Best Method of Dividing XP?

[Romnipotent]

I mainly play gurps, whats XP?

 

[Seeker95]

Voted Other

I don't use experience points.

My campaign (recently concluded) involved a series of encounters, adventures and story arcs that were designed and appropriate for specific levels. Sometimes I had only one adventure at a specific level, and sometimes three or four. Rather than constantly adjusting my adventure to account for unexpected level advancements or level losses along the way, I decided when the party (the entire party) would level up.

Spells with experience point costs had monetary costs instead.
Item creation had inflated creation costs to reduce rampant production.
And one PC's misfortunes (level loss, missed session, etc.) did not hinder or hamper the rest of the party.

 

[DonTadow]

I don't use experience points.

My campaign (recently concluded) involved a series of encounters, adventures and story arcs that were designed and appropriate for specific levels. Sometimes I had only one adventure at a specific level, and sometimes three or four. Rather than constantly adjusting my adventure to account for unexpected level advancements or level losses along the way, I decided when the party (the entire party) would level up.

Spells with experience point costs had monetary costs instead.
Item creation had inflated creation costs to reduce rampant production.
And one PC's misfortunes (level loss, missed session, etc.) did not hinder or hamper the rest of the party.

Sound's good but does the campaign loose some of the drama if some things are spelled out already? Also, do your player's miss XP, what is there motivation? However, it it works then by all means it sounds good. I"d love to hear your forumla for item creation cost.

I know my XP is not a favorite but it works in my campaign. Because my campaign is more role playing oriented, I give flat XP at the end of session based on encounters in game. Extra XP is provided to the pot if the party's did something that surprised me ::talking the key NPC to give them the amulet without bloodshed, or asking a mundane animal to lead them out of the cave system so they avoid the maze" . The XP however, is lower than what would be provided normally if it was individual.

Then on the website, player's earn mana points for journal entries, forum participation and voting for player of the week (which also produces mana points). They can buy more xp with these points. The extra XP purchases often balance out the lower than normal XP provided at the end of session.

 

[3catcircus]

I use a modified 3.5 method. *EVERYONE* in the party, PCs, NPCs, cohorts and followers, special mounts, special companions and special improved familiars *all* count towards the number to award xp to.

So - instead of having that party of four that has 4 cohorts, 4 animal companions, mounts or familiars being considered a party of four and the same as a party of four with no hangers-on, they are considered a party of 8+.

There is *ZERO* reason why cohorts should not be counted in the party total when determining xp. I don't use the "cohorts get 2/3 xp of their leader" rule. Why should a cohort get 2/3 xp while a PC who is two levels lower than another PC get full xp?

Basically - a bare party of four has a harder time than a party of four with additional muscle in the form of cohorts'n'followers and/or special mounts and companions or improved familiars, so they should get more xp for the same encounter.

 

[Thondor]

Basically - a bare party of four has a harder time than a party of four with additional muscle in the form of cohorts'n'followers and/or special mounts and companions or improved familiars, so they should get more xp for the same encounter.

Whose getting more Xp? The PC's should get less Xp while the cohorts'n'followers and/or special mounts and companions or improved familiars should get more. (I do believe that's what you were saying) I agree with you. Though it does mean that cohorts will eventually (if they survive) match the PC's in level. There's a simple solution though as soon as they get to probably 2 levels away from the parties lowest level PC and certainly once there within 1level they should strike out on their own. After all they've learned pretty much all they can from the PC's.

I asked it somewhere else but what's a GURP? examples would help

XP - Experience points: A relative measure of how much a character has learned from his experience, chiefly in combat, but also making the 'smart move', solving the riddle, avoiding the trap or combat, role-playing, teamwork, achieving goals.
This measure is what allows the character to increase in power.

how's that?

 

[D+1]

Normally I would say lower level characters get more, but that isn't a paradigm that fits all situations in all campaigns. You might WANT to have some divergence in PC levels. I can't think of a good reason why myself, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. There are decent arguments for all three options of more, less, and equal xp awards. Use the one you like.

 

[orsal]

I'm OK with equal XP, if it's simpler. Everyone is making a good point about the lower-level characters deserving more XP for the same encounter, but the XP vs. level curve ensures that the same XP means more to a lower-level character than a higher-level character. If everyone gets 500 XP from some battle, the 2nd level characters in the group are 1/4 of the way to their next level, while the 4th level characters are only 1/8 of the way.

 

[the Jester]

I can think of a good justification for higher level characters getting more xp- on average, they do more.

However, I much prefer the 'catch up' effect caused by giving lower level pcs more xp.

That said, I give lower-level pcs more xp for combat and higher-level characters more xp for roleplaying awards (those are based off character level). Typically, overall, the low-level guys come out ahead, and if there's a significant level gap they come out significantly ahead (case in point, over the last two games the 20th level guy gained 9614 xp (2700 was for roleplaying) and the 26th level guy who was there for both games earned 6567 (5460 was for roleplaying).

 

[MonsterMash]

Greatly prefer the 3.5 system, and it does help make parties more balanced in terms of assisting lower level PCs gain XP and therefore new levels more quickly

 

[Coredump]

I've always used the method of giving more Xp to the underdog. I don't see how any other method is logical. The lower level characters will learn more from the encounter whereas the higher level characters have probably encountered something similar.

I think the reverse is quite logical. Let me see if I can explain.

Take someone that has flunked HS algebra, put him on a quiz bowl team with 3 Phd's. Tell them to solve a math problem as fast as they can.
Who do you think will do the *very least* amount of help? Do you really think the the 'drop-out' will learn 'more'?

OTOH, lets ignore that argument, and say that somehow they all "learned the same amount", and lets arbitrarily say that is worth "2000 math XP's" Well the Phd's only earned enough to go up .15 of a level, while the drop-out earned enough to go up 1.0 levels. So even by giving the the 'same', the lower level gets 'more'.



To give an example, I joined a SW D20 campaign as a 2nd level character, all of the rest were about 11th. In the combats, and even the non-combats, I did *much* less than the others. (lower BAB, fewer attacks, lower skills, etc.) But I was trying to help and participate, so the GM was nice (IMO) and gave out even XP. I still was going up a level every session for the first 3 sessions, and only took 2 sessions each for the next 2 levels. Now my character is 8th, and they are 13-14.
So I am already doing much less than the others, yet going up levels *much* faster, it seems illogical to me that I should be getting even more XP.

Does that make sense?


[Note: I am not saying that it is right or wrong, just trying to explain the logic behind the option.]

Even more telling is the fact that the low level character will have been in an encounter that was too difficult for an equal number of characters of his level, while the higher level character was in a easy encounter for an equal number of characters of his level.

Yep, which is why I was going up a level after 1-2 encounters, instead of the normal 13.3333 (or whatever.) But I could have been getting 3/4 the XP and still been going up much faster.

YMMV