Levelling up in a TRPG is one of the most exciting moments for players; they get new abilities to use in and out of combat, which makes for the excitement of learning new powers. But for campaigns that are focused on roleplaying and storytelling, how to you account for these changes? How do we describe the change in the players abilities, which happen in-game in a sudden burst in almost all games? With this guide, you will be able to roleplay the learning of new abilities in a way that enriches the game.
For the sake of simplicity, I will be addressing my advice on this topic to Dungeons & Dragons for a few reasons. For one, it is the most popular of TRPGs; for another, it has the most extreme version of the levelling up problem that you'll find in most any game. But these ideas generally apply to TRPGs at large as well, and the problem is conceptual rather than specifically numerical, so these ideas should serve you in any game.
Let's focus on the issue I'm describing. Let's say you have a group of adventurers who are progressing from 7th to 8th level. We have player characters who gain significant bonuses. Let's consider a few classes: the Bard, when going from 7th to 8th level, gains an additional third level spell and an Ability Score Improvement. These bonuses carry narrative weight with them. What causes them to become instantly stronger/smarter/wiser? Why do they get an additional spell? Or perhaps the party has leveled up again (to level 9), and now the party's fighter gets to use the ability Indomitable, which allows one reroll on a saving throw. What has made this fighter instantly better at saving throws? Why should they not have this ability one day and then have it the next?
But it's not just a matter of continuity. When player characters gain new abilities, there is the potential for storytelling. You can make your players learning new abilities into an empowering moment for your players. All it takes is adding a detail or two about how they learned this ability. You have two main strategies when it comes to this, and you should work with your players to decide which one is best for your game. The first strategy is to look ahead to what abilities the players will soon unlock and build in moments that move them towards naturally learning them; the second strategy is to ask your players to improvise a way that they would have learned the new abilities after they have been awarded.
Let's begin with the building towards it method. We'll stick with the examples above--the bard and the fighter--to examine how the players might learn it. With the Ability Score Improvement at the bard's level 8, we want to know which points will be spent in what way. If they're going for all points in Intelligence, for instance, we need to provide Intelligence-based challenges. Perhaps a puzzle where the answer is related to the bard's performances would set the stage. We might also direct the player to seek out Intelligence challenges, and they may do so by reading a great deal or practicing their chess game. We don't need to come up with one thing that accounts for a boost of 2 Intelligence points, necessarily; we just want to grant the player the feeling of having earned the boost, which makes the bonus feel more special. We just change the challenge based on the attribute that will be boosted (feats of strength for Strength, moments of clarity for Wisdom, suave moments for Charisma, and so on), and the end result is a path to improvement that the player helped to craft.
The 9th level fighter is in some ways an easier and in some ways a harder change to roleplay. Generally, the most obscure a stat is, the harder it is to roleplay, and the ability to succeed on a saving throw is a much more obscure idea than simply how much a character can carry, for instance. But at the same time, this bonus is all we need to consider for an entire level up, which means it's doable. To prepare the fighter for Indomitable, we can have the fighter train their resistances; perhaps they expose themselves to harmful situations on purpose in order to train up with saving throws, or perhaps they exercise in their downtime in order to train their body to be more responsive. The player themselves might seek out dangerous situations to test their resistance. What matters is that you and the player make a collective effort to explain the improvements to their character.
If you're going this route, where the players must earn their abilities before having them be awarded, you can make some changes to the level up system to match. You might start by placing specific goals on level up requirements, such as "the player must work on their saving throws three times before they can level up." Or "the player must spend one hour working on related skills in order to level up." This is not meant to penalize players or create impediments to their progressing through the game, and if it feels that way to them, you should revert to standard level ups. The goal here is to have fun, so keep that in mind.
The other route involves asking players to retroactively explain their abilities. This is an easier route for most people, and it actually creates a lot of fun for players, who now have to rationalize their advances in power using their creativity. I recommend this option for most games, as it doesn't force the players to change their playstyles and instead opens up possibilities for collaborative storytelling. In this method, you simply direct your players to rationalize how they developed their boosts to abilities. Let's break down both of the above examples again, this time with a focus on retroactively training for them.
The 8th level bard, in this case, needs to come up with a way to rationalize their boosted ability scores. Perhaps they've selected one point in Dexterity and one point in Charisma. Now the player needs reasons for these increases. The first option they have is looking at the things they've accomplished since their last level up. Perhaps they made a particularly important Dexterity-related roll, such as dodging a deadly attack--this is the moment where the player character becomes more dexterous. Similarly, for their Charisma boost, a well-played social situation is enough to earn the levelled-up skill or ability.
But then, maybe your player characters haven't taken significant actions that would contribute to a boost. In that case, you want your players to dedicate some of the game's downtime to having practiced the skills. Most adventures have some downtime--a bit in the mornings and at night around bedtimes, while traveling, or significantly more if the party is working on individual goals. The players should concoct a reason they've earned the boost. If a combat bonus is the goal, having sparred with another player character is a good way to take care of both of their boosted abilities. If it's a mental skill, reading a book can suffice. Becoming stronger can stem from exercising, and Dexterity can similarly be trained with specific actions (think that game where you try to slap the other player's hands before they can withdraw them, for instance). Skill boosts (which don't really happen in 5e, but which is a major issue in 3.5) can be explained with practice of the existing skill. New spells can be learned from books, observing other spellcasters, divine inspiration, or having understood but not had the power to cast a specific spell--the increased power comes in the same way that other practice functions. This basically only leaves hit points--you can explain that characters become hardier via the routine exposure to harm.
What may not be immediately apparent about this setup is that it creates fun for your players. Most players will have a great time trying to rationalize their increased powers, coming up with creative and often bizarre ideas. Levelling up becomes a game within a game, one the players must win in order to claim their increased powers. If you institute it, remember that the spirit of the exercise is in fun, not in hardcore reality simulation. Players should feel that the challenge of rationalizing new powers makes the game more open to their input, not that there's an additional barrier to success. Make it more of an improv game and less of a requirement, and I think you'll be surprised by the fun that comes out of the process.
That's all for now. Coming soon: descriptions of each gods' temples, agricultural details for your gameworld, and how to design a one-shot from a movie. Until next time, happy gaming!
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