4th edition's default rate of advancement

[Asmor]

I don't remember if we had this information before 3E was released, but I sure feel like we did...

I'm curious what the default rate of advancement is for 4th edition. For example, in 3rd edition it was designed so that on average you'd advance a level after 13 level-appropriate encounters, which meant that you could usually expect a level up every 3-4 sessions or so.

 

[Nikosandros]

Last I heard the default planned rate was to advance every 2 or 3 sessions.

 

[TerraDave]

I have heard it will be faster. Something like: you can cover 30 levels in 4thed that would take you 20 in 3rd. Consistent with that, I remember something about 8 challenges per level (vs. about 12 in 3rd ed). And that would seem to fit leveling every two sessions or so.

 

[Darkwolf71]

I'm curious what the default rate of advancement is for 4th edition.

Too fast. IMNSHO.

I have always prefered the much slower rates of advancement from earlier editions of the game. Seems that 4e will be even faster than 3.x was.

 

[Kaffis]

Yeah, TerraDave's memory is consistent with mine, in that they suggested that they're not expanding the time from minimum to maximum level, they're just slicing it into smaller pieces to get more levels.

The math he uses to get 8 encounters per level then seems to jive right.

However, that's assuming encounters run around the same playtime, which may or may not be the case. It's probably close, though, as we know that there are two forces at work with encounter design and the goal of combat rule adjustments -- 1) combat is supposed to move more quickly, as they streamline rules and eliminate a bunch of rolls (iterative attacks as default, for instance); and 2) encounters are supposed to be bigger, against more enemies and taking up more space.

Those two factors work in opposition: one extends the playtime needed for an encounter by presenting more enemies and larger ground for the fights to rove across, the other seeks to speed things up and require less playtime per round. If they pretty much cancel out, playtime-wise, then 8 seems like a good estimate.

 

[Steely Dan]

I have always prefered the much slower rates of advancement from earlier editions of the game.

The only thing is that as a working adult with a partner and all of that business who only plays fortnightly I really don't have to time to spend 3 years getting a character in a game to 14th level or what have you.

Levelling every 2 to 4 sessions sounds idyllic to me.

 

[SteveC]

The only thing is that as a working adult with a partner and all of that business who only plays fortnightly I really don't have to time to spend 3 years getting a character in a game to 14th level or what have you.

Levelling every 2 to 4 sessions sounds idyllic to me.

Yep. Have to agree here. The thing is, I've done the sllloooowwwww, ponderous level gains in multiple campaigns, so they're nothing new to me. Campaigns tend to have a lifespan that ends from real world issues as well as gaming ones, so spending 90% of it playing around with things I've done sssssooooo mmmmannnyyy ttttimeeesss before makes me sad. How many caravans being raided by goblins must I endure to get to something that's new and interesting?

The trick, of course, is to make those low level games new and interesting as well, but you have a very small tool kit to work with at that point, so goblins and orcs it is, usually.

--Steve

 

[Doug McCrae]

Quote from Chris Perkins on the 4e news page.

"The way character advancement works now, it takes fewer encounters to gain a level, but it takes roughly the same length of time to reach 30 levels in 4th Edition as it takes to reach 20 levels in 3rd Edition. The rate of level advancement is still being playtested, however, so the jury's still out on whether the final game will work this way."

It doesn't matter much as advancement is one of the easiest things in the game to houserule, whether you prefer it faster or slower.

 

[Steely Dan]

so spending 90% of it playing around with things I've done sssssooooo mmmmannnyyy ttttmeeesss before makes me sad.

Yes, exactly, how many of us have had to endure levels 1 to around 7ish (as a DM or player) before the campaign falls apart.

 

[Grymar]

I'm ok with that pace since it is fairly close to what I do now. Running an Eberron game, they'll often only have a single encounter in a day. That one encounter then tends to have a pretty high CR compared to the party level, so they pull in major XP for a victory. I'll usually get through 1st and 2nd level in one session each (2-3 encounters), then start doing about 2 sessions a level up to 5th. Then we slow down a bit more and do 3 sessions a level for 6+. That is a pretty good pace for my group so they have time to enjoy a level, but the next one isn't too far off.

Still, considering how I only tend to be able to run a game about every 3-4 weeks, it still took 20+ months to get my last campaign up to 12th level. My current game has the PCs at 6th after about 6 months, a pace I'm pretty happy with.