D&D 5E Does progression rate slow down?

[pogre]

My experience mirrors others here - slowest advances are 6th - 11th. Levels go much faster after 11th in my experience.

 

[S'mon]

Thanks for the feedback. Checking the log, I see first session was 20th March, but we've been playing pretty intensively, and 21 online sessions is roughly equivalent to 10-11 tabletop sessions in my experience.
My Pathfinder game running an AP levelled up every 2 sessions up to ca 9th level, with PCs doubling in power every 4 sessions - I thought that was way too fast.
I think the consensus here is that advancement does slow down 6-10, perhaps more than the XP table indicates, then speeds up 11+. Does it slow down at all 17-20, anyone know?
I think right now I'll keep progression unchanged, it seems it should be fine up through 10th level. At 11th+ I'll keep an eye on XP awards and try to get a feel for whether power progression is sufficiently incremental that fast advancement through 20 won't break the campaign the way it does (IME) in high level 3e/PF.

 

[S'mon]

Think about it this way - if this were a face to face tabletop game, you'd be 21 weeks in, assuming like most people a game once per week to two weeks, so 5 months in. In progression ever since 3rd edition D&D, making level 6 about half a year in is about standard progression. Back on 2000, the XP tables were refigured for a campaign to run 1st to 20th in about 2 years, as I recall, so even if it slows down after now, you're on a track that will finish in about 2 years' time.

Honestly, I'm on a pathfinder game now that runs twice a month, and just over one year in, we're solidly at 8th level, so it's not that far out from other D&D iterations.

The 3e XP tables were designed to get you to level 20 in a year of weekly play AIR, 5e seems to be the same but with a lower power curve at least for casters. Pathfinder Fast Track is the same, Slow Track is more like 4e.

 

[I'm A Banana]

21 online sessions (avg ca 2.5-3 hrs each) into my first big 5e campaign, and I'm a bit gobsmacked at the rate of progression. Even with individual XP and the slowness of chatroom play (which about doubles playtime to level) the two most active PCs are now 6th level, with a third at 5th. It has slowed down a bit since the first couple levels (I think the first pc to reach 5th did it around session 14), but not nearly as much as I expected. And looking at the xp chart it looks that the increase in xp to level is about to ease off a lot too.
So that made me wonder, does advancement stay fast even through levels 6-10? And I can see it likely must speed up a lot at 11+ too, which worries me a bit - I'd be looking at Dominion style play in my sandbox then, not sure I want that being levelled out of fast. Also, how is the high level power progression? I heard it's a lot flatter than other editions - does that mean the pcs could keep on doing much the same stuff 11th-16th?

It does slow down, but the game is also set up so that you can cover all 20 levels in ~ 1 year of play, since most folks don't get much more than that before switching campaigns for one reason or another. If you want more than a few months of 11th-16th-level play, you'll want to switch up how you pace the XP rewards (or what you offer XP rewards for). The game is made with the idea that this is somewhere you stop for a while, but "a while," is like "8 weeks" not like a year.

 

[halfling rogue]

I don't hand out XP. I hand out levels. Basically the whole party levels up at the same time. Kind of nice. Not only do I not have to think about proper distribution and extra math, it allows us to play within a certain level for as long or as little as we'd like. Usually level up happens at an appropriate time in the story, like a milestone, but it's not dependent on that. At least for me, when you remove XP, it causes you to play for something else. I'd rather my group play to the story rather than play to earn XP. Everyone approaches it differently, but I'd rather go home thinking, "We just saved the princess!" rather than "I just earned a ton of XP saving the princess!"

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

One thing I'm having to get my head around is that it looks like in 5e levels 11-20 may be balanced, fun,
and playable (not my experience with 3e & PF). So where in 3e I'd run a 1-10 campaign, I should
think of that as equivalent to 5e 1-20? That puts a different complexion on it because a year to reach
10th level is pretty much the AD&D planned rate per Gygax, so 5e might really be the same, just with 2 5e levels = one 1e level...

Interesting analogy. If I think of 20th level in 5E as akin to name level in AD&D, then hit point progression should mostly stop after 20th level, but you should start gaining access to worthwhile spells. Hmmmm. I guess that makes Teleport Without Error 13th level (gained at 28th level), and Real Polymorph Self 10th level or so (doesn't grant special abilities but allows free shifting between forms throughout the 3-ish hour duration) and Real Charm Person also 10th level (same as Charm Person but lasts for days or weeks, until you Int save). And Dominate, and Magic Jar...

That would be an interesting campaign.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

One thing I'm having to get my head around is that it looks like in 5e levels 11-20 may be balanced, fun, and playable (not my experience with 3e & PF). So where in 3e I'd run a 1-10 campaign, I should think of that as equivalent to 5e 1-20?

Eh, kind of. I mean, they're both a year of fun gameplay with exciting character growth, but the 5E character still ends up advancing a lot more during that time. It takes a year of real time for a 3E wizard to go from Magic Missile to Teleport, but in that same period of time, the 5E wizard goes from Magic Missile to Wish.

 

[DaveDash]

I don't hand out XP. I hand out levels. Basically the whole party levels up at the same time. Kind of nice. Not only do I not have to think about proper distribution and extra math, it allows us to play within a certain level for as long or as little as we'd like. Usually level up happens at an appropriate time in the story, like a milestone, but it's not dependent on that. At least for me, when you remove XP, it causes you to play for something else. I'd rather my group play to the story rather than play to earn XP. Everyone approaches it differently, but I'd rather go home thinking, "We just saved the princess!" rather than "I just earned a ton of XP saving the princess!"

I understand this system but absolutely detest it.

It's not about getting a ton of XP for saving the princess, it's more about player freedom and not being subject to the DMs rails.

Maybe you don't want to save the princess and do something unexpected like kill the Dragon. "Sorry guys no level up for you, I haven't planned for that and don't feel like thinking about maths".

 

[S'mon]

Eh, kind of. I mean, they're both a year of fun gameplay with exciting character growth, but the 5E character still ends up advancing a lot more during that time. It takes a year of real time for a 3E wizard to go from Magic Missile to Teleport, but in that same period of time, the 5E wizard goes from Magic Missile to Wish.

It only takes a year of weekly play in 3e if I halve XP awards, 3e is designed for 1-20 in a year, same as 5e. In 1e AD&D it does take about a year of Gygaxian-style play to get from 1-10, at any rate I've seen Gygax posting that that was the intention.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I understand this system but absolutely detest it.

It's not about getting a ton of XP for saving the princess, it's more about player freedom and not being subject to the DMs rails.

Maybe you don't want to save the princess and do something unexpected like kill the Dragon. "Sorry guys no level up for you, I haven't planned for that and don't feel like thinking about maths".

A. Not awarding XP, and; B. not leveling up are not strictly related.

B does not necessarily follow A.

I quit giving out XP a few years ago and my players have enjoyed the games more without it. Now they have the freedom to do what they want, not feel obligated to follow side quests or even main quests. I'm not saying it's better, but I've enjoyed not having to calculate XP for monsters and such. It has freed up some of my prep time, for which I'm very grateful.

Now, when my group has played a few sessions and accomplished a minor or major goal, they all go up a level together. This method doesn't punish people for missing sessions, but they do, in fact, feel punished because they missed out on some fun (and, probably, a magic item or two).

/end aside.