How many sessions does it take you to level?

[Azarin]

I am probably not alone here, I think it takes too long to level. I game with a group of 5 players and it takes 3-4, 4 hr sessions to level. Our group is now trying to give bonus xp for completing several encounters before taking a daily rest. This will make it faster to level, but then makes playing a published module difficult without modifying the encounters for higher level pcs. What do you do in your game? Do you like the current rate of leveling every 8-10 encounters?

 

[FireLance]

It takes my group just one session to level, because we ignore the rules for gaining XP and simply assume that the PCs gain one level between sessions.

You might consider trying something similar (possibly not as drastic ) in your own group. Instead of developing a complicated system of rules to grant extra XP so that you will gain a new level in X sessions, just cut to the desired outcome and have the PCs gain a new level every X sessions. As an added bonus, you don't have to do any more bookkeeping to track XP.

 

[Knowme]

Leveling is very mathematical. Your description makes it sound like you never go above level+1 (at most), and never get quest exp. Maybe mix in some higher level encounters so it doesn't take quite so long to level (and also to mix up tactics and difficulty so combat doesn't get too boring).

Another option is to ignore XP entirely and just level the PCs when appropriate for the campaign.

 

[Gradine]

I haven't used experience points since AD&D; our first D20 GM (for Star Wars) basically told us we level up every other session and we've used that as a gauge for every campaign since. It's worked for us all quite well, though lately I've found something lacking from this system.

I've been barreling through the old 2e Baldur's Gate CRPGs, and every time I get a huge quest exp bonus is a great feeling. Checking my characters and finding them only a short ways from their next level always makes me excited. Specific milestones has taken some of that joy and excitement out of leveling up.

 

[Aegeri]

I aim for 2-3 sessions now, so I try to balance my encounters around having something plot or important happen in the second or third session. Like they find the main base of operations of the bandits/kobolds or whatever. Given I treat a level as an extended rest, it also lets me keep the games pace up without tons of extended rests all the time.

I don't pay any attention to experience or similar anymore, but I do make sure it's roughly eight encounters or so. Usually with at least two EL + 3 or so encounters in there. I also make sure those encounters hand out all the relevant treasure and items the PCs will need.

 

[Aulirophile]

I level the group I DM every 2 sessions. This is easy because they get the full 10 encounters in there (I average 7 combats and 2 skill challenges with quest XP making up the little missing bit.) Our fights are super fast though (longest was one hour and it was ridiculous, lasted 15 rounds and every character had to burn all their dailies). Our sessions run 5-7 hours.

In the group I play in (all different people) the combat is much slower and we level every 2-4 sessions.

 

[Piratecat]

We level every five or six sessions. Like many other people in this thread, I ignore xp and level the group when I choose.

I chose that number because I want a six year campaign. We play every other week, so 25 three hour games a year. That gives us five levels a year, and we'll hit 30th lvl in six.

 

[MrMyth]

We go by xp, and 2 sessions has been the average timeframe for much of the epic tier. It has slowed a bit, I think since I can use the new MM3 guidelines to present challenging fights without making every battle Level+3 or so.

 

[Shin Okada]

I am currently running a monthly off-line session, attending another monthly off-line session as a player, and attending some play-whenever-we-can type on-line sessions.

Regarding those monthly off-line sessions, we do play long. Usually hanging for, say, 8 of so of hours per session. We eat, chat, take short-rests (I mean players), much during those sessions. We usually run 4-5 encounters per session and it seems that we are leveling-up by at least 1 per two sessions in average. We are calculating XPs and treasure for those sessions.

Edit: Edit: I have double-checked our session BBS and it seems that 2 levels per 3 session is more accurate.

In case of off-line sessions, we usually play only one combat encounter per evening. And we don't calculate XP nor treasure. We are mostly using encounters from Dungeon Delve book. When we play, say, an encounter aimed for level X party, we just roll up new level X PCs or auto-level up some of the PCs we used before.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

It seems like around 6 significant encounters per level has roughly worked out in the games I've run. How fast that ends up being IRL depends on the group. I figure on average it works out to 1-2 hours of play per encounter all told. 2-3 sessions per level seems to be the end result, which at 1 session a week runs to maybe a level every month when you figure we miss a session now and then. Long term things tend to get a bit slower for whatever reasons though. I have one campaign that seems to move along at about 8 weeks per level, but that one is all online. I've considered just ignoring XP and speeding it up slightly but we're all older players in that one and nobody is in a hurry.

Even if you do use XP the easiest thing to do if you want to pick it up is throw in a few more quests. Quest XP doesn't add to playing time, the quests are fun, and things speed up a little bit. Ignoring XP will work fine though.