The old "how fast is too fast" for gaining levels

[MarauderX]

No XP bank here. If the players did it they get the XP for it then. Am I worried about them killing everything in sight to level faster? No, as they are only awarded XP for completing tasks, not being psychopaths on a killing spree. They also get bonus XP for excellent RPing and doing projects for the party. Currently they are leveling ~every 3 sessions (just made 7th in 23 sessions).

I know as a player I would dislike not getting my XP now, as it seems to reward the procrastinators more than anything else. Oh, we let the BBEG get away again? Eh, let him go since there won't be any big XP reward, and we got his gold anyway. If the players are cool with it, more power to them.

Then again, I am a DM that doesn't use XP costs for anything, such as item creation. The XP is theirs, they earned it, and nothing, as long as I am the DM, will be able to take it away from them. (Yes, there are still critters that inflict negative levels, etc.)

 

[broghammerj]

Our DND group goes pretty well by the book in terms of XP gained. We don't play all that often any more so it's not a big deal. We pretty much agree that the levels are gained too quickly. Thats partially remedied by that fact no one can level until the DM says so no matter how much XP is accumulated.

My D20 modern game is sort of the experiment. No XP awards. We level if I managed to out challenge the PCs and they need to or until we complete a major task/adventure. So far we all agree this is working out very well.

 

[Doug McCrae]

We go up one level for every 24 hours of play, currently. Feels pretty fast cause we play 8-10 hour sessions weekly. We were going up about a level a session but decided to slow it down a bit now we've hit the mid levels.