When is an encounter 'beat'?

[Lanefan]

I only award a unit of XP once for any given enemy. If he runs away, 1/2 XP. If he's killed next time, the remaining 1/2 XP.

How do you handle the opposition being able to return from death? If you storm a Giant stronghold, take down some Giants (for full ExP, as they're dead), then retreat...and the Giants have a Cleric who can raise dead, so the next time you attack you're facing some of the same Giants again...then what? (I did this to one of my parties recently: they defeated a Roper in a nasty battle, then retreated; the Drow whose complex the Roper guards came out and raised the Roper; party return later and have to face the same Roper again...)

In the case of the undead, if the party meets some skeletons - some are destroyed, some flee - and then later meets some more skeletons, how are they to know whether these are the same skeletons that fled before or not?

Another example, and more common, are Vampires. If you defeat it such that it goes gaseous and has to return to coffin, you've won...but tomorrow, back it comes.

I'll usually give full ExP each time unless I think the players are abusing the situation...it's not like the risk gets reduced each time.

Lanefan

 

[MarkB]

I view it that each encounter is an obstacle in the party's path. If they're able to overcome that obstacle, they get full XP for the encounter, whether they did so by slaughtering the enemy, or the enemy never knew they were there.

However, it's worth making adjustments to an opponent's CR depending upon how much of an obstacle it actually represents. I.e. if it's very easy to slip past or outrun an opponent and still accomplish the task at hand, maybe drop the CR a notch - whether they actually choose to take the easy option or not. Just don't do so too often, or to a large degree, and determine it beforehand based upon how easy the encounter should be - don't adjust it downwards after the fact, if the party get a lucky dice streak or come up with a way to get round the encounter that you didn't think of.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I only award a unit of XP once for any given enemy. If he runs away, 1/2 XP. If he's killed next time, the remaining 1/2 XP.

So you love reocuuring villains that run away all the time, denying the players XP? Or do you just let them all fight to the death all the time?

 

[billd91]

They generally return to base during the night, and return the next day to explore more of the dungeon. This means they end up encountering some of the undead they had encountered the day before. Truly, it does take some of their resources to re-deal with the undead, so I think they should receive some XP for them. I am just trying to decide how much - and, again, am trying to learn the official rules for such things in 3.5.

Personally, in this case, I'd only award them the experience for these undead once they encounter and defeat them for the last time. If they chase them off, explore a bit, leave, and then have to chase the undead off again when they come back in, then I don't think they've really defeated the encounter since it's still in place and keep hampering them.
The way I see it, they have to finally defeat the encounter within the context of the goals of the adventure. This doesn't necessarily meaning killing them, true. But they have to be neutralized as an obstacle to their accomplishing the goals of the adventure. If they keep coming back while the adventure goals remain the same, I wouldn't give them full experience.

 

[DestroyYouAlot]

I was pondering this one just the other night. Luckily, I don't hand out XP until the next session, so I have a few minutes to ponder.

The PCs fought two abishai (draconic, devilish servants of Tiamat), downing one and driving off the other. They already saw one go down with a critical hit (arrow in the eye), and then get back up two rounds later to fly away, so they know that these things regenerate, and they saw that their non-magical weapons weren't cutting the mustard, so they know that they have damage reduction. I left the encounter at a "what the hell were those things?" cliffhanger, and there's a couple of things they don't know:

a) Unless it occurs to them to use holy water or a blessed weapon, they have no way of killing the one that's still there (these mothers have 5/+1 damage reduction, regenerate 4 hp a round, and only holy water / blessed weapon damage is permanent).

b) The abishai have several nasty spell-like abilities, none of which require somatic gestures to use, so if (as I suspect will happen) they bind this thing and try to question it, it's going to try to charm somebody into releasing it, and - failing that - summon baatezu (dretches, I believe) to make their lives miserable.

This presents several intersting XP-related questions. First, the dretches: XP for them? This is an easy one, the DMG is real clear that summoned monsters are woth no XP, as the ability to summon is taken into account in figuring the Challenge Rating of the creature that's doing the summoning. (Which raises an interesting question - should I even award any XP for the abishai, until the PCs discover and defeat the villain who's summoning them? Hehehe...)

But, here's the sticky thing: What about regeneration? Sure, the PCs defeated the beasties, from a certain point of view - they reduced both of their HPs to negative numbers, at one point or another - but they're not dead, they're still a threat, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the one they've got is going to get away inside of five minutes, next session. You could make the case that they've bested the abishais in combat, and deserve XP for this (which interpretation I am leaning towards), only there's that nagging voice that says it's in the Challenge Rating... After all, an ability like regeneration surely figures into a CR calculation, and the thing that makes that such a pain isn't that they're healing damage during a battle, but that they can get back up afterwards unless you do the right kind of damage.

The answer is really simpler than all that, I'm just playing devil's advocate (literally), here. Here's how I handle it: The PCs get XP for the battle - once - whether they have to "re-kill" the things eight times, or they figure out the "magic number" and kill them "for real", or they get away and are gone. What they won't get XP for is downing them more than once in a battle, or for driving them off only to have them fly overhead out of bow range to heal for a minute and come back for more. It's all gotta come down to DM common sense, in the end, and what "feels right" for your game.

 

[MarkB]

a) Unless it occurs to them to use holy water or a blessed weapon, they have no way of killing the one that's still there (these mothers have 5/+1 damage reduction, regenerate 4 hp a round, and only holy water / blessed weapon damage is permanent).

Once they've got it helpless, they can simply suffocate it. As an Outsider, it still needs to breathe.

 

[DestroyYouAlot]

Once they've got it helpless, they can simply suffocate it. As an Outsider, it still needs to breathe.

Good thinking, but then, I don't know - is that a given? I'd say, for example, an earth elemental was pretty much exempt from that particular requirement, why not a devil?

And, not to wrench this thing vaguely back on topic, but I'm now imagining a group of stronghold-owning adventurers with a "danger room" full of trolls and other regenerating beasties, which they can fight at their leisure to get over that "100 more XP 'til Xth level" hump.

 

[MarkB]

Good thinking, but then, I don't know - is that a given? I'd say, for example, an earth elemental was pretty much exempt from that particular requirement, why not a devil?

Yes, it's a given, and is defined as part of their Type:

Outsiders breathe, but do not need to eat or sleep (although they can do so if they wish). Native outsiders breathe, eat, and sleep.​

And for elementals:

Elementals do not eat, sleep, or breathe.​

And, not to wrench this thing vaguely back on topic, but I'm now imagining a group of stronghold-owning adventurers with a "danger room" full of trolls and other regenerating beasties, which they can fight at their leisure to get over that "100 more XP 'til Xth level" hump.

Like I said up-thread, you gain XP for overcoming challenging obstacles. Deliberately setting up an opponent just to knock them down again is not overcoming an obstacle.

Likewise, if the party sneak past the monsters guarding the gate on the way in, they gain the XP for them - but if they deliberately go back to fight them, when there's no in-character reason to do so, they've just invalidated their earlier achievement in getting past them unnoticed, and will not earn additional XP for defeating them in combat.