D&D General What Have You Awarded XP For?

[Lyxen]

We don't even use milestones, we level up when, by general consensus, we think it's a good time to progress, to slightly change the way we play and experiment new things and new possibilities. Sometimes it comes from the DM, sometimes from the players, although the DM has the final say, if he wants a specific power to become available, or the other way around.

But even when we played with experience, we never gave incentive for behaviour of the player, especially those that should be their own reward like roleplaying. If you like roleplaying, do it, if you don't enjoy it, don't, it's a game, played for fun, it's not there for the DM to train you to behave in a certain way.

And the same for snacks, honestly, is bribery or having financial means something to be rewarded at a TTRPG table ?

After that, XPs are totally artificial, and there is really no link between what is being done in the game and the progression of adventurers, especially to acquire new powers, it's not even like they are training in their use. But we used to take into account all heroic acts performed by adventurers.

 

[payn]

XP is too gamey. I prefer the mechanics stay as under the hood as possible.

 

[Bacon Bits]

This question is strangely worded given the text of the first post.

What have I awarded XP for? Everything on the list, as well as others like aiding running combat (tracking initiative, tracking damage to NPCs, etc.).

What do I award XP for? We use milestone, and have since about 2010.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I've provided XP for a bunch of your options PLUS I've used milestone leveling. That collection is not currently an option in the poll, so I picked "Other."

My favorite XP system is from Dungeon Crawl Classics, though. Characters get XP for surviving encounters. The reward incentive shifts back to "how do we accomplish things with the minimum risk to ourselves?" and I think that's just dandy.

 

[Shiroiken]

I currently break down XP into monster (MXP), exploration (EXP), social (SXP), and quests (QXP). Overcoming monsters, by social or other means, works as normal. Social challenges are worth a hard encounter for the full party. Exploration challenges depend on the difficulty of the challenge (as per normal) times the number of party members impacted (e.g. a trap might affect only a single PC, but a chasm impacts the party). Quest XP is only used when the party might otherwise choose to bail on an adventure, encouraging them to complete it.

 

[delericho]

I voted for all the things I've given XP for in the past, which is most of the options.

These days, I give XP for a few things. A little background...

For each of my campaigns I define a "side dish" (to go with the Orc & Pie...). This will vary from campaign to campaign: one of my current campaigns is about unravelling mysteries, the other is simply about finding treasure. Others might be about exploring new locations, kingdom building, or whatever.

Anyway, I then give out XP for four things:

• Completing encounters. I give a fixed amount for completing any 'fixed' encounter in an adventure. (The exact amount depends on PC level - each character gains XP per the 'Medium' column of the "XP Thresholds by Character Level" table on p82 of the DMG.) It doesn't matter how the encounter is completed - combat, bribery, sneaking past, etc are all valid. However, if the PCs complete it in such a manner that they will have to face it again, they only get half the award until they do face it again (and then they get the other half). Also, you can't complete an encounter multiple times! (Note: I don't give XP for 'random' encounters, and they don't carry treasure either - random encounters are to be avoided!)
• Completing quests. PCs get the same fixed amount for completing a quest as for completing an encounter.
• Using magic items. If the party completely expends any magic item each PC gains 50XP. The exception are potions of healing, since those can be bought. This is to encourage players to actually use up those items!
• The "side dish". For each campaign I'll define some achievement associated with the side dish (in my current campaigns, those are "solve a mystery" and "find unattended treasures"). Each time they achieve this, each PC an XP award (roughly one-quarter of the value of an encounter). Again, this is done to encourage engagement with the "side dish" of the campaign, and helps differentiate one campaign from another.

I should note that I don't give out XP for roleplaying these days (as it is its own reward), or for simple attendance (it is assumed players will attend if they can) - I have done both of these in the past, but not now. Also, I don't give out individual XP awards - all PCs gain the same rewards all the time even if the character was absent, and even if the player completely missed the session.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

+ to poll: getting past a monster using stealth or diplomacy

But by popular vote, our group does not use XP any more.

 

[Scruffy nerf herder]

These are good examples given in the poll but I don't really know everything I've awarded xp for.

When I used xp at all (I don't any more), it could be for anything. At least, anything in game, I don't care who brings pizza or whatever, that's weird. Never saw the point in being in any way rigid about what should and shouldn't count, D&D is about having fun.

 

[Richards]

For my current campaign, I decided to ditch XP altogether. The campaign will instead consist of five adventures for each level 1-20, ending up with a full 100 adventures total. The adventures are all such that they can each be played through in 3-6 hours, which is our traditional every-other-Saturday session length.

Johnathan

 

[el-remmen]

I don't give XP for 'random' encounters, and they don't carry treasure either - random encounters are to be avoided!

Question about this aside from the XP question: Are random encounters always bad in your games?

I only ask because I try to mix the kinds of random encounters that are possible. Like it could be a ravaging monster, but it could be a group of nomads on the road who share their camp and/or warn about a ravaging monster down the road and the best route to avoid it. It could be even be a weather event.