I've been using Xp in my current game that has been lasting for close to 3 years now. I've done a pretty good job at giving out Xp to reward them in line with narrative events so that when they would finish an arc they would usually level into a cool new thing. However, I'm finding myself in the situation where I am having to monitor their Xp very specifically so they don't get to level 13 before the end of the current arc, which is 3 or so sessions away(There is no real reason for this, I just don't want our kill-happy primary spell casters to have access to level 7 spells going into the final encounter for the arc). Its not a problem, but it is defiantly a much slower growth then they are used to, especially given the encounters I've been throwing at them. I should say, I make every encounter a deadly one.

Id opted for Xp in this game because Id never played a game that used it before.

I'm curious as to people's opinions on Xp or Milestone growth. Or if there is some other option that people have come up with.

I use milestone XP. That is, I grant XP for attaining certain goals (milestones). This is not the same as what most people call milestone leveling, which is actually "story based leveling" (you gain a level when you finish a part of the story).

I've played in both kinds of games, and milestone just seems so much easier. It encourages the players to stay focused on the story and the objectives, and besides, after the first few levels, keeping track of XP just seems like a ton of extra math. Like... A TON of extra math. 

I greatly prefer milestone leveling.  But then I prefer most anything that encourages moving DnD towards character interaction and story telling instead of tactical combat simulation.  I don't have any problem with tactical combat simulation, but the game already does that very well, I like to see expansion towards what the game is currently bad at.

XP is fine if you have story XP and not just combat.   That's not hard to do.

But I have found that Milestone allows you to control the pacing better (Oh you are 10 xp short from leveling; go find a kobold!) and helps address, occasional abscesses at the table.  So almost all the stuff I run now is that.

I like milestone- it makes things flow more smoothly.  You level up after accomplishments, while XP-based leveling makes things more random.

Depends on the needs of the game. I'm currently running two D&D games:

In one, I use XP. This is a much shorter campaign using published modules. I expect us to hit about 8th level by the time we're done, but if we go a little over, it's not a problem. I've found I actually really enjoy giving out XP rewards for this game!

My other game is much longer-term, I'm writing the campaign myself, and I have in mind a whole series of adventures from 1st to 20th level. In this one, I use the much simpler method of advancing the characters a level every time they finish an adventure. This method fits the pace of this game much better.

I always use XP in D&D. I usually keep track of it rather than the players to save them the arithmetic and make any arithmetic errors mine and mine alone. I'm also very suspicious of "hey. you've finished the adventure, level up" as it screws people down to a linearity of narrative that I'd rather not have in my games. If I want that sort of stuff I'll go and play a computer game.

XP, including XP for general story progress/overcoming challenges rather than just fighting monsters.

It gives the players a sense of progress, and lets them spend time doing whatever they want rather than just following a linear story because they expect leveling up only happens at "story points."

It seems like you switched from XP to Milestone then, since you are reducing the normal XP award for an encounter in order to set exactly when they will level up.

Edit: also, I use milestone myself. It is much easier to manage with 6 players

I see that I'm in the minority however I can't stand milestone system.  It seems so arbitrary, and in general I see it applied too liberally.  There are also factors like not all characters deserve or attain the same level.

I like rewarding certain players with additional XP for going above and beyond or putting more effort into play (not a lot but lets say 100xp more).  There is also the fact that players aren't always all present or some players leave the game for a couple of months and then rejoin.  Their levels can be off by as much as 5 levels.  How do you resolve these differences with milestone system?  

XP I find gives a better feel of progression.  Your character feels more alive with everything you do having a direct impact on your XP, instead of just a character in a book with set milestones that moves the story forward.  

XP is more work for the DM, and you have to have rules in place.  You have to reward xp for social encounters, as well as skill use etc... I personally don't reward anything for murder hobo'ing.  I'm only going to reward XP for productive play that is goal oriented (either the players goal or the stories goal).  

That's my two cents.

XP

I never use milestones. I give XP for everything that PCs do. I find that when the Players know that whatever they do, they will get XP, then it frees them up to do whatever they want to do. I never want to set the objectives that would grant milestone XP. If the Players decide to drop the adventure they’re on smack dab in the middle and go do something completely different then I want them to know they have that freedom and that they will still gain XP for whatever they chose to do instead. It’s their story after all, I’m just the narrator.

Quote from CWard83 >>

I like rewarding certain players with additional XP for going above and beyond or putting more effort into play (not a lot but lets say 100xp more).  There is also the fact that players aren't always all present or some players leave the game for a couple of months and then rejoin.  Their levels can be off by as much as 5 levels.  How do you resolve these differences with milestone system?  

 The answer is simple, you don't.  The reward for being there or not is that you get to play or not. (along with other rewards, such as magical items) Keeping the players at the same level makes it much easier to ensure that no one is getting completely overshadowed by the others.

The idea with milestone leveling is that you reward players for actually accomplishing things, no matter the approach they take. 

I definitely do not believe in allowing a level gap among players when some of them can't make it. I presume they all want to be there, but can't make it for family obligations or the like. In such a case holding back their leveling ends up being a double punishment, or maybe triple... One they can't play, two they are quite possibly stuck doing something they don't want to do, and three when they come back, they are behind everyone else. Not being able to join in the fun is punishment enough.

Now, if I had a player who was routinely bailing just due to irresponsibility or lack of interest, that is a different story, but then we'd be having some sort of an out of game conversation about whether that person wanted to play at all or not.

Quote from Lunali >>

Quote from CWard83 >>

I like rewarding certain players with additional XP for going above and beyond or putting more effort into play (not a lot but lets say 100xp more).  There is also the fact that players aren't always all present or some players leave the game for a couple of months and then rejoin.  Their levels can be off by as much as 5 levels.  How do you resolve these differences with milestone system?  

 The answer is simple, you don't.  The reward for being there or not is that you get to play or not. (along with other rewards, such as magical items) Keeping the players at the same level makes it much easier to ensure that no one is getting completely overshadowed by the others.

The idea with milestone leveling is that you reward players for actually accomplishing things, no matter the approach they take. 

 I can “reward players for actually accomplishing things, no matter the approach they take” with XP just as easily. Gaining XP for “overcoming the challenges” does not mean they have to kill the thing.

But if someone misses a whole bunch of games, then no, they should not be the same level as everyone else. That’s not fair to the folks that showed up every week.

For me, it's definitely milestone. I have enough sessions to plan, maps to draw and encounters to build without having to worry about more math :P

The other issue I have with XP is that sometimes it's dealt out by 'kills' to the individual that claims them, turning the team-based cooperative into a murder hobo encouraging experience. Milestone in my games I've found encourages more team based gameplay; it helps encourage the players from thinking about alternative solutions to encounters rather than just combat solutions e.g. 'how can we kill these guys quickly?' becomes 'can we avoid this entirely? Is there another easier way around the problem than just kill everything in front of us?'.

Sorry Lunali, that doesn't really make sense.   So if a player doesn't show up for two weeks you're going to keep them leveling etc.. on the same pace as the players that were there?  

My players would be pissed if this was the case.  This sounds more like a simplification for the DM then a satisfying growth mechanic for the PCs.  

Edit:  My players prefer a more organic growth.  They don't expect to level if they are not present.  Players also start at level 1, regardless of the other players levels.  So this is something that everyone already has to deal with.  It's not a big deal because in general the gap closes within a couple of play sessions.  I'm also curious about people's ages and the group dynamic.  In my game we are all adults with families, kids all that.  People often can't play for whatever reasons.  It's not double punishment, it's just life.   I also don't include the PC if the player is not present, so I narrate the PC away for that session.  As far as complicated math goes, I just have a note pad and jot down whenever XP is earned. It takes literally 30 seconds to calculate at the end of the session.

Quote from IamSposta >>

 I can “reward players for actually accomplishing things, no matter the approach they take” with XP just as easily. Gaining XP for “overcoming the challenges” does not mean they have to kill the thing.

 You can, but if you aren't also awarding XP for killing monsters, you're just using a version of milestone leveling.  If you are awarding XP for killing monsters, then the players can try to level up without ever actually accomplishing anything.

Quote from BioWizard >>

I definitely do not believe in allowing a level gap among players when some of them can't make it. I presume they all want to be there, but can't make it for family obligations or the like. In such a case holding back their leveling ends up being a double punishment, or maybe triple... One they can't play, two they are quite possibly stuck doing something they don't want to do, and three when they come back, they are behind everyone else. Not being able to join in the fun is punishment enough.

Now, if I had a player who was routinely bailing just due to irresponsibility or lack of interest, that is a different story, but then we'd be having some sort of an out of game conversation about whether that person wanted to play at all or not.

 There’s a big difference between missing a session here or there and regularly not being available to play. If it’s an occasional missed session, then over the course of a year, after everyone has missed an occasional session, it all balances out. So I see no problem with not awarding XP on those occasions since it will never result in a severe level gap.

If someone makes it clear that they’re only gonna be available for about half the sessions, then I also make it clear that they will fall behind on XP. If they are okay with it, so am I. I still don’t see any problems with a level gap.

I have a player who for severe family health reasons, as a caretaker, has missed all but 2 or 3 of our 16 sessions. I have kept his PC around and run it as an NPC, and I let the players control it in combat.  The character has been present... has risked his life several times... and in more than one battle has been the key to victory. Why wouldn't the character get the XP for doing that?

Also, the player in this case has described his life as being in a constant hurricane the last few months, and is very stressed out with life. When he comes back to the table, as he did a few weeks back, I want him to be able to dive right in and play with us, so that he can use the session to de-stress a little from life.

This isn't a pickup group from an MMORPG. This is a group of friends. I try to make things as friendly as possible. No one on the group has complained about the missing guy's dwarf gaining XP.