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Message: <blockquote data-quote="M_Natas" data-source="post: 8839897" data-attributes="member: 7025918">To me, Milestone Leveling feels too much like DM fiat. The DM decides on a whim, when the Players Level up, and it usually feels arbitrary, even when I as the DM do it. Also, Milestone-Leveling takes away one way for the players to track their progress. XP is one of the two main mechanics in DND 5e to show progress (the other one being the Character Levels themselves).And the feeling of progress is an important part of D&D and most games. If you don't have a feel of progress, if you feel stuck, if everything feels the same old, be it a game or real life, it sucks.Like for example, in my game I DM with milestones (that started 4,5 Years ago), my players were not pursuing the main-goals of the story arc but some side quests. By my design, they didn't reach the milestones for a level-up for a long time and the players didn't like it, because they were stuck at that level. I could have changed the milestones, of course, but then I would have to change my whole milestone leveling system ...When you take out XP you will have to replace it with another way to track the progress to the next level, or it will feel arbitrary, and the players could feel dissatisfied and "betrayed" by the DM, when they think, they are stuck at a level.XP is like a progress bar that the players can see. Watching a progress bar fill is a satisfying thing for most players, that's why a lot of games use those (and even Books and Movies - come on, everybody loved it, when Neville Longbottom got 10 Points for Gryffindor to beat Slytherin in the house cup in the First Harry Potter Book!). It is an easy way to bind the players closer to the game.If you remove it, the only thing that is left in D&D in a mechanical way to track progress are the levels themselves (there is also Wealth-progress and gear-progress in D&D 5e, but that is not very robust)All other progress would be Ingame/"Story"-progress (we have to fulfill this quest, go in this dungeon ... ).And also, yes, you can incentivize player behavior by choosing what you give XP for. That's a big bonus, too.For example, if your players tend to do the 1-Encounter-Day (doing one combat, then taking a long rest) when the dungeon delve, you can disincentivize that, by repopulating the Dungeon and only giving 1/10 of the XP for the Monsters that came back, because the players waiting a day to get their long rest (giving 1/10 XP feels worse than giving no XP). You can decide to not give XP for Murderhoboing innocent people and fighting the city guard after they want to arrest you for murderhoboing. XP is a great tool for DMs and Game Designers.Will the game work without XP? Of course. Like I said, I DM without XP for the last 4 1/2 years, and it is mostly fine. But in my next campaign, when this is over, I'm bringing XP back, because it helps with the feel of progress in the game, it feels fairer for the players, and it gives me as the DM a tool to incentivize good player behavior.</blockquote>

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