Determining EL and XP

[doktorstick]

Howdy. I'm curious as to how you handle assigning an EL and XP awarded to the following encounter.

The Good
4 PCs (L1), 5 NPCs (War1), 1 NPC (Pal2)

versus The Bad
2 NPCs (Clr2), 5 NPCs (War1)

Pretend that the 4 PCs (L1) were going up against The Good. It is an EL 6 by the numbers. Going against The Bad is an EL 6 by the numbers. This suggests that the encounter is balanced.

What would the EL be for this encounter, then? There are two "EL 6 equivalent" parties going at each other.

Secondly, how would you award XP? Since the NPCs on the PCs side aren't hirelings (hirelings don't get XP or figure into XP calculations according to the DMG) I suppose they should figure into the XP calcluation. But that would mean the War1's would get more XP because they are lower level (using FRCS method of XP distribution).

Help would be appreciated. I think I am over rationalizing the problem.

Cheers,
/ds

EDIT: Corrected the Paladin from L1 to L2.

 

[the Jester]

Well, the warriors are level one, and so are the pcs, so they shouldn't get more xp than the pcs.

I'd figure the xps for each npc in the bad party by CR, then add it all up and divide by the number of good guys (ten) since they're all the same level.

 

[doktorstick]

Wrong Forum

Egads!

 

[doktorstick]

Oops

Oops. I accidentally hit "reply" instead of "new topic".

 

[the Jester]

I'd rule it does... idhmbifom, is darkness an illusion? If so, it won't (since it isn't real)... er, wait a sec, silence is an illusion, right? Hmmm...

[scratches head]

Need to mull this one over.

 

[The Souljourner]

doing XP is fairly simple, actually, if you use the FR method. For each character, calculate the XP he'd get from each opponent as if he were fighting them one on one and add them up. Now divide this by the total number of people in his party. This is how much that guy gets.

If they are non-hireling NPCs then they count as part of the party (and thus go into the "divide by number of people in the party" calculation above). After all, they are helping because of the goodness of their hearts (or something), so they deserve XP. If they were getting paid to fight, they wouldn't get XP (because it would count as being part of the power of the characters who hired them).

Yes, that means the warriors will get a little more XP... so what? They're slightly crappier, they get more out of seeing the big boys playing.

-The Souljourner