How do you deal with Roleplaying XP?

[barsoomcore]

I don't award for role-playing but then I don't have a system for awarding XP generally. I just assign a number to the group -- everybody who attends always gets the same amount as everybody else who attends.

I pretty much just make up an amount based on how much I think they accomplished/did/overcame/entertained. But I don't award individual players rewards for how well they role-played -- I'm not interested in "training" them to play the way I want them to play. If they're having fun, good enough.

 

[Belbarrus]

I like to see role-playing (or at least roleplaying attempted) and therefore give out XP to try to encourage this. I judge role-playing based on the following criteria:
1) "Speaking" in character. If the player actually replies to character conversation as if they were that character talking to the character that I am playing (the NPC). As opposed to something like, "I tell the Wizard that I will take the quest.", they say, "Findelstaff! I am the one that you are looking for to return the fabled Gem of AllPower for you! I accept this challenge."
2) Referring to the other players by their character names. Instead of saying "I follow Bob's character.", the players should say, "I follow Grindlenorf."
3) Having some personality quirk or trait for your character that you can build upon and roleplay in the game. (A fighter who's personality is "I like to fight" is not a trait, it is what your character does as a profession).

Negative roleplaying points:
A) Acting on information that you as a player know, but your charcter doesnt. For example, if the player knows that a fellow party member is really a doppleganger, but there is no way that the character would know. Players lose RP XP for acting on this knowledge.
B) "Coaching". During time-restrictive events, such as combat, characters are allowed to communicate using free actions on their turn. Players, therefore cannot make suggestions or discuss strategies for the combat, during the combat. You cannot, for example, say, "Okay, Wizard, I am going to attack this Orc and if I drop him, I will move 30' away so you can fireball the rest of them. If the Orc doesnt drop, then just cast a Bull Strength on me. Meanwhile the Rogue should move around to side and flank them." This is "coaching" another player and the sentence is too long to do as a free action.
C) Doing something "out of character". If you character does something odd and is not established as a character quirk or if your character does something contradictory to your class or alignment.

I then give the players 1 point each time they do #1 for "major" or important conversations in the session, another point if they do #2 for most of the session and another point if they role-player their character's personality. I then subtract a point whenever they do something from A, B or C.

I tally up the points then multiply this by 10 x character level. This is their Roleplaying XP bonus.

B

 

[Buttercup]

Like Barsoomcore, I'm most interested in seeing the players (and me!) have fun. Most of them are reasonably good role players, so I don't worry about it too much. My method of awarding XP is a bit odd, perhaps. I focus on accomplishing tasks. Did they save the town? Clear the mine of kobalds? Find the missing child? Solve the mystery? And did they do it without killing any innocents, or compromising themselves? If so, they get the full award. If they found the child but ended up killing her accidently in the battle with her kidnappers, then their XP reward is considerably smaller.

I have, however, been known to give a spontaneous award for sheer brilliance or, more likely with my group, wackiness.

 

[Mortanis]

I want to encourage RPing and enjoyment amongst my players, so I give out xp based on those situations just as much as regular hack and slash encounters.

For example: last session the party (consisting of 5 2nd level players) only participated in one fight that netted them each 100xp. However, some players got a bit more for various reasons: winning an archery contest, successfully bluffing their way out of a tight situation, convincing the local Magistrate to pay them for destroying a perceived threat, successfully assassinating a noted person..... each person didn't get a sum of each item, but any who participated in a specific xp generating environment got some.

Rewarding only RP and fighting XP in my campaign would quickly skew the party's levels. I've got 2 masters of roleplaying, 2 pretty okay role players, and one that tries but doesn't really do a lot. The 2 masters would quickly outlevel everyone.

XP is doled out based on fun, creativity, roleplaying, and basic monster stomping. The name of the game is enjoyment and fun, and rewarding that promotes more of it.

 

[Kichwas]

I cut combat xp in half but give out rp xp in four categories each session: race, class, alignment and personal.

What exactly goes into each of these sections anyway?

What, in particular, is 'race XP'?

 

[the Jester]

What exactly goes into each of these sections anyway?

What, in particular, is 'race XP'?

To go into a little more detail...

First off, you can't call simply using your abilities for rp xp; for instance, a cleric doesn't get class rp xp simply for casting his spells. If his deity is god of healing and he goes out of his way to heal strangers, however, then it isn't that he used his spells- he went out of his way to follow the example of his deity. Likewise, while a rogue won't get rp xp for picking someone's pockets, she could get rp xp for joining the local thieves' guild.

So class xp involves roleplaying your class or classes. Practicing your weapon skills, composing a song, researching a new spell, commissioning a temple, etc.

Personal xp involves roleplaying your personal concerns. Perhaps you talk to an old childhood friend; perhaps you get a date with the hot barmaid you've been lusting after for six sessions; perhaps you simply get a fancy crest embroidered on your cloak.

Alignment, of course, involves roleplaying your alignment. I keep a very open mind on this one and very rarely do I tell someone No on alignment rp xp; if they can justify their reach for it and they weren't badly out of alignment through the session, they've got it. For instance, last session, one of the pcs, who is LE, had made a deal not to attempt to harm the hunter of the dead that the group is currently with; but he did things like take a 5' step behind the HotD for cover during battle. Or the chaotic shifter who, for her alignment reach, called the fact that she keeps assuming weird, random forms in dangerous places for her own amusement. Not precisely using her abilities- it's the nature of the use of the abilities.

Since you asked about race xp in particular, I'll give a few examples that I can recall...

For example, a dwarf fighter makes a point of buying only dwarf-made weapons. Sounds good to me. So do...

..an elf who talks down to the other, short-lived races because they're short-lived.

Or the orc who breaks beautiful stuff cuz he's an orc.

Or the gnome who demonstrates his racial dislike of kobolds.

Or the human who gets a human spouse.

Or, for that matter, the human who gets a non-human spouse ("you know, like Captain Kirk, man").

I'm pretty loose when it comes to awarding these; as long as the player can come up with something relevant I'll usually go for it. (There are limits, of course; I won't award elf race xp for "hanging out with dwarves underground," for example.) The point isn't to dramatically lower the amount of xp the pcs get- heck, it prolly comes out 10%-15% lower than the standard system, which isn't much of a numeric difference- but rather to encourage roleplaying. I've found it works especially good with newbies- after two or three sessions, they're starting to come up with good rp 'reaches' at the end of each session. More than that, they start to seize the opportunity to roleplay when it's presented, which I really like. And since it's relatively easy to get the rp xp, even in a session with no combat at all the pcs can get 100 x their levels in xp or more (for props and lubricating the game, as noted above).

Also, I'll sometimes award double rp awards for particularly apt, entertaining or poignant roleplaying, such as when someone got to say "I cast magic missile at the darkness"- and meant it, and did damage to it! That was last game, in fact...

Obviously, there can be a lot of overlap in this system. In my opinion, that's good. That means if Rob can only think of three things, and they all at first appear to fall under 'personal', he might be able to make one or two of them fit into 'race' and 'alignment' instead.

 

[shilsen]

I don't award for role-playing but then I don't have a system for awarding XP generally. I just assign a number to the group -- everybody who attends always gets the same amount as everybody else who attends.

I pretty much just make up an amount based on how much I think they accomplished/did/overcame/entertained. But I don't award individual players rewards for how well they role-played -- I'm not interested in "training" them to play the way I want them to play. If they're having fun, good enough.

That's exactly my approach. One of my new players has been suggesting the use of roleplaying XP, so I'll run it by my group. But I'm more likely to stick to the current system and award some other form of reward (hero points, etc.) for roleplaying.

 

[swrushing]

I tell the players ahead of time that they will level up on a set schedule. For instance, in my upcoming game, they will level up at the end of each real world month for the first three months and then settle into a level up every three months real time. (We have three sessions a month.)

So, there are no XP influences on in-game in-character decisions. Do what your character would do in the circumstances and don't feel you need to do a or do b or avoid c in order to get xp. play the character. Its very simple.

So, in my game, whether the character decided to go or stay would be an issue for him to work out with the rest of the party. Frankly, the notion of a mage who stays at home while the party travels and teleports to them once they have reached their objective has occurred on occasion. Typically this allowed said mage to get more time in on scribing spells or scroll or even items for other purposes. It has its own risks and rewards.

Good decisions and good roleplaying should simply carry its own benefits in game and in play. I don't feel there needs to be a mechanical element to these.

 

[Vlos]

When I GM (been about a year) I usually give out a base exp for the night. This is based on the overall theme/play. So as long as you show up you would get this exp.

I would then hand out EXP bonus on how well you played your character to your character. That is, if your character is a wizard that loves books and stayed behind to scan a few books while the rest moved forward you played your character.

If you did something that was not inline with how your characters background was written and you did it for a non-roleplaying reason then you got less exp bonus.

So base exp for all, then a bonus based on how well you played to your character. (this includes things like character knowledge and such).

 

[ForceUser]

I tend to give 50 XP/level per session to players who put effort into role-playing, regardless of skill. If a player does something particularly cool or funny in-character I might ad hoc an additional 100 to 500 XP for the session, and I tend to give sizeable story awards for completing important goals.