D&D 5E My D&D Next Wishlist: Bring back XP for GP!

[imurphy943]

It's really nice to see XP for GP mentioned regarding D&D Next, and then discussed rationally and politely.

Personally, I give XP for gold gained and gold spent, and give none for monsters (being lazily averse to the (admittedly minor) math involved with monster XP.) I demand, though, that players go into full detail when spending for XP, given that 15 GP is approximately worth as much as a cow, and one person can only drink so much alcohol without dying.

 

[Zaukrie]

I also completely abandoned xp, you finish a few adventures, you go up in level. XP rules are kind of unnecessary overhead. If you are ready to move the PCs up in level to advance the story, do it. It isn't their job to kill stuff or get stuff, it is their job to solve problems (sometimes by killing stuff or getting stuff, sometimes not).

That said, I think my players miss it sometimes. I always found it unecessary.

 

[Vegepygmy]

At the very least, this should be an optional rule. Frankly, it should be quite easy to set the expected wealth for each level at the same number of XP needed to advance, which would make it easy to house rule even if they didn't specifically include it as an optional XP rule.

While I like xp for gp, I hope we never see an "expected wealth by level" in D&D again.

That would suit me, too. But assuming that they do include it, I'd appreciate them synchronizing the GP and XP values.

 

[Dirge]

Not just no, but Hell NO!!!

It's bad enough when everyone has to save every copper so that they can go down to MageMart and buy their next +1 upgrade (which I was hoping this next edition was moving past)...I certainly don't want to move from that to saving every copper so that I can buy actual experience/levels...

Coinage should NOT be directly convertible to personal combat power (that was the problem with the MageMart, and buying levels is even worse)...Money helps you to win friends and influence people (or buy ale/whores, minstrels, jewelry, castles, or make donations to your church or other charitable gifts that befit a would-be hero, etc.)...I don't want my character to gain a 1Up for every 100 coins he collects...This isn't Super Mario Bros....

Your character should get xp for things other than combat, sure (you should get the exact same amount of xp for sneaking past a mob, negotiating with them using diplomacy, or slashing them to bits)...But you shouldn't be able to simply buy xp/levels with treasure...

Your character's economic status shouldn't have any effect on his class level...It would be nice if a young noble could begin his adventure alongside a pauper thief without having to artificially limit the noble's wealth due to the ability to directly trade gold for magically enhanced equipment and extra class levels...

I don't want a situation where for all practical purposes only wealthy people can be high level and all high level people are necessarily wealthy...

I want Bilbo and the Dwarves to be able to find Smaug's treasure horde without being pressured by the system to buy themselves up to Epic level and go down to the corner store and buy sets of +5 equipment for everyone...And I don't want the system to basically dictate a minimum level they would have to be before they are allowed to find said horde...

Just my 2 cents (on second thought, I probably should save those to buy some xp)...

 

[Grimmjow]

makes sense to be able to trade GP for XP. All you have to do is go to a wizard academy and they "sell" you training and BAM! XP for GP

 

[tlantl]

I agree. At the very least, this should be an optional rule. Frankly, it should be quite easy to set the expected wealth for each level at the same number of XP needed to advance, which would make it easy to house rule even if they didn't specifically include it as an optional XP rule.

I'd like to suggest that there be no wealth expectations of any kind tied to a character's level or anything else. I hate having to dole out hundreds of thousands of gold pieces worth of junk to players just because they have reached a certain level.

When I played AD&D I never gave out massive amounts of cash or any other treasure, the experience gains for coin were modest, experience for magic came only if you could use the item and kept it for yourself and only if I thought the item was being taken for it's value as an item not as a source of xp. My players seldom knew where their experience points came from most of the time any way so this wasn't much of an issue.

AS long as the experience point totals needed for level gain are low I don't see any reason to tack on another source of experience points. if the player needs hundreds of thousands of xp to level from say 10th to 11th level then sure this will make gaining those experience points a little easier.

 

[johnsemlak]

As far as I can recall from AD&D, xp for gold was largely because you weren't supposed to level up while in the dungeon. You were expected to:

a) get the loot OUT of the dungeon before it counted as xp
b) the gold counted as xp because you were expected to find a higher level mentor and pay them for the training that became your level increase.

Ten thousand gp wasn't ten thousand xp and ten thousand gold you could spend. If you took five thousand as xp, it was considered spent on training, leaving you five thousand to spend as cash.

How many people actually followed that rule? It's just anecdotal but I can't remember anyone doing so. Plus the G123 modules specifically state PCs can level up when the rest outside the dungeon.

The bit about getting out of the dungeon with your xp/gp was generally enforced.

 

[Zireael]

I think there should be DM options, including:

- XP as in third edition (xp based on encounter level)
- XP as in 4e (xp based on monster level)
- XP as in AD&D (gold for xp for some)
- XP as in OD&D (gold for xp)

 

[jadrax]

How many people actually followed that rule? It's just anecdotal but I can't remember anyone doing so.

I have played in a game where we did.

Although I am not convinced it really added anything to the game tbh.

 

[F700]

How many people actually followed that rule? It's just anecdotal but I can't remember anyone doing so. Plus the G123 modules specifically state PCs can level up when the rest outside the dungeon.

The bit about getting out of the dungeon with your xp/gp was generally enforced.

One of the big things people seem to overlook in their criticisms of earlier editions, is that once you start ignoring certain rules it has a cumulative effect that can quickly throw the entire game out of balance.

People complain about casters being over powered for instance, yet very few track spell costs or components, and making full use of spell component requirements is a great way to curtail casters.

In regards to the gold for xp...if the system allows for gp to be spent for xp, then the dm has a great way to limit magic item purchases and inhibit player power growth. Not that 5e is going to have purchasable magic items from what I've read, but if it doesn't...who cares about gold?

Plus, actually having players use their treasure to pay for training, making them seek out higher level mentors creates great opportunity for adventure hooks. Allows for NPCs that can really matter to the characters, not just for rp value, but as a pseudo-mechanical advantage.