Chad Verrall

That’s a good point. Through... does anyone really do it arbitrarily? I mean, you might decide on slower progression, but then that’s likely communicated to players.

To me, “you completed the obvious goal of stopping the ritual” is much clearer.

...I mean if your problem is you don't trust your DM to give you levels at reasonable intervals then your problem is probably your relationship with the DM not the levelling system, wouldn't you say?

Absolutely. But I do agree that systems can place new DMs or players in a bad spot or a less trustworthy spot.