So I'm a new dungeon master and I dont want my characters to get really high level quickly, but at the same time I want them to get to level 20 just not take a whole year. This being because me and my friends are middle schoolers and we'll get bored of the same story line pretty quickly. So I guess I'm kinda asking how should I pace my game in this situation.
The easiest option to control pacing is to use "Milestone" experience. Instead of awarding experience for combat and other interactions, you have the players level up when they reach important events. For example, if they save a village from a band of Gnolls, then they may have completed one "adventure arc", which is a good time to escalate the campaign.
If you want to reach level 20 in 3 months, then just divide the number of sessions you will have in that time span and preset what level they will be on each day. You can have them skip levels entirely.
As for gold, it quickly becomes irrelevant. You control the price and availability of goods and services in your world, so the players can't buy a magic item simply because they have gold. When you are writing the story, there are no mistakes.
I would recommend not levelling up characters during a session, so always give the level up at the end of the session.
Part of what makes levelling up feel important is that it takes a long time. If characters are levelling up after every fight (which you'll need to in order to get to level 20 unless you can play weekly) then it will make getting higher in level feel less exciting. A level up that takes 4 sessions will feel much more rewarding than one that takes a single session. However you know your players best and if they will enjoy a fast paced campaign then just go for it.
Your PCs won't have much time to use vast quantities of gold if you're going this route, as they will have practically no downtime. Ensure that each player receives gold equal to 100 x their level for each level up and you should be fine.
Gold is what you give your players if you want them to buy things. In a high-seed campaign, this won't happen often. Instead consider the following:
Gems. Often these are used for magic spells, like Resurrection. Make sure your spellcasters get what they need to cast their spells!
Single use items - potions, scrolls, summoning rocks, that sort of thing. Stuff they can use once for an effect.
Utility Items - sending stones, folding boats, immovable rods, that sort of thing. The stuff they would overlook if they were told to pick a magic item out.
Dedicated Rewards - the "good" magic items; +x weapons suited to the PC's, staffs, wands, things that make enemies deader.
If you bypass the need for them to buy things by just gving them things, you can not only skip any element of "I am searching everywhere for this magic item in particular", you also get to give them more interesting items than they might have picked out for themselves, and prevent long shopping trips & the need to make a lot of throwaway NPC's, especially if you want to run the game through quickly!
So I'm a new dungeon master and I dont want my characters to get really high level quickly, but at the same time I want them to get to level 20 just not take a whole year. This being because me and my friends are middle schoolers and we'll get bored of the same story line pretty quickly. So I guess I'm kinda asking how should I pace my game in this situation.
The easiest option to control pacing is to use "Milestone" experience. Instead of awarding experience for combat and other interactions, you have the players level up when they reach important events. For example, if they save a village from a band of Gnolls, then they may have completed one "adventure arc", which is a good time to escalate the campaign.
If you want to reach level 20 in 3 months, then just divide the number of sessions you will have in that time span and preset what level they will be on each day. You can have them skip levels entirely.
As for gold, it quickly becomes irrelevant. You control the price and availability of goods and services in your world, so the players can't buy a magic item simply because they have gold. When you are writing the story, there are no mistakes.
I would recommend not levelling up characters during a session, so always give the level up at the end of the session.
Part of what makes levelling up feel important is that it takes a long time. If characters are levelling up after every fight (which you'll need to in order to get to level 20 unless you can play weekly) then it will make getting higher in level feel less exciting. A level up that takes 4 sessions will feel much more rewarding than one that takes a single session. However you know your players best and if they will enjoy a fast paced campaign then just go for it.
Your PCs won't have much time to use vast quantities of gold if you're going this route, as they will have practically no downtime. Ensure that each player receives gold equal to 100 x their level for each level up and you should be fine.
Gold is what you give your players if you want them to buy things. In a high-seed campaign, this won't happen often. Instead consider the following:
If you bypass the need for them to buy things by just gving them things, you can not only skip any element of "I am searching everywhere for this magic item in particular", you also get to give them more interesting items than they might have picked out for themselves, and prevent long shopping trips & the need to make a lot of throwaway NPC's, especially if you want to run the game through quickly!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
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