How fast do you level in 3.x? (read before you vote)

[Hussar]

If you are happy with 20% or so error, knock yourself out.

I'm not looking for exact math, but, why should using a base 4 system suddenly add in all sorts of errors. It shouldn't be too difficult to work it out. Meh.

This is somewhat eye opening for me though. People ding very, very quickly. I can see now why we see a lot of the complaints that we do. From a DM's perspective, it must be hard to keep up with what the players can do.

 

[Baron Opal]

This is somewhat eye opening for me though. People ding very, very quickly. I can see now why we see a lot of the complaints that we do. From a DM's perspective, it must be hard to keep up with what the players can do.

Well, it depends. Four sessions for me is two months, so a year's gaming is 5-6 levels. It would take me four years to run a consistent game from first to twentieth level. My campaign's PCs have been at seventh level for the past three months. This has something to do with a couple of short sessions. I'm pretty aware of their capabilities and they're getting itchy for eighth level. Now if you game 1-2 times a week and level every 4 sessions, then that's three times as fast as my campaign. Half of my players are around 40, have families and are pursuing careers. They want to game more, but don't have the time (I fall into that group). The other half are around 22 and my game is the second or third they play in during a given week.

When I GM, I target a "sweet spot" in levels and do what I can to make sure that the game stays in the sweet spot.

It's funny, I seem to attract players who have bimodal sweet spots. They really like 6-7th level and 15th level. They're either the elite strike team or the heroes of the realm.

 

[S'mon]

This is somewhat eye opening for me though. People ding very, very quickly. I can see now why we see a lot of the complaints that we do. From a DM's perspective, it must be hard to keep up with what the players can do.

I'm glad your eyes are now opened, Hussar.
Yes, the fast rate of levelling in 3e is a genuine problem both for many GMs and for some players who may struggle to keep up with their PCs' rapidly escalating abilities and be unprepared for level-appropriate encounters. I found it very damaging in my first long-term 3e campaign - the PCs had godlike power at 13th level but weren't ready for the implications, and neither was I. Switching to half XP for the second campaign was a big step - fear of complaining powergamer players - but it worked much better.

 

[Hussar]

I'm glad your eyes are now opened, Hussar.
Yes, the fast rate of levelling in 3e is a genuine problem both for many GMs and for some players who may struggle to keep up with their PCs' rapidly escalating abilities and be unprepared for level-appropriate encounters. I found it very damaging in my first long-term 3e campaign - the PCs had godlike power at 13th level but weren't ready for the implications, and neither was I. Switching to half XP for the second campaign was a big step - fear of complaining powergamer players - but it worked much better.

Oh, hey, I admit when I'm wrong. I'd done similar polls before on other boards and the timing was closer to 4-6 sessions when I talked to others. Much smaller representation though.

I believe it was Crothian on these boards who said that DM's should play to the level of complexity they are comfortable with. That's certainly words to live by. Since I have always had about 5 (ish) sessions between levels, I'm rarely surprised by what the players are capable of. After all, there isn't a huge difference in one level and by the time two levels have gone by, I've gotten pretty comfortable with the new abilities.

My advice to anyone who is struggling would be to put the brakes on. It's not terribly difficult to slow down the game. Use lots of grappling creatures. Use Bull Rush every third encounter. That'll seriously slow down the game.