D&D 5E Gain 50 xp in the Abyss

[Tobold]

There are two basic ways how a DM can give out xp and levels to his players: Either for each fight or other xp-worthy activity, or in some "milestone" system where reaching a certain point of the adventure gets the players to a predetermined level. Many of the official WotC campaign books are curiously imprecise about how they want level progression to work. But once you add up the xp for the fights in the chapters of the books, you quickly notice that even with lots of random encounters they don't add up to the levels required in the content. So although it often isn't explicitly stated, apparently the WotC adventures and campaigns use a milestone system.

But what really confuses and annoys me is that throughout Out of the Abyss there are sprinkled little paragraphs with a title of "xp awards". And those are nearly always just ridiculously tiny. For example in Out of the Abyss it is said that the players should be level 7 by the end of chapter 6 / the start of chapter 7. But in chapter 6 there are xp awards for "quests" of 50 xp. Seeing how a players needs 9,000 additional xp to get from level 6 to level 7, handing out 50 xp seems like some sort of cruel joke. What is the purpose of that? I would think that if you wanted to play Out of the Abyss with a level progression system based on experience points, you would need to hand out really large story xp awards in order for the players to keep up in level with the content.

 

[CapnZapp]

There are two basic ways how a DM can give out xp and levels to his players: Either for each fight or other xp-worthy activity, or in some "milestone" system where reaching a certain point of the adventure gets the players to a predetermined level. Many of the official WotC campaign books are curiously imprecise about how they want level progression to work. But once you add up the xp for the fights in the chapters of the books, you quickly notice that even with lots of random encounters they don't add up to the levels required in the content. So although it often isn't explicitly stated, apparently the WotC adventures and campaigns use a milestone system.

But what really confuses and annoys me is that throughout Out of the Abyss there are sprinkled little paragraphs with a title of "xp awards". And those are nearly always just ridiculously tiny. For example in Out of the Abyss it is said that the players should be level 7 by the end of chapter 6 / the start of chapter 7. But in chapter 6 there are xp awards for "quests" of 50 xp. Seeing how a players needs 9,000 additional xp to get from level 6 to level 7, handing out 50 xp seems like some sort of cruel joke. What is the purpose of that? I would think that if you wanted to play Out of the Abyss with a level progression system based on experience points, you would need to hand out really large story xp awards in order for the players to keep up in level with the content.

My honest to gawd suggestion is:

Drop experience awards entirely. Especially for Out of the Abyss.

Instead level up the heroes roughly once per chapter.

 

[jgsugden]

My honest to gawd suggestion is:

Drop experience awards entirely. Especially for Out of the Abyss.

Instead level up the heroes roughly once per chapter.

I stopped calculating experience points to advance PCs in 1985. Ever since then Ieither gave a bulk amount of experience when the PCs reached a milestone, or once they standardized xp over classes - Iadvanced PCs a level at each milestone. Al Iuse CR, EL and exerience points for since 85 are balancing encounters.

 

[iserith]

It sounds like the writers didn't design the XP rewards in that module very well. An adventure path tends to benefit from milestone XP or story-based advancement in my experience.

Their error doesn't argue against using standard XP in other kinds of adventures, however. It's a useful tool to incentivize the kinds of behavior that best fit the campaign and play experience.

 

[CapnZapp]

Yes, if you use AD&D levelling (different xp for different classes) at least you HAVE to use xp.

 

[Eltab]

Out of the Abyss is a milestone adventure, not an XP adventure. The designers never said so publicly, but the AP's design made their decision obvious.

In this particular case, set aside the XP concerns, and bring them back for a different adventure.
(In Tomb of Annihilation, you can use XP while the group explores the jungle and gets the 'Chult atmosphere', switching to Milestones when they head into the heart of the adventure.)

 

[pemerton]

if you wanted to play Out of the Abyss with a level progression system based on experience points, you would need to hand out really large story xp awards in order for the players to keep up in level with the content.

Isn't the idea of "level progression based on XP" more-or-less contradictory to the idea of "keeping up in level with adventure content"?

 

[Tobold]

Either system would work for me. But is it too much to ask for a WotC campaign book to spell out exactly how they want level progression to work? If they want a milestone system, then why are there xp awards?

 

[CapnZapp]

Out of the Abyss is a milestone adventure, not an XP adventure. The designers never said so publicly, but the AP's design made their decision obvious.

I disagree.

Since they never admitted to writing an adventure that's essentially incompatible with the default experience model, any criticism is entirely justified.

Nothing obvious about it.

That the best option is to ignore one's dismay and accept that you're gonna have to use milestones doesn't change this.

 

[CapnZapp]

Either system would work for me. But is it too much to ask for a WotC campaign book to spell out exactly how they want level progression to work? If they want a milestone system, then why are there xp awards?

No, that would not be too much to ask.