Incremental experience effectively doubles the amount of time before gaining an actual reward for play New Option: Piecemeal Experience Building off of the idea that characters not spend their entire hours of rest actually sleeping, piecemeal experience allows them to earn some modicum of reward when their experience hits the appropriate thresholds while still leaving more complex growth to downtime Players who plan ahead can get a slight boost to their benefits with this method, and it is left to the GM if they want to encourage it There are three phases to piecemeal experience The checklist to the right provides a quick aid when a level is gained Immediate Gain: When characters complete an encounter, they gain the experience immediately If this would push a character over the threshold for its level, anything it could get better in improves automatically (particularly, simple numeric bonuses) Think of this as the characters gaining a second wind They aren’t fully healed, but are taking a moment to breath and enjoy their success thus far, and it bolsters them to keep going In addition, each character gains up to one other benefit immediately if they already know what they need for the immediate situation If adding resurrection to the cleric’s spell list will help raise a slain ally, it’s obvious enough outside of game that no time is lost in adding it In game, the cleric’s god has seen fit to bless her with this now so that she and her allies can continue their quest If having a rank in Knowledge (dungeoneering) allows the rogue to make a new check to remember something, it may dawn on him as he’s wiping blood from his dagger Of note, spells per day increasing and potentially granting access to a new spell level, doesn’t necessarily mean a character must immediately start looking up those spells In the interim, allow spontaneous casters (sorcerers and the like) to use those spell slots for metamagic spells or to cast lower level spells Wizards, clerics, and other casters might be allowed to regain a couple spells they already had prepared and/or cast in those slots until they rest Practice During Rest: When the party gets a couple hours to relax after gaining a level using piecemeal experience, they can use that time to place the remainder of their skill points, pick a remaining new spell or two that they’ve been researching, gain a feat they were already planning on gaining, or increase their ability score if it would become even Quick-to-function class features, such as evasion, fast movement, or uncanny dodge can be gained during rest as well because they can be understood at a glance by a GM and most players This piece functions on a case-by-case basis, but the general rule should be if a player has to read what it does to understand fully, it should be pushed to end of session/downtime Piecemeal Experience Checklist Immediate Gain Attack Bonus Hit Points Saving Throws Spells per Day/Immediately Helpful Spells Class Feature Increase Immediately Beneficial Skill Ranks When Resting Spells Known/Learned by Class Predetermined Feat Ability Score Increases Quick-to-Function Class Features Remaining Skill Ranks End of Session/Downtime Remaining Class Features Feats Researched/Recovered Spells Retraining Acquiring/Spending Gold (if able) Acquiring/Changing Companions End of Session/Downtime: Anything that would require a player to actually spend more than a minute or two looking at a book or website is put off until the end of a session or during downtime once the adventure is complete This includes gaining a new class feature that must be either chosen at length (rogue talents or barbarian rage powers) or hasn’t already been gained by the class in some capacity (new bloodline powers, leveling up an animal companion or familiar) This is also the perfect time to retrain anything that didn’t work out during a previous level, if that option is available Character Kits The following kits are available to any character who meet their prerequisites If a level is required for a specific part of the kit, it will be noted in the prerequisites Options available from Volumes and are marked with a v1 or v2,respectively The earliest level listed to have a full kit is for most characters Humans and fighters tend to have it easier when it comes to meeting prerequisites for feats, especially with combat-oriented kits As with anything, these character kits are intended as suggestions meant to save time when leveling up or building a new character You are always welcome to change out one or more things listed here if you find something that suits your playstyle better 125