D&D 5E D&D's XP & advancement system is a bit broken. I have a solution.

LexStarwalker

First Post

• Feb 16, 2016

• #1

You may not realize that 5e's XP and advancement system has some inherent problems. I didn't until I did some number crunching. The biggest problem is that encounter difficulty does not always correlate with the xp payout for the encounter.

I explain the problems and propose a solution in this episode (and accompanying blog post) of my Game Master's Journey podcast.

 

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T

The Crimson Binome

Hero

• Feb 16, 2016

• #2

I had no problem getting the party to level 2 after the first session, following the guidelines in the book. No idea what your problem might have been.

 

Halivar

First Post

• Feb 16, 2016

• #3

I guess I will never know what the actual problem is, since I don't click on blog spam. But I'm sure me and my group will continue in blissful ignorance. Feels right, to me.

 

AaronOfBarbaria

Adventurer

• Feb 16, 2016

• #4

I too had no trouble getting characters from level 1 to level 2 in a 4 hour session.

Probably something to do with the number of encounters I find it to be normal to experience in a 4 hour session, and how I don't have any illusion that I am meant to assess role-playing encounter difficulty on the same risks as combat encounters, but rather on simply how difficult the primary desired result of the role-playing is for the players to get (i.e. a role-playing encounter is not "deadly" because characters might actually die if the role-playing doesn't go their way, but because getting what they prefer out of the encounter is roughly the same chance of success as defeating a deadly encounter without anyone dying.)

Also, your wonderings regarding that one of the designers doesn't even use the system are slightly misplaced. The design intent of the encounter building xp budget guidelines is not that every DM use them; only that those DMs who want a guideline besides their own whims have one available that functions well enough that if followed is not likely to result in undesired outcomes (such as an encounter that says it is "easy" being deadly in practice).

 

S

S'mon

Legend

• Feb 16, 2016

• #5

My group of 3 PCs also got to level 2 in 4 hours of successful play, even though I quite wanted them to spend a couple sessions there. They earned 282 XP by the book, and I didn't have the heart to keep them at 1st.

 

S

S'mon

Legend

• Feb 16, 2016

• #6

Read the blog post - I'm surprised it's taking you so long to level up PCs. My 7-player 5e group levels about every 4 3-hour sessions, but my online 2/3-player group is levelling about every 5 3-hour sessions even though it's text-chat and everything takes twice as long. With a 4-PC tabletop group then 8-12 hours/level (2-3 4-hour sessions) looks about right, slower than 3e/PF, but faster than 4e if you use 4e as-written.

 

D

discosoc

First Post

• Feb 16, 2016

• #7

I award rp experience for anything that could conceivably turn into a fight or other classic encounter. Want to parlay with the Vampire? Risky, but if it works you'll get full xp. Finding out mid conversation that your contact is actually a werewolf? Straight to combat works, but trying to play it cool and perhaps using that knowledge to your advantage without letting on that you know could work even better.

That kind of stuff.

 

S

Sunseeker

Guest

• Feb 16, 2016

• #8

I expected this to be about leveling too fast. You're claiming the problem is people are leveling too slow? If you use the "medium" difficulty guidelines for your party, and with 7 people I imagine you're going to have to go well beyond that, your characters should be leveling every few hours if you are giving them the appropriate number of combats per day. Honestly in my group, we run deadly+ encounters all the time and I had to quit using XP, because by the guide they were level 5 after 24 hours.

 

LexStarwalker

First Post

• Feb 16, 2016

• #9

It will take 6 encounters minimum to get from level 1 to 2. If you can do 6 encounters in a four hour session, my hat is off to you.

 

cmad1977

Hero

• Feb 16, 2016

• #10

No it isnt.