D&D 5E (2024) GMs: How long should it usually take to go from level 1 to 4?

[DragonLancer]

My assumption is that the milestones are a fixed thing and, once set and told to the players, cannot be moved or altered; same as any other story or setting element in the game.

I've never told players when the milestone is and it can shift depending on what they do. Milestones generally aren't fixed like that. Like everything in the game, they are a guide.

 

[dave2008]

Did not vote as I don't run 5e (or 5.5); were I to, I'd tweak it such that each level took numerous sessions to achieve in order to spin the campaign out longer. I'd be unpleasantly surprised if we got through 4th in the first year of the campaign (i.e. 45-ish sessions).

You don't need to tweak anything to make it work as you want. I don't know the sessions but it took about 8 years of playing time to get to level 15 in our campaign.

 

[DEFCON 1]

My assumption is that the milestones are a fixed thing and, once set and told to the players, cannot be moved or altered; same as any other story or setting element in the game. (I view levels as actual things in the setting rather than as a metagame construct - you know what level you are in-character simply by counting how many times you've trained up)

The problem with this, of course, is that in a non-linear game the players - once they know what-where the next milestone is - are likely to beeline to it for metagame reasons even if it isn't what their characters would normally do.

If however the milestones are unknown to the players and thus can be tweaked or moved after being set then it's not really milestone at all, it's just pure DM fiat.

Well, your game assumptions are your own. Thus while milestones wouldn't work for you under those assumptions, anyone else who doesn't play under your assumptions can work with milestones just fine.

 

[Scott Christian]

This all depends on how long your sessions are. If we are talking the typical 3-4 hour sessions, my vote is 7-8. But like all things, story comes first. So maybe less, maybe more.

 

[BookTenTiger]

My general rule of thumb is that I want each level to last for a number of sessions equal to the next level up.

So Level 1 lasts 2 sessions.
Level 2 lasts 3 sessions.
Level 3 lasts 4 sessions.

And so on until Level 8 and beyond, each of which lasts for about 8 sessions.

Since we play for 2 - 3 hours, I find this pace gives players enough time to get comfortable with their new level before moving on. We usually play until Level 12.

 

[Vael]

Generally I want, assuming a level 1 start, to level up at the end of that first session. From there on, 2-5 sessions per level, depending on progress and party vibe.