Proposal : Increased XP advancement

Mal Malenkirk · Sep 18, 2009

That discussion died down the OOC thread but I for one am interested in a faster advancement rate.

There is 30 levels in 4th! I don't want to be retiring before my characters.

Off the top of my mind, I'd suggest simply increasing the total XP (time and monsters) by a certain %. 50% or 100% for example.

For treasure, I suggest a simple guideline; Use the GP calculation we already did for Time gold and apply them to total XP instead.

It looks like that:

1st level characters gain 83 xp and 63gp per month of adventuring.
2nd level characters gain 104 xp and 89 gp per month for adventuring.
3rd level characters gain 125 xp and 127 gp per month for adventuring.
....
etc.

Since 12 months are worth 1 level, you can tell a level 1 PC should earn about 756 gp on his way to level 2.

In other words, a level 1 PC should earn roughly 0.75 gp / XP. So if he he earns 700 XP in his first adventure, he should get very roughly 525gp of reward.

With that kind of guideline, no matter what kind of XP advancement rate we consider, gold keeps pace.

A level 2 should earn roughly 0.85 gp / XP while a level 3 should earn approximately 1gp/1Xp and so on.

Give or take as much as 25%, this shouldn't be a straight jacket! It's just a guideline so that Judges (or Players for that matter) can point out that certain PCs will be falling behind the curve if nothing is done.

It's easy as pie.

JoeNotCharles · Sep 18, 2009

I'm not sure I followed that. I would say: right now both time gold and XP are calibrated to advance 1 level in 12 months. If we want that to be faster, just double them and you get 1 level in 6 months (or multiply both by 1.5 and you get 1 level in 9 months). Since time gold is already a fraction of the total gold for a level, there's no need to recalibrate it with respect to XP: just make sure they're the same fraction of the total.

My issue with this is that this means encounters are worth even less compared to time XP. I would prefer to double encounter XP instead. Or perhaps multiply both encounter and time XP by 1.5, to keep them advancing at the same rate.

Lord Sessadore · Sep 18, 2009

I'd like to increase the XP as well. I too think it would be best to multiply encounter and time XP by 1.5 or 2, though I'm leaning towards 1.5. Double the XP is ... really really fast. Judging by L4W's current rate, double the XP would mean only two or three fights per level.

As for the treasure side, to be honest, I'm tempted to propose the treasure system LEB is using. It seems a lot easier to keep track of than what we currently have. Plus, with a treasure system like that we can fiddle with XP however we want and treasure can be left alone.

Mal Malenkirk · Sep 19, 2009

How about doubling time XP while increasing Encounter XP by 50%?

In a normal game, encounter XP already represents a larger part of total XP but in one where the DM disappears or where the pace is very slow, double Time XP will help compensate a little.

I.E. At this point in Zombie in crooks, Encounter + quest XP accounts for 623 XP while Time XP is only 189 (I calculate to the day... 69 days of adventure)

---

And what is LEB method of treasure distribution?

Lord Sessadore · Sep 19, 2009

In the LEB model, basically you get two treasure rewards per level. One is always the same - 1/5 the gp value of an item of level n, where n is the current level of the character.

The other reward is one of 5 parcels. The five parcels are an item of level n+4, an item of level n+3, item of level n+2, item of level n+1, and gold equivalent to the cost of an item of level n. Over the course of each half-tier (levels 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25, 26-30) you get each parcel once and only once.

The system is described in greater detail here. (Not to mention more clearly than I'm capable of

)

Mal Malenkirk · Sep 19, 2009

I kind of like the LEB system, but not having used it since the start makes it a bit harder to use. It requires everyone who is level 2 to indicate what parcels they received and then you will likely find that some have had none and maybe some have had too much. But hey, it's workable and the long term benefit are worth it.

So how about this proposal:

1 : We multiply Encounter XP by 1.5
2 : We double Time XP
3 : We Adopt LEB Treasure system

covaithe · Sep 20, 2009

I'd kind of prefer to just double encounter XP and quest XP. I've already started handing out much beefier quest awards than the DMG recommends. I really kind of dislike having time XP play such a large part in progress.

I'm not dead set on it, though.

Phoenix8008 · Sep 20, 2009

I'd rather see the time XP and encounter XP upped by the same amount myself. That way it doesn't get unbalanced from too much of either. I would leave the treasure alone as it is already linked to the time XP.

Ozymandias79 · Sep 20, 2009

I agree with Covaithe on this subject

CaBaNa · Sep 20, 2009

brainstorm;

double encounter/challenge exp.

Instead of doubling time exp, give out an extra point per month played, cashing in a point gives you either some exp, or some wealth, but not both.

Didn't put a lot of critical thought into this, but it's good to get ideas going.