Morrus on ... XP

Morrus said:

• Group XP. All XP is shared equally amongst the group. All characters therefore level up at the same time (unless you're using an older edition of D&D which has different XP tables for each class). The assumption here is that, although in some sessions some characters may do more than others, in other sessions it balances out. Plus, they're all part of it really, even if it's just healing each other afterwards or being involved in the planning, or contributing to the resources used.

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When I started DMing, I used to give individual XP, but that requires a subjective judgement on how well each player has played. But I realized fairly quickly that it's much more fair to just spread the reward equally.

However PCs don't level up at the same time because of absences (see next).

EDIT: I forgot to say that I've tried the "No XP" option too at some point, i.e. DM says when it's appropriate to level up. I was totally fine with it, but I was kind of feeling that my players were missing the little fun of counting their points

Morrus said:

On top of this, we have the issue of absent players. Some groups will allow an absent player to gain XP; others will not. Some groups may allow the absent player to gain half XP, or might determine it based on the reason for absence - "I can't be bothered to drive over tonight" being different to "I was just in a car wreck and am currently lying in a hospital bed".

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I don't give XP to absent players. You just don't figure in the statistics if you don't play the match. (OTOH I never let bad things happen to the PC of an absent player, unless such things happened to the entire party)

Morrus said:

We also have the concept of effort-based XP. Some DMs like to give XP to players who act in a certain way; that's most frequently evidenced in "roleplaying" awards - a player who roleplays particularly well in a given scene may get a bonus of 200 XP, for example. A player who provides a well-written character background may get XP for it, or one who provides an appropriate miniature. These XP awards are all geared towards the DM conditioning the players into playing in a certain way, and making a certain level of effort.

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I don't give these extras. I prefer to avoid anything that requires my personal judgement on the player's effort, because I know it will be biased towards a certain style of playing the game that I favor myself. When I play well, keep track of my spells component, or write a fancy background, doing those things is already my reward. I'd like to encourage it, but the flip of the coin is that it would also be a bit like punishing the other players who consider these not essential to playing the game.

Morrus said:

Then, of course, we have the variance in timing. Do you give XP immediately? Do you give XP at the end of a session? Do you give XP at certain junctures in an adventure? And, depending on these factors, when may a character level up? Between sessions, between adventures, in mid-session?

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For convenience, I delay XP calculations for after the session, so I usually give them by email message before the next session

I couldn't vote on this part of the poll... in-game I ask the players to level up their PC on next full night's rest (which is not a poll option). Normally I would like the players to have their updated character sheet ready by then (they should know when they're close to level up) so that we don't have to stop in the middle of a session to let someone pick his new spells and stuff.

Morrus said:

Some older editions of D&D put some heavy brakes on XP. In addition to having different XP progression tables for each class, often gold and time would have to be spent "training" in between levels; later editions assumed that training happened constantly and in the background and didn't need to be specifically spelled out.

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I use the "you're always training in the background" explanation. I often explain to players that e.g. if they get a new feat at level 6 and they got the previou at level 3, the new feat is the result of something they learned during the previous 3 levels, more or less, so even if the player makes the choice now, for the PC it's the result of a longer time.

-XP gets split evenly between players, but there are individual bonuses for good roleplaying. I award them at the end of the night and let pcs level up immiediately. I do give XP bonuses for character backgrounds and pictures. Absent characters are run by the DM (who generally keeps them from of harm), get 1/2 XP and no loot.

Back in 2e, I would spend a lot of time calculating individual XP based on spells cast (wizards & clerics), treasure value found (thieves), monsters defeated individually (fighters). So we had characters at level 4 and characters at level 7 depending on they're absenteeism.

Now in 4e, I don't ever look at XP. I just tell the group to level up every 6-10 encounters. We only meet 1/month on a weeknight, and if any individual can't make it we just look at our schedules for the nearest free day, so we don't have to worry about absenteeism. I can't see ever going back to counting XP.

Since XP doesn't vary within a monster-level / combat-role (or CR in 3e), I'm actually surprised that they still list XP in the monster stat blocks, seeing as it's quite redundant.

I would love to see it as an optional "module" in D&DNext.

I award XP at the end of the session, usually. Sometimes I forget and it is two sessions worth. In theory, I figure it by the book for the group and divide by the number of pcs, but really, I just invent a number that sounds roughly appropriate to me. Nobody has ever complained, and it lets me keep things going "at the pace of the dungeon"...

Absent PCs don't get a share, which leads to small disparities, but usually not enough to matter, since I hand out XP quite slowly.

I don't really use XP, I level them up together at appropriate intervals (every 1-3 adventures, depending on the length and involvement of the adventure). I still have them mark down the XP amount for the level they gained, but mostly just to keep the characters relatively compatible with other games - in case the player gets a chance to use the character somewhere else (in another game).

For individual awards (roleplaying, skill success, taking risks, etc.) I instead give out in-game bennies, like extra Action Points and such.

I used to do ad hoc individual XP for all kinds of criteria, and level up during sessions.

Then, I realized that awarding XP seemed judgmental, that pacing the game was really arbitrary whether you put a number on it or not, and that worrying about XP and levels was a complete waste of time. XP is competitive and gamist, and I am not playing or running a competitive game. I find it absolutely antithetical to what I'm trying to do.

I have a small (3 PC) group, so absent players aren't an issue; if players are absent there's no session. Back when I ran for a large (10 PC) group, I did not advance the characters of absent players, which was a nightmare in itself.

These days, characters level whenever I feel like it, and I almost always handle it between sessions to save time.

I used to think giving our xp for good roleplaying was a good idea, but one day it just hit me that the DM has no business telling me if I've played my character well, because it's akin to him telling me how to play my character correctly. And if the DM has to make the decision as to who out of four or more players has played their character most "correctly", on top of everything else the DM has to do, most likely it will be the person who got the most attention from the DM without being annoying. So individual xp favors spotlight seekers. I doubt this is a good thing.

I give out group XP at the end of the session. Although, since I don't really calculate an XP award but instead give an arbitrary number, this is effectively the same as "DM says when to level".

Absent players get full XP. I work on the assumption that people will be there when they can, and so if they're not there then there's a good reason. Besides, if someone is not attending because they're not happy, the last thing I want to do is impose an XP penalty - if their character falls behind and becomes less effective, that is likely to lead to more dissatisfaction, and so promote absenteeism. Plus, I just can't be bothered dealing with PCs of different levels.

I don't do individual awards of any sort, and don't give out specific awards for miniatures, roleplaying, or the like. In almost all cases, the more you put into the game the more you get back, so all these things are really their own reward. Plus, as I said, I can't be bothered dealing with PCs of different levels.

I very occasionally give XP in the middle of a session. In such cases, characters are allowed to level up immediately, so I've checked that box, too.

Individual XP: it's more group XP divided up and bonuses to the individual PCs

absent players get no XP

individual XP awards for role playing

awards for backgrounds

XP awarded at end of the session

level advancement is in between sessions: no training time or gold expenditure

Since you no longer lose XP for things like making magic items or high level spells I know just let the group level when I feel it is relevant and suitable, usually every 4 or 5 sessions. I like levels to last a while and a slower advancement.