D&D General Disparity in PC levels from same party

[Lanefan]

We would never play differing levels ever again. Old school PC death, energy/level drain, and even Wish/Deck of Many Things level-change shenanigans, subjective individual XP awards that not everyone acquires, all of them were disruptive to the party balance, even if it is a perceived imbalance. Some PCs will forever be behind everyone else unless the DM invents some reason to close the gap. And if the DM does decide to close the gap, then the justification for entire system that allowed it in the first place was flawed. Telling someone that they will forever be behind everyone else is rough.

If levels are a bit more easy come, easy go, then the character who's a bit behind today might be a bit ahead tomorrow.

A player and friend who has family responsibilities and can't make every session should not be punished by falling behind. Our respect for our real life relationships should matter more than the story.

Why would they fall behind for missing a session? Their character's still there with the party and still doing things, right? Therefore it should get the xp it earns, just like everyone else.

That said, if a player's repeatedly blowing off the game "just because" rather than for legitimate reasons, that's a different issue; and it's probably time to find a replacement player.

As a cooperative game, the effective balance/contributions of every player is far more important than this particular illusion of verisimilitude that not everyone is equal. There are already other aspects of the game that can showcase a difference in effectiveness, whether class/subclass/species design components, min-maxing, motivation, engagement, or skill levels in reading, math, reasoning, or cunning. It's a game. At least design the mechanical aspect so that everyone in the same party has the opportunity to contribute equally at the same level.

And then use the mechanics to reward the players who actually take that opportunity (in the fiction as their characters) to contribute over those who do not. If I-as-player just sit there all night and don't have my character(s) get involved in much then my characters shouldn't get as many xp as those who did get involved.

Put another way: use the mechanics to encourage engagement rather than to cater to passengers.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

If levels are a bit more easy come, easy go, then the character who's a bit behind today might be a bit ahead tomorrow.

Easy come, easy go levels? I was in a 3E RPGA game were everyone was level 6, about to ding 7 at the end of an adventure, but the tank died in the last fight, which means they dropped to level 5, when everyone else was 7. There was no coming back from that. It was demoralizing to more than the person whose PC had died. That killed that particular PC party, and we focused on other campaigns/characters when playing together.

Why would they fall behind for missing a session? Their character's still there with the party and still doing things, right? Therefore it should get the xp it earns, just like everyone else.

That particular example was for those tables where you don't get participation XP unless the player is there. I've played in such games.

That said, if a player's repeatedly blowing off the game "just because" rather than for legitimate reasons, that's a different issue; and it's probably time to find a replacement player.

I play D&D with friends who are not replaceable.

And then use the mechanics to reward the players who actually take that opportunity (in the fiction as their characters) to contribute over those who do not. If I-as-player just sit there all night and don't have my character(s) get involved in much then my characters shouldn't get as many xp as those who did get involved.

So you as a DM will reduce the XP of player that you don't think paid close enough attention? Not me. I don't judge my friends for being tired after long days at work or with kids, and occasionally focusing on the bonking of bad guys rather than intricate roleplay. We're just having fun together as best we can.

I think we value different things. I'm glad you're having fun in your games. So am I!

 

[Lanefan]

Easy come, easy go levels? I was in a 3E RPGA game were everyone was level 6, about to ding 7 at the end of an adventure, but the tank died in the last fight, which means they dropped to level 5, when everyone else was 7. There was no coming back from that. It was demoralizing to more than the person whose PC had died. That killed that particular PC party, and we focused on other campaigns/characters when playing together.

Everyone being about to ding to 7th at the same time is already highly unlikely if the game has level enhancing or draining effects and-or not all classes advance at the same rate (which is what I'm used to).

That said, RPGA is/was a different type of environment from a home game.

That particular example was for those tables where you don't get participation XP unless the player is there. I've played in such games.

I wouldn't play in such a game. Xp are a character reward, not a player reward.

I play D&D with friends who are not replaceable.

Friends aren't replaceable but players are; not every friend one has is necessarily going to be a good fit at one's game table and-or in a particular campaign, but I'd hope they still remain friends even if not playing in the game at the moment.

So you as a DM will reduce the XP of player that you don't think paid close enough attention?

In a roundabout way, perhaps. Characters get xp based on what they do, or participate in, in the game's fiction. Do more, get more. I mean, I've had players who are awful at paying attention but if their characters get involved in stuff they get the xp for it. Flip side, I've had players who re very good at paying attention but who also do what they can in character to let others take the risk and not gt too involved if-when things get dangerous. Less xp for those characters.

Doing it that way is more intended to encourage engagement and discourage characters from hanging back.

Not me. I don't judge my friends for being tired after long days at work or with kids, and occasionally focusing on the bonking of bad guys rather than intricate roleplay. We're just having fun together as best we can.

Sure, and IME these things tend to average out in the long run - Joe has a hard week at work and isn't really into things one session, while next session he's right on the ball while Mary's a bit off her game. No big deal.

And on a broader scale, this isn't about judging people. If anything, its about judging characters.

 

[tombowings]

Differing levels only seems to work when more than 10 or so players are adventuring in the same world. Different adventures can have wildly different PC composition. Each adventure needs to fit into one session.

For the more standard (nowadays) campaign where a single group of adventurers players through a preplanned narrative, differing levels of PCs can be extremely disruptive.

 

[rmcoen]

I used to give out character-specific rewards. Never a penalty; when the party split up, the different groups got different XP. Sidequests and personal quests sometimes gave different XP - personal quests especially, because everyone would get the "quest XP" (for overcoming the challenges / fighting monsters), but the PC in question might also get a Story Reward. When a player roleplayed an especially memorable encounter, or someone came up with a genius idea, they got bonus XP. Also - generally if you missed a session, your PC did too; if not feasible, the absent-player PC still missed out on RP and Idea XP. What this meant was a LOT of extra tracking on my part... for the occasional PC leveling up one session before another. I think over half the campaign (when I stopped doing this), the spread got to be about 10-15% from highest to lowest. Not worth my time.

In the current campaign, I reward everyone for anyone's great ideas; great roleplaying is rewarded with "consumables" (Inspiration, Luck Points, etc.). As said in a separate reply here, new/replacement characters come in lower level due to Story/Campaign reasons, but they catch up quickly (and somewhat arbitrarily by Story events, not XP).