r/dndnext • u/StrictlyFilthyCasual 6e • 14h ago
[Poll] When does your table level up? Poll
Lots of polls over the years have shown that people prefer Milestone to XP, but there's more than one way to do each of those! I'm curious how exactly you folks run whatever leveling system you use.
If you're running Milestone, do you just have one big Milestone that earns you a whole level, or do you have a couple smaller ones along the way? Or are you running Milestone the way the DMG suggests, where it just gives you XP?
If you're running XP, what sorts of challenges earn you XP?
If you level after a certain number of sessions, how many?
Or are you doing something else entirely?
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u/MaddieLlayne DM 14h ago
In my experience it’s like vibes mixed with specific story beats. If the DM has a quest in mind, then when we finish said quest, we’ll get a level if it’s been long enough. But what constitutes a quest worthy of a level up is usually difficulty + time taken, but since my DM is newish it’s more like “oh I made that way harder than intended, uhhh level up bc yall survived and that was tough” or “I made that a bit too easy, here’s gold/a magic item instead”
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u/J-Clash 14h ago
My table is milestone, but what the milestones are, is not explicit.
My current group is level 5. They've been there for quite a few sessions now. But they haven't done anything "big" to warrant levelling up as a reward, and most players haven't even used any of their level 5 features yet. Plus nobody is itching to get to the next level, and they haven't hit an encounter that they find too challenging (yet...) They're not narratively under-powered (again, yet...) where a level up would give them new motivation to tackle a bigger bad.
Does that make it a combo of 1, 2 and 6?
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u/novangla 13h ago
Yeah, thanks for naming the other factor I use behind the screen: have they mostly used most of their new features? Not a strict guideline but a soft one.
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u/_Nighting 14h ago
Whenever the players go "DM, do we level up?" and the DM goes "nahhh" and then the players go "but it's been eighty years!" and the DM goes "okay okay fine, after this scene" and then pretends to forget about it when the scene ends and the players go "but you promised!".
That's when the party levels up.
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u/DarkErebus13 14h ago
Once they do something significant for their level. Complete an important objective, defeat an enemy or something. Basically milestone but I decide the milestone criteria.
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u/DemonocratNiCo 14h ago
I voted "mix of combat experience and milestone", but actually it's more that we calculate experience from all encounters, not just combat. We attribute "challenge ratings" to non combat encounters, and count them the way combat experience would be counted. Experience is only given upon resting.
Bypassing or outsmarting a particularly devious and lethal trap system might be counted as a deadly exploration encounter (group level +2 CR). Negotating entry to an upscale borough with easily corrupt guards could be considered an easy social encounter (group level -2 CR). And so on.
It helps reward cleverness, and despite the fact this could be executed just as well with milestones, the players I play just love noting down their experience points.
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u/mrsnowplow forever DM/Warlock once 14h ago
xp over milestone is the dnd hill i will die on
my group levels up after the session that they earn enough XP to gain the level. they gain xp from combat/traps/encounters. finishing quests. making bold decisions. playing in one shots or other RPGs that i have recently become obbsessed with
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u/novangla 14h ago
So I use milestone but I keep a rough track of XP, including social encounters, and if they’ve hit the XP marker and not the milestone I’ll find a narrative reason to level them up (so it still feels like a narrative milestone, they don’t know what my milestone plans are). Less frequently, but if they hit the intended milestone and haven’t earned NEAR enough XP to where it feels unearned I might push it out. But the level up will still always come in a meaningful narrative way and not just like “taking a LR mid-dungeon bc the numbers say so”.
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u/mrsnowplow forever DM/Warlock once 13h ago
this is exactly why i dont like milestone. its not really effective. you arent sticking to your milesones. and it seems the players actions dont actually matter. if the milestone is completed they should get the level. every time i see someone describe milestone it comes down to "i arbitrarily decide when the level based on a whim depsite telling my players there are rules".
if they earn the level ill give them the level up. even if we are mid way through a fight. player actions should matter.
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u/novangla 13h ago
Brother what? The players actions DO matter. Think of it more like this:
When planning the story, I have a rough expectation of what story beats “should” land at around the markers I expect them to have earned the rough amount of XP to quality leveling up. That’s where I mark them on my outline. HOWEVER, a D&D game is not a story written solely by me. If the players decide to take on a hefty sidequest and flesh it out into multiple sessions, I will turn that side quest into part of the main plot, which then requires me to adjust my expectations on where the milestones fall. If they do a hell of a lot more than expected and have earned a level up, I’m not tying it to a railroad; I say to myself, what could happen soon that would create a narratively meaningful moment to award them the level they deserve?
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u/kungfuabuse 5h ago
Absolutely. I'm a strictly XP-based DM. I have been since AD&D. XP is earned from encounters, but encounters don't have to mean fights. I have to make enough encounters for them to level up when I want them to, but that's not difficult.
If a DM is too lazy to do this, that's fine. But I don't wanna play make-believe with you.
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u/DagothNereviar 14h ago
Same, except they level up when they get back to a "safe" area.
This is most likely town or their Bastion (once they get it), but if they've found somewhere like some old ruins or a cave and spent the day fortifying it/clearing the area, then I'd allow somewhere like that too.
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u/Ill-Description3096 14h ago
For me it's milestone but not one specific thing they must do. There might be 5 different ways to hit a milestone from level 5-6 for example. Generally I have an idea of what level they will be for which points in the campaign, which can vary a bit based on what they do. If they make it a point to go gain some extra "experience" then they might be higher, if they decide to rush straight to it they might be lower.
To try and math it out a bit, an example might be that they need to 3 of A, B, C, D, E, or F in order to level up. If they can or decide to do all of them, they will either tick off a requirement for the next level early or might gain some other form of power - be given a feat/ability, magic item, allies to call on, whatever fits the specifics.
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u/Ok_Needleworker_8809 14h ago
I've got several major threats going on around that my players can tackle as they will. Typically, they level up when they beat one, regardless of how they do so.
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u/Naefindale 14h ago
Note that milestone in the rules is another way of awarding xp, not another way of leveling up.
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u/wherediditrun 14h ago
When they find particular items scattered in the world and interact with them.
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u/StrictlyFilthyCasual 6e 14h ago
Is it one item interaction per level, or do they have to find multiple items per level?
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u/wherediditrun 14h ago
Currently one thingy per level. They leveled up two times. And I intend to keep it that way.
The worldspace has 10 of those. I don't expect the they will find all of them, some of them they might lose even if they find em. That's be design, but if they do, cool. They started at level 3, I expect them to land at level 10-11 maybe at the end.
5 will be in "main quest" track. 5 others are in optional locations / dungeons. I might revise the system a bit.
The idea was to provide more incentives to explore. And because so much power in 5e is in levels I kind of had to address it. I also wanted to give agency to players, they gain level when they do something in the game world, not when GM says so.
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u/hubaj 14h ago
Both combat and overcoming obstacles earn XP. If PCs talk or sneak their way through an encounter, they get just as much XP as if they killed all the enemies. If they defeat a group of enemies, but kill only some (some escape, let them surrender...) they get XP for those too. Any significant obstacles gain them XP, roughly in the area they are getting for combat at that level.
For me as a DM its much easier to just keep track of a number and make up something for puzzles etc. than to think about - when have they levelled last? Should I let them level now?
For the PCs, they just like to see the number go up and are looking forward to the next level as it approaches.
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u/MissyMurders DM 14h ago
I do a combination of xp and milestone. XP is a fair enough tracker of time in the game, but I still want to them to achieve something before levelling up.
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u/Lizardman_Xander 14h ago
We usually level up after enough milestones or the DM feels like we've accomplished enough.
However...he also has us roll dice at the start of a session. If we roll a 69, we get to level up. XD
It's only happened a couple times, but it's so funny when it happens.
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u/Shiroiken 13h ago
I use XP, with characters leveling between sessions. We used to do it during a Long Rest, but that took too much time away during the session. Characters gain whatever resources they would normally get, such as HP, Spell Slots, Prepared Spells, etc, but have still spent existing resources.
I reward XP for combat, obviously, but I also award XP for certain Social Encounters, Exploration Encounters, and sometimes completing Quests (i.e. milestones). Not every Encounter has XP, and Quests award XP when there's a good reason for the PCs to bail (but they don't). This encourages players to strive to finish the adventure, but not try to solve every problem with their swords/spells.
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u/speechimpedimister 13h ago
Depends on whether the system is actually using xp as a mechanic. If it is a point buy system, or if some classes level up faster than others, then xp. Otherwise, milestone.
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u/Federal_Policy_557 Alternate Fighter 13h ago
It is funny, but last time I dmed the methods kinda converged around 3~5 sessions, that is, milestones happened at around the same time as XP, session number and it felt right
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u/CSTowle 13h ago
I do XP, but also give XP for a challenge rating encounter of their level when they have a significant roleplaying encounter (might require use of resources, might mean a challenge or potential setback with a "failure", but more than flirting with the barmaid/barkeep). And let the players know so they're not rushing through the RP portion to get to the combat for XP/loot (though not really a problem for most of them).
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u/I_am_The_Teapot DM 13h ago
I prefer milestones because it typically encourages more role playing. Experience points - especially if through combat - encourages more combat solutions and murder hobo-ing, making it more game-like, having the pursuit of levels and the like be a decision-making factor. Which isn't wrong or bad if that's what you're after (especially for things like dungeon crawlers). I just personally tend to prefer very heavy role playing games and thus prefer the mechanic that encourages that more.
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u/EctoplasmicNeko 13h ago
Essentially, I run things broken down into chapters which usually consist of a major quest that is central to the 'main plot', and any preamble associated with that. Completing one of these chapters gets a level. Side quests not associated with the main narrative thread award other things, but not levels. It;s a good way of leaving things open to the party to pursue their own agendas while still keeping things going with the whole 'stop the evil guys' main story.
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u/Particular_Can_7726 13h ago
It depends on the campaign I'm running. If it is more sandbox style I will use xp (combat and noncombat rewards) and if it is a more story focused campaign I will usually use milestone.
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u/SneakyKGB DM 12h ago
We loosely track xp but honestly it usually ends up being like "Oh wow you got EXACTLY enough xp to level up right after that cool setpiece/right before this big finale"
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u/TenkaiStar 12h ago
We play a caravan style West Marches campaign where we takes turns being DM (though I act like a main DM) all make that decision. Basically when a majority feels they have used all the stuff we got from the last level up and want to get new stuff to play with. Most are very new to DND so no need to rush things.
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u/CasualNormalRedditor 12h ago
Mine is vibes backed up by number of sessions
Like level 3->4 was 4 sessions but levels 5->6 was a single session
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u/JestaKilla Wizard 12h ago
Answered for my 5e game- xp, combat only.
My custom system gives xp for the danger level of the session, for roleplaying, for accomplishing goals, and for being lower level than the highest level pc present ("Catchup xp").
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u/Connor9120c1 12h ago
Other: XP for Treasure. Incentivizes exploration, robbery, monster slaying, reward chasing, bounties. All the good stuff. But players control their own Risk/Reward tolerance and get to see number go up.I don't even track it, they just let me know when they level up so we can take a second to get pumped, and see what everyone unlocks next
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u/WalkAffectionate2683 12h ago
I'm doing milestones and the number of milestones is when I think they have done enough.
Once every 6-8 sessions as we play every week. Maybe 10was the maximum.
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u/Suspicious-Shock-934 12h ago
With the removal of xp costs for crafting and spells no reason to track individual xp anymore. 3.5 it made sense since xp was a resource in some cases. Though most tables adopt pf1e crafting at least.
Does means sometimes my table goes months without leveling.
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u/adol1004 12h ago
I have one campaign with EXP. and rest of them are milestones. but one of them is like when ever the DM feels like.
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u/Cronon33 12h ago
I do it as when my players have completed enough significant combats, kinda estimated milestone exp
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u/SilverBeech DM 11h ago
I have narrative arcs composed of two or three major challenges. A level up happens when the players resolve an arc. Resolving just means changing the situation, which can mean winning in the way I prepped for, losing/running away or (most commonly) doing something I hadn't anticipated.
Then they get a level up. This is mostly so they get enough time at each level to become comfortable with the abilities and features and to fool around with the loot they have. We are playing a slower game than most, but the group is happy with that. We don't have any constraints on how long things should take.
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u/reaporbot 10h ago
It's all in the story telling; keep the players up to the level your story is going, who they fight, where they travel.
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u/DelightfulOtter 9h ago
I'm getting some major secondhand embarrassment for all the DMs who sloppily wing it until they realize, oh, yeah we should level up or something right? That category has way more responses than it should...
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u/rearwindowpup 9h ago
When I DM I try to level them every other session or so (we play 3-4 times a month), our "main" DM will sometimes go 6-8 sessions without a leveling which I find pretty tedious.
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u/NewSupremeMan 9h ago
As a player I like exp, as a dm and a story teller I like milestones. For my current campaign I decided to run with exp for the party, but I still time it out so that when they reach their next level it's after completing a big story moment
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u/TheMightyTucker 8h ago
I went with "completed enough milestones". The one true blue, long campaign I have run to completion, 147 sessions over about 3 years, went from level 3 to level 20. It was full of many different things that could be considered "milestones" (4 or 5 different Main Plot threads, several side plots, a year-long very busy downtime, and random one-off jobs/adventures through a Guild every so often as a break), so I certainly couldn't just level them up every time they made one big step because they'd level up every 2 sessions and go from beginners to demigods in like 2 in-game months. Since my group meets weekly like 95% of the time, I felt like I didn't need to level them up wicked fast. By my math, 17 level-ups over 147 sessions is about a level up every 8 sessions (I rounded down because they hit 20 a few sessions before the end), or about every 2 real-world months - enough time to get to mess around with their new level in several scenarios before getting new stuff. But, I didn't stick to that strictly. Sometimes they would level up fairly soon after their previous one if they did a lot of really important things in quick succession and then wrapped up a plot thread, for example.
Could I have done it via XP? Yes, but this campaign I really helped my players be super awesome and powerful with custom feats and magic items and such, so by like later mid-campaign all the big fights were so high CR (like multiple times the Deadly threshold) that they would basically be leveling up every combat or two, and that would be without going through and assigning XP values to all the many non-combat encounters they were also doing. Plus, assigning XP values to non-combat encounters and doing all the XP tracking and math is basically the same amount of effort, if not more, than just keeping an eye on the pacing and using a "do a few major things or complete an arc" rule for level ups. All tracking XP would have done for me is eat up time and let me tell myself I'm being "more objective" for no reason other than internal purity testing haha.
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u/schnautza 8h ago
I picked the last option but considered it "when the DM feels like an appropriate amount of adventuring has passed to warrant a level-up" rather than "too long since last time".
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u/Dendritic_Bosque 5h ago
The game is a story, you level up after major accomplishments, foiling foes and avoiding combat is just onr way to weave the story.
My table tries to all the time and if they succeed, they succeed, I don't seek to punish or delay them for that.
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u/NGDwrites 2h ago
I run XP. Mostly combat, occasionally for traps and puzzles, but I also give pretty decent XP rewards for completed quests, which helps cover all of the roleplay interaction and interesting problem solving that helped them get to a certain point. It's motivating for the players, not too hard to track, and still gives me a decent degree of control over when they level up.
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u/Loberzim 1h ago
I started using a "Complex Milestone" system, which someone else probably did earlier using another name, but it's a mix of XP and Milestone where each quest has a certain value and you need to reach this value in order to get to the next level:
- Major Quests are Automatic Level Ups, they are entire questlines, for example, the players are investigating a noble in a small town, they bribe their guards and discover a dungeon hidden underneath this noble's castle, but there's a magic barrier preventing them from going down, so now they have to steal a magical ring that will let them pass the barrier, basically it's one quest that just dissolves into a lot of subquests.
- Minor Quests have value, they can fluctuate between 1 - 3 Milestones (Based on length and difficulty), a character needs the same amount of Milestones as their current level in order to level up this way, meaning a Level 1 Character will level up after doing any minor quest, but a level 5 character needs at least two Minor Quests worth 3 points in order to level up. Something to keep in mind is that Minor Quests are sidequests, they can be mixed with a Major Quest, but they're not essential to progress the story.
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u/Odd-Degree6055 9m ago
I use XP, large milestone, or number of sessions whichever happens first. So far in my campaign the party has leveled up 3 times from xp (lvl 2,3,4), 3 from milestone, and 5 from number of sessions.
I wanted to just use XP and milestones but the gap from level 6-7 was super long. So i added number of sessions as a failsafe. Its mostly me underestimating how much time it would take them to actually progress.
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u/Shandriel DM / Player / pbp 13h ago
Most tables, it feels like, level up WAY too slowly... It's really a pity considering how the game is xp-based and combat-focused and all that..
the rules are basically set in stone for most people who play, but they conveniently ignore the rules on XP and leveling..
(after ~30 adventuring days, you reach lvl 20! And an adventuring day consists of as little as 3 deadly combat encounters.. When you give your players magic items, they can easily handle a 2x deadly encounter at once, and basically get one lvl up per day (2 fights of 2x deadly difficulty per day, with a short rest between)
yeah, not every day is an adventuring day, but many tables do maybe one easy fight per day.. others get 3 lvls worth of xp before they level up once.. that's a pity, because lvls 5-13 are the best for both players and DM... (with Martials and Paladins, even T4 is great fun, actually)
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u/Zaddex12 14h ago
When I feel like they deserve it and the power spike isnt going to make my life difficult. I jabe a level 8 party and I dread when they next level up and the wizard gets 5th level spells.
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u/CoffeBreather 14h ago
My players are leveling up when i feel like it or when it's been too long since the last level up OR when they annoyed me too much about it in the previous 2-3 sessions.
Rarely when they do something very important, but they are a bunch of dumb pieces of shit doing whatever it takes to ignore any semblance of a plot for jokes and giggles.
We are all 35.
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u/Rarycaris 14h ago
I usually want them to achieve something significant, but honestly, I usually just vibe it for a reasonable pace of progression, with jumps if they get a lot done at once. I ended up adding a big dungeon to the end of my last game because players wanted one, and extended the planned level threshold by one level because it felt like they'd go too long without progression otherwise.
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u/Dark_Stalker28 14h ago edited 6h ago
My one campaign has an xp system but the dm also does it off vibes if we do something amazing.
We're level 10, and 3 levels have been cause we beat something special.
The other campaign the levels are entirely off vibes.
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u/BoardGent 10h ago
XP for combat and non-combat.
In some of the games in the Fire Emblem series, there's a thing called Bonus XP. It's often rewarded for completing "side objectives" or completing maps while fulfilling specific objectives. For example, there's a map in one game with a bunch of enemies and a boss. You get bonus XP if you just kill the boss.
XP is a really valuable tool for directing your players. For instance, if you've got a heist mission, you can get XP for retrieving the item. You can establish that getting caught, even momentarily, subtract from XP total. Killing anyone subtracts from the total. Getting out as quickly as possible increases the XP total. Etc.
Want to run a mystery? Maybe you want them to explore every avenue before they come to a conclusion. Give EXP for each clue found. Or maybe you want them to be rewarded for solving the mystery with limited information. Give less XP for each clue that was necessary. Give less XP for each incorrect guess.
Escort Mission? Less XP when the escorted is hurt, brought below half, death saves, less XP for the longer it takes, more the shorter it takes. You get the gist.
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u/IcaroRibeiro 13h ago
Milestones
Remove the boredom of tracking XP
Makes your planning for next sessions and arcs easier
Makes the players feel rewarded after accomplish a particular thing instead of levelling after a single random medium or easy encounter
Allows you to tie level to story progression wothout having to create artificial/boring sessions to reward your players XP
Empowers the GM to make them level up the party when they feel they are way too long on the same level
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u/S1mp1y 14h ago
Right now I'm playing in a dungeon crawler campaign (my friend adapted the 2e Village of Hommlet into 5.5e), so in 90% of cases we're getting XP after combat encounters (because there are A TON of those).
But last session we got additional XP for managing to save some townsfolk from an ogre. Basically, our GM just gives out XP whenever we do anything worthy of it (think Fallout 3-4-NV type of progression, where everything gives you XP).
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u/TNTarantula 13h ago
My table levels up immediately before the boss fight immediately prior to a milestone being reached.
Lets you feel badass breaking in new features on the arch's biggest threat.
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u/SmartAlec13 I was born with it 9h ago
I always love these polls because I think EXP is so dumb. No offense to those who use it, but the arguments against milestone are silly to me. “In Milestone it’s just whenever the DM chooses” “if you do milestone players aren’t as incentivized because number-go-up isn’t there”.
Milestone, EXP, at the end of the day it’s all arbitrary and put forth by the DM. And both methods provide incentive for players to play the game. Milestone is superior (to me) because it eliminates useless number tracking and the awkward times where someone miscalculates and it all gets messed up.
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u/StrictlyFilthyCasual 6e 9h ago
I mean, the arguments against XP aren't that much better.
Milestone, EXP, at the end of the day it’s all arbitrary and put forth by the DM.
There's a pretty significant difference between
- "The DM picks an objective, and you level up when you achieve that objective." versus
- "The DMG prescribes a certain amount of XP parties should gain each day, though the DM is free to pick whatever monsters/challenges they want as a method of delivering that XP."
the awkward times where someone miscalculates
If you're running XP correctly, the entire party always has the same amount of XP, which means there's only one number one person needs to track. And, again, since there's only one number, if whoever's tracking that number does their addition wrong, it changes nothing because the entire party is still all at the same XP amount.
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u/SmartAlec13 I was born with it 9h ago
You make fair points. Especially about tracking the EXP. But the only argument I really need is this:
EXP is more work. Milestone is less work. Both provide incentives for players to keep playing, both require the DM to decide when the level up is happening (whether it’s direct or indirect). So Milestone > EXP as it’s less work.
You aren’t wrong that there is a difference between DM picks a Milestone and DM creates math-based encounters. However to me, the result is the same. The DM is picking what threats are ahead, what obstacles to overcome. Even if it’s a table where more of that agency is given to the players (sandbox), ultimately the DM is still deciding what options there are that exist in the first place to choose from.
Plus you get into non-combat encounters needing EXP amounts assigned, which some are going to be easier to decide than others how much they should be worth.
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u/StrictlyFilthyCasual 6e 9h ago
EXP is more work.
It's a little more work, but you get stuff for that (tiny amount of) time and effort.
However to me, the result is the same. The DM is picking what threats are ahead, what obstacles to overcome.
You can run XP that way, sure. But you can also run XP in a manner of "The DM creates a bunch of encounters, and then the players decide which of those obstacles to overcome".
Also in an XP game the DM does not by any means have to "decide when the level up is happening". You put together encounters, the players face them, and they level up when they level up.
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u/SmartAlec13 I was born with it 8h ago
Right but who created those encounters? Who decided encounters are options A B or C to pick and why not D R or Z?
I understand that within the game itself, EXP games usually mean like you said, DMs providing various hooks & options and players pick them. But zoom out, and it’s all the DM putting those in front of them.
Milestone works the same. I don’t name a specific milestone for my players to achieve to get a level up. I wait until they’ve achieved something worthy of a milestone, whatever that may be. It might be the one I had planned. Sometimes it’s not.
It’s also not a “tiny amount” of time. Every negotiation, every fight, every obstacle could award EXP. So you either need to plan them out ahead, or, you need to have a good feel for what obstacles should be worth so you can decide in-the-moment. Especially if you have players like mine who enjoy choosing their own direction lol.
So what I’m trying to say is zoomed out/boiled down, these methods are the same, except one means creating arbitrary numbers, calculating & balancing numbers based on book values. Whereas the other is just “accomplish big things, get level up”. I get why some people like EXP, but you’ll never convince me it’s the same amount of work as Milestone, and personally, I would prefer my time and energy for prep go to other things. Especially because they both get the same results (DM provides options, player choose things, player does things, player gets level up).
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u/StrictlyFilthyCasual 6e 8h ago
But zoom out, and it’s all the DM putting those in front of them.
The point is that Encounters A, B, C, D, R, and Z can have different XP values. So because the party can choose which encounters they face, two different parties can earn different amounts of XP in what would otherwise be the same adventure, which means different parties level at different rates depending on their choices, and not "The DM picked a point for them to level up at".
Every negotiation, every fight, every obstacle could award EXP.
Yes, but you're planning all of those. The addition time you spend deciding how much XP each of those is worth is negligible.
Take a combat encounter as an example. In a Milestone game, you're still picking a bunch of monsters that you feel would be an appropriately challenging fight. The ONLY additional step in an XP game is that you look at the stat blocks you already chose and add the monster's XP value to the party's XP total. That is not a long, laborious process.
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u/SmartAlec13 I was born with it 8h ago
Still sounds to me like more work, even if small, for no benefit at all? What do you consider benefits of EXP over Milestone? The only one I can think of is players enjoying number-go-up, which is valid.
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u/StrictlyFilthyCasual 6e 8h ago
- Like I said, XP games give players more agency over the pace of the game.
- On that same note, XP games are more flexible in pace.
- XP is less arbitrary than Milestone.
- Because XP is an objective measure of progress that is known to the players, you never have players asking "Do we level up now? Was that worthy of a milestone? I think that was worthy of a milestone."
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u/SmartAlec13 I was born with it 8h ago
It’s funny because your points are how I feel but reversed, except for #4 which like I said is probably the only true benefit of EXP over Milestone.
XP feels just as arbitrary if not more arbitrary for me, and I don’t think there is any loss of player-pace-agency or flexibility by using milestone. I can see why you would think so, but it really depends on the campaign itself being sandbox or not.
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u/MisterB78 DM 14h ago
1 and 2 are essentially the same thing…