Xp for non adventurers

[Nasma]

I was wondering at what rate Xp would be awarded to non-combat characters. To me it is obvious that a wizard who never goes adventuring but instead spends his time researching ancient magiks in his tower would go up levels and gain new spells (though perhaps not an increases BAB). I think that this would hold true for all classes, a blacksmith should get better but working in his forge, not by killing goblins. The problem that i have is this: At what rate should these NPCs advance?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Darklone]

Uhm.

I think this belongs into houserules.

I give non adventuring NPCs a quarter or half of the players Xps.

 

[Thanee]

I just don't give them XPs and set them to a level which seems appropriate.

I agree, that non-adventurers should gain experience over time, but the rules are meant for adventurers (PCs) only, therefore a realistic system about NPCs gaining experience over time is not included.

The main problem is, that the experience system seems to be highly combat oriented. Most of the experience (in most or at least many games) comes from combat encounters, while the rest of the adventure should give big experience also. Even adventuring PCs should realistically be able to sit down a few years and train their skills and abilities, getting better at them, but again, this is not directly supported by the rules.

From the rules perspective, just use ad hoc experience!
Give them whatever you deem appropriate!

As a general guideline, an adventurer should gain more experience than a non-adventurer, tho. About twice as much seems right to me.

Bye
Thanee

 

[hong]

I was wondering at what rate Xp would be awarded to non-combat characters. To me it is obvious that a wizard who never goes adventuring but instead spends his time researching ancient magiks in his tower would go up levels and gain new spells (though perhaps not an increases BAB). I think that this would hold true for all classes, a blacksmith should get better but working in his forge, not by killing goblins. The problem that i have is this: At what rate should these NPCs advance?

At whatever rate you, the DM, decide is appropriate for them to advance. D&D isn't really setup to answer these sorts of questions.

In the D&D paradigm, NPCs are important only insofar as they help to set the stage for the PCs' actions. The question to ask is, "how much XP should NPCs gain so that they can continue to make significant contributions to the campaign storyline?" If someone doesn't need to gain XP and/or levels to advance the storyline, then they don't gain such. Conversely, if someone needs to gain levels, then they do. Thus 1st level commoners remain 1st level commoners, and 5th level expert blacksmiths remain 5th level expert blacksmiths (if you even bother to stat them out at all). However, the 10th level evil high priest might become 15th level by the time the party faces him in the grand showdown.

If you want to run a fantasy world simulation, as opposed to setting a stage, you should use a ruleset designed for that purpose. D&D isn't meant to handle simulations, and trying to make it do so probably isn't worth the hassle.

 

[Lord Ben]

If you really must think of a method then assign a challenge rating to the item he's making/researching. Perhaps the PC's are collecting ingredients for a spell that's so challenging to cast that it deserves a CR. Of course this doesn't work for PC's when they cast their own spells.

NPC's face challenges at their jobs, and they get XP for it. A 1st level Blacksmith trying to craft a masterwork sword will get a TON of XP for it since it's far beyond his normal abilities. A 15th level blacksmith probably won't get any. Figure it's CR 5 or something, that's fair. It requires just as much work as anything else though.

 

[laiyna]

*grin*

I never give xp for combats, monster xp is lame. I give Roll Playing xp. The player who plays his roll good gets xp, the player who does nothing, who is just making trouble or causing infights gets nothing.

So a character concept for a wizard in a tower who does research is doing perfect RP, so would get loads of RP xp. Not much fun for a player to skip 5 years of RL game becouse he wants one year of RP xp.....

Laiyna

 

[Henrix]

I give Roll Playing xp.

You mean, whoever rolls the highest gets the most xp?



I take it that "role" is "roll" in Dutch, just like in Swedish and German.

 

[Thanee]

It's "Rolle" in german, but close enough!

Bye
Thanee

 

[hong]

A 1st level Blacksmith trying to craft a masterwork sword will get a TON of XP for it since it's far beyond his normal abilities.

14 Int
4 ranks Craft (blacksmith)
Skill Focus (blacksmithing)
masterwork tools
take 10 on Craft check
= 20

 

[Arkham]

The problem that i have is this: At what rate should these NPCs advance?

Someone made a suggestion I really liked,
that a reasonable rate of learning for normal,
non-adventurous people is 1 exp per day.

Older people slowly get more experienced, and
most people will still be very low level.