How fast do your characters advance in level?

[DarrenGMiller]

While I am an old-school DM and prefer slower levelling, I have left it as per the RAW for this campaign. My players are We game once per week for about 4-6 hours. In my first two 3E campaigns, the PC's gained about a level per month. In the current game, we started in January, quit for about 6 weeks in the Spring, and then picked up right where we had left off. So, best I figure, we have played about 34 sessions. The PC's are currently 13th level. That is about one level per 2.5 sessions on average. I like a level per month better, but this game has been fun since my player troubles were solved after my 6 week hiatus.

My next game is going to be Heroes of Horror based (planned this summer, before I knew it was coming out, just wanted to do dark fantasy, then found out it was coming out, so I am anxiously awaiting it to finish planning), so I expect advancement may be slightly different.

DM

 

[JoeGKushner]

Since I'm running an adventure straight from the book, they average about 1 level every 2.5 sessions.

Works well so far.

 

[The_Gunslinger658]

Since I'm running an adventure straight from the book, they average about 1 level every 2.5 sessions.

Works well so far.

ya but I still think we should have gotten that 200 xp to level up, you cheap goofball


Scott

 

[JoeGKushner]

ya but I still think we should have gotten that 200 xp to level up, you cheap goofball


Scott

No soup for you!

 

[pogre]

Levels 1 and 2 - about 1 session each
Levels 3 to 5 - about 3 sessions each
Levels 6+ - 6 or more sessions each

This mirrors my experience.

 

[ruleslawyer]

If you don't mind me asking, how do you determine XP for RPing and Story advancement? I have a few power gamers who'd rather hack and slash their way through an adventure, often complaining that some sessions have too much role-playing. Again, some of my players love to RP, so I tend to ignore them munchkins to a certain degree. However, if I could adequately reward the greedy little buggers for RPing, most of the complaints will disappear. As of right now, I usually reward a few hundred XP for good RPing, but I’m thinking it’s not enough…

IANG (I am not Graybeard), but here's (roughly) how I do it.

1) All XP awards for combat are reduced by 50%.

2) I design my adventures with pre-scripted "story goals." These include finding the MacGuffin, rescuing the princess, etc etc. Ideally, the party should be able to complete one to two story goals per session. Every time the party achieves a story goal, each member of the party gets FOUR story tokens.

3) Using non-combat solutions to overcoming or avoiding encounters is worth a story token.

4) Exceptional role-playing (as determined by group vote at the end of each session) earns the RPer a Fate Point. These are basically "get out of jail free" cards that allow you a +20 bonus OR a reroll on any check of your choice.

XP is totaled at the end of each session. Then story tokens are cashed in. Each story token is worth 1/4 the XP of an encounter of CR = EPL. Thus, it is greatly to a party's advantage to complete story goals at whatever cost necessary. Non-combat solutions are sufficiently rewarding that, in conjunction with the overall push to a story goal, they are worth pursuing, especially against very powerful enemies.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

We average a level and a half a session.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Once every four to five weeks out of game a PC will generally level up. In game though usually 1-2 times a year and no more than 3 occaisonally with large breaks between one string of level ups and the next (anywhere from 1-5 years in game usually).

 

[Psion]

Wow, you people must have combat like mad.

I don't use combat XP at all. I use the per hour method described in the dmg, and adjust for difficulty and player cleverness/roleplay.

 

[Crothian]

Wow, you people must have combat like mad. I give out XP for RP and they don't level that fast.

I give out RP XP as well, but it is up top the players to do what they want. If they want a lot of combat I'm not going to deny that.