DMs - a druid question

[Kugar]

I my last campaign I used Monster XP = 1/2 and make the other 1/2 lost xp attainable in goals. So in this fight the druid alone would get half the DMG XP value.

I would never again put up a situation where the bad guys were in the open and suffer stroke after stroke of lighting for a while without any means of shelter or escape. That is just a little hard to swallow unless the party trapped them. In that case the whole party shares in the XP.

 

[UniversalMonster]

I'd give full experience points. It's a good plan to attack from a distance, in the dark where you have concealment.

However-

My giants would split up and start hunting for you after the first lightning bolt. A full 10 minutes of searching in a spread, yelling out to one another. You might be able to kill the wounded one with a second lightning bolt after that, or you might be able to just cause more damage by then. If the giants hadn't had any luck by the time the second bolt hit, they'd try to run, I imagine. A giant moving at top speed could easily make it away from the range of the call lightning spell (400+40' per level) within time to miss the third lightning bolt.

But guess what- even if the giants live, I'd STILL award full XP. You defeated them. They ran for their lives. Nice execution, and you can't always choose where your battle is going to be, or have a convenient storm nearby. Use it when you got it.

I'd probably play something up with the giants later avoiding the area, claiming it's "cursed" or "haunted" or being really superstitious.

 

[Umbran]

But guess what- even if the giants live, I'd STILL award full XP. You defeated them. They ran for their lives.

Whether this counts as a full defeat depends on why the druid was attacking them.

If the druid needed to get past the giants, or they were an immediate threat to something and needed to be scared off fromt aht particular place for that particular time, then yes, this is a defeat.

If the druid hates giants, or is trying to rid the entire area of giants as they are a threat to his home, then this is not a complete victory - the giants still exist, and haven't really ceased to be a threat in general.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Maybe there's a broken spell in there...

However, I've never thought of Call LIghtning as broken.

 

[Henry]

If I were DM I would probably award less than full, probably around 3000xp or so, because the challenge was halved by your supremely advantageous situation.

A few points:

Peter said:

My giants would split up and start hunting for you after the first lightning bolt. A full 10 minutes of searching in a spread, yelling out to one another.

However, it was a Dark and Stormy Night (Pun Intended), which means that the lightning bolts from call lightning were perfectly natural. However, they should have been suspicious after the secdon one that something funny was going on, not necessarily that a spellcaster was hunting them. At the least, they should have run to find shelter, or tried to hide.

But that was very good play! It is also another example of how powerful a druid can be when they are played well.

 

[Kraedin]

Killing three giants with a terribly sub-optimal spell results in full XP as far as I am concerned.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Depends... If the encounter was supposed to be difficult and the character used tactics to make it easy, I'd give full experience and make a note to myself to get better at designing encounters. Not that I have that problem, but if it ever happened, that's what I'd do...

If it was intended to be a barrel-shoot, than I likely would have noted a reduced award already, aware that the challenge wouldn't be up to the CR before the encounter occured.

Of course, I already cut CR awards in half.

 

[isoChron]

I would give some less XP (75% or such). It's not ment as punishment for clever planning and using the circumstances but you were in a clearly superior position. The Giants would have run for cover as fast as they could but never draw the conclusion that this owl over there is calling some lightnings (IMC).

By the way: Owl is tiny and very unsuitable for heavy weather because of the really soft plumage (?).
Even as an eagle you should have made concentration checks for casting a spell during vigorous movement (stormy weather! DC 15+spell level or something like that) and spotting a creature during a cloudy night (really dark) would have drawn you pretty close to the giants (even with lowlight or darkvision). So perhaps they could however make an INT-check to link the screeching animal with the instantly following lightning. Every lightning they would have a bonus of +1 for repeating similar circumstances. (Eeeeeeeeeek ... FLASH BOOOOOOOOM) .

Just a few thoughts that came to my mind.

Nice idea.

BYE

 

[Nail]

#1) The PC should be rewarded for clever thinking.

#2) However, this seems like a DM set-up: giants out in the open, they are unable/unwilling to leave, it's a stormy night,....

#3) I'm not sure how "clever" the PC really is...he's just following DM cues.

#4) Sounds like a "less challenging encounter", therefore less than full XP. (50%)

 

[Stalker0]

Full xp, I mean, how else is call lightning supposed to be useD?