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I am currently playing D&D fifth edition with a GM I have never played with before. He will be giving out XP in milestones, so that we will be given XP when we do something specific or reach a certain point in the story.

I have played in a few games before but none so far have used this mechanic. It seems a little strange to me, and it seems like even going from level 1 to level 2 might take considerable time.

What is it like to play in a game like this? Can you give me insight into what might be in store for me, as a player, as the game progresses?

SevenSidedDie
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Austin Arm
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  • It might help to know if this is a published or home campaign. Most published campaigns either have an option...or lately already use...Milestone EXP as an establishes WotC system. When I can answer, I can find the relevant passages but its usually 1 level per complete published Chapter. If you are in homebrew teritory then that info doesnt matter. – Airatome Oct 01 '17 at 19:00
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    While I don't think there's anything strictly wrong with your question, it's garnering an entirely opinion-based 1-line answer with lots of upvotes, so I think it could use some rephrasing to put some emphasis on what manner of likeness you want answers to address. – Please stop being evil Oct 02 '17 at 08:54
  • @thedarkwanderer I tried to answer using the guidelines from the "good subjective, bad subjective" Stack Overflow Blog: https://stackoverflow.blog/2010/09/29/good-subjective-bad-subjective/ . I expanded that answer into something much more than "one line:" that one line is just there for emphasis. Of course, other people do think that this question is too subjective. – PipperChip Oct 02 '17 at 20:30

2 Answers2

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From my experience as a DM and a player, I have the following to say about milestone experience:

It's great!

Here are some things to remember:

  • Don't expect things to progress like they do in a video game: more kills don't mean more XP. Milestones tend to refocus people on plot, and milestones are a way to combat murderhoboism. This means that you should always look for other ways to solve situations than pure violence. (I want to add that it's considered good form to not be a murderous cretin.)
  • You also won't need to keep track of XP. No more end-of-session, quick XP totals and math work. You just level up when the DM says you've reached a milestone- no math on the player's part is needed!
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PipperChip
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You level up by DM fiat.

Whether or not you'll level up more slowly depends entirely on your DM. Whether it's faster or slower depends on how frequent and how significant the milestones are. You should talk to your DM about this concern, and he can accelerate the progression if you feel like it's slow.

For example, as a DM, I hand out level-ups every few sessions or so. On the other hand, I played in a game where we skipped from level 12 to level 18 in one session. As you can see, it's hard to make a general statement.

Icyfire
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  • I've seen, I think in from 3.5e DM's guide, that "once every three sessions" was a guideline they had previously aimed for. Either way, for 5e, I am unaware of any "rule of thumb" – PipperChip Oct 01 '17 at 22:25
  • There is a guideline for gaining levels in 5e, but I can't recall where I saw it- perhaps Mine of Phandelver? I'll look it up and post as soon as I find it. – TheVagrantDog Oct 01 '17 at 23:44
  • My bad- the table I was thinking of came from The Angry GM. – TheVagrantDog Oct 04 '17 at 22:50