Do you use D&D XP system as written?

[WayneLigon]

Well, no... and yes. I've used the XP system as written for a number of campaigns, and I'll adjust it for others, depending on the tone and feel I want to convey. Generally, I'll do it the correct way, then adjust downwards or upwards a bit depending on how the encounter actually went.

 

[Nebulous]

I completely Ad-Hoc XP. I think the system has always been trivial and somewhat boring to calculate for me. I know how fast i want the party to advance and i just break it down from there into simple chunks. I'm running a CoC d20 campaign where i don't use XP at all and i haven't missed them one whit.

 

[Odhanan]

You can never encourage fun too much in my opinion.

I guess what I don't want to see is people pretending to have fun and doing everything over the top just for the sake of level advancement. I prefer XPs to reward fictional actions (which themselves provide fun in RL when I'm doing my DM job right, that is), not real ones, if that makes sense.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I use story based XP like that described in the Midnight setting.

 

[Erywin]

No, in our Campaigns we patched together a Tick system that I believe we stole from Wulf After a bunch of changes, it is working beautifully.

 

[DM_Jeff]

I voted no, which is strange. Usually I use it straight up, with the advice for story awards and the like from the DMG. I'm doing this in my twice-a-month game.

For my weekly campaign in Eberron, everyone agreed to "slow down a little" so, I've been wining it something fierce!

-DM Jeff

 

[Doug McCrae]

I give a set amount, based on how fast I want the PCs to level up. I might give a bonus if they accomplish something impressive, like defeating an ECL+6 monster.

The problem with the current system is it encourages the players to have their characters kill everything they met. That's not a good thing in most games.

 

[Ilium]

No.

We simply level up the characters at dramatically appropriate times.

Ditto, but the next time everybody levels, I'm going to hold back the cleric in our group by one session. He's been using a certain ability that takes XP several times, and I'd like him to feel it once.

PirateCat, I'd love to hear how you do the Action Points for XP cost thing. I use APs and I think I'd like that approach.

 

[Shade]

I use it basically as written, except I do not use XP penalty for multiclassing, and I award "quest completion" XP from time to time (a la Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, etc.)

 

[el-remmen]

I award XP based on a system of "Keys" and "Key Scenes" - not for overcoming challenges, or killing monsters or collecting loot (those are their own rewards). The system I use is based on something someone pointed out to me online.

You can see my version here.