How Long to Reach 10th Level

[Hussar]

From the poll in the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (D&D Next Design Considerations) article.

Very, very interesting results:

Let's say you're playing in a strictly by-the-book D&D campaign. You play for two hours each week. How long should it take to reach level 10?
Less than 3 months 135 3.3%
3 months 340 8.3%
4 to 6 months 1038 25.5%
7 to 9 months 719 17.7%
10 to 12 months 1132 27.8%
13 to 18 months 352 8.6%
19 to 24 months 176 4.3%
More than 24 months 180 4.4%
Total 4072 100.0%

So, from this, and I do realize how valid online polls are, over 70% of respondents figure you should hit 10th level in one year or less, playing 2 hours per week.

I'll admit, that's faster than my experience, but, not hugely. We tend to play longer sessions, so, timewise, we do take a bit longer than 100 (ish) hours of gameplay to hit 10th level, although the 1 year mark is about right.

Not sure what to take away from this, but, I did find it interesting.

 

[Kaodi]

When I answered that poll I was thinking of the 3.X 20-level progression and answered 13-18 months. Had I been thinking in terms of 4E I might have said 10-12. A year seems about right for a tier, unless you play more deliberately slow games.

 

[Dragoslav]

Maybe it's because of my inability to stick with one character in one campaign for a long time, or my rotten luck with D&D groups falling apart for one reason or another, but I picked 4-6 months.

 

[Tovec]

As I said elsewhere, but wasn't able to vote:

It should take forever to get to 10th level at 2 hours a week. So I guess that's.. More than 24 months.

Our group never played 2 hours at a time. That isn't enough time to regularly get our group together let alone PLAY. If we only did 2 hours a week, and got to lvl 10 in 4 to 12 months that is on average 1 level every..

1.5 weeks at 4 months or 3.2 hours per lvl
and
every 10 weeks at 12 months or 9.6 hours per lvl.

But to put that into perspective.
Getting 10 levels in 32 hours or 96 hours. To me that is insane.

Our games might run 6-8 hours weekly and get to 10 levels in 4 months. Might being the operative word. For us that is.. 128 hours assuming we get the levels in that short time frame. It is usually longer, closer to 6-8 months on average.

That completely fails to realize the number of people playing games which play for YEARS and barely hit 10. I feel sorry if the "2 hour crowd" getting to lvl 10 in 4 weeks takes focus in the game, the 28 year campaigners will be completely excluded.

 

[Lanefan]

That completely fails to realize the number of people playing games which play for YEARS and barely hit 10. I feel sorry if the "2 hour crowd" getting to lvl 10 in 4 weeks takes focus in the game, the 28 year campaigners will be completely excluded.

As one of those people I can only thank you for this post.

The only possible answer to this poll is and must be "As long as it takes given your group's preferences and style of play." Then, design the game to accommodate different advancement speeds (this is one thing Pathfinder really got right; and I'm no fan of Pathfinder).

I also tend to think the more recent editions have had too many levels. 1-20 is too much. 1-30 is more than too much. 1-12 or 1-15 with options to go higher is all you need.

Lanefan

 

[Leatherhead]

Damn, now I feel odd for doing campaigns with one level a session.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I don't think this matters very much, it's one of the easiest things to houserule.

 

[Steely_Dan]

I don't think this matters very much, it's one of the easiest things to houserule.

Yes, for many, many years now, I/we just level the party when it seems appropriate (can't stand XP); usually every 3 to 5 sessions.

 

[Minigiant]

Typically when I played a normal speed game, it was ~15 slightly challenging encounters or successes to level. It came up to about 3 challenges an hour. So we leveled once per 5 hours.

That's 10 levels a year.

 

[Yora]

Two hours per week means one session per month. With gaining a new level once every four session that would be...

40 months.

That's well beyond the highest offered option. And the options most people voted for would be once per session or faster. Really?