Do you use D&D XP system as written?

[GreatLemur]

I didn't see if anyone had posted Piratecat's system yet, so here it is.

Aw, thanks. I was really wondering about that.

So this system would seem to suggest that wizards can't actually use their free Scribe Scroll feat until they hit second level. Not that that'd be a problem that lasts very long.

 

[Piratecat]

Thanks, Thaumaturge!

So this system would seem to suggest that wizards can't actually use their free Scribe Scroll feat until they hit second level. Not that that'd be a problem that lasts very long.

It never came up in my game, so I hadn't considered it. It's simple enough to make an exception for first level characters; no one wants a feat they can't use!

 

[luke_twigger]

No. We level up as and when the DM feels it appropriate to the campaign, depending on pacing, reaching important in-game milestones, etc. Gets rid of the "wander round till we have a couple more random encounters and we're up a level". Generally means we level up just as a session ends so have a week out-of-game to choose feats, etc rather than wasting valuable table time. As people have said it can cause headaches regarding XP for spells/crafting but it depends how much the player (ab)use those aspects of the game, as DM I told players to "be reasonable" with that kind of thing and they did.

 

[Odhanan]

Just for the record: I find the results demonstrative, since a large proportion of people do not use the XP system as written.

This means, to me, that most people (including some people who do use it as written and all the people who do not) realize the XP system in D&D is to be taken as a baseline and not a hardcore rule that HAS to be followed in order to "play D&D". Very positive feedback from my point of view.

 

[Raven Crowking]

This means, to me, that most people (including some people who do use it as written and all the people who do not) realize the XP system in D&D is to be taken as a baseline and not a hardcore rule that HAS to be followed in order to "play D&D". Very positive feedback from my point of view.

I agree.

 

[kenmarable]

No.

We simply level up the characters at dramatically appropriate times.

Same here. Or, to a greater extent since I'm using a lot of published adventures now, they level up at the end of the adventure (and at major "chapter" points for multi-level adventures). However, for a math nerd like me, it was a gradual process.

I used to be pretty strict with XP and having Excel calculate everything. Then I tried a simpler system that was pretty much just weighted XP per session (set amount shifted up or down for more or less challenging sessions). Double book keeping for a while I realized that the results were pretty much identical with far less work. So I ran with the per session XP for a while and then realized every 4-5 sessions we were leveling. So then I went with simply having everyone level every 4 or 5 sessions (depending on how packed they were). But once I started relying more heavily on published adventures, most of which are written to be broken down along level lines well, I just use those as benchmarks. It helps to have an understanding group that isn't as excited about knowing the exact XP total they have as I know I used to be as a player years ago.

Part of me misses the spreadsheets and the joy of "Wow, that encounter was 2000 XP each!". But seeing as how much time and bookkeeping I've saved, I don't miss it *that* much.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

P-cat's system is exactly what I want, minus leveling every 10 sessions. Looks really solid, I like it.

I was trying to work out a way to do item creation without concrete XP awards. I'm going to extend this to GP cost components as well, and even the GP cost portion of item creation (basically, it costs double XP to make it). I really like the idea of a wizard that can "magic up" an existing item instead of just forking over a bunch of cash. So you can take like...a stick and turn it into a +5 holy club of undead bane. I know that violates the masterwork rule, but it's fun to imagine a poor, old cleric smashing legions of undead into powder with a tree branch.

Here's a question for you, personally (just want to know your reasons): why not let them convert all the APs into XP? If they have the cash for item creation, why not? If they'd rather cast mega-spells instead of pull off crazy stunts, why not?

 

[Piratecat]

Cool! You guys level up quickly, so requiring x2 xp to make an item will be no problem; they're more likely to have APs left over. If you ever find that they have so many left over that they're making a ton of magic items, one option is reducing how many APs they get each level.

Here's a question for you, personally (just want to know your reasons): why not let them convert all the APs into XP? If they have the cash for item creation, why not? If they'd rather cast mega-spells instead of pull off crazy stunts, why not?

It's not the spells, so much as item creation! If only one or two PCs have item creation feats, I didn't want them to feel like they had to hoard APs to make stuff while everyone else was doing cool things with their action points. With those 5, they can say "I couldn't have used that AP anyways, Action point!" It's also so that they don't have, effectively, more xp than usual to make things with.

 

[masshysteria]

The XP/CR rules as written create too much overhead, so I threw them out. But, I didn't want the completely arbitrary, "Okay, I think it is time you level up." So I wrote a quick and easy option based on three states: below-average, average, and above-average challenges. It is posted here: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=3334997#post3334997

 

[GreatLemur]

It's not the spells, so much as item creation! If only one or two PCs have item creation feats, I didn't want them to feel like they had to hoard APs to make stuff while everyone else was doing cool things with their action points. With those 5, they can say "I couldn't have used that AP anyways, Action point!" It's also so that they don't have, effectively, more xp than usual to make things with.

I'm really starting to drag this off-topic, but do you use Action Points as roleplay rewards or similar, or do they only come along with new levels? Because 5 + (character level / 2) APs every 10-12 sessions sounds pretty scarce. But then, your PCs are damned high level, so I guess 5 + (character level / 2) won't be all that small a number, at this point.