D&D General Experience Matters - The benefits of XP

[James Gasik]

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?

The difference, I think, is in presentation. Saying "oh you level now" with no sense of progress or understanding how/why/when it occurs might be doing my players a disservice. They don't know what they need to do in order to advance, nor do they know how close they are getting to that advancement. It likely seems very random to them.

If, instead, I use some system that gives them some insight into what they need to do to advance, I think that might be better.

 

[S'mon]

I always use XP in my 5e D&D games, usually individual XP - I mostly GM sandbox games, where it just works better IMO. For a quest-based game I use group XP. I also like the 'skill ticks' in Dragonbane, which derive from BRP. I very much dislike levels handed out arbitrarily by the GM, and I don't hand out XP with any particular progression in mind. Unlike Lanefan however I almost always give the same XP to every PC present at the session.

 

[Micah Sweet]

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

For me it doesn't fit with how a world with verisimilitude works. I prefer PCs go back for training, or at least study.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I always use XP in my 5e D&D games, usually individual XP - I mostly GM sandbox games, where it just works better IMO. For a quest-based game I use group XP. I also like the 'skill ticks' in Dragonbane, which derive from BRP. I very much dislike levels handed out arbitrarily by the GM, and I don't hand out XP with any particular progression in mind. Unlike Lanefan however I almost always give the same XP to every PC present at the session.

If they always get the same amount, in what way is it individual XP?

 

[iserith]

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

Fair enough. We get so much done in a given session that 5 minutes spent leveling up doesn't seem like a huge investment for the payoff in player excitment.

For me it doesn't fit with how a world with verisimilitude works. I prefer PCs go back for training, or at least study.

I'm sure if you thought about it, you could come up with a reason why it makes sense in the context of a fictional world to satisfy the v-tude.

 

[abirdcall]

I always use XP in my 5e D&D games, usually individual XP - I mostly GM sandbox games, where it just works better IMO. For a quest-based game I use group XP. I also like the 'skill ticks' in Dragonbane, which derive from BRP. I very much dislike levels handed out arbitrarily by the GM, and I don't hand out XP with any particular progression in mind. Unlike Lanefan however I almost always give the same XP to every PC present at the session.

I don't like arbitrary levels either but I do like milestones.

I'm playing a fairly sandbox game right now. The PCs get a plot hook of some kind and then go try to achieve a goal.

Levels 1-2 require 1 complete adventure.

Levels 3-4 require 2.

Levels 5-10 require 3.

An adventure can count as more than 1 if it is more involved and requires multiple expeditions.

It isn't XP but I wouldn't call it arbitrary either.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Fair enough. We get so much done in a given session that 5 minutes spent leveling up doesn't seem like a huge investment for the payoff in player excitment.


I'm sure if you thought about it, you could come up with a reason why it makes sense in the context of a fictional world to satisfy the v-tude.

I'm sure I could, but why?

 

[Lanefan]

What's the difference? Classes no longer have different level advancement charts.

True, but there's no reason why that has to be - you can always tweak the advancement rates by class if you like. (doing so can actually open up a lot of design space for kitbashing - you can strengthen or weaken a class and then tweak its advance rate to compensate)

PCs get the same XP from fights,

What about situations where not every PC is involved? These happen all the time.

For example, if two characters go out scouting and get in a fight with something while the other three sit at the campfire and wait then IMO only the two scouts should get xp for that fight.

Or if the Rogue picks a particularly elaborate lock only the Rogue should get xp for so doing.

Put more broadly: standing there and watching doesn't get you xp.

 

[Lanefan]

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

The solution, of course, is to use and enforce training rules. That way, even if someone bumps mid-session most or all of the bookkeeping can be put off until they're back in town and can train; at which point they're probably doing other bookkeeping anyway such as treasury division.

Training also has the very pleasant side effect of forcing them to take some downtime now and then. And if they're not all bumping at the same time it also forces some choices on them now and then: to keep going with someone who has bumped but not trained, or to bail back to tow and get that person trained up. (or, in some games, it can be a choice of whether that one character bails out to train while the rest keep going, and the player rolls up (or already has ready) a replacement to cover).

 

[payn]

The solution, of course, is to use and enforce training rules. That way, even if someone bumps mid-session most or all of the bookkeeping can be put off until they're back in town and can train; at which point they're probably doing other bookkeeping anyway such as treasury division.

Training also has the very pleasant side effect of forcing them to take some downtime now and then. And if they're not all bumping at the same time it also forces some choices on them now and then: to keep going with someone who has bumped but not trained, or to bail back to tow and get that person trained up. (or, in some games, it can be a choice of whether that one character bails out to train while the rest keep going, and the player rolls up (or already has ready) a replacement to cover).

Na, the solution is not to pile on more book keeping and downtime. I want to actually play the game during the session.