D&D 5E Downtime XP farming with animate dead or conjuration spells

[Mallus]

It boggles my mind that the inhabitants of a world would not be putting in at least some effort to understand their world. I mean they must know something right? bigger swords do more damage? Fireball has more killing power than firebolt? I can't make a potion of invisibility unless I can cast invisibility? Adventuring makes you better at what you do?

It boggles my mind that anyone would think the rules are the physics of the game world.

I mean, it’s fun to pretend they are when it leads to beautifully ludicrous things like the Peasant Railgun, but not for stuff that’ll see the light of day... err... play.

 

[Oofta]

For me this is more of a question of where this is coming from. Is it a player that thinks they've found a loop-hole or a DM that wants an in-world justification for giving PCs XP during down time.

If it's the former (which is what I thought) then it's a hard no. The player is cheating. If it's the DM it's not something I'd do because we'd just narrate off-screen activities and this seems like just and odd way of going about it. IMHO without risk there should be no reward. If the players aren't actually playing out the encounters there can be no reward.

 

[snickersnax]

.In our own world I'm not sure that bigger swords do in fact do more damage.

We're not really talking about the real world we're talking about the NPCs in your fantasy world. Do they not understand that a dagger does less damage than a two handed sword?

 

[snickersnax]

For me this is more of a question of where this is coming from. Is it a player that thinks they've found a loop-hole or a DM that wants an in-world justification for giving PCs XP during down time.

If it's the former (which is what I thought) then it's a hard no. The player is cheating. If it's the DM it's not something I'd do because we'd just narrate off-screen activities and this seems like just and odd way of going about it. IMHO without risk there should be no reward. If the players aren't actually playing out the encounters there can be no reward.

Actually I was thinking about an adventure in which two frenemy NPC wizards scheduled regular attacks against each other for friendly competition to improve their skills but were somewhat serious about trying to kill each other ala Inspector Clousaeu vs Cato only with animated/ summoned creatures, and I was worried that I might give my PCs ideas that I would have to deal with later...

Even though its very popular in 5E to have NPC and PCs with wildly different rules sets I don't really care for that dichotomy.

 

[Oofta]

Actually I was thinking about an adventure in which two frenemy NPC wizards scheduled regular attacks against each other for friendly competition to improve their skills but were somewhat serious about trying to kill each other ala Inspector Clousaeu vs Cato only with animated/ summoned creatures, and I was worried that I might give my PCs ideas that I would have to deal with later...

Even though its very popular in 5E to have NPC and PCs with wildly different rules sets I don't really care for that dichotomy.

You can always justify NPC levels any way that makes sense to you and your world. When it comes to PCs, I go by no risk no reward. Well, assuming I still used XP for leveling which I don't.

Training and classes only get you so far, eventually you have to actually do.

 

[Dausuul]

My group doesn't do XP for kills (it's essentially milestone), so the question doesn't arise. But even if we did traditional XP... no. This is not an MMO and there is no "farming" XP. You have to kill a legit foe that is legitimately trying to defeat you. Any time you think you have found an exploit that lets you beat the system, you haven't, because I will invoke Rule Zero and close that exploit as soon as you try to use it.

The first time a player tries a stunt like this, I will chuckle and say "Nice try." The second time, I will start to get annoyed. The third time, I will pause the game for a chat about the difference between tabletop and computer RPGs and how it is not cool to waste everyone's time like this. Depending on how obnoxious the player is about it, it may or may not ever get to the point of booting them from the game; the option is certainly there.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

My answer is "no" but I arrive at it from a different direction than most of the other posters.

The answer is no because...

XP is what you (the player) gets for participating in a team game.

Downtime activites never grant XP. They are the boring stuff your character does when we are not at the table participating in a team game.

The answer is also no becase if an encounter is zero challenge then it awards zero xp.

 

[snickersnax]

XP is what you (the player) gets for participating in a team game.
Downtime activites never grant XP. They are the boring stuff your character does when we are not at the table participating in a team game.
The answer is also no becase if an encounter is zero challenge then it awards zero xp.

Also I consider XP, if I use it at all, to only apply to PCs.

You can always justify NPC levels any way that makes sense to you and your world. When it comes to PCs, I go by no risk no reward. Well, assuming I still used XP for leveling which I don't.
Training and classes only get you so far, eventually you have to actually do.

This is interesting. The idea actually came from a post on another board. The rules in the DMG for NPC party members and low level followers are they accumulate xp like PCs and take part of the party's xp. (DMG p92 - 93), The person on that board was attempting to use this loophole to improve the level of low level minions by challenging them with animated dead to help bring their levels up in the party.

 

[aco175]

What about if the party mage raises the undead without the rest of the PCs knowing and then attacks the party in order to get them to gain levels under the guise of training them?

What about if a NPC mage does it?

In the general sense I would never grant XP for this. It is just like the bag of rats.

 

[snickersnax]

The answer is also no becase if an encounter is zero challenge then it awards zero xp.

Actually the encounter could be any difficulty.

Imagine a room with a hole in the top and a door in the side. A necromancer could animate dead and drop them into a room they can't escape from, accumulating as many undead over time as needed to make an encounter of any difficulty. After 24 hours none of the undead are under his control. He could open the door and be faced with a horde of undead.

In fact, maybe this is the reason why some dungeons get built in the first place.