melkoriii said:
The way I have seen it done is take the CR of the mob a cross reference it with the lvl of the PC and give that amount divided by the number in the party (this case 5) Do this for each mob for each PC.
Is this right?
Not exactly. That works if all the monsters have the same CR, but if not, it doesn't work. You have to remember that XP is calculated using Challenge Rating, not Encounter Level.
You have two options. You can use the DMG method or the FRCS method.
In the DMG method, you determine the average level of the party (round down). In your case, the average party level is a 4. Now, reference the 4 to the CR of each individual monster to get your XP amount. Total all of the XP up, then divide it evenly among the party. What ends up happening is that your 3rd level guy doesn't get as much XP as he should have. He's 3rd level, but he's considered 4th going against a CR 3 monster. Your 4th level guy is unaffected, but your 5th and 6th level guys end up getting more XP than they should have.
In the FRCS method, you calculate the XP earned on an individual basis. For example, take the 3rd level guy. You would calculate his XP for defeating the monsters in the encounter. Then you would take that total amount of XP and divide it by 4 (the number of people in the party). The result is how much XP he gets for the encounter. Rinse and repeat for everyone else. What ends up happening is that your 3rd level guy gets the right amount of XP and the 4th, 5th, and 6th level guys get less because the fight wasn't as hard for them.
In short, when you use the FRCS method, your lower level characters will catch up to your higher level characters much faster (as they should) than by using the DMG method. When you use the DMG method, the lower level guys simply don't catch up unless you start giving them adhoc XP to help them along.
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