HIya!
The problem with that sort of system is that it encourages playing like an idiot. The encounter was only easy, in your example, because the characters were acting competently and they expended resources in an efficient manner. If the world incentivizes charging forward without thinking, by making it so that those characters learn more and advance more quickly, then it leads to bizarrely divergent gameplay.
That's what I thought too, initially. But in play...this never happens. Generally speaking, the players want to keep their characters alive, otherwise they are going to be just sitting there at the table making a new PC and/or waiting for me to find at least
some reason why their PC is in the middle of nowhere (or in jail, or on the 4th level of the dungeon, or in the Happy Hunting Grounds, or on the Isle of Dread, etc). When combined with what level new PC's start at when a character dies...that's ample incentive to not play 'stupidly' purely from a "came here to play D&D" perspective. Besides that, my players don't "play that way". They almost always make decisions for their PC's based on the personality/drive/goals/etc of the character...regardless of how that may turn out 'in the games mechanics' (e.g., a PC knows he's going into a dangerous fight and is offered plate mail...but the character has the 'urchin' background and hates anything heavier than studded leather; the player will
still opt to keep his leather armour on his character and will RP the characters refusal for "all that clanky, heavy, restrictive metal stuff").
(oh, re: new PC's and level; in my games it's "Average PC level -2; maximum starting at 3rd"...so if everyone is 5th level or higher, your new PC will start at 3rd. Having the average PC level of 12, and starting your new one at 3rd is not easy!
Oh, and that is regards to 5th edition; if we are playing our regular 1e/Hackmaster 4th game, it's level 1. Period).
Additionally...I've got a head on my shoulders with a brain in it.
I learned LONG ago that the easiest way to nip any player shenanigans in the bud is to openly confront "bad behaviour". Everyone at the table knows that a player is making some decision purely for a power-grab, or to set up another PC for failure/difficulty, or for some other not-in-character reason, whenever it happens. A lot of groups and DM's won't call the player out on it because it
sounds almost reasonable and they don't want to get into that awkward situation where you say/accuse something and it turns out to be wrong...so they don't say anything. Then, when whatever they were
thinking the player's reasons for turn out to be correct...well, at that point it's now "too late" and the player can claim "Oh, sure...
now you have a problem with it. Why didn't you say something two months ago when I [started said shenanigans]? It's not fair to say I can't now. I'd have to re-do a lot of PC stuff because I wouldn't have done it if I knew you'd react this way".
So, if a player then "rushes into combat buck-naked with nothing more than a small stick in his hand and a smile on his face", it's pretty easy to call shenanigans. Its obviously far,
far out of character and that the player is only doing it because he figures his friends/party won't do the same, so they will 'carry him through' the fight, and it will be harder, so they will all get a bit more xp, so he can get those last XP's faster so he can level and get that cool new ability he was eyeing in the book. As I said...I have a head on my shoulders (as does everyone else at the table), and I (we) would call the player out on it right then and their. If the player truly was thinking in RP terms, and he can convince us as to why his character suddenly lost his marbles...ok then. Off goes the smiling, naked, stick-wielding fighter against the fire giant lord!
Bottom line: never was a problem in my campaigns.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
