When trying to decide in a character progression system for my Blackmoor game, I decided to list out some of the pros and cons of each XP system I could think of or consider. Below are some of the descriptions and musings of that process.

Milestone

I think actual milestone can be really good if the points of the story are predetermined and objectives extremely clear. I think you could shift these milestones appropriately as a DM to  compensate for player agency, but that can be some work as a DM. Additionally, what seems like a big moment to the players and not as much to the DM may be just a precursor to a larger moment in game, or vice versa.

  • I think a lot of time turns into DM fiat which I’m not really a fan of. Personally, I think players asking “do we level up” is a bit funny but also can slightly pressure the DM in the moment; leveling up is fun and exciting and as a DM I want to give players those moments.
  • Apart from these, milestone can be doled out only 19 times a campaign. This may be a problem in a long running campaign stretching dozens of sessions.
  • Lastly milestones can be completed in quick succession making  level ups extremely quick or far apart  which could cause confusion or frustration in players.

XP

I’m a fan of XP for a few reasons:

  • It can be used as a sort of “attendance” grade for players. Players who show up every week will likely have the most XP. I think this can penalize people perhaps unjustly who have awkward or packed schedules, so perhaps making just a party wide is best. I also personally don’t mind as a player tracking XP, people being at different levels, doling out XP as a DM
  • With XP-based systems, players can see how close they are to leveling up. This allows for better preparation and if they want to hit certain story beats before they hit a class feature (like unlocking a subclass or multiclassing) they know roughly how long they have until they can do so.
  • XP also gives smaller increments of rewards. If a player has a clever solution to an encounter or a heroic moment in combat, the only thing you can do as a reward for milestone is either a level up just for that action, a short term buff, or a long term buff. XP gives some progression without tipping game balance or player resources OR giving them something else to track from a clerical perspective

Some downsides to XP:

  • XP needs a time and a place. I think some people may be influenced by video games where you get XP for everything you kill or complete as soon as you kill or complete them. That said, in d&d when narrative is important, holding the reins on  when and where XP is dispensed I think is a powerful and underutilized tool. A lot of people will do it just after the end of a session or at the end of a long rest, but again, bringing it back to narrative, place also matters. Leveling up in the middle of a dungeon? A little suspect. Leveling up after completing a dungeon and heading home, resting, and licking your wounds makes a lot of sense.

Addressing the downsides:

  • Place I think is the best lever to know when to give XP out and I think that it actually coincides really well with some of the strengths of Milestone where once the players get to “Destination  X,” they gather all the XP that they’ve earned since the last time they earned XP. The Place can be as big as arriving in a city or as specific as The Dragon’s Treasure Room.
  • Time is the other lever. A long with the normal short rests and long rests, you could make an “XP rest” which is prohibitively long, like a day or two in game that made it to where the PCs could only XP rest somewhere safe. You couldn’t reasonably XP rest in a Lich’s castle, but you could do it before or after you enter/ exit.

Alternate leveling systems

Session Approach

  • The basic idea of this system is to have simplistic counter, not have to track XP, and give players a timeline as to when their character progresses. It is extremely similar to the SWN XP system. The gist is your current level determines how many sessions you have until your next level up. More specifically, whatever your level is, that’s how many sessions it will take you to progress to the next level. If you start at level 1, you’ll only need to play one session to get to level 2. At level 2 you’ll need to play two sessions to get to level 3 and so on.
  • This approach can also be used as an “attendance grade” similar to XP
    • Downsides:
      • can’t totally control when and where the players level up
      • At higher levels it really begins to drag. To compensate for this, I’d probably cap it at whatever feels reasonable, maybe anywhere between 5 and 7. It keeps the progression going, time to figure out PC’s new abilities, and makes level ups feel appropriately drawn out while still being able to anticipate level ups.
      • XP increments are limited

XP with PC Quests

This is the same principle as XP except kicked up a notch with personalized XP quests. These allow players to pursue different quests and get large endowments of XP (based on level when the quest was received) upon completion. My friend Kit and I brainstormed on this idea for awhile and landed on a few different types of quests. I suppose these could be combined or categorized in plenty of ways but the one we’ve landed on and used in a game for going on a year and a half is three quests: RP, Combat, and Ability Quests. RP is usually stuff regarding downtime or interaction with NPCs like trying to intimidate someone to get a free meal as a pirate; Combat is usually something like Kill 10 enemies while using the bonus damage of sharp shooter; Ability quests are larger quests usually an example would be an empowered class feature (Rage, Sneak Attack Wildshape) after having several  uses. These are more prolonged but also give a mechanical buff to the PC as well as XP. These are really nice but require a lot of player buy in and DM creativity to make new quests. In the game I use them in as a player, each time I level up, I can either keep an old quest that I didn’t complete, gain a new quest for that same category, or if I’ve completed a quest, I’ll get a new one for that category automatically. Overall very cool.

Prestige XP

One of the goals of several adventurers, and indeed many Player Characters in my game is to excel in a field or social hierarchy. Knight Errant is the lowest rank of the nobility, a non-hereditary title, but gives players a fief, political connections, passive income, respect among NPCs, and chance to attain higher titles like Knight Banneret and Baron. Others may want to try their hand climbing a religious hierarchy in the Blackmoorian Clergy, and shine in academic fields at the University of Blackmoor. I plan to talk to each of my players to investigate what each of their characters would want as they earned prestige in the Kingdom of Blackmoor.

The character progression tactic that I plan to employ in Blackmoor is a mix between XP and XP with PC Quests. That may seem kinda dumb but bear with me. The PC Quests are/can  be given at every level; I plan on giving “Prestige Quests.” Prestige Quests are quests given to the party (not individuals) for different side quests the party can go on, gain bonus XP based on their level, and add to their resume. These Prestige Quests are only unlocked after certain story beats or a certain amount of XP has been earned.  Once the party have accomplished a set number of Prestige Quests, they can progress to bigger and better things as individuals, like a noble rank, scholar (Literati or courtly position), a priest, etc. I plan to make four to five adventure hooks they can try to pick each level, once they complete three of them, I’ll either prestige them, or make a final Capstone Quest to prestige the party.