Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ezrider23 Aug 14, 2015 18:57:19	Hey all, I'm doing some research here and was looking for a thread or something that had a break down for session based XP rewards as oppossed to monster/encounter based XP? I could have sworn i had read something before but i may be mistaken. Any thoughts or help would be great.
#2 shintashi Aug 15, 2015 0:22:52	it is often said in previous editions, 4 encounters to a level. If you assume 1 hour per encounter, and a 4 hour session, you can award sufficient XP to level 4 characters each 4 hour session. If you have less encounters per hour, or simply less hours, it may be divided or multiplied according to your changes. If you do an all nighter, like 10-12+ hour sessions, and have skilled character designers who enjoy combat, they might level 3 or 4 times in one weekend super session. I've found player characters tend to level about once every 3-4 hours of play.   if your players are experienced but new to the system, it's half that speed as they keep looking up rules and getting confused about new ones or correcting/retconning mistakes   if your players are inexperienced/very young gamers, or this is their first table top, its also about half that speed because you need to lower the difficulty or they willl total-party-kill.   if they are experienced, and they know the rules, they might power level, possibly multiple times per session. This is similar to the Super Mario effect. If you have played that game for a long time, it is totally possible to zip through to the end really fast.   I recently ran a session with some new players, and i made some serious mistakes, over estimating their ability to tactically work together to overcome harder opponents, and i overestimated the kind of strategy they would use against their foes. That's entirely my fault. You can't just assume a wizard with magic missile is going to use it against a high AC opponent, they might waste a round or two trying low damage attack roll cantrips. You can't assume the group will know to try to take out the big high damage monster - they may think it will make a great pet once they wipe out the other monsters - while it wipes them out one by one.   This last anecdote is important - if your players are new to the game, don't rush their progress. Sometimes the players are learning just as much as their characters. Don't rob them of that experience.
#3 Danny_Montanny Aug 15, 2015 6:31:07	Think about using Episodic Experience. All challenges for the first part of the story are appropriate for level 1 characters. When the first part is done, you move onto part two and level 2 characters and challenges appropriate to them. Keep doing this when you feel a pivotal part of the story moves from one point to the next.