

Craft (Combat Equipment/Non-Combat Equipment) U: you may attempt to craft equipment unskilled but you can not create items of masterwork quality and the cost of creating the item is tripled. S: pick Combat or Non-Combat equipment. You can attempt to create equipment of that sort of any quality level (see PHB and DMG for details) and gain the usual benefits of being skilled (re-rolls, full level bonus) E: You can attempt to craft both types of equipment and gain the usual benefits of being an expert (+3 bonus, minimum result)

New leveling Mechanic (ELO)
"'So, in regular DnD your character runs around fighting stuff, swinging from chandeliers, sneaking into crypts and otherwise gaining XP.'"

Then, like something out of Order of the Stick, they level up and gain access to a host of new skills and powers they previously didn’t possess.

That seems a little incongruous to me.

I mean, sure the game hand waves this away claiming that your 2nd level fighter was practicing their sneaking and lock picking before you explicitly spent that 3rd level on rogue, but it’s still an all-or-nothing progression. If our 2nd level proto-rogue was faced with a locked door, he's still SOL even though he was “secretly practicing all along”.

I turn now to Mr. Burlew for further illustrating my point

So several changes are in order.

No more XP

 * 1) First off; no more XP. 
 * 2) *That sounds like a big deal but it really isn’t.
 * XP is only used for determining how close you are to leveling as well as used as a way to disincentivize certain casting spells (XP material component) or creating magic items (1/25 gp cost in XP).
 * However, I haven’t had XP costs in more than two campaigns and haven’t missed them.
 * 1) Characters will now gain a new level once they have received three advancement points
 * 2) *Characters usually get one advancement point at the end of each session.
 * So, if your character starts at 1st level, they will be 2nd level by the end of the 3rd session,
 * 3rd by the end of the 6th and so on.
 * If a session is particularly impressive or difficult, the party might earn more than the typical number of advancement points.
 * Likewise, if the session is really just laying the groundwork for adventure rather than actually adventuring then that session’s advancement point might be deferred until later.

"It might seem odd that the PCs would be leveling up on a pretty regular schedule..."

But that's pretty much how the math of challenge ratings and XP gain works out, just with waaaay more accounting.

I even went and looked over my old post-mortems and my players were leveling once every 2-4 sessions, averaging about one level every 3. As such, this isn't as disruptive a change as it might initially seem.

This next part is probably my favorite rule revision of all.

Early Leveling Opportunity (ELO)
"Every session, each character will have one Early Leveling Opportunity (ELO)."

An ELO allows a character to spontaneously gain one of the things they would gain from their next level.

With an ELO, a monk could gain another fighting style early. A wizard could gain access to a higher level spell sooner than normal. Or a multi-classing character could express their diversifying talents on their way to leveling up.

Even more interestingly, it allows characters to grow their skills organically; if the party suddenly finds itself needing someone who can speak orcish or disarm a dread knight or craft a disguise, one or more party members can use their ELOs to claim to have just the talent needed in the nick of time... you know, like what happens all the time in actual fantasy stories.

Furthermore, it would allow the characters to more closely reflect their adventure. Many of you took ranks in sense motive after Kobin Hammerite played you guys like a cheap fiddle and that’s way more memorable than just maximizing your ranks in hide because your character is a sneak; those ranks in sense motive had a story behind them and that's awesome!

ELO Mechanics
Before I go any further, here's the ELO mechanics all spelled out:

An early level opportunity (ELO) can be used at any time (even reactively during another player's turn) during a session; though the DM may require the ELO to somehow be relevant (suddenly gaining Whirlwind Attack while surrounded, skill upgrades in Bluff while lying, etc.) If this is the first ELO you have used for this level, you choose which class you are going to next level up in. You then choose one of the following:


 * 1) all the weapon, armor and shield proficiencies in addition to the hp, base save and base attack progression you would gain from that level.
 * 2) all the skill training you would gain from that level (both from the class and the one skill upgrade you get every level)
 * 3) any one class feature you would gain from that level
 * 4) the 1 feat you would gain if you are going to reach a 3rd level (3rd, 6th, 9th, etc.)
 * 5) If none of the above options are relevant, you may gain one additional general and skill re-roll for this session.

If you didn't choose option 5, you gain one general re-roll which must be used as soon as possible and can only be used in a way which is related to the benefit you gained from the ELO. For example, if a character gained the feat Improved Initiative from their ELO, they would gain an general re-roll which they must use the next time they roll for initiative. Other examples for the above options are:


 * 1) a re-roll on the attack or damage for a weapon you just gained proficiency in
 * 2) a re-roll for one of the skills you just upgraded
 * 3) a re-roll related to the class feature you just gained
 * 4) a re-roll for one attack roll or saving throw if your base attack bonus or saves improved
 * 5) a re-roll related to the feat you just gained

As example, let's say you have a 2nd level fighter, Bob, who has been imprisoned. Bob's player hasn't decided what class he wants to level Bob up in next so he decides the next class is going to be rogue. Bob's player announces he is using his ELO for this session and that Bob is gaining the skill upgrades he would gain from being a 3rd level character with 1 level in rogue (this gets him 2 skill upgrades for rogue class-skills and 1 skill upgrade for the skill of his choice). Bob suddenly becomes skilled in open lock, escape artist and hide. He also gains a skill re-roll for one of those three skills. Bob uses his new rogue skills to escape his imprisonment and now has a more memorable multi-classing story than just "yeah, I took a 3rd level of rogue for the sneak attack damage and reflex save". In the next session, Bob could gain the sneak attack class ability just as he's about to ambush a foe, gain the feat he would get when he hit 3rd level, and so on.

Needless to say, once your character actually levels up you don't get any bonuses or class features twice (so if Bob got +1d6 sneak attack from an ELO, that will NOT turn into +2d6 sneak attack when he actually gets that 1st complete level of rogue). You're merely getting earlier abilities, not more abilities.

I think this will add a lot of fun to each session because each session your character will have a mini-level up to play with plus a re-roll to ensure your new toy works when you first take it out of the box. Also, I sincerely hope this will encourage the party's character development to be more heavily influenced by the particulars of the sessions. DnD is a cooperative narrative wherein 2 or more players control one dude each and one player controls everyone else; PCs should help sculpt the shape of the narrative and the narrative should help sculpt the shape of the PCs.

At least, that's the dream...