D&D 4E Are you supposed to level faster in 4e?

[Amphimir Míriel]

In short, yes.

Supposedly, in 4th edition you go from 1st to 30th level in the same time you used to take to go from 1st to 20th in 3.5.

As always, your mileage may vary and all that... I guess this assumes you are using the recommended encounter/quest mix described in the DMG in the first place and all that...

Of course, I wouldn´t know, because my first 4e gaming group is still 1st level and we never took a party above 8th level during 3.5

 

[Gort]

Well, there are more levels now, so you'll be levelling more often in the same game, yes.

However, as has already been said, the gaining of a level is a far smaller boost in power at low levels than it was in 3rd ed. In 3rd, you'd gain about 75% more hitpoints going from level 1 to level 2. In 4th, it's closer to 30%. Going from level 1 to level 2 is similar to going from level 4 to 5 in 3rd ed.

This is nice, because it means the rise in power level is a bit more gradual. There's nothing too bad about fighting enemies that are 3 or 4 levels above or below you, as long as they're in appropriate quantities.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Leveling actually seems slower to me. Normally we can hit 2nd level by the end of one 4 hr session. Its taken us 2.5 sessions to hit 2nd level. Not sure how the higher levels play out yet.

 

[Shroomy]

Leveling actually seems slower to me. Normally we can hit 2nd level by the end of one 4 hr session. Its taken us 2.5 sessions to hit 2nd level. Not sure how the higher levels play out yet.

I'm playing in my first 4e campaign and after one session, we are 60% of the way to 2nd level (and that's with a 100 XP DM bump because he made a mistake that nearly overwhelmed us). Interestingly, in my first 3.5e campaign, we leveled up during the 1st session.

 

[WalterKovacs]

One note about quickly reaching level 2 in 3.5 ... it was also important to do so, as the health increase was greatly necessary to increasing a characters lifespan [and thus what kind of encounters it could go up against.]

With the curve less steep in 4e, characters can survive while at 1st level and spend the same ammount of time going from 1st to 2nd as they would going from 29 to 30 [hypothetically].

 

[Staffan]

I think the intention was to speed up leveling a little bit for 4E.

IIRC, 3E assumed 13.33 encounters of your level to gain one level, and 4E assumes 10 encounters of your level to gain one level.

Sort of. On the other hand, it was quite common in 3e to "overload" encounters - I know that I, for one, almost never used encounters below the PCs' level, but quite often above, in order to compensate for action points and other power creep, as well as for various classes being able to "nova". Pretty sure I've seen a Design & Development article to that effect as well.

Anyway, so while the intention in 3e might have been to have 13 1/3 encounters per level, the truth is probably closer to 7-10.

 

[keterys]

4e favors about 7-9 encounters per level, after you factor in encounters averaging slightly over character level and quest XP.

3e was intended to favor 13 1/3.

It was much easier to 'game' XP in 3e and have encounters work 2 or 4x as much xp, whereas in 4e you really shouldn't see more than 20-40% more.

So, by default, 4e advances much faster than 3e. Experiences vary. I'd suggest _not caring_ and determine how often people want to level and go with that. For example by picking set goals (every X encounters or sessions, once they finish with the tower, find the murderer, etc) and just sticking with it.

 

[Bayuer]

In my sessions we level up on each one played. They usualy last for 5-7h. There are 3 players + DM and he throws on us strong fights and gives xp for talking quest etc. There is much easier leveling than i previous editions i think.

 

[Gort]

Anyway, so while the intention in 3e might have been to have 13 1/3 encounters per level, the truth is probably closer to 7-10.

Agreed. In 3rd ed, if you had a fight with an enemy of equal CR to the party, you steamrollered it. A party of 4 level 1 characters would fight a single level 1 orc fighter as a balanced challenge. A party of 4 level 10 characters would fight a single level 10 orc fighter as a balanced challenge.

You were basically forced to over-CR encounters to make them seem at all threatening. It really didn't seem heroic (though due to greataxe criticals it could still be lethal) to fight a single axe-wielding orc that you outnumbered four to one. This is one of the reasons I like minions. You can outnumber the players four to one if you like, and they'll still kick ass.

 

[Staffan]

Another thing about 3e encounter design: the designers assumed you would have four encounters in a day. The idea then was that the first three encounters weren't really supposed to be dangerous, they were just supposed to wear you down enough so that the fourth encounter would be. This failed for three reasons:

1. A single monster against four opponents that individually are a fair match for it will not consume 25% of their resources. It will consume more like 5-10% - more if it has area attacks and such, but still. That's because the group of four will both have total resources that are four times as large, and because they will deplete the single monster's resources four times as fast. That is of course grossly simplified, but more or less correct.

2. Players tend to be a cowardly lot. By the time the casters start running out of spells, they will want to retreat, and in most cases they can (especially once they have spells like rope trick). Sure, you can make up scenarios where the clock is ticking and they have to keep moving, but if you do that every time, it gets old pretty fast.

3. Five words: wand of cure light wounds (and its later cousin, wand of lesser vigor). This item costs 750 gp, and heals an average of 275 hp (550 for lesser vigor). That's only 2.7 gp per hp (call it 3 to account for overhealing and such). Sure, it's too slow to use in a fight (except at low levels), but it will ensure that the physical types enter each fight in peak condition.