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.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

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.

Milestones are generally always unknown to the players (I suppose some DMs may outright tell the players but I've never heard of anyone doing this). Personally I wouldn't call the milestones DM fiat since they're known ahead of time by the DM but just aren't known by the players.

At some level though, yeah everything happening in the campaign (other than the base rules of the game) is DM fiat as far as the players are concerned, so you either have to trust your DM to provide a fun campaign experience or probably look for another DM

 

[Lanefan]

Thats not really any different with XP. They just beeline to activities that reward it.

Yes, but those activities can be a wide variety of things...

Often, at expense of what ought to be interesting to their character.

...including things that are interesting to the character.

That said, I guess the best way to put it is that I give xp for a) adventuring, b) contributing within said adventure, and c) being present in-character at the time.

a) includes combat, exploration, social interactions, basically any activity that carries with it some real risk to the character.
b) means if you do nothing in a given situation you get no xp for it.
c) means if you're not there you get no xp, to cover split-party situations or dead-at-the-time characters.

When an XP opportunity exists is always GM whim too. Unless you declare "this woods has 117 XP within it" every time they travel.

When the DM is winging it, perhaps you're right here. When the DM is running off something canned - a module, a setting, whatever - then DM whim plays far less a role, if any.

 

[Lanefan]

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.

Isn't that just pure DM fiat, though? They level when you decide they level?

 

[guachi]

I always thought 5e characters were pretty realized and capable at level 1.

Sure they get a subclass and some important extras at level 3 but that’s only 900 XP of the 6500 XP they would need to reach 5.

It always felt to me that the subclass was like the prestige class or kit of old.

I started my current campaign at level 0 and level 1 PCs look like superheroes comparatively.