Prestige Leveling System (5e Variant Rule)

Prestige Leveling System

Introduction

Once a character reaches 20th level, they can only be enhanced further through blessings and epic boons. Most would overcome this by creating more boons, advancing in levels past 20th, or even ascending into godhood. This variant rule provides with a different solution. It allows characters to advance in power and abilities without going past level 20.

When a character reaches 20th level, they can prestige. This can be at the discretion of the player or the DM. When you prestige, you are reverted back to 1st level, but you are given a prestige level. This prestige level grants the character with a variety of bonuses that the character can start with.

The DM should think of an explanation as to how a character could prestige. Prestiging provides a great way to connect adventures together, and could be awarded at the end of an adventure. Maybe a deity or other powerful being rewards the characters for completing the quest, giving them the chance to start anew and grow more powerful than they ever were. Maybe when the strongest demon or beast is defeated, the magic seeps into the characters, stripping them of their powers and granting new ones. Possibly, a character is reborn, or even escapes and defies death itself, and they return with newfound powers. Maybe they remember their past, or have something to remember it by. Inversely, maybe they forgot their past lives, and thought it as a dream or even not at all. It is all up to the DM, who can customize the prestige system in any way they see fit.

I will use my own campaign as an example. The characters have the overarching epic quest to obtain artifacts and return them to a god for safekeeping. Whenever the characters return an artifact to the god, he sends them to collect another from a different planet or universe. The characters are turned to statures of gold, and their souls are sent out, reborn in a new body with additional powers and skills. They remember their past and their goal to secure the artifacts.

What Happens When You Prestige?

As a result of gaining a prestige level, the character is reverted back to 1st level. They are reborn with their starting equipment, gold, and other possessions. The artifacts and magic items that were being worn or carried are returned to where their original location, as if you hadn't taken them in the first place. Common and uncommon items may be excluded from this change, but at the discretion of the DM. Any features that you gained from leveling up your characters are lost, as well as any blessings, boons, or charms. They could even lose the relationships and connections that they had. However, prestiging is a way to restart your character, reimagine them in a new light. They could change their personality, their name, their race, or even their class (This isn't advised, as it may become confusing to keep up with). In addition, they are given bonuses to help conquer their foes.

Prestige Bonuses

For every prestige level that a character has, they are given the following benefits:

XP Gain

You are reincarnated with the ability to learn faster, train harder, and improve your skills to mastery. For every prestige level, XP from monsters grants additional XP equal to 25% of the given XP. This boost stacks (25%, 50%, 75%, etc...), and does not apply to creatures with a CR of 1/4 or lower. This bonus XP and the total XP is listed on the XP Boost Table (at the bottom of the document)

Ability Score Increase

Your prowess becomes sharpened and honed, making you stronger, smarter, or more dextrous. At prestige 1st level , you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. For every prestige level after 1st, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 1.

For every prestige level after 1st, one ability score maximum of your choice increases by 2.

Subclass

your rebirth has opened your eyes to many other domains to surge your potential. At prestige 1st level, choose a subclass other than one you already have. The subclass must be from the same class. You now benefit form both subclasses, and can level them up as normal. However, the secondary subclass that you choose can only advance to 5th level. At prestige 2nd level, the secondary subclass can advance to 10th level. At prestige 3rd level, it can advance to 15th level, and at prestige 4th level, 20th level.

At every fourth prestige level after 1st (5th, 9th, 13th, etc...), you can choose to either gain an additional subclass, or choose a additional class to benefit from. In order to gain an additional class, you must have two subclasses, with the ability to reach 20th level, on every class that you benefit from so far. You gain benefits from this class, but it also can only advance to 5th level. This can be raised with prestige levels.

When using two or more subclasses on one class, you only benefit from the subclasses themselves, meaning you do not get extra benefits such as extra Hit Die, Ability Score Increases, or Extra Attacks. If subclasses use on feature multiple times, such as a druid's Druid Circle, or a paladin's Holy Aura, they can choose which feature to benefit from when using. If using two or more classes, you only benefit from the class's features, meaning no extra Hit Die.

When using this bonus, it is important for the DM to watch out for subclasses with features that can stack upon each other. Take, for example, a mystic's Psionic Disciplines. Most subclasses of the mysic, called orders, have features that allow a character to gain an extra two disciplines. This means that a mystic with prestige 1st level could potentially have up to 5 disciplines at 1st level (to put to scale, most mystics get 5 disciplines at levels 5th-11th). This can become exponentially unbalanced, and may need to be altered in order to fit better. In the case of the mystic, for every subclass after the first, maybe they get just one additional discipline.

Extra Feature

Characters come back with an additonal number of features. This is the bonus that can be most customized by the DM. Any number of benefits can come from this. from something small, like learning an additional language, to something large, like recieving the power of an epic boon. It is really up to the DM to choose what bonus talents you get. Below are but several examples:

Languages & Proficiencies. Maybe the character learned from valuable skill an expert linguist, war general, or painter. The character gain an additional language, or proficiency for armor, simple or martial weapons, or artisan's tools.

Racial Traits. Possilby the character created a more physical connection to their dwarven ancestry. The character gains a racial trait from another race. Alternatively, they could benefit from lineages (things like Dhampir, Fairy, Hexblood, and Owlin are all good examples).

Feats. A character might have shown a hone of skill with feats. The character gains a feat.

Cults. Cults may be ruthless and deadly, but they do have their benefits. The character recieves a feature given to members of a cult, even if that character has no relation to said cult. Some examples are the Cult of Dispater's Infernal Insight, or the Demoninc Boon of Baphomet's Labyrinthine Recall.

Supernatural Gifts. Why be apart of a cult when you can gain powers from gods and demons? The character can gain a Supnatural Gift, from Mythic Odysseys of Theros, or possilby a Dark Gift, from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.

Other Class Features. Maybe a wizard uses a sorcerer's metamagic, or a paladin able to fire an arcane shot from the fighter subclass. You gain a number of features that would only be avaible to certain classes. Just be sure to give them the proper dice and coordination to enable such features.

Blessings & Boons. If you don't care about balance, you could even give your character a blessing or epic boon!

Rebalancing the Prestige System

CLearly, the prestige leveling system can make a mundane character become that to a demigod. So how could the DM rebalance out to make a more fair game? That is up to the DM. Some DMs may not care about balance, and let it run wild. But for those who do want to balance out the game, make the adventures just a little more challenging. For characters with prestige levels, you could add many more monsters or monsters with higher CR. Maybe you add varant rules that make gameplay more diificult. You could even cheat out a few dice rolls in order to turn the tides of battle towards the characters. Once again, the DM can decide that.

XP Boost Table

XP Boost Table

CR	+25% Bonus	+25% Total	+50% Bonus	+50% Total	+75% Bonus	+75% Total	+100% Bonus	+100% Total
0	3 XP	13 XP	5 XP	15 XP	8 XP	18 XP	10 XP	20 XP
1/8	6 XP	31 XP	13 XP	38 XP	19 XP	44 XP	25 XP	50 XP
1/4	13 XP	63 XP	25 XP	75 XP	38 XP	88 XP	50 XP	100 XP
1/2	25 XP	125 XP	50 XP	150 XP	75 XP	175 XP	100 XP	200 XP
1	50 XP	250 XP	100 XP	300 XP	150 XP	350 XP	200 XP	400 XP
2	113 XP	563 XP	225 XP	675 XP	338 XP	788 XP	450 XP	900 XP
3	175 XP	875 XP	350 XP	1,050 XP	525 XP	1,225 XP	700 XP	1,400 XP
4	275 XP	1,375 XP	550 XP	1,650 XP	825 XP	1,925 XP	1,100 XP	2,200 XP
5	450 XP	2,250 XP	900 XP	2,700 XP	1,350 XP	3,150 XP	1,800 XP	3,600 XP
6	575 XP	2,875 XP	1,150 XP	3,450 XP	1,725 XP	4,025 XP	2,300 XP	4,600 XP
7	725 XP	3,625 XP	1,450 XP	4,350 XP	2,175 XP	5,075 XP	2,900 XP	5,800 XP
8	975 XP	4,875 XP	1,950 XP	5,850 XP	2,925 XP	6,825 XP	3,900 XP	7,800 XP
9	1,250 XP	6,250 XP	2,500 XP	7,500 XP	3,750 XP	8,750 XP	5,000 XP	10,000 XP
10	1,475 XP	7,375 XP	2,950 XP	8,850 XP	4,425 XP	10,325 XP	5,900 XP	11,800 XP
11	1,800 XP	9,000 XP	3,600 XP	10,800 XP	5,400 XP	12,600 XP	7,200 XP	14,400 XP
12	2,100 XP	10,500 XP	4,200 XP	12,600 XP	6,300 XP	14,700 XP	8,400 XP	16,800 XP
13	2,500 XP	12,500 XP	5,000 XP	15,000 XP	7,500 XP	17,500 XP	10,000 XP	20,000 XP
14	2,875 XP	14,375 XP	5,750 XP	17,250 XP	8,625 XP	20,125 XP	11,500 XP	23,000 XP
15	3,250 XP	16,250 XP	6,500 XP	19,500 XP	9,750 XP	22,750 XP	13,000 XP	26,000 XP
16	3,750 XP	18,750 XP	7,500 XP	22,500 XP	11,250 XP	26,250 XP	15,000 XP	30,000 XP
17	4,500 XP	22,500 XP	9,000 XP	27,000 XP	13,500 XP	31,500 XP	18,000 XP	36,000 XP
18	5,000 XP	25,000 XP	10,000 XP	30,000 XP	15,000 XP	35,000 XP	20,000 XP	40,000 XP
19	5,500 XP	27,500 XP	11,000 XP	33,000 XP	16,500 XP	38,500 XP	22,000 XP	44,000 XP
20	6,250 XP	31,250 XP	12,500 XP	37,500 XP	18,750 XP	43,750 XP	25,000 XP	50,000 XP
21	8,250 XP	41,250 XP	16,500 XP	49,500 XP	24,750 XP	57,750 XP	33,000 XP	66,000 XP
22	10,250 XP	51,250 XP	20,500 XP	61,500 XP	30,750 XP	71,750 XP	41,000 XP	82,000 XP
23	12,500 XP	62,500 XP	25,000 XP	75,000 XP	37,500 XP	87,500 XP	50,000 XP	100,000 XP
24	15,500 XP	77,500 XP	31,000 XP	93,000 XP	46,500 XP	108,500 XP	62,000 XP	124,000 XP
25	18,750 XP	93,750 XP	37,500 XP	112,500 XP	56,250 XP	131,250 XP	75,000 XP	150,000 XP
26	22,500 XP	112,500 XP	45,000 XP	135,000 XP	67,500 XP	157,500 XP	90,000 XP	180,000 XP
27	26,250 XP	131,250 XP	52,500 XP	157,500 XP	78,750 XP	183,750 XP	105,000 XP	210,000 XP
28	30,000 XP	150,000 XP	60,000 XP	180,000 XP	90,000 XP	210,000 XP	120,000 XP	240,000 XP
29	33,750 XP	168,750 XP	67,500 XP	202,500 XP	101,250 XP	236,250 XP	135,000 XP	270,000 XP
30	38,750 XP	193,750 XP	77,500 XP	232,500 XP	116,250 XP	271,250 XP	155,000 XP	310,000 XP

I hope that people can use this system to level up their D&D experience. (no pun intended)

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