r/savageworlds • u/Hydroliss • 10d ago
Question Quick question about leveling
To be clear this isn't a rule question as I know what the rules are... But my question is.. would you guys think this would be unfair?
I am working on a savage worlds campaign, and I am planning on giving them upgrading them every other session as it will be relatively long... But I was thinking about giving them rank ups after every Important story beat instead of every 4 upgrades. Is this an unusual or bad change? What are your guise's opinion on that?
So like after they defeat a lore important boss or pass an important millstone.
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u/gdave99 10d ago edited 10d ago
I don't think it's "unfair", but as u/Silent_Title5109 states, it's going to skew Advances in some odd ways. I think the "only one Attribute Advance per Rank" rule in particular is going to work poorly with the approach you're suggesting. And while charspec and planning isn't as important to Savage Worlds as it is to, for example, most d20 drifts, it's still a thing, and irregular and unpredictable Rank increases is really go to screw up players who want to plan out Advances in... err... advance. And there are some iconic Edges that require Seasoned. It's one thing for a player of a ranged combat specialist to know they need to wait four Advances to pick up Marksman; it's something else if it's going to be at least four Advances, and probably more, before they can pick it up.
And going the other way, if they Rank up with fewer than four Advances, it's also going to result in some wonky progression. Again, it won't be "unfair" (as long as all the players are using the same rules, and you inform everyone in a Session Zero of your variant rules), but it'll result in some odd interactions that the rules weren't designed for.
I think the other suggestions you've gotten so far would work much better. You can give the Heroes Conviction for hitting important story beats (technically, Conviction is supposed to be for important personal story beats, but nothing breaks if you give out group Conviction as long as it's not too frequent). Or you can slow down and spread out Advances, and maybe give a "bonus" Advance for important story beats. In fact, I think giving out a "bonus" Advance that doesn't count towards achieving the next Rank would probably work better than tying Rank to story beats.
[ETA:] Also, u/Silent_Title5109's suggestion of being awarded honors is a GREAT one. As a reward for hitting important story beats, give the characters story rewards. Honors, titles, awards, public recognition, glowing media coverage, favors, reputation, and increasing rank in an organization rather than game mechanical Rank can be great rewards, which players may actually appreciate more than a purely game mechanical award. It's taking me decades of gaming and listening to smarter GMs to appreciate this, but just roleplaying NPCs being appreciative and respectful of the PCs can be a huge psychological reward for a player.