When to award XP?

[Hand of Evil]

Story arc or chapter as I like to call it, I see it as the end of the challenge that I had plotted out for the players.

 

[Odyn]

No start of next session?

At the start of the next session. This way we can game later.

 

[ElvishBard]

Story arc or chapter as I like to call it, I see it as the end of the challenge that I had plotted out for the players.

Yeah, that's exactly the same method I use.

 

[wingsandsword]

I usually award XP at the end of a session (unless it ended in the middle of something big, like a cliffhanger), but. . .

I use the "general downtime" variant from the DMG, where you have to spend at least 1 day per character level you're going to in non-adventuring, non-healing, non-spellcasting/spell-research tasks (training, resting, vacationing ect.), and then they have to generally be some place where they can spend that time in relative safety (no place in a dungeon counts as "relative safety", but a viliage, large friendly army camp or fortress would be just fine.

So, XP at the end of sessions, but you can't do much with it (besides cast spells and make items) unless you can get to a place where you can spend a few days (or a couple of weeks) resting/training/practicing.

 

[shilsen]

I don't award XP by CR but simply give the PCs a fixed amount per session and track XP myself, so I simply let players know when they have levelled up.

 

[the Jester]

Generally I award them after the session is over. Of course, much of the time that translates into "before we start the next session."

 

[Wombat]

I'm definitely an "At The End Of An Adventure" GM.

Then again, 9/10 adventures I run only last a single game session, so it is nearly "At The End of Each Session".

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I actually would have preferred being able to select multiple responses. USUALLY I hand out XP at the end of the night, but sometimes I wait until the end of an adventure, after a given dungeon is explored, or occasionally when a PC is close to being able to level up I'll hand out XP at any reasonable "break" point.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Immediately after each encounter. That way we know if we end up levelling before the next fight... Sometimes they occur one right after another... And we spend a few minutes levelling up, for those players who haven't already done so...

The roleplaying experience points are at the end of the session. It's a total assessment as to furthering the plot and how you roleplayed during the game.

 

[LordBOB]

i think i only saw one other " at the beginning of the session"


Well i also wait for the beginning of the session so I don run into any suprises during the game by someone leveling and messing up my monsteres and their CR