Alternatives to XP costs in 3rd Ed...

[Arravis]

One of the main things that has annoyed me in 3rd edition is XP costs. I can understand the XP cost for items (more or less), and some spells that grant permanent powers (ie. Wish, Hide Life, etc), but the basic XP cost for merely researching Epic Spells is astounding. We're not talking small numbers here either, we're talking 25k+. I'll quote one of my previous posts:

***All the classes in the ELH gain amazing powers that are awe-inspiring, this is as it should be. But it seems that those that wish to partake in Epic Spellcasting have been given the short end of the stick. Too gain the benefits of their classes, rangers, paladins, monks, etc., do not have to burn massive amounts of Experience Points. An epic fighter with all his awesome feats, powers, etc, doesn't have to burn 25k in XP to pick up one power (much less one that he can only use a few times a day) in addition to the XP needed to level. XP is the single most valuable commodity in D&D, why should it be the one that is wasted by Epic Casters while others do not have to?

Spend time, spend money, spend resources, etc on getting Epic Spells, but why XP? The "price of power" isn't an answer. What's the price of power for psionicists, what's the price of power for fighters, or rangers, etc? They don't have to pay the same and most valuable price that Epic Casters do.***

Anyway, all that aside... I'd like to hear if anyone is using an alternative to XP costs? Perhaps stat points can be burned instead of XP, 1 stat point per 5k? Perhaps for every 190,000 gp in magical items sacrificed you can replace 5k XP for research/spellcasting. Perhaps for those evil wizards out there, you can sacrifice individuals, getting 1k per 4 HD. Does any of the above sound reasonable? Any other ideas or alternatives? I'd love to hear them.

 

[Mark_Aurel]

Power Components, per the DMG, page 96, makes for a nice substitute. Of course, you should have to work really hard for epic power components - they should feel _epic_, as in, be unique - instead of acquiring the horn of a minotaur, you'll search out the tears of a god, or the forgotten name of some city that fell 10 000 years ago or so. Stuff like that.

 

[Arravis]

Epic components aren't bad... but I'd like something more easily quntifyable (though not easier to achieve).

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Epic components aren't bad... but I'd like something more easily quntifyable (though not easier to achieve).

Figure the ammount of game time you want the character to spend getting the epic component. Base it off of the exp that the epic component will replance.

My opinion?

One level is 14 or so encounters. Gaining an epic component should take at least a third of a level for the player to really appriciate what he's got. So whatever mini-adventure you have in mind should be at least 4 encounters which is roughly one game session. That seems about right to me. The player will have to convince the rest of the party to take a game session and spend it getting the feather from a thunderbird, blood from a stone, tear from a beholder, compassion from an illithid, or whatever.

 

[Piratecat]

I'll scoot this over to House Rules.

 

[Arravis]

I guess I'm the only one that's upset about the XP cost . We're pretty stingy with XP in our game, perhaps that's why.