Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Geron Raveneye" data-source="post: 2054695" data-attributes="member: 2268">One thing that nibbled at my mind since I started DMing D&D 3E was the fact that the characters seemed to go up in levels much faster than I was used to. I didn't change much in the way I set my adventures, and it looke to me as if the characters reached a new level (and new abilities) before they even managed to properly get used to their last one.I did some comparing between my favorite game system from "back then" (Basic D&D) and now, to see how they compared on that regard, trying to mull it down to a few numbers (which of course is likely to fog up when you look at the detailed picture, but was enough to make it clear to me <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ).Let's take a group of 4 characters, archetypes, in order to compare between the systems: fighter, wizard, cleric and rogue (thief <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />). All at first level. Now reduce their only source of XP to the primary ones: monsters.Basic D&D gives you a flat 10 XP for one orc. Nothing more, nothing less. (Yeah, I know...treasure is XP here. If you check the treasure of one orc, it's around 10 cp. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> Mucho XP, huh?) So, the above group of adventurers would have to kill, between them, enough orcs to gain 7300XP, and spread them out so each of them would get to 2nd level. Which wasn't really likely, as the different XP progressions would quickly send the thief and cleric soaring, while the fighter and then the magic-user lagged behind.In D&D 3E, the amount of XP is based on CR and level of the group as well as amount of monsters. One orc is CR 1/2, with a group level of 1, you get 150 XP for one orc. So, 27 orcish corpses later, the group reaches 2nd level, all at the same moment.It's no surprise level progression feels so much faster to me now...it's like they tied a rocket to the level progression.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> And the fun part is that killing monsters is by far not the only source of XP...in both games, I want to add. Even Basic D&D told a DM that characters earn XP for reaching certain goals in a given story. So story awards were already there. And the game was set up to bing characters to 36th level, and they by far didn't get as many flashy new powers to play with at each level.  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing    :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" /> So, did you notice that, too, in your transition from older versions to 3E? By now I'm seriously pondering to replace the XP table from the PHB with that from Unearthed Arcana, and quarter the XP awards in the CR/XP table in the DMG, just to get the progression speed back to something I can manage with my slow, leisurely mind. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

Verification