Characters must rest and study in order to apply the benefits of a new level; they will never suddenly level up all at once in the field or in the middle of combat. Leveling up requires a minimum of 1 full day of downtime. We recommend that players roleplay their PCs as being new or unfamiliar with their most recently acquired abilities until they have accrued approximately one-quarter of the experience needed to reach the next level.

Players are required to submit their proposed changes for a newly-acquired level to a GM before adjusting their sheet. At that time, you should expect questions like, "How are you planning to RP this?" or "Where or to whom will you go to get this?" Consider the feats, rogue talents, magus arcana, domain abilities, or other class features you're about to obtain, and think about how you can implement their development during play. This should be something fun and exciting, not a burden! If you're unsure of precisely what you want or what your options are, ask a GM in advance of reaching your new level, so you can get assistance with creating and managing entertaining evolutionary goals.

As an example: Level 2 is achieved at 1300 experience points. Level 3 is reached when 3300 experience points have been accrued. The difference between those is 2000, 25% of which is 500. So, with 500 experience points being a quarter of the way to level 3, a player would be expected to roleplay as new and unfamiliar any abilities gained at level 2 until their PC has accumulated a total of 1800 experience points (1300 + 500 toward level 3). If the ability in question were to be, say, Improved Shield Bash as a fighter bonus feat, the PC would need to have already attempted several shield bashes prior to picking up that feat—otherwise, the first time they perform a shield bash, they're somehow very good at it for no reason. You want to demonstrate your character growing into the feat, and then show them being somewhat hesitant about employing it or amateurish in its use until they're one-fourth of the way to the next level (give or take).

For clarity: Alterations that are a direct result of your class—like the two free spells you receive at each new level of wizard—should still be roleplayed; but, you don't have to hunt someone down to actually teach you the spell, since such bonuses represent work you're doing, in your own time and as part of your personal research and growth. You only need to locate outside sources for optional adjustments that are not firmly defined by your class and archetype—it's all relative.

Additionally, at the conclusion of every "high-risk" adventure scenario (which includes any mission with a good chance of danger), participating players will be asked by a GM to fill out a brief, simple "how's my driving?" evaluation, where they will critique their teammates' performance and their own so that an anonymous aggregate summary of all relevant critiques can be given to the group by a GM, for consideration and to improve/workshop writing and roleplaying. Experience points for the adventure will not be awarded to a player until that player has turned in their evaluation.