D&D General Experience Matters - The benefits of XP

[payn]

I only ever actually ran a game with XP once and that experience (heh) was enough to decide to never do it again.

For one, every session had to end early for me to tabulate all the XP. Oh, I started out with an XP budget for everything I had planned, but then the players did other things, ran into different encounters than I planned, accomplished things I didn't expect and so that plan when out the window. So instead we just sat around the table waiting for me to do math and guessing instead of doing something fun like playing more or making a run to the seven eleven at 1am.

And the fact that my group was creative and unpredictable meant the XP they then earned made them level unpredictably. They would bypass a chunk of something and then not be ready for what came next or they would be super extra and then rofl-stomp everything. Keep in mind this was before I discovered that CR is basically a Secret Test of DM character where you pass by learning not to use it.

Then they started to cotton on to the fact that sometimes their cleverness screwed them out of XP (because based on how the 3e DMG put it, they could get XP for finding another way to solve an encounter gave XP, but if they never run into that encounter because they went around Robin Hood's barn to get to the thing it was leading to? Nope.) and started arguing among each other to be less clever and act less in character so they wouldn't die.

This and seeing how XP was used in other campaigns gave me a nasty 'operant conditioning' taste in my mouth where it felt like I was expected to train my players with XP like a scientist trains a dog with treats and... these people are my friends; I don't want to feel that way about them.

Finally, I was rereading the DMG and realized that you don't level as soon as you ding, you level when the DM says you can spend XP to level. So I was like 'why am I doing all this work when I'm supposed to say when to level in the first place?'.

So I stopped.

 

[el-remmen]

I still use defeating monsters as the base for XP awards and then apply bonus percentage multiplier based on achieving both individual and collective goals. Sometimes those goals are are clear objective the party has undertaken (defeat the invading troll gang and their goblin fodder) and others are only determined in the course of play (convincing a leader among the goblins to draw away a significant percentage of troops from supporting the trolls by promising to find them a safe place to live away from surface world interference, which makes the first overarching goal easier).

I also only award XP at the end of an adventure, which averages out to about every four sessions, but has been as many as 6 or 8 and as few as two.

Honestly, I don't think my group would care if I decided to use milestone or even DM fiat XP. But I like spreadsheets and numbers, and being able to look back at a record of past adventures through that rubric.

 

[Vaalingrade]

(Ha! I found it!)

 

[Dausuul]

If I were going to use XP, I would not hand out XP for beating monsters. Instead, I'd use it as a substitute for incentives that motivate real people more than PCs.

My first cut at such a system would be to say, "You get 1 XP for each gold piece that you spend gratifying your character's personal desires." The details are up to you, but the key is that money spent this way is effectively gone from the campaign. It doesn't get you anything that will help you kill monsters or accomplish quests.

Obviously, this would be best suited to a swords-and-sorcery campaign where the PCs are thieves and mercenaries rather than shining heroes of the realm.

 

[iserith]

Finally, I was rereading the DMG and realized that you don't level as soon as you ding, you level when the DM says you can spend XP to level. So I was like 'why am I doing all this work when I'm supposed to say when to level in the first place?'.

Unless I'm using a hub-and-spoke model for town/rest character advancement in the campaign (which is rare for me), PCs level up the moment they get the XP necessary to do so. I award XP after every challenge. It's pretty easy in my experience, and the players get pretty excited about seeing someone level mid-session.

 

[payn]

Unless I'm using a hub-and-spoke model for town/rest character advancement in the campaign (which is rare for me), PCs level up the moment they get the XP necessary to do so. I award XP after every challenge. It's pretty easy in my experience, and the players get pretty excited about seeing someone level mid-session.

Oh, this is another thing I dont miss, leveling midsession.

 

[Maxperson]

Right, I get what you're saying; there are advantages and disadvantages to either approach, but you are correct, if we're not using xp, we need to remember that xp is a reward for accomplishing tasks.

Milestone xp might seem like a "participation award". Everybody wins, regardless of how well you did, huzzah!

What's the difference? Classes no longer have different level advancement charts. PCs get the same XP from fights, so they will level up at the same moment. How is everyone leveling up at the same moment via tracked XP awards all that different from everyone leveling up at the same moment from a milestone?

 

[Micah Sweet]

What's the difference? Classes no longer have different level advancement charts. PCs get the same XP from fights, so they will level up at the same moment. How is everyone leveling up at the same moment via tracked XP awards all that different from everyone leveling up at the same moment from a milestone?

This assumes you're playing a game based on one of the WotC editions of D&D. Games based on the TSR editions are different of course, and folks like @Lanefan and myself play those versions of D&D.

 

[iserith]

Oh, this is another thing I dont miss, leveling midsession.

Why? Players in my games seem to really like it.

 

[payn]

Why? Players in my games seem to really like it.

I'd rather devote session time to playing than book keeping.