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Message: <blockquote data-quote="olshanski" data-source="post: 4862798" data-attributes="member: 7441">Amphirmir, You'll note that I didn't say "the ONLY method of gaining experience"--I said it was the primary means of gaining experience. Sure in your personal game you might have no combat and every encounter is a skill challenge, but that is not how the game is written, nor is it how the vast majority of the population plays it.Then I think you should re-read 3E, 3.5E, and 4E and compare how many pages of rules are devoted to combat vs how many pages of rules are devoted to skills... then compare in 4E published adventures by WoTC what is the ratio of skill challenges to combat encounters. You'll see that in 3E and 4E the primary method of gaining experience is through combat.  In my experience with 4E, I'd say the ratio of combat to skill challenges is about 4/1 (80% combat).  I haven't read enough published adventures to be sure how prevalent this trend is.  I have reviewed about 20 3E/3.5E adventures, and part of my standard review format involves a comparison of the ratio of combat to non-combat encounters. In 3E/3.5E the overall ratio was about 85% combat to 15% skill challenges.  (I am defining skill challenges in 3E/3.5E as encounters with traps or NPCs that require diplomacy, or weird situations in which Search or Wilderness Lore is key to overcoming a challenge).Then go ahead and read The Shadow of Yesterday and you'll see that it is perfectly viable to create a cowardly negotiator who only gains experience talking his way past problems and running away from fights.  The idea that the less you fight the more experience you gain is a polar opposite of D&D 3E, 3.5E, and 4E.Can you imagine the difference in the game in 4E if killing monsters was worth zero experience?</blockquote>

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