Does it really matter how fast your characters level up?

[Rebecca]

As a player, I am most comfortable levelling up every 4th session or so - I don't feel I get a good grasp on the abilities and tactics available to the character in less time, and it feels very odd to level up when I still feel lost in the options of the previous level. The campaign I play in tends to level every 2-3 sessions, which is somewhat frustrating to me. So far, I have dealt with this by playing the characters as increasingly out of their depth til they die, so I can bring in new folks who I feel more comfortable running.

 

[Crothian]

My campaign's PC's don't level too fast for one very good reason:

I'm the one who passes out XP and I don't award standard XP. I award 50% XP once they reach 5th level so I can keep em longer right where I want em (5th to 12th).

between this post and the post about no magic shopds or crafting magical items for your players, it seems to me you are playing third edition with that first edition feel.....

 

[billd91]

I do think the 3rd ed XP tables are too generous. Characters easily level out of the range of a moderate-length adventure far too quickly, and that leaves a lot of potential plot lines inappropriate. I've gone more or less completely to story awards instead so I can advance the characters as the plot advances, not as the body count amasses..

 

[Jdvn1]

It might be if you have a certain level range that you really enjoy playing (as a GM) and your PCs zoom right through that range.

It can also make it tough to come up with appropriate challenges if you design a big adventure and you're not sure what level they'll be at what point in the adventure.

So in short, it can be. Doesn't need to be, but it can, depending on your preferences and needs.

Agreed. It can also be a story tool, too. You sometimes want the PCs to think they're tough, but that there's a lot of stuff in the world they haven't explored and/or there are many things to fear.

 

[Magus Coeruleus]

Leveling too fast keeps your from appreciating your powers as you accrue them, and prevents you from enjoying certain challenges that only work in specific ranges (too hard at lower levels and too easy at higher levels). At a very low level, my players were scared to death by a flock of stirges. Laster, they were a serious nuisance. Ultimately, I would wave off such encounters altogether, saying things like "in addition the encounters we played out, you come across the odd group of stirges, pack of wolves, etc. on your journey." It can be boring to keep playing it after it's too easy but it's more believable that those lesser foes are still out there. The flip side is that if you level too fast there may never be enough time to enjoy certain challenges or try out certain strategies before they are rendered obsolete by those that come with higher levels.

When DMing, I aim to have characters reach a new level after every 4*level hours of game play. That would amount to 1 4-hour session per level sought, but it's a bit faster than that since our sessions are usually 5-6 hours long.

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

You know, it's kind of odd. It really depends on the DM.

I only ever hand out story awards, in the form of ticks. Every tick grants you 100 times your level experience points, and you get ticks for roleplaying. I know it's arbitrary, but no-one I've played with has ever complained.

Regardless, none of us are keen for high levels quickly. So it's not too much of an issue that a game going for four or five months only has the characters at level five. Thats weekly games of approximately 4-6 hours.

Note, that in game terms there has been a lot of manouvering and postering between various armies and nobles and player characters. That takes time. I think about five years has passed since the first adventure. If I deem nothing adventure-worthy or story worthy happens, then I don't need to describe it day by day. The players are fine with this - but then, this might well be the players.


I dislike levelling too fast game-wise. But I offset it by not letting them be at high levels until I want them there. How do I stop them? I don't give them the experience. I don't say the words "You level up." etc etc.

People seem to think that roleplaying in the end is not ruled by the GM but by perfect rulesystems. Thats a lie, and the reason why some GM's complain.

Why are they complaining and not thinking for themselves and changing it to how they like it? It's not hard.

 

[Apollo's WIll]

I do not use the XP scale in the rule-book at all. I use CR to help me to find challenging opponents for the players but that is all.



From there I reward xp as I feel fit for how the session has been and how much the players have advance in form of storyline. Average a level every three sessions. As I try to promote role-playing within the group and for letting that be the reward instead of killing, I often chose one of the players that have done some exceptional role-playing in the specific session, whatever it brought laughs, tears or just amazement of storytelling, and reward that player a little bit extra. Of course with the reason explained for why this player got the reward this time.



That works for this group and me. The players (that had no experience with role-playing when we started this campaign) have quickly risen to fantastic role-players, and with that the fun keeps going on, even when the levels don’t come as fast.

 

[The Shaman]

I guess my viewpoint is that even if there are complex plots moving in the background (and our adventures usually have a multitude of these) it's not that hard to adjust them to the character's current level.

For instance, we had a DM who wanted to run the 18-20 level campaign that came out when 3rd ed was released - I can't remember the name off the top of my head - but by the time he worked it into our ongoing campaign, our average party level was about 25. With just a few minor alterations, however, the same basic creatures and monsters were incredibly tough, and all the while we had complete game sessions interspersed which were nothing but political maneuvering and role-playing.

Repeatedly adjusting the level of the challenge to meet the adventurers strains my credulity, and IMHO it risks becoming rather dull - it creates a situation where the players are trying to roll the same 15 or better no matter what level they are.

The game-worlds I create have definite upper limits to the power levels that can be reached - there are only so many demi-liches and great wyrms - and I don't want to rush the characters straight to that ceiling.

 

[S'mon]

It might be if you have a certain level range that you really enjoy playing (as a GM) and your PCs zoom right through that range.

Yup. The more I GM, the more I think it's a problem. 3e as written tends to zoom players through the most fun levels (IMO 1st-8th, or 3rd-8th) very quickly and then stick them in the 9-12 range for ages due to increased lethality, level loss from raise dead, etc. I don't find this much fun. If I'd designed the XP system I'd probably have made CR = party level give 100 x Level XP rather than 300 x Level, then allowed space for other awards on top, with advancement rate about 1/2 the current default rate.

Edit: I'd also remove the level loss for Raise Dead. I think slower advancement is much better than repeatedly playing through 12th level (*ugh*) :\

 

[S'mon]

For my current campaign I'm keeping a closer eye on things like NPC level distribution, what different levels mean in terms of status in the game world, that kind of thing. My last campaign suffered greatly from having 12th level PCs as lackeys to a minor noble, doing tasks that really should have been beneath their dignity. 12th is barely past mid level in standard D&D, but I'm going back to an explicitly 1e style paradigm with Low as 1-3, Medium 4-6, High 7-9, Very High 10-12 and 13+ Legendary. Normal NPCs are in the 1-5 Range (1 Novice 2 Trained 3 Experienced 4 Veteran 5 Elite), with 6+ reserved for notable persons, heroes et al. I started this campaign (Lost City of Barakus) at 1st and by the time the PCs reach 9th I'd like to see them being well established in the game world as renowned heroes.