Rules/tips for stretched campaign?

[Thewaitingman]

I'm planning on making my campaign last a bit longer than normal. We're currently a campaign with pcs of high-powered stats and although they're still supposedly in the introductory phase of the campaign they've managed to climb up to 7th lvl.. I've currently stopped giving them full exp because I really want to keep them around those levels for a while longer but I can't keep doing this with no future goal..
Are there any rules covering this kind of play? A solution I've found is to consider them 1 lvl higher as a group since their stats are that good but that's not helping me deal with the root of the problem.
Have any of you tried stretching a campaign like this? The problem is I've cancelled possible "arcs" due to the fact that they'll end up with epic levels before reaching the main story. I've even considered preparing text-adventure like arcs with less freedom just to enrich the story :P
This is inconveniently the first time my pcs will pass the 10th level..

Thanks in advance!

[Gildedragon]

What's the rationale for wanting them to stay at 7?
Also having them level up isn't much of a problem unless you want certain balance between classes. In which case make it an E10 campaign.

Just let them level up. It's about 1/3 of the way though 20 levels and they could go epic for the finale

Also pick up your story or figure out the CRs better. Throw lower CR encounters to mitigate XP gain if you need.

As for artificially stretching it: I haven't. I think it is poor form to set up arbitrary walls. If you throw challenges at them and they overcome them they are due their rewards.
Still I don't see how leveling up got out of hand to begin with.

[Thewaitingman]

Well the fact their stats are very good and the selection of quite powerful builds (erudite, barbarian, dread necromancer and warshaper), together with my inexperience has resulted to the necessity of higher CRs just for them to have a challenge.. High CRs -> high xp -> levelling up every 3 sessions if I don't do anything about it.
My logic behind keeping them back is that I have a different viewpoint on levels and their capabilities.. I tend towards the views of alexandrian's blog (http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/587/roleplaying-games/dd-calibrating-your-expectations-2) but only tend. Long story short, I believe that characters 1-3 lvl are capable enough to be a commoner/guard, 4-6lvl elite guard/elite warrior, 7-9 small hero, 10-12 hero, 12- too good :P . Ofcourse this only shows that they are capable, not that they have to fall into those categories.
I always give them RP xp in the end of each arc and try to reward them one way or another for every achievement in the end

[Gildedragon]

If they have very good stats treat the CR of things as -2 and grant XP accordingly.

Leveling up every 3 sessions isn't that bad a pace; a tad on the fast track, but not bad.

Throw intrigue or social encounters at them; give them the runaround trying to figure out if a character is on their side or not.

Allow them to hit 8th soon; and after that just slow the XP gains.

That or induce a few PK sessions, dropping everyone a level with a near unbeatable enemy
Not that I recommend the latter.

[Kudaku]

What system are you playing?

I'm not sure about 3.5 but PF has slow/moderate/fast XP tracks so you can adjust the pace according to the game you want to play.

Most APs assume the fast track, and for my group that means lvl 1-18 takes about 8-10 months with one session a week. Each character levels up roughly every two to three sessions.

[Thewaitingman]

What system are you playing?

I'm not sure about 3.5 but PF has slow/moderate/fast XP tracks so you can adjust the pace according to the game you want to play.

Most APs assume the fast track, and for my group that means lvl 1-18 takes about 8-10 months with one session a week. Each character levels up roughly every two to three sessions.

We're using 3.5. how do the slow/fast tracks work with xp penalties and treasuries?


If they have very good stats treat the CR of things as -2 and grant XP accordingly.

Leveling up every 3 sessions isn't that bad a pace; a tad on the fast track, but not bad.

Throw intrigue or social encounters at them; give them the runaround trying to figure out if a character is on their side or not.

Allow them to hit 8th soon; and after that just slow the XP gains.

That or induce a few PK sessions, dropping everyone a level with a near unbeatable enemy
Not that I recommend the latter.

You think treating the enemies as -2 CR would work better than treating them as higher lvl? I'll try that out thanks
The barbarian has made the group a bit crude and I can't judge him since that's his rp, so social sessions are a bit difficult to fix. That's not the real problem though.. As I said they're basically still in the introduction phase where they pretty much run for their lives trying to reach the closest city while passing through ruins, underdark and lots of skirmishes. So the choices are limited so far this would justify their advancement up around 6-7 in my opinion. They've only spent 2 months in game..

[Kudaku]

We're using 3.5. how do the slow/fast tracks work with xp penalties and treasuries?

Not sure what you mean by xp penalties (multiclassing?), but you need to spread treasure out a bit - the Wealth By Level chart stays the same, but the PCs need more encounters/experience in order to level up. IE each encounter should give less treasure, depending on which track you're using.
The rules are explained in detail here (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/character-advancement).

What you can also do is switch between tracks mid-way. Some parties have the most fun between say, level 3 and level 9. They can play with the fast track on level 1 & 2, then switch to the medium track between 3 and 9. The GM merely adjusts each character at level 3 as though he had gathered enough xp to reach 3 on the medium track and continues tracking the xp gain from there.

[Feilith]

If you slow down the encounters you should be ok. You may have just a group that plays hack and slash, but have them meet a traveling group and make them RP through it, In a larger group its not railroading to say that there are guards who are stronger than you so let them defend the caravan while the party talks and befriends someone who may be able to help them later on in the adventure.

RP events are good for slowing down a group that is leveling too quickly, but also spreads the characters out in xp if you give rewards based on how well they do in the actual RP. (more than once I've been <100xp under lving and had a nice monologue about my character's history to pick up that last little bit).

But you can dictate How much XP they pick up and when they arrive in the city so they can be an appropriate lv to start your campaign.

And if they're worried about the goodies they'd be missing out from beating up all the little kobolds along the road include an old man or the like in your caravan that has lots of little goodies or even some big goodies if they can convince him to like them.

[buttcyst]

first off, DON'T PANIC! even though it seems like they are leveling quickly right now and are more powerful than they seemingly should be, after level 11ish things tend to slow down anyways because xp differences become more significant. I have a campaign currently running and even though the pc's have all reached level 12 and are really just now getting into the beginning of the depth of the possible story (if they go that way, I don't rr). Mt group also has powerful stats and are able to handle challenges well above what they should with ease. as a result, I have had to resort to making my bad guys more complex and my encounters are either a blend of a cr+3 when it is a numbers game encounter or cr+2 if it is a single bad guy. You need to be careful planning encounters at a higher lvl than the group because it can very easily be deadly to 1 or more with a single roll of the dice. Since yours is ongoing, it makes it less of an issue really that they are leveling up because they are fighting your bad guys in your world on your terms and are only able to gain as much information about a subject as you let them. The xp will naturally slow down with the higher levels and with the depth of the campaign starting to get deeper. and also remember, a pc becoming epic is a right of passage, not a gain of xp, it's either described in the epic level handbook or in the dmg, until a pc has proven themselves worthy of epic standing, the dm is under no obligation to allow them to advance to lvl 21q until the standards are met in DM's eyes, for your game, you could even make that plateau at lvl 15 or make leveling contingent on completion of your story quests, maybe xp the encounters so that they don't add up to enough for a level and when they have completed a worthy enough task to advance into the next category of levels, make it a big world event style deal, maybe with a good amount of public recognition and a status of (insert stature here). Mostly, it just comes down to you need to gear your games encounters and do a bunch of dnd math to make sure they are moving forward at a reasonable pace and that they are gaining the recognition of their deeds and capabilitites.


Also, CR is set up so that it takes about 14 encounters to level up, maybe, no matter what they fight against, their xp is restricted to normal xp for the level they are at, except for major boss battles and story rewards. based on this math, you could run up to 42 encounters between your 3lvl blocks that you listed off. doing it that way will allow for the number and variety of encounter a hack and slash would enjoy, it gives you opportunities to let casters take out large groups at once, and even though they are all stomping through stuff, there are still only so many encounters a group can sit through before calling it a session. and remember, and encounter can be rp or skill based as well, and those are sometimes the most difficult for a group to overcome, even if they are really simple, climbing a cliff, confined space navigation, entangling undergrowth, hermit in the woods with an odd sense of humor, all are considered encounters