Ever since I first saw the three different XP charts in Pathfinder, I've been interested in doing custom XP charts. I've started working up a spreadsheet to do this, but before I spend loads of time on it, I wanted to see if anyone else had already done something similar.
What I have in mind is a sheet that will let you choose how many encounters per level, and then calculate a chart for you. So if you want super fast progression, you can choose 10 or even 5 encounters per level, or if you want glacially slow progression you can chose 40 or 50.
I also want the sheet to let you change the advancement rate for each level. So if you think levels 4 to 10 are the sweet spot and want to make them last longer, you could use the slow progression there while using medium or fast progression at all other levels.
Of course custom XP charts will break the game without matching custom treasure charts, so my intent is to include those too, although I haven't starting working out the math on those yet.
It's easy enough to do. The fast progression (e.g.) is basically 13 "average" encounters per level, so you could easily break that down into 8 "average" encounters, two "1.5x average" encounters and one "2x average" encounter.
The medium and slow progressions correspond to 20 and 30 encounters/level, respectively.
Or... cut out the middleman and cut straight to just telling players they level when you want them to. If you want normal progression early tell them
"From levels 1-5 you will gain a level after every 3rd session. Then from levels 6-10 you gain a level after every 4th session. Then levels 11-15 after every 5th session, and finally, from levels 16-20, after every 6th session."
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Find out what activity you want to encourage in the players -- just showing up, being engaged, making sure everybody has fun, bringing treats, solving puzzles, advancing the plot, making all the people at the table laugh, and so on -- and set up your XP system to reward that.
One advantage to jreyst's proposal is that it is very clear about what you're rewarding: you want the players to show up to the table.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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I did this, in a sense, for my game:
Level 1: 1000 XP
Level 2: 2000 XP
Level 3: 3000 XP
Level 4: 4000 XP
...
Then I just give out ad-hoc awards based on how well the Party did and when I want them to level. Since each level is 1000 XP "long", it's easy for me to keep track of :-)
My favorite change in Pathfinder is that magic item creation no longer costs experience. Because of that, it's entirely reasonable to simply award levels rather than experience points.
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I like to award levels when major plot lines end:
- Saved the village from kobolds? You're all level 2 now.
- Captured the corrupt captain of the city guard and presented the evidence to the council? Welcome to level 3.
- Cleared out the crypts below the old graveyard? Hello level 4!