ChrisCarlson
First Post
Not buying the whole premise of the OP. Smells more like spam.
D&D 5E D&D's XP & advancement system is a bit broken. I have a solution.
Demorgus
Explorer
Sorry Lex, but I've got to disagree with you. I'm doing a 1 hour per session work game and we managed to do enough encounters to get the characters from first to second in 4 sessions and pretty much the same for second to third. The only caveat I'll give is that most of my encounters per the DMG budget are on the hard end of the scale and my party is made up of 4 characters.
It usually takes one session to make it from 1 to 2. I calculate xp for a level per 2 to 3 sessions. I don't use encounter guidelines. I calculate the xp I need for them to level, then create encounters that will supply it. I also give xp for defeating an encounter with good role-playing or bypassing it. Xp is not a tangible thing. It represents nothing real. It's an intangible, relative method of player improvement. There is absolute no need to follow any hard, fast method for giving xp. You should not gain xp solely for combat. Plenty of challenges or roleplaying experiences should cause a player to improve. I don't see any problem with the system unless you are following it like it's a science. That means you haven't read the other parts of the book that recommend advancement through means other than combat.
Demorgus
Explorer
This last part especially is true. The rules clearly state as a DM you can give XP for role-playing encounters.
The Crimson Binome
Hero
Tangentially related, something I noticed after-the-fact is that the daily experience budget is supposed to follow the adjusted experience values based on numbers. The only way to get everyone to level 2 in one day, while following both the per-encounter and per-day budgets, is if they only encounter one enemy at a time.
As a whole, the system is definitely more complicated than it needs to be. I would strongly suggest leaving the experience framework in place, but completely ignoring the per-encounter and per-day guidelines.
As a whole, the system is definitely more complicated than it needs to be. I would strongly suggest leaving the experience framework in place, but completely ignoring the per-encounter and per-day guidelines.
The Crimson Binome
Hero
It's supposed to represent the combat experience that the character gains by trying to fight scary monsters, while not being killed in the process. In that sense, it makes sense that the characters should only gain experience from combat. That's why you gain so much more experience from wading into a room full of zombies, and so much less for just burning down the whole building.
If you hand out experience points for role-playing, or cleverly bypassing an obstacle without ever lifting your sword, then it stops being that. At some point, it becomes meaningless meta-game currency.
LexStarwalker
First Post
I'm talking about the system as written, not house rules. Awarding roleplaying xp is an alternate rule/house rule.
Also, the level 1 discussion is an example, and as I stated, the disparity grows larger with each level. Maybe you can power through 6 or more encounters in 4 hours, but by the time the PCs are 10th level, it will be much harder to have that much xp worth of encounters in 2-3 sessions as recommended by wizards.
Also, I'm assuming your group does more in a session than just combat. If all you do is go from one combat to the next (say in an intense dungeon crawl), then it may not be as much of a problem. At low levels at least. I still think you'll run into it at higher levels as the spread continues to increase.
Also, the level 1 discussion is an example, and as I stated, the disparity grows larger with each level. Maybe you can power through 6 or more encounters in 4 hours, but by the time the PCs are 10th level, it will be much harder to have that much xp worth of encounters in 2-3 sessions as recommended by wizards.
Also, I'm assuming your group does more in a session than just combat. If all you do is go from one combat to the next (say in an intense dungeon crawl), then it may not be as much of a problem. At low levels at least. I still think you'll run into it at higher levels as the spread continues to increase.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
Well in order editions XP went by how much loot you got. So I don't think it's fair to say experience only represents one form of doing things.
Experience is a meaningless metagame currency and always has been. For starters: people learn differently. A fighter may gain more experience from fighting the same monster another fighter did for only minor differences or perhaps because the beast reminded him of the cows on the farm he grew up on as opposed to the other fighter who was a son of a cobbler. Experience doesn't exist in the gameworld, it's nothing more than a metagame currency to gate advancement.
There's no way to reasonable execute advancement in game unless you are so ultra-granular that you are going to account for exact damage, number of attacks, tactics, character stats, use of abilities, background and heck, even backstory. Since every single person ever learns differently.
leonardoraele
First Post
Experience points represent the experience the characters have on overcoming challenges. This include roleplaying, exploration, puzzles, or whatever challenge the players. Characters doesn't gain only combat features when they gain levels, but also features focused on exploration and roleplaying. You surely can give xp for these kind of encounters. This is not meta-gaming. The Dungeon Master's Guide suggests you to do so, and Adventurer's League also does.
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