Level Differences - How long to catch up?

[the Jester]

I've found that lower-level pcs get the biggest 'catch up' from higher-CR enemies.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

This is not always true. Believe it or not, it depends on the level. For example:

Take a typical 9th level character hanging out with a 10th level party,assuming 4 characters:

Encounter Level     XP/ECL 10      XP/ECL 9      Difference
10                    750            1012.5         262.5
11                    1125           1350           225
12                    1500           2025           525
13                    2250           2700           450
14                    3000           4050           1050
15                    4500           5400           900

Am I doing something wrong here or does it look like there is a pattern? ECL + even is better for the person behind - at least at level 10....

 

[Bad Paper]

I have had no problem at all with laggers catching up. Two notes:
1) encourage powerlevelling ("500xp from the next level; let's make this a long day.")
2) kill off the highest-XP player. not that i necessarily target this person specifically, but in the current five-member party, I've slain two PCs once, two PCs twice, and one PC thrice. yay.

 

[pawsplay]

This is not always true. Believe it or not, it depends on the level. For example:

Take a typical 9th level character hanging out with a 10th level party,assuming 4 characters:

Encounter Level     XP/ECL 10      XP/ECL 9      Difference
10                    750            1012.5         262.5
11                    1125           1350           225
12                    1500           2025           525
13                    2250           2700           450
14                    3000           4050           1050
15                    4500           5400           900

Am I doing something wrong here or does it look like there is a pattern? ECL + even is better for the person behind - at least at level 10....

That's an artifact of the XP award doubling every +2 CR over your level... the CR in between is 1/3 of the difference. So the chart really is slightly bumpy like that. It's an approximation of SQRT(2).

However, as the XP to level up is lower at lower levels, a lower level character is still at an advantage in closing, and in any case, more XP is better, even if it isn't as relatively better compared to a nearby CR as the next CR would be better. As you can tell from the above, the difference doubles ever +2 CR as well. More CR difference = better, over the long haul.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

As you can tell from the above, the difference doubles ever +2 CR as well. More CR difference = better, over the long haul.

Yeah, this makes sense and doesn't suprise me. Because except for the odd CR 1-3 part of the chart, 2 of any creature is a CR+2 encounter. So, 2 CR 5 creatures is a CR 7. In order to make the XP table work out properly then a CR 7 encounter as to be worth twice what a single CR 5 encounter is. THis part isn't what suprised me.

What surprised me is how much more quickly a player will catch up if the DM picks the encounters in favor of the lower guy or how much he can delay the catchup by selecting the encounters to favor the rest of the group. A 9th level player will catch up much more quickly to a 10th level party if the DM allows them to fight CR 10, 12, ir 14 opponents. He will take more time to catch up if they face off against CR 11, 13, or 15 opponents.

Not that I think this is wrong, just a good bit of knowledge to know for when I DM.

 

[Vegepygmy]

I'm scratching my head. I've never had problems with players catching up in levels (I'm not discussing overall XP, just whether or not at any point a player becomes the same level as some other, higher level player.)

Same here. I'd really like to see how it works in actual play for the people who say it's a "glacially slow" process.

I recently completed a level 1-20 campaign in which my character was an item-crafting fool. Each adventure took us 3-4 four-hour sessions to complete (XP being awarded at the end of each session), and I was frequently one level behind the party average for a session. Sometimes two sessions. Never, as far as I can recall, for three or more sessions.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Then maybe I'm doing something wrong....

Don't give (full) xp for players who miss sessions. The vast majority of xp comes from monster kills so that's where the problem lies. Either cut the amount they get when they don't show or don't give any at all.

 

[Plane Sailing]

In your experience would it be worth it for me to bring the lower level party members to within 2 levels of the highest level guy?

In my experience, yes. It gets them out of the 'too weak and dies to easily window' without the highest level guy feel that he's losing his 'reward' of being highest level.

It will also make encounter management much easier for you as a DM, as you don't have to worry about how to challenge the highest level guy without slaughtering the lowest level ones (or alternatively giving the highest level guy a walkover).

 

[Thanee]

If you think it's too slow, just hand out more XP for combat encounters to the lower levels, than what you did so far. It's probably not unreasonable to simply give +50% XP more than the next higher level character gains.

i.e. 15th-level gains 1,000 XP, then give 1,500 XP to 14th-level, 2,250 XP to 13th-level, 3,375 XP to 12th-level. They should catch up fairly quick that way.

And it's easy to calculate, you only need to figure the total XP for one level and then multiply by 1.5 a few times, recording the intermediate results.

Bye
Thanee

 

[nittanytbone]

Don't give (full) xp for players who miss sessions. The vast majority of xp comes from monster kills so that's where the problem lies. Either cut the amount they get when they don't show or don't give any at all.

Agreed; why get EXPERIENCE when nothing has been learned?

The character is a level 14 wizard. He can easily remove himself from the situation IC when he cannot attend OOC.

If he can't make it to a session, his wizard casts Teleport and zips off to somewhere else for awhile.