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

[kenada]

I voted for other. I have players set two goals at the start of the session. The group also sets a group goal at the end of the session. Individual goals should support the group goal or advance the interests of your character. Good group goals should take several sessions to complete.

At the end, they get XP if they complete at least one of them. If you help people complete their goals, you also get XP. I tend to run sandbox-style campaigns. Every gets XP if the group completes its goal. Whether goals are completed are determined by the players or group consensus (for the group goal).

This is something that grew out of using end of session questions from Dungeon World in D&D with a bit of GTD mixed in (for giving players goals as reminders of things they want to do in a session). I tend to run sandbox games, so having something that gives players direction is useful.

 

[overgeeked]

Used most of them. My favorite is XP for gold spent. I like the old sword & sorcery feel that gives.

 

[not-so-newguy]

I use the top seven options and hand out XP like candy. I also increased the XP requirement to level up.

New Experience Point Table

Spoiler

1st -0-

2nd 1,250

3rd 2,500

4th 5,000

5th 10,000

6th 20,000

7th 40,000

8th 70,000

9th 100,000

10. 130,000

11. 170,000

12. 210,000

13. 250,000

14. 300,000

15. 350,000

16. 450,000

17. 500,000

18. 550,000

19. 600,000

20. 700,000

 

[the Jester]

I award xp for overcoming challenges that include danger to the party.

 

[Lanefan]

Voted for six of the first seven options but by far the majority come from a) combat and b) "dungeon bonus" on completion of a mission or adventure.

The rationale behind the dungeon bonus is twofold: one, in a very small way it replaces xp-for-gp; and two, it covers all the little fiddly day-to-day things that would in theory earn xp but that would be a pain to track. Social, traps, and exploration xp are far fewer, and "roleplay" kinda comes under social.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Used to reward RP and Combat because that's what the books said to do.

Now it's just milestone leveling because as it turned out, counting XP was the real unnecessary math. It just became too cumbersome, making everyone wait at the end of the night to do a tally, and then you handed out a bonus, so someone level early and now everything it catterwonky balance wise, and then oh god, there was stuff that let you spend XP for some reason and... no. Put my foot down, not doing that anymore.

So levels are milestones, Action Points are carrots now and those are for contributing to the fun by presenting a really cool description, great RP, being fun at the table, etc, etc.

 

[Yora]

A bit for managing to get past monsters, but mostly for treasure.

I generally aim for dungeons to have about three times as many gp in treasure as the XP for all the monsters that the player's could engage with.
Reward money counts as treasure gained from the adventure, as do treasures that are recovered and returned to their owners.

Sad that the original source of XP in D&D is not even on the poll.

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

I used to keep track of XP, but found that it felt pointless. Since about 4-5 years I'm just winging it.

We use sort of a milestone system, except that I don't know up front what the milestone may be. If I feel they deserve a level up and it's also about time, then congratulations, hurrah, champagne, and hugs for everyone. You level up!

 

[delericho]

My PCs get XP for four things:

• Completing encounters. It doesn't matter how they do this - combat, negotiation, or even simple evasion are all good. The award is a fixed value depending on PC level, not encounter difficulty.
• Completing quests. The award here is the same as for an encounter. In practice, this generally means that the battle against the BBEG often (but not always) grants a double award, as it generally matches up with quest completion.
• Expending a limited-use magic item (except potions of healing, since you can buy those). These give a one-quarter award, and is granted once the item is permanently and irrevocably used up.

Finally, each campaign identifies a "side dish" (to go with the Orc & Pie), which will define one more way to gain XP - in one campaign it was for searching out and recovering unattended treasures, another was for solving mysteries, yet another for making peaceful contact with local groups.

This has two purposes: it encourages the players to interface with the exploration and interaction pillars of the game, and it serves to differentiate the campaigns from one another.

 

[Yora]

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.

That is the beauty of XP as a mechanic. By tailoring and fine tuning your the sources by which players can gain XP for their characters, you have an amazing tool to steer player choices and actions towards following the campaign concept and genre. Without having to make any decisions for them or having to tell them what they are supposed to do, or putting up any solid barriers to their freedom.
By having the right XP incentives for your campaign, you are creating a sloped channel for their choices instead of straight walls.