Quirky D&D ideas: Levelling Up
Tired of the same three ways to level up? Here’s a few ideas to try!
Zenkai Levelling- A player character gets stronger every time they reach the brink of death. Probably shouldn’t give XP for consistently trying to game the system with, say, self-mutilation. Otherwise whenever a character nearly dies they get XP; an example would be a small amount for getting Bloodied to a large amount for failing two death saves and surviving.
Grinder Levelling: Every time a character dies, their successor is a level higher. Obviously better for campaigns where PCs are expected to die a lot.
Learn from Failure: Every failed roll gets you XP based on its significance. A failed Perception roll when nothing was around to find won’t give much if any, but a critically failed Investigation to find the assassin who just killed the king might bump you up a whole level.