Handing out XP in your campaigns
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WayneLigon
Adventurer
Usually I have encounters made up ahead of time, and I've already used an online XP calculator to figure out what XP each person gets. Sometimes I prorate based on the actual encounter outcome. If they really gt banged up, they get a little more. If they blow through it with no injury (esp. if they do not 'expend resources' like spells or x/day powers), they get somewhat less.
In the current Arcana Unearthed game, I cut all XP to about a third to a half and then rounded down further based on performance. These were all new classes, races and spells so I wanted people to stay at lower levels long enough to become familiar with what they can do. As of last game, I removed that block and they're not getting full xp per encounter as we head towards the last half of the campaign arc.
In the current Arcana Unearthed game, I cut all XP to about a third to a half and then rounded down further based on performance. These were all new classes, races and spells so I wanted people to stay at lower levels long enough to become familiar with what they can do. As of last game, I removed that block and they're not getting full xp per encounter as we head towards the last half of the campaign arc.
Calico_Jack73
First Post
I normally do the CR/ECL thing but currently I'm running the Midnight adventure Crown of Shadows and they do it a little differently and I hope I see more adventures like it.
At the end of each chapter they have a total XP award broken down into objectives. You add up the awards for the objectives that were completed and you are done. Since the setting kind of discourages blindly going into combat sometimes you get greater awards for avoiding a confrontation than facing it directly. In any case, I like having all the work done for me and in a nice convenient spot so I don't have to do any number crunching.
Edit: Oh, for players who can't make it they get 75% of what everyone else did and the player who played the character for the missing player gets a 25% bonus. Provides a bit of incentive for players to do some of the work for me.
At the end of each chapter they have a total XP award broken down into objectives. You add up the awards for the objectives that were completed and you are done. Since the setting kind of discourages blindly going into combat sometimes you get greater awards for avoiding a confrontation than facing it directly. In any case, I like having all the work done for me and in a nice convenient spot so I don't have to do any number crunching.
Edit: Oh, for players who can't make it they get 75% of what everyone else did and the player who played the character for the missing player gets a 25% bonus. Provides a bit of incentive for players to do some of the work for me.
Last edited:
BiggusGeekus
That's Latin for "cool"
For my d20 Modern game I give flat, per session rewards. Guys who don't show up get 50% of that. The level up once every three or four games.
Why?
We don't play d20M as often as we'd like. If you're in a game that's played once a month or less, it's a little difficult to maintain continuity. Rather than reward individual actions (which will likely be forgotten by the next session) I just made it clear to the players that we were going to sit back and just have some silly fun shooting up kobolds with shotguns. It's worked well for this game, but I'd never do this for a weekly session.
Why?
We don't play d20M as often as we'd like. If you're in a game that's played once a month or less, it's a little difficult to maintain continuity. Rather than reward individual actions (which will likely be forgotten by the next session) I just made it clear to the players that we were going to sit back and just have some silly fun shooting up kobolds with shotguns. It's worked well for this game, but I'd never do this for a weekly session.
francisca
I got dice older than you.
I use UA flat rate per encounter system. However, I did the math one night and found that at higher levels, the 13.3 encounters per level up for the pre-fab four didn't hold up. It was between 12.6 to 14.3. Since I was in one of those "can't leave well enough alone" moods, I figured out what the XP awards should be for a consistent 13.3/level, and left the advancement table alone.
I know, I know, it's overly picky, and it really doesn't matter because I DM for a group of 5-6 PCs, not the pre-fab four anyway.
I also give story awards, and night's experience sometimes.
I know, I know, it's overly picky, and it really doesn't matter because I DM for a group of 5-6 PCs, not the pre-fab four anyway.
I also give story awards, and night's experience sometimes.
MerakSpielman
First Post
I give encounter XP, and in-character XP, but rarely story XP. I don't have a story beyond that which the players end up making for themselves. I don't have a plot figured out ahead of time, so I'm not able to hand out breadcrumbs when they follow it.
On the other hand, when a player has their character do something strikingly in-character (or clever), they get a little bonus - usually 10xp per character level. I bump it up to 20 per character level for truly incredible in-character behavior. I just handed out the first XP for my new campaign. This is the XP I handed out:
The cleric of the God of Mercy:
Attemting to assist dying man in ally and taking his body to the guards: 10xp
Investigating the ship (Detect spells, talking to sailers): 10xp
Binding the wounds of a dying enemy: 20xp
Participating in the Cultist fight: 150xp
Total: 190xp
The ranger/trapper dudette:
Attempting to track the dead man back to his starting point: 10xp
Suggesting staking out the ship: 10xp
Tailing the sailers into town: 10xp
Participating in the Cultist fight: 150xp
Total: 180xp
The Sorceress/Barmaid Dudette:
Gathering Information: 10xp
Charming the Dockmaster: 10xp
Tailing the cultist: 10xp
Participating in the Cultist Fight: 150xp
Total: 180xp
By increasing the number of XP gained for the bonus activities as the characters increase in level, I'm actively encouraging them to act in-character in such a way that it will still mean something at 8th or 17th level. This was their first little adventure, so I'm hoping to wean them off of the more mundane bonus-XP items (gathering information, for instance) and get some real role-playing stuff going on (with the plot they're coming up with, it shouldn't be hard).
Without bonus XP, it's hard for a character to justify doing things in-character that could potentially be bad strategic ideas (binding the enemy's wounds, for instance). I don't want the characters to behave like they're in some sort of game; I want them to behave like actual people.
On the other hand, when a player has their character do something strikingly in-character (or clever), they get a little bonus - usually 10xp per character level. I bump it up to 20 per character level for truly incredible in-character behavior. I just handed out the first XP for my new campaign. This is the XP I handed out:
The cleric of the God of Mercy:
Attemting to assist dying man in ally and taking his body to the guards: 10xp
Investigating the ship (Detect spells, talking to sailers): 10xp
Binding the wounds of a dying enemy: 20xp
Participating in the Cultist fight: 150xp
Total: 190xp
The ranger/trapper dudette:
Attempting to track the dead man back to his starting point: 10xp
Suggesting staking out the ship: 10xp
Tailing the sailers into town: 10xp
Participating in the Cultist fight: 150xp
Total: 180xp
The Sorceress/Barmaid Dudette:
Gathering Information: 10xp
Charming the Dockmaster: 10xp
Tailing the cultist: 10xp
Participating in the Cultist Fight: 150xp
Total: 180xp
By increasing the number of XP gained for the bonus activities as the characters increase in level, I'm actively encouraging them to act in-character in such a way that it will still mean something at 8th or 17th level. This was their first little adventure, so I'm hoping to wean them off of the more mundane bonus-XP items (gathering information, for instance) and get some real role-playing stuff going on (with the plot they're coming up with, it shouldn't be hard).
Without bonus XP, it's hard for a character to justify doing things in-character that could potentially be bad strategic ideas (binding the enemy's wounds, for instance). I don't want the characters to behave like they're in some sort of game; I want them to behave like actual people.
Emiricol
Registered User
I play online for three hours per weekend, and I hate focusing on challenges/XP over PC development and so on, so for that particular campaign the XP system that has worked best for me is to give the players each XP equal to average party level * number of hours played * (25, 50 or 75 depending on how difficult it was, usually 50). So, the party is currently average 5th level, and 3 hours per session, default 50 per - it'd be 5*3*50 = 750 xp per weekend. I give bonus XP based on a bunch of other things, but never a large number of XP. 50 here, 75 there.
But I just tell them when they level, they don't really see that going on.
But I just tell them when they level, they don't really see that going on.
Bendris Noulg
First Post
StalkingBlue
First Post
In the low-level Midnight game I run:
Encounter XP as per DMG, sometimes varied by circumstance (hasn't happend so far in this game).
Story XP for in-game achievements (little so far although one chunk may be coming up); for writing Story Hour accounts; for involved character backgrounds.
In a DnD game I play in:
Encounter XP as per DMG, Story XP primarily for political achievements (toppling governments - can you tell this is a high-level game?), plus some for Story Hour accounts.
In a Conan game I play in: freeform XP as per the Conan RPG book.
Encounter XP as per DMG, sometimes varied by circumstance (hasn't happend so far in this game).
Story XP for in-game achievements (little so far although one chunk may be coming up); for writing Story Hour accounts; for involved character backgrounds.
In a DnD game I play in:
Encounter XP as per DMG, Story XP primarily for political achievements (toppling governments - can you tell this is a high-level game?), plus some for Story Hour accounts.
In a Conan game I play in: freeform XP as per the Conan RPG book.
francisca said:
I looked at the CR/ECL system and decided I had better things to do. I did a little math and figured out that "3d4 * 10 * average character level" gave the advance a level per 13.33 encounters. After a few sessions, I found that 2 or 3 encounters per session gave a good advancement rate for the players.
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