Handing out Experience

[CruelSummerLord]

I submit two scenarios for your consideration, and then a question that relates to them both:

-Party has bought passage on a ship, at a reduced price given that pirates are known to prowl the stretch of sea the ship will be passing through, and the captain is willing to lower his prices in the understanding that the party will defend the ship in case things get rough.

The ship doesn't encounter pirates, but the party ends up earning their pay anyway, when the ship is attacked by a giant squid. After a hard fight, in which the squid loses four or five tentacles, the monster realizes it won't get a meal here. Spewing a cloud of ink, it cuts its losses and retreats, leaving three dead crew members and one party member badly injured, but without the party, things would have been a hell of a lot worse.


-Several weeks later, party is travelling through hill country when they're attacked by a gang of five hill giants, rough-and-tumble young males who have been drinking and are spoiling for a fight.

The giants soon realize that they've messed with the wrong adventurers. In a few rounds, two of the giants are dead and a third is badly wounded and pinned down, and is all but doomed unless the two surviving giants help him. The third giant pleads with his mates to help him, but being Chaotic, they're more concerned with saving their own hides than anything else, and run away, leaving their friend to die.

Party decides not to waste time and resources chasing the giants, and so settles for looting the bodies of the three giants they killed and leaving their bodies for the crows, before continuing on their journey.

In these cases, as DM, would you give XP for the giant squid, or for the two hill giants that ran away, even though the party members didn't kill them? The party decided not to chase after the giants that ran away, thinking it would be a waste of time and energy.

In short-do you as DM only give experience for the monsters the party members actually kill, or also the ones that run away or escape, when it's clear they can't win the battle?

 

[Cabled]

I would certainly award full XP for those encounters. Overcoming your adversaries need not always end in death for one side or the other, and if the DM is playing intelligent (or instinctual) creatures correctly, certain foes would certainly choose to run for it when beaten.

 

[WarlockLord]

I give XP for monsters that fled, listened to diplomacy, whatever. The PCs won, they get XP. Not every encounter has to end in death.

 

[TheCrazyMuffinMan]

I give XP for monsters that fled, listened to diplomacy, whatever. The PCs won, they get XP. Not every encounter has to end in death.

True. I once awarded XP for capturing enemy soldiers as POWs. That was awesome.

 

[Nail]

Full XP.


.....Given that you played the 5 giants appropriately to their CRs, and that you include an XP modifier for an extra-tough or extra-easy situation. If the drunk giants used especially poor tactics, and bailed out early, I'd consider reducing the EL by 25%, and thus reduce the XP by that amount. See p. 39 of the 3.5e DMG.

 

[kaomera]

Heck yeah, full XP! I award XP by encounter, even if it's actually calculated by creature (or other threat). In fact I will usually award a group of creatures a single CR if the encounter isn't a standard / straightforward combat. But if the PCs have accomplished their goals, then they should get all the XP for the encounter, IMHO.

Actually, now that I think about it there's two other possibilities here:

I could see bumping up the Squid's CR by a few points if part of the encounter goals is: "Ensure that the crew isn't killed", but in that case I'd have to reduce the total reward based on the number of preventable crew deaths... And I'd also have to make sure that the PCs (and the players) actually agreed to those goals.

In the case of the Giants if there was a good likelihood that they might run into and smash up a local village if the PCs let them get away, then the PCs might find themselves fighting the survivors in a second encounter. In this case I wouldn't award the party XP for them a second time. Of course, again, I'd want the players to have at least a good idea that this might happen... And they could just ignore the situation, but that would definitely have consequences...

 

[Arkhandus]

The rules do not require PCs to destroy their opposition in order to overcome the challenge and earn their XP. Neither do I. PCs earn XP for their victories, regardless of whether the enemies were slain, driven off, beaten unconscious, or forced to surrender.

 

[Quartz]

Another vote for full XP. Of course, those giants who escaped may tell their kin about the nasty adventurers...

 

[kensanata]

Generally I try to make a distinction: Did a foe flee with the fear of god in his heart? Full XP. Did a foe retreat unhurt to fight another day? No XP. The distinction is somewhat hazy: Was it a rout or a strategic retreat?

I'd award full XP for the squid. As for the giants:

• If five giants fought, three died, and two fled: Full XP.
• If three giants fought, two watched, the three died, and the two decided not to join the fight: XP for three giants. The remaining two live to fight another day.

 

[Lanefan]

Generally I try to make a distinction: Did a foe flee with the fear of god in his heart? Full XP. Did a foe retreat unhurt to fight another day? No XP. The distinction is somewhat hazy: Was it a rout or a strategic retreat?

I'd award full XP for the squid. As for the giants:

• If five giants fought, three died, and two fled: Full XP.
• If three giants fought, two watched, the three died, and the two decided not to join the fight: XP for three giants. The remaining two live to fight another day.

Whether they fought and fled or didn't fight at all, they still live to fight another day. I'd just give ExP for the 3 slain Giants. The squid is a tougher question; I'd probably give ExP for it, but a bit less than full.

The biggest problem here comes up if the same beaten-but-unkilled foes show up as foes again. Can you get ExP for defeating the same opponent more than once?

Take the squid example. The party arrive at their destination and get ExP for the squid. Then, they turn around and cross the same sea again...and meet the same squid again, with much the same result: a good hammering but the damaged squid manages to flee. Do they get full (or any) ExP again? What if the same thing happens a third time? (actually, a squid is a bad example here as the party have no real way of knowing if they're meeting the same one or not...a more distinctive foe, such as a particular Dragon missing a claw on one foot, works better for my question here)

Lanefan