Are there any RPG's that do feat leveling: Should they?

[Bomblord]

Title

In many tabletop RPG's the DM may forego experience leveling and decide that a group or individual instead gains a level based on feats. A feat could be hitting a story milestone, ending a session, or the character just doing something the DM though was worthy of a level like military training. This better balances gameplay and prevents individuals from being over or underleveled for a scenario and also prevents grinding from breaking lore or otherwise immersion.

I'm curious if there are any good examples of RPG's doing this and the more I think about it the more I think it could be awesome. It can frequently happen in RPG's where you either git good, invest too much time to grind, or find out your underleveled for a specific boss I admit there are very tightly balanced RPG's that avoid this but they are the exception that proves the rule. Anyway, back on track having a much more tightly controlled power level (with variables being reduced to equipment/skill load outs) could lead to some much more interestingly designed encounters in gaming. It also solves the oft criticized issue of either 1. How a highly trained military man is "only level 1" or alternatively how a farmer boy is fighting on par with the military after killing some rabbits among other logical inconsistencies that come from analyzing gameplay systems in the wider lore of the world.

 

[Kieli]

Sounds like Pillar of Eternity. Your stats are already maxed at the start of the game and you only earn exp from quests. Killing monsters give pitiful exp. When you level up you get more skills and attributes. Good system but these infinity engine games have godawful itemization.

 

[Massicot]

Maybe not quite the same, but Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines only gives exp for completing quests and the like, and not for combat.

(Of course, some quests involve fighting, but you don't get exp per defeat, etc).

 

[decoyplatypus]

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines does quest-based XP. Many other CRPGs that give combat XP still distribute most XP for quest completion, however you manage the quest.

Then there are games like Chrono Cross that only give you proper level ups for boss fights.

Sounds like Pillar of Eternity. Your stats are already maxed at the start of the game and you only earn exp from quests. Killing monsters give pitiful exp. When you level up you get more skills and attributes. Good system but these infinity engine games have godawful itemization.

Click to shrink...

Pillars of Eternity 2 has some of the best itemization in the genre.

 

[DasFool]

Not exactly akin to your example, but a good one I can think of is the Title system in the PS3 JRPG Tales of Graces F.

In the game, you can obtain certain Titles for your characters based off either story progression, using certain arts or abilities a number of times, and other milestones such as obtaining a large amount of item drops. When you equip the titles to your party, it will give them a stat boost and you can then further "master" the Title to give your character new arts/abilities or permanent attribute bonuses. There are an absolute truckload of them and the customization is wildly open.

 

[Enduin]

Sounds like Pillar of Eternity. Your stats are already maxed at the start of the game and you only earn exp from quests. Killing monsters give pitiful exp. When you level up you get more skills and attributes. Good system but these infinity engine games have godawful itemization.

Click to shrink...

Pillars has great itemization, especially Deadfire which has probably some of the best ever, so I find that to be a very odd statement. And despite 95% of EXP coming from completing quests and not from combat, level ups still have a massive impact on your viability in combat since certain stats like Health, Accuracy and your various Defensive stats all increase each level. Lvl 1 character's Accuracy is less than half or more than that of max lvl characters. So you can still very easily be over or under-leveled as a result, the disparities aren't usually so great that you are completely ineffective against tougher enemies like some games, but taking on enemies just a few levels above you is often more than most people can manage due to the differences in defenses and accuracy stats making them land a lot more hits and you landing a whole lot fewer on top of the usual equipment and weapon quality disparity that can exacerbate things further.

 

[filkry]

I've been wanting the same thing OP. A game with RPG-like systems/combat in which you get discrete, horizontal customization options as rewards for doing concrete things. Without the ability to under/overlevel yourself to an unfun experience.

 

[JohnnySomething]

Would the incidental/checklist perks in Fallout New Vegas count for this?

In fnv perks can only be picked once per every two levels gained, but perks are also awarded for killing say, 50 bugs.

At first I was upset at having to wait two levels to a perk after the more generous fallout 3

But once i started getting the incidental perks, the leveling gained a lot of intrigue and strategy

 

[Alastor3]

Sounds like Pillar of Eternity. Your stats are already maxed at the start of the game and you only earn exp from quests. Killing monsters give pitiful exp. When you level up you get more skills and attributes. Good system but these infinity engine games have godawful itemization.

Click to shrink...

hence why i love Divinity Original Sin so much and can't wait for Baldur's Gate 3

 

[Deleted member 31817]

Sounds like Underrail's Oddities system, much moreso than Pillars (and I love Pillars). You earn 0 xp from combat and level up by getting collectibles that you gain access to depending on what you do/how you're specced.

 

[Dunan]

The new Deus Ex games do this. They have an experience point system, but the XP you gain from neutralizing (or killing) enemies is small compared to what you get from completing a quest, arriving at a location, or otherwise "getting things done", as the in-game message has it.

I really liked this system.

 

[Feep]

Chrono Cross, kind of? It's all about "Stars" you get from beating story-requisite bosses.

 

[tiesto]

The Xenoblade series has you unlock new abilities and powers for your characters based on certain "mini achievements"... kill 5 of a certain species of enemy, visit 10 unique landmarks, talk to 50 characters, boost affinity between party members by X amount, harvest X amount of minerals, etc.

It can get a bit overwhelming to level up due to all these mini requirements and the fact there are so many characters to manage... but Monolith loves their overwrought systems, so whatevs...