Figuring the XP for these 2 encounters...

[MerakSpielman]

Here's the scenario.

The party is traveling and is ambushed by nine goblins - eight grunts and one captain. A nasty fight breaks out and five of the grunts are slain. The remaining three grunts and the captain flee.

This was encounter #1.

Two of the characters pursue the fleeing gobs and spend several hours tracking them to their nearby hideout. They slip in and finish off the remaining goblins, most of whom were badly injured during the first fight.

This was encounter #2.

How to divvy up the XP?

Should the entire party get XP for "defeating" the ENTIRE group of goblins in encounter #1, AND the 2 companions get XP for defeating the remaining gobs at their lair? This method seems reasonable, but gives XP to two characters twice for defeating the same monsters. If this is the method I should use, then it also follows that if ALL the goblins been badly injured and fled, the party would have gotten full XP for defeating them. Then if they all pursued, they would ALL get full XP for defeating them again. Something's just wrong with that.

On the other hand, it also doesn't seem fair to give XP for defeating the surviving goblins ONLY to the two pursuers, because the rest of the party legitimately fought them, risking life and limb.

What to do, what to do?

 

[The Souljourner]

Give the normal XP for the encounter to the whole party, and then give some bonus XP to the hunters for their dilligence, like 10% of the original XP or something (assuming chasing these guys down was in character).

I definitely wouldn't give full XP for the second fight, since the gobbos were massively weakened by the first fight.

-The Souljourner

 

[ThirdWizard]

If I understand it right, couldn't it be considered, in a way, a single encounter that took up a long period of time to complete? At least, that is how I would rule it since the combatants didn't have time to regain all of their strength between the two battles.

 

[Tessarael]

Let's look at it this way ... the 9 goblins would have been a significantly weaker encounter without the 3 goblins that escaped (50% greater damage ability).

Now if I recall correctly, 2nd Ed. AD&D had a suggestion of giving half experience for encounters where the bad guys escaped, or otherwise avoided the party being fully successful. Or maybe this was just my DM's houserule. Anyway, by this logic, you could give experience value of 6x1+3x0.5 = 7.5 goblins for the primary encounter.

Then for the secondary encounter, the 3 goblins are already wounded, but there's only 2 characters fighting them. So you need to take that into account when figuring out the equivalent CR for this encounter. The 2 characters who fought these goblins should get full XP I think.

Thoughts:

1. Encourage the characters to work together both with game mechanics and game world issues - it could have been much worse if the 2 pursuing characters had run into an ambush. So giving these guys full XP encourages the others to have been around to help (they're missing out on the XP). I'd also be inclined to make a DM comment along the lines of, "Aren't you lucky they didn't lead you into an ambush ..."

2. For the other characters that didn't pursue for whatever reason (e.g. being wounded), you could give them an opportunity to gain XP for whatever they did instead.

3. If stuff like this happens regularly, providing it is only a small amount of extra XP, the 3.5E DMG experience rules should ensure the other lower XP characters stay close in level to those with a bit of extra XP.

4. Reward intelligent behavior, give less rewards for dumb behavior. Killing goblins that were running away to get help is a good move. Killing goblins that managed to get a long way away, possibly to safety, is high risk ... probably not so smart, at least not without everyone around. (And there's game world ways to make this clear: i.e. do have ambushes as a result sometimes.)

Just my thoughts ...

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Make it one encounter. While I'm for awarding XP twice if the same enemy is defeated twice, that one was really just an extension to the first. They were probably in bad shape in the second fight and not the same threat as before. And the other party members did defeat them (they ran away, which is the same as being killed).

You might give the persuers some extra for finishing them off, though, but not full XP for that encounter.

 

[EPRock]

Divvy up the 2nd combat

Well the party should be awarded full experience for defeating the goblins in the first fight.

The second combat since the goblins have less hit points and are defensive, unless they have traps or other things to raise the challenge rating, it should be lowered based upon the left over hit points. So a partial challenge like half each one or 1/4 it.

 

[Keith]

I think you have one encounter there, which required the whole group to win, and thus the full XP for defeating the foe should be split equally. Hunting down and slaying wounded Goblins as the final part of the encounter is all very well, I guess. The only reason I could see it having a separate XP award (subtracted from the first total, not In addition to it) would be if killing those Goblins was essential; that is, the definition of “defeating” them for purposes of this encounter required them to be killed.
Even then, the group as a whole wounded them, so any members who go after them in a loose cannon fashion should only get their fair share, not a bonus, I think.

 

[Grog]

What to do, what to do?

First, the party should get full XP for the first fight.

As for the second, I'd say it depends on whether or not encounter #2 was a potentially dangerous fight for the two characters, or if it was basically just a slaughter. If the former, I would award some bonus XP to the two characters - the suggestion of 1/2 or 1/4 what they would have been worth normally is a good one, I think. If the latter, I wouldn't give them any extra XP - they'll still have the goblins' treasure, so chasing them down won't have been a complete waste of time.

And note that I said potentially dangerous - if the players bypassed any danger through clever planning, tactics, and/or role-playing, they should still get the XP. This is the type of play you want to encourage, after all.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

This is what I've decided to do:

The first combat: Full XP for everybody for defeating eight goblins. Not the captain. The cowardly bastard hid down the tunnel and participated only by shouting "surrender" and firing a couple arrows (which missed). He did not add significantly to the difficulty of the first encounter and fled before it was over - even before his wounded companions fled. So nobody gets XP for him during the first encounter.

However, he did escape uninjured, so the two hunters who fought him a few hours later should get full XP for defeating him (he turned out, to their horror, to be a Warrior 2/Rogue 2. They were 2 first level characters). One of them almost died and the other was down to 2 hp, so the encounter wasn't a breeze. The surviving regular goblins, however, only had a couple HP left at that point, and didn't add significantly to the difficulty of the second combat.

This way, I don't have to give out XP for the same baddies twice.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

a Warrior 2/Rogue 2. They were 2 first level characters). One of them almost died and the other was down to 2 hp, so the encounter wasn't a breeze.

Well, they were lucky to survive that.