In many systems, there is an idea of leveling up; the more a character does or kills or experiences, the higher their level and by extension, the more powerful they are. Dice Mob is no exception. But in Dice Mob, there is also this idea of skill degrees, which is actually more important in many ways than what level of experience a character has attained. We will talk about skill degrees more when we talk about skills, but suffice it to say, skill degrees are how skilled a person is at doing a certain thing, whereas levels are an indication of how much a character has experienced and possibly an indication of general wisdom gained from that experience.

To keep it simple, characters begin their adventuring career at level one. The successful completion of each adventure will level up a character by one. Adventures for first level characters are generally shorter, often only lasting one session. Adventures for higher level characters are generally longer, usually encompassing multiple sessions.

In Dice Mob, leveling up translates to a better character in three possible ways. First each level allots three more skill points to be used to gain new skills or to increase a skill a character already has. Second each level can improve the range or effectiveness of a skill, especially in the case of magic (see skills, items, and magic for more information). Third each level increases a character’s mana (see the mana section for more information).

Special Note: If all adventures in a certain campaign are only one session, a worried GM may use multiples of hours played instead of adventures completed, but how fast a character levels up isn’t generally all that important. It’s recommended to stick with adventures and allow the characters to level up and use their skill points as often as once per session. That’s part of the fun. Erring on the side of caution, it’s better for a GM to limit the number and quality of magical items awarded than worrying about how quickly a character levels up.

Does a player have to use all their skill points at character creation or with each level they gain? No. They can save them. And, in fact, to achieve the very highest levels of skill, they will want to save their points until they can get to the higher degrees. However they shouldn’t be able to use their skill points in the middle of an adventure except under rare cases, such as by visiting some sort of non-player character that facilitates this.