Level Advancement Rate in 3e
- Thread starter cbatt
- Start date
Bendris Noulg
First Post
Hmmm... I actually had to double the CR awards.
Of course, we spend so much time in RP, investigating, seeking advise from NPCs, research, exploration and travel, even with double rewards, goal rewards, story awards and RP awards, leveling only occurs about 3-4 times a year for our lower level games and about once a year for our high level game.
Of course, we spend so much time in RP, investigating, seeking advise from NPCs, research, exploration and travel, even with double rewards, goal rewards, story awards and RP awards, leveling only occurs about 3-4 times a year for our lower level games and about once a year for our high level game.
(contact) said:
Correct. I'm wasn't really interested in how long in terms of real months. But it has become interesting, nonetheless. So feel free to share.
(contact) said:
First, I know what I can do with my game and how I handle experience. That's not really what I'm trying to address. No offense meant though. Your points, amongst others in the same vein, are deffinately what I too would recommend if you were not happy with the advancement rate.
Anyhow...
What I was really surprised with was the "official" stance on how fast PCs advance. 8 levels in 2 months (Game/Campaign/Fictional time) of hard-core adventuring seemed very quick to me.
I guess what I'm really wondering about is how much WoTC's "vision" influences your own campaign/game? How fast do PCs advance in normal, everday-guy kinda games?
Bendris Noulg
First Post
How much does WotC's "vision" influences level advancement in my game?
It's not even a consideration.
It's not even a consideration.
The level advancement with the 3rd edition is much faster than it was in the 2nd, 1st or even in the basic, original D&D.
But at last can we play high level PCs without "cheating" or being a professional role player
.
Think about the hard earned cash you spend on pages printed with prestige classes, high level spells, items and monsters that just collect dust while you earn XP by XP in the first levels! At last you *will* use them!!
Note that as a DM, I am still unconfortable with PC levels above 12 or so, especially when I see some thread about how a PC can deal 500 hits points or so (was it 300? bah!) in a round :d
But at last can we play high level PCs without "cheating" or being a professional role player
.Think about the hard earned cash you spend on pages printed with prestige classes, high level spells, items and monsters that just collect dust while you earn XP by XP in the first levels! At last you *will* use them!!
Note that as a DM, I am still unconfortable with PC levels above 12 or so, especially when I see some thread about how a PC can deal 500 hits points or so (was it 300? bah!) in a round :d
IMC it's been about 18 months of game time, and the players are 8th or 9th level, closing in on 10th. It's been over 2 years of real time.
Ideally, I might have wanted more game time to pass (through extended down time), but the party is battling the calender so there not a lot of downtime.
Ideally, I might have wanted more game time to pass (through extended down time), but the party is battling the calender so there not a lot of downtime.
For one thing I use a calander to track time for my game world. It makes keeping things more realistic easier becuase I have a constant reminder of how time is flowing in the game world. I also note what and who they talked to of import as a tiny journal. Especially since I never get around to doing an actual journal anyway.
On the speed of advancement. I moved my group of pc's fairly quickly up to 7th or so and will now slow things down. I didn't choose to use a consistent % reduction or anything just normal XP up till now then maybe 1/2 or 3/4 for a while. I told them this when the game started so no surprise to them.
I think of it as they have been slugging it out for like 3-4 months game time and have bettered themselves rapidly, sort of like newbie soldiers in war. You learn quick what you need to know or you die. It is the only comparison I have to make based on real world events.
Later
On the speed of advancement. I moved my group of pc's fairly quickly up to 7th or so and will now slow things down. I didn't choose to use a consistent % reduction or anything just normal XP up till now then maybe 1/2 or 3/4 for a while. I told them this when the game started so no surprise to them.
I think of it as they have been slugging it out for like 3-4 months game time and have bettered themselves rapidly, sort of like newbie soldiers in war. You learn quick what you need to know or you die. It is the only comparison I have to make based on real world events.
Later
Dextolen
Community Supporter
I think the official stance is that the party should advance a level for every 13 encounters. I've noticed it's around 9-10.
Everything hangs on the CR/EL system. A 25% resource expenditure is considered a normal challenge. The party, therefore, should have to rest after 4 of these encounters.
If your group has to rest after each encounter, the EL of challenges is too high and thus your reward is greater and you will level fast (if you survive).
Since the EL system is based on a party of four characters, DM's are usually stuck guessing on how to increase the threat appropriately. Too hard and things move to quickly, characters die, etc. Too low and it's yawnsville.
I think most of the extremely fast leveling is due to DM's (and dungeon writers) kicking it up a notch to increase the threat of the adventure. 25% resources is pretty vague. That could be HP loss, ability drain, spell usage, item usage, etc. So encounters may appear to not have cost the party the proper resources when it really did. By boosting every single encounter so it's a life or death slugfest, your party is going to level like crazy.
If that makes everyone happy, then fine. I just think people need to spend a little time getting to use their new feats, skills and spells before they get the next batch of fun things to do.
Everything hangs on the CR/EL system. A 25% resource expenditure is considered a normal challenge. The party, therefore, should have to rest after 4 of these encounters.
If your group has to rest after each encounter, the EL of challenges is too high and thus your reward is greater and you will level fast (if you survive).
Since the EL system is based on a party of four characters, DM's are usually stuck guessing on how to increase the threat appropriately. Too hard and things move to quickly, characters die, etc. Too low and it's yawnsville.
I think most of the extremely fast leveling is due to DM's (and dungeon writers) kicking it up a notch to increase the threat of the adventure. 25% resources is pretty vague. That could be HP loss, ability drain, spell usage, item usage, etc. So encounters may appear to not have cost the party the proper resources when it really did. By boosting every single encounter so it's a life or death slugfest, your party is going to level like crazy.
If that makes everyone happy, then fine. I just think people need to spend a little time getting to use their new feats, skills and spells before they get the next batch of fun things to do.
The campaign that I run has been going for a little over a year real-time. We took about 4-5 months off for other DM's to do their thing, so it's been about 7-8 months of weekly gaming. In that time, about 2 months of game-time have passed and the characters have progressed from 1st all the way to 8th (at the upper end). When I look at it that way, it seems like the progression has been awfully quick, but it hasn't felt quick to any of us. If anything, my players have a running joke about my "stingy" experience awards.
I think the real cause for the quick advancement has been the lack of "downtime." Of course, the world they are in is a very dynamic one in the throes of revolution and impending cataclysm, so downtime isn't really seen as a luxury they can afford. In addition, the one time I presented a lull in the campaign, the entire party spent the entire session trying to find jobs and an apartment. Needless to say, that evening lives in infamy, and I've since made it a priority to have at least one adventure hook per session.
I think the real cause for the quick advancement has been the lack of "downtime." Of course, the world they are in is a very dynamic one in the throes of revolution and impending cataclysm, so downtime isn't really seen as a luxury they can afford. In addition, the one time I presented a lull in the campaign, the entire party spent the entire session trying to find jobs and an apartment. Needless to say, that evening lives in infamy, and I've since made it a priority to have at least one adventure hook per session.
