Boosting and shrinking CR X.P. awards

[Trainz]

IMC, sometimes the fights are so easy, that not a single PC suffers damage.

Sometimes, it's the other way around. It's so close to a TPK that the players look at me with something close to reproach, even though no-one is PERMANENTLY damaged.

The DM's Guide vaguely addresses the issue, but it is not satisfactory enough. What I'd like is a down and dirty number crunching way to determine if you should boost or lower the X.P. reward. Here's a suggestion:

If one of the PC's had lower than 10% of his starting HP's at any point during the fight: X.P. + 25%

If one of the PC's got into negative HP's at any point during the fight: X.P. + 50%

If more than one PC had lower than 10% of their starting HP's or got into negative HP's at any point during the fight: X.P. x 2

If only one PC was wounded during a fight, and didn't suffer more than 25% of his starting HP's in damage: X.P. - 25%

If no PC's where wounded at all: X.P. / 2

If there was no risk at all in the fight: No X.P.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Hey Trainz,

What I figure from your post is that you're trying to regulate chance...

Why I don't agree with the system you're proposing is that if you run the exact same encounter twice, chances are the PC's will get diffrent amounts of XP's. The challenge was the same, but the randomness of the dice made it so that the first time they wiped out the opposition (due to some good rolls) while the second time they barely made it out alive (due to some really bad luck).

Also, if the players are aware of that system, they'll probably try to play it to their advantage... "Wait don't kill it right away, let it hit me one more time!"

The CR's are there (they are not an exact science, of course) to tell you what kind of challenge the party will be facing. Assuming they are balanced, other conditions will of course influence the outcome of the fight (environmental hazards, strategies, ambush, etc.).

I'm somewhat against the idea of penalizing players (ie giving them less XP) because they used brilliant stategies (and totally f... oiled my BBEG's best laid out plans), and giving them more XP because they were stupid or unlucky.


AR

 

[maddman75]

Best way to fix the CR/EL problem is just to toss the whole thing. Award experience based on how fast you want them to progress. Let's see, you want a level every three sessions, they are third level with 3000 xp and it take 6000 to make 4th. Everyone gets 1000 xp!

Fast, simple, works. Plus it gets rid of the idea that you get XP for killing things.

 

[Trainz]

I didn't take the "player sneakiness" factor in Tabarnak. Good point.

I'll just stick to the basics then...

 

[Trainz]

We tried your system in the past Maddman (for a whole campaign in fact), but the players prefer to get XP for critters.

 

[Coredump]

We tried your system in the past Maddman (for a whole campaign in fact), but the players prefer to get XP for critters.

Well, I still give them XP for critters, it is just pure coincidence that the amount of XP they get is almost the same that I wanted them to get.

It is usually about half of what they are 'supposed' to get. Gives more time for the story, instead of just wondering what next level will bring.

.

 

[Impeesa]

I didn't take the "player sneakiness" factor in Tabarnak. Good point.

I'll just stick to the basics then...

Or you can just include another factor, "Doing so well they can toy with the monsters: -40%"

--Impeesa--