buying xp

[Umbran]

If a player spent most of his money on xp every level, he would probably be 50% ahead of the other players in xp and would level much faster.

While a little bit of a spread in levels is okay, I personally find having a wide spread problematic. So, I'd prefer to avoid mechanics that so strongly increase the possibility that the PCs will fall out of synch, level-wise.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Broken.

Or at least it sounds that way to me. Just give your players less gold. The recommended treasures in the DMG are way too high IMO. IMC, 1,000gp is a lot even at level 10.

The recommended treasures are expected to go about 50% into 1) loss through selling; and 2) buying single-/limited-use stuff, like bunch of potions or wands.

However, I think "Buying XP" is not good, why?

It violates the underlying level-wealth connection:

If they buy XP, they'll level up faster, so they get higher levels, but have less to spend - but when they have a higher level, they should have more wealth instead of less.

This would make the characters suck. Especially, the non-spellcasters, since these are most relying on magic gear.

 

[sirwmholder]

I think I read somewhere that 1xp = 12.5gp... I remember now... Item creation... If item cost 100gp = 50gp + 4xp therefore 12.5gp = 1xp... I'd use that to keep things relatively balanced.

Hope this helps,
William Holder

 

[Jack Simth]

At 1 to 1? Broken.

Oh, hey - Wish! 25,000 gp for 5,000 xp.
Oh, hey - I can turn that 25,000 gp into 25,000 xp. I just leveled up! And, oh, hey - I've got 5,000 excess XP.....

 

[bestone]

i miss aging on a wish spell

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

So I added an XP bonus to each level, anything from the XP bonus you didn't spend rolled over but that was too catch the equivalent of loose change. Here's roughly the formula I used. Take the wealth by level guideline, divide it by 200 this is the number of XP they have for magic effects. Then let them use it to buy magical effects that would normally go on items but make them an an inherent effect.

I love this idea! (And, more importantly, the example).

Mind if I yonk for my game?

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

I love this idea! (And, more importantly, the example). .snip. Mind if I yonk for my game?

Thanks and go right ahead, that's why I posted it

Depending on your campaign the divisor you apply to the DMG wealth-by-level chart will need alteration. In that particular campaign I was trying to keep things relatively low on the flashy-magic scale. For an equivalent to PHB magic item levels you should use either 12.5 or 25 depending on whether you use wands or permanent items to model the xp cost.

 

[Andre]

...(snip)...the non-spellcasters, since these are most relying on magic gear.

This is the main problem I see with this - spellcasters gain the most power from more levels. Non-spellcasters tend to be far more reliant on equipment. So you end up with the spellcasters spending every available gold piece on xp, while the other classes have to be more judicious.

Feats, skill points, special abilities, OTOH, tend to be less problematic than entire levels, so I like the idea of allowing treasure to be spent on those - the easy rationale is paying for extra training. And giving the average character a few extra feats or skill points instead of a some items (that would likely have much the same impact) is a good way to reduce the dependence on items.

 

[mhensley]

At 1 to 1? Broken.

Oh, hey - Wish! 25,000 gp for 5,000 xp.
Oh, hey - I can turn that 25,000 gp into 25,000 xp. I just leveled up! And, oh, hey - I've got 5,000 excess XP.....

Ahh... Now I see that I was thinking of the wrong table in the DMG when I thought of this. Yes, 1gp = 1xp is broken. Here's the fix- the amount of xp you can buy for 1gp is (21 - current level)/20. At first level (21-1)/20 = 1, so 1gp = 1xp. At second level (21-2)/20 = .95, so 1 gp = .95 xp. At 20th level, 1gp only buys .05xp.

Now if your pc with the wish is 19th lvl, he will only get 2500xp for that 25000gp. Not exactly a bargain anymore.

 

[dungeondweller]

This is the main problem I see with this - spellcasters gain the most power from more levels. Non-spellcasters tend to be far more reliant on equipment. So you end up with the spellcasters spending every available gold piece on xp, while the other classes have to be more judicious.

While this may be true in the low levels, my experience says that spellcasters need a great deal of money for scrolls and magic items as they advance further into their professions. I'd say it starts to even out, and maybe even gets a little more expensive for the casters, around 5th - 6th level when they start picking up 3rd level spells and enough gold to look at decent items.