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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 7427689" data-attributes="member: 6801845">This thread is all about opinions and preferences. I know I'm a sarcastic SOB so if something I've written insulted you, I apologize.  But there's several things in your response that are either meant as insults or simply make no sense.I'm following basic concept of D&D that overcoming obstacles is how our characters grow.  That if they overcome 8 encounters/obstacles they get X XP.  I don't care how they overcome the obstacles, what order they do them in, how long it takes, anything.  How is anything I've said me-game-y?  People learn from experience.  We measure that experience as XP which we grant for successfully completing an encounter.   If they can figure out how to get on the roof and mow down the zombies and don't rush into the middle of the horde for no reason whatsoever, why does it matter?  They came up with a solution that worked.  They may have turned what I thought would be a difficult encounter into a relatively easy one.  Good for them. Why would I punish them (or withhold rewards) for not playing the way I want them to play?I may even grant inspiration if it's a solution that is particularly appropriate for the character (more on inspiration below).What I object to is that you're saying if they overcome 8 encounters/obstacles without a long rest they get bonus XP.  So they get X + Y XP.  Where does that additional XP come from?  You can justify it after the fact, but the only reason to award bonus XP IMHO is to get them to do more encounters than they normally would.Huh?  You just said they have to get into challenging fights.  I also fundamentally disagree.  It is very much my job as a DM to help tell an interesting story.  Part of that is having some challenging encounters; if every encounter is a cakewalk it's boring.  I don't want bored players.One thing that comes close to the "carrot" of bonus XP in D&D official rules is inspiration.   You can justify it after the fact, but there's no in-game-world reason a PC should be extra-lucky for being themselves.  The reward is for the player, not the PC.  I guess that may be part of the reason why I don't use it very often.But just to summarize, I think bonus XP for extra encounters is a solution looking for a problem.  There are many ways to give my players a fun, engaging, and yes, challenging game without it that don't rely on rewards for the players.  I dislike any house rule that basically tells the players "play the way I want you to play, change your character's motivations to be what I want them to be, or you don't get any cookies".</blockquote>

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