D&D General XP Awards for -- what????

[DND_Reborn]

I was thinking about XP awards, adventure pacing, etc. tonight and was curious how tables run their games regarding XP, or if they even use it?

So, pick whatever options you (or your DM) awards XP for, or pick an option if your table doesn't use it. Thanks for contributing to my curiosity!

 

[iserith]

Generally, XP for combat and social. Treasure for exploration. But I often change it based on the kind of adventure or campaign I am running so that it incentivizes the sorts of things the game is meant to focus on. Spending gold to earn XP is a fun one in the right context as are milestones in a more quest-oriented affair. Story-based advancement works best for trying to keep the players on the prepared plot, but I'm not fan of running those kinds of adventures.

 

[Richards]

I'm experimenting with something new in my current campaign - not even bothering with XP, but simply having five adventure sessions per level, for a total of 100 game sessions over the course of the campaign. So far it's been working okay - we're 39 game sessions in and no problems yet.

Johnathan

 

[Malmuria]

For dnd-ish games (not 5e), I either do xp-for-treasure and xp for completing a quest (recovering a particular item from a dungeon, etc). Otherwise I use this system:

Experience (xp)	XP Value
Group
Major discovery
--> explore a new and dangerous location, find a rare treasure, make a definitive ally or enemy, confirm the veracity of rumors	100-500
Minor discovery
--> explore safe location, make some money, chat with locals, hear rumors	10-100
Individual	once per session
Invoke character background in some way	100
Further a personal goal or objective	100

 

[Blue]

Players see XP as a reward. In general you will get more of the behavior you reward, this is just human nature. So reward what you want your players to focus on.

If you only give XP for gold, like Basic D&D back in the Gygax era, you'll end up with a different experience then XP for monsters, which will be different than milestone, etc.

BTW, while "milestone" is often used as a shorthand for "milestone leveling", "milestone XP" works perfectly well and isn't talked about enough. Overcoming challenge X is worth Y XP. Doesn't matter if it's combat, stealth, social, bribe, knowledge-based-solution or whatever.

Now, DMs know that XP is also a pacing mechanism, so one not listed above is "level up when the players consciously take a step into 'the next biggest arena'." When they go from defending a settlement to defending many for instance.

 

[Clint_L]

I just use milestone/story. My games are RP heavy and I can't be arsed to track experience. Plus if players earn it individually then they wind up being at different levels, when someone dies it can be a pain, etc. That said, I can see how earning and tracking your individual experience could be a fun part of the game for others, so more power to 'em. It's just not for me.

 

[Mistwell]

Gold

 

[payn]

Awarding XP became problematic for me. Players hyper focused on actions/behaviors they assumed would optimize rewards. It negates many interesting paths and organic play.

Milestone has been the answer. Players feel more empowered to explore options and character development and don’t worry about pleasing the GM. YMMV

 

[Charlaquin]

Depends on the campaign. One of my go-tos is quests completed and encounters (which can include monsters, hazards, or other challenges) overcome (whether through combat, social interaction, or other means).

 

[p_johnston]

Like a lot here It's mostly campaign dependent.
Adventure of the week style just hanging out I'm probably doing session based.
Pre-Written mostly linear campaign/story- I'm probably going to do something milestone based.
Hex-Crawl exploration style- I'll make a list of particular actions that grant XP and let the players know ahead of time (Find old ruins, clear out old ruins, etc)
Currently for my wild beyond the Witchlight I use a modified XP system where they get huge chunks of XP for main plot stuff and much smaller chunks for side plots/unnecessary stuff.