D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 XP Table

[Dr_Rictus]

Yeah, capping out XP at 300 for CR1 was clearly just an aesthetic decision. It wasn't necessary to maintain monotonicity (since all other CR's do that a different way). But you can see why they did it, especially with XP for creatures of fractional CRs being based on CR1. It would have been kind of strange for CR1 to be 2/3 as many XP as CR2.

Of course, that also would tend to lead to low-level parties leveling faster, which may be desirable to you.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

You may want to look at these threads:

Looking for experience speadsheet?

Excel party xp calculator for 3.5e!

I downloaded your XP calculating spreadsheet, now please explain in the most elementary fashion you can how to use it. I'm not very well versed in the mysteries of Excel.

Thanks!!!

 

[Dr_Rictus]

I am slowly beginning to believe there is no such formula.

Fundamentally, there's no clean closed-form formula because of the way SQRT(2) is approximated and the exponential curve is calculated. The exponent is always treated as positive, and the scale factor is multiplied for CR>Level and divided for CR<Level. Therefore the ratio of XP awards from one CR to another changes not just between even and odd deltas from level, but from the upper-right half of the table to the lower-left.

Dealing with the even-odd problem cleanly in closed form notation is fairly straightforward, but dealing with the multiply vs. divide case in closed form is trickier. It ends up obscuring more than it clarifies. And the lone exception for CR=1 is even worse.

It's not all that grody to express as a pair of formulas, though:

Let Y = CR
Let X = Level

Define s(y,x) = (2^floor(abs(y-x)/2)*1.5^((y-x) mod 2))^sgn(y-x)

XP(X,Y) = 300*min( max(X,3)*s(Y,max(X,3)) , X*s(Y,min(Y,3)) )

About half of that is to deal with the CR=1 exception. Otherwise it'd just be:

XP(X,Y) = 300*max(X,3)*s(Y,max(X,3))

 

[Zoatebix]

For another one of those detailed discussion threads, check this stuff out. They've gone and made formulae for both 3.0 and 3.5-style experience awards. Here's a link to the last page of the thread: http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=86471&page=4&pp=20

Basically, for 3.5 - style experience:

Base XP = (CR^2)*300
Group XP = Base XP / Participants
Individual XP = Group XP / LV

Where "CR" is the CR of each individual creature fought, "Participants" is the number of characters in the party, and "LV" is the level (ECL, to be exact) of a specific character. For fractional CRs, treat a group of creatures as a single creature of a CR of 1 or above (i.e. for a group of 4 creatures of CR 1/4, treat them as one CR 1 creature). If you don't have multiple creatures, do the equation for CR 1 and then multiply by the fractional CR (at least, I think that's how it works.

These formulas are based on Upper_Kust's CR/EL system for the Immortal's Handbook (and published first in Bad Axe Game's Grim Tales), but work just fine with standard WotC challenge ratings. The only difference is U_K's assumption (which I believe is correct) that a group of 20th level characters can in fact reasonably take on a single 29th level character, or to be even more extreme, that a group of 100th level characters should be able to take on a single 109th level character. The experience tables in the DMG do not allow for a group to take on challenges that are greater that +/-8 CR than their average character level.

The thread I linked above provides an alternate equation for 3.0-style experience, and goes into some detail of how to that equations for encounter design.

Enjoy
-George

EDIT: I don't know whether this method eliminates exceptions for CRs under 3 - I admit that I haven't charted the results.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I just want to amplify what Zoatebix said.

For each encounter, figure out Chi:

Chi = square the CR of each creature fought and add them up. Then multiply by 300.
(exception: don't square fractional CRs. Just add them up)

After the encounter, divide Chi by the number of characters getting experience. Each player divides this by their character's level. That's how much xp that character gets.

 

[Zoatebix]

I should mention that Cheiromancer posted a concise breakdown, summary, and discussion of the repurcussions of three different XP award methods. You can find his post on the thread I linked to in my post above.

 

[andargor]

I downloaded your XP calculating spreadsheet, now please explain in the most elementary fashion you can how to use it. I'm not very well versed in the mysteries of Excel.

Thanks!!!

The yellow areas are editable. The spreadsheet is locked otherwise to protect you from yourself There is no password, so you can unlock it if you wish.

You enter the party members names at the top, if they were present or not during the gaming session or particular encounter, and their ECL. The Party Level is automatically calculated at the top, even for parties of more or less than 4 characters.

In the bottom part, if you click on a cell a drop down should appear. Open the drop down and select a monster (or straight CR). Enter the number of monsters next to it. The encounter CR is indicated at the top. You can use the Party Level vs Encounter Level difference to determine how hard the fight is, or will be (if you are planning an encounter).

Individual XPs appear next to each character. To remove a character or monster, just delete the entries in the yellow boxes.

I've based myself on the work done by the people in those threads I've mentioned. I forgot to add Dr. Rictus in my credits (apologies).

I may use the formulae proposed instead of a static table in my future releases, since I'm getting a fair number of requests for CRs > 40.

HTH,

Andargor

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Thanks!! I'll try it out when I get home tonight.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

EDIT: I don't know whether this method eliminates exceptions for CRs under 3 - I admit that I haven't charted the results.

It does. The in closed form, that method is simply:

XP(x,y) = 300y^2/x

which is already monotonically increasing for increasing CR, and decreasing for increasing level for all x and y greater than 0. Therefore you don't need to have any exceptions to enforce the monotonicity requirements.

 

[Zoatebix]

<sigh> that's what I get for leaving the Engineering school and studying Englsih. I swear that I know how to do that math analysis - I just didn't think to do so at the time.

Anyways - totally Rockin'! Thanks Dr_Rictus!
-George