You know what? I think I'm done with XP

[Cloudgatherer]

I like leveling a bit quicker than 13 encounters. That's a lot of encounters, especially considering my group typically can only handle roughly 2 a gaming session (sometimes only 1).

I'm currently playing in a game that rewards 100 XP per CR of the creature defeated. We also get XP rewards for the value of treasure we find. There are some modifications that double encounter XP while taking away all treasure XP the DM uses, and characters are made with the modifications in mind.

Also, quest experience is fairly common. I've used it, others use it, and overall I think it should be in there. Cuts down on those 13.33 encounters

 

[Renaissance Man]

I like leveling a bit quicker than 13 encounters. That's a lot of encounters, especially considering my group typically can only handle roughly 2 a gaming session (sometimes only 1).

What a relief. I thought mine was the only group that moved that slowly.

In previous editions of the game, we used an xp system that focused heavily on story rewards, and eventually dispensed with xp altogether. Since 3e came out, I've been very curious to see how quickly the characters in our group would level up "according to the rules". Personally, I find the rate of advancement to be perfectly adequate, although I don't think all of the players in my group would agree.

 

[Matt Black]

I tie level advancement directly to the development of the plot. Characters will go up a level if they reach a meaningful punctuation point in the story, so long as they've been through enough since the last level-up. (I try to tweak it so this happens roughly every 5 sessions, but it depends on the performance of the players.) I find this gives the players a sense that their characters are growing in relation to the story.

Besides, the best achievements of players or characters have nothing to do with defeating monsters and traps. Sometimes it's much more interesting (and in-character) for a character to try to avoid a particular conflict. Why penalize them for these sorts of decisions? Really, the best stuff is when the player moves the story in an interesting direction, whether it's by killing stuff or not. This is what really deserves the reward.

As for xp costs for item creation, etc... well, there are less dry ways to inflict these costs - typically involving sacrificing other things important to the character.

The xp system is a great tool for hack-and-slash D&D, but seems to impede the game if you're going for anything else. And yeah, it's also a pain in the ass to calculate.

Matt Black

 

[jester47]

Force user just convinced me to drop XP in my campaign.

I think I will use a show up goal oriented system of XP. I like the tic situation. Showing up is a tic. Certain quests and tasks get you another tic. I think I will go with 13 tics per level... Its a cool number.

Aaron.

 

[Henry]

I use a variant of Rel's XP system myself - I have for the past few games, and it's been working fairly well. It has slowed down the levelling dramatically, and some players shine more than others in certain sessions.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

I haven't dumped XP completely, because it is useful for permanency, magic item creation etc.

I award XP as per DMG for combat encounters, but they're so infrequent that they count towards maybe 20% of totals.

I use a system similar to Wulf's.


Per Session

200 XP / Character Level: Roleplaying bordering on Genius.
150 XP / Character Level: Fine Roleplaying.
100 XP / Character Level: Solid stuff, but nothing dazzling.
50 XP / Character Level: Pretty poor.
0 XP: Where were you? Rob? (Ahem)

I make ad hoc awards for introducing new plot arcs or giving a new twist to existing ones. I'm lucky, though, because my players are good RPers and generally reliable in attending sessions. It means about 6-10 sessions before between levelling - depending on how well they RP.

I think that awarding XP for bringing munchies is a fine idea. Especially cheese - in case anyone is reading. You should definitely get more XP for bringing cheese. Brie.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I used to use an exp system similar to Wulf Ratbane's. Problem. It rewards the guy with the high income rather than the guy who is struggling. This was only a problem in one game I ran. Usually people don't care. After all, if the guy with the excess bucks wants to spend the money for the drinks/munchies it enhances the game for everyone else, right? But in one case a guy got ticked because he wasn't in a position to afford yummie goodies and felt like he was being taxed for exp.

This was only one case. My experience has been that typically people like this. But it is something to keep in mind.

 

[Nathanael]

For magic item creation and also item leveling (as per the Dragon Mag system), I send the individual PC on a quest for the components (and as a side effect of thr adventure, XP). The other PC's play the part of NPC's that are along for whatever reason.

In this way, all get to play, and all stay at the same level, as all the XP earned goes towards the item created/leveled. It also gives the other players a chance to play a different one shot character and is very useful for games where all the players aren't available.

I haven't applied this to XP spent on spell use yet, but I assume that the individual quest could occur afterwards to represent a spiritual journey/task for a god who granted a wish/etc. The more XP spent in this manner, the more that would need to be earned to bring the levels back into line with 'karmic destiny' (the other PC's) and therefore, the more dangerous the task. This lends itself very well to an ongoing character story and a neat sidetrek adventure...

 

[Tonguez]

I have never even read the XP tables.

Are you telling me that there are actual tables that award XP?

Wow all this time I've just been awarding XP whenever the PCs achieved a particular goal

eg Get past the Warden XP 200, avoid the Gnome burial ground XP 75, Get past the Ogre valley XP 300, Find the Cave of Sorrows XP 500, Recover the Artifact XP 1000.

Survive unscathed XP 500 (No raise dead in my games and crippling injuries are possible)
Innovative Skill/Ability use XP 50,
Innovative Thinking XP 50
Good Roleplaying XP 75

 

[Holy Bovine]

Well, I am probably in a very small minority (like, maybe just me ) but I have found that I assign CR for virtually everything the party overcomes and assign XP accordingly.

Traps, Monster/Combat Encounters, Roleplaying scenarios, Quests etc. all of it gets CR and I use a handy little 'XP calculator' I found on the web to figure out the party's XP award.

Roleplay stuff I do seperately however so there is a (small) varience in everyone's XP awards but I have found that this does seem to inspire players who maybe got a little less one week to really put forth some effort the next.

I do like so of your ideas here though so consider many of them *yoinked*

That being said I do adjust CRs of many (read: virtually all) monsters to a lower number as i find that their 'challenge' is usually (badly) overrated in comparision to the powerhouse of a party I have (this was a real wide open kind of campaign where I was very generous with magic and such and the party always seemed to make mincemeat of even the toughest critters). For a more normally powered and equipped party I would use the CRs closer to as written but woudl probably continue to adjust up or down for particularily tough or easy encounters (not jsut from bad dice/poor tactics but more along the lines of whether the villian had an opportunity to 'buff' or attacked from ambush or the party had a good chance to surprise and defeat the villian).

I'm not saying that this is the One True Way or anything just the way i have developed after a 2 year 3E campaign.