Mentoring is the act of temporarily lowering your character’s power level to match that of another player or the average party level you are adventuring with. This essentially means you “scale down” to their tier.
Restrictions:
- The difference between your unmentored level and the lowest level in the part you are mentoring to must be 4 or less.
- You may not mentor to a tier in which you have another character of that tier:
- Example: You have a T2 and a T1 character. Your T2 character cannot mentor to T1. You will either need to sit out or play your T1 character.
Here’s how mentoring works:
- Figure APL (Average Party Level): You will need to figure out the APL for the party by adding up all the levels of the unmentored party members (exclude all mentors from this), and then divide that number by the number of that party.
- For Example: There are 3 party members, levels 1, 3 and 4. Your level is 5. Since the difference between your level (5) and the lowest level (1) is 4 you can mentor. Add up the party members levels, in this case 1+3+4=8. Now divide that by the number of party members you added together. 8 / 3 = 2.6. Always round to the nearest 10th. This gives an APL of 3.
- Hit Points: Set your HP to (APL x your HD) + (APL x CON)
- For Example: The APL is 3. Your HD is d10 (so 6 average), and your CON modifier is +2.
- APL x Your HD: 3 x 6 = 18
- APL x CON: 3 x 2 = 6
- 18 + 6 = 22 (your HP for this game session would be 22)
- For Example: The APL is 3. Your HD is d10 (so 6 average), and your CON modifier is +2.
- Proficiency Bonus: Set your Proficiency Bonus to the appropriate number for the tier of the party – see chart.
- DCs: Whenever you cast a spell, use an ability or otherwise impose a DC on a target(s), the DC listed in the chart for the tier you are in will be the DC used (even if your natural DC is lower).
- Highest Spell Slot: You can only use spells at or below the highest spell slot indicated on the chart for the tier you are adventuring in.
- Highest Magic Items: Magic items of a tier higher than your mentored level temporarily lose their magical properties but retain normal functions. This effect only lasts for the duration of the mentoring session. For example, if you’re mentored to a Tier 1 group but have a powerful magic item, like The Rod of Lordly Might, it functions as a mace but loses its other magical features.
When mentoring, for any purposes that it is required to know what level you are, you are considered the same level as the APL.
Risks
Mentoring is not without risks. You take on the same risks you would normally, and you agree to abide by the above system. If you normally have 50 HP, but when you mentor you only have 25 HP – you start making death saves as normal when you run out of those 25 HP. Mentors accept this risk and suspend their disbelief in some situations – that is the small price you pay to be able to adventure with lower tiered characters.
| Tier | HP | Proficiency Bonus | DCs | Highest Spell Slot | Highest Magic Item |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 (1 -4) | (Your HD x APL) + CON | +2 | 10 | 2nd | Common |
| T2 (5 – 10) | (Your HD x APL) + CON | +3 | 12 | 5th | Rare |
| T3 (11 – 16) | (Your HD x APL) + CON | +4 | 15 | 8th | Very Rare |