Handling XP when the PCs bypass the enemy rather than facing it.

[johnsemlak]

In the last session the PCs were travelling on a raft down a river in a swamp and got ambushed from both sides by bowman. A druid cast a Fog spell to hide the PCs. The PCs were able to float past the ambush and avoid any direct combat.

Perhaps I could have been meaner and made it more difficult for the PCs to evade, but I judged at the time that the monsters onland (all humanoids with no special advantages in the swamp) weren't able to follow the PCs in the swamp conditions.

Anyway, the PCs did get past the monsters. There were about two dozen bowmen and some more powerful leaders. What should the PCs get credit for? I decided to give them xp for the bowman who attacked them. Was that reasonable?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Tough one. After all, it's them who fled....

 

[Oscar carramiñana]

I don't know if i can help you. In my group every encounter will give xp to Pcs sometimes hacking a lot, evading the fight or with a great idea that saves the day. Even if the monsters beat the Pcs she can earn anything.
good luck

 

[Davek]

If the party was going somewhere specific, with a pre determined plot goal, then avoiding the combat should get them experience. Maybe not combat experience, but something for sticking to their objectives. They should be rewarded for sticking to objectives and goals, possibly even a greater amount than if they would have gotten if they had allowed themselves to be distracted and joined in combat (especially if they have a habit of being easily distracted.)

If they did not have any specific goal or objective, and merely wanted to avoid the combat, then they should get only minimal experience, as there is nothing that they have really learned from the encounter.

 

[Thanee]

What you did sounds fair.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Will]

This is why I ultimately got rid of monster-based XP.

From a player perspective... 'so we don't get XP for being world-appropriate and smart? I guess we should just look for fights from now on.'

 

[Destil]

Was the player's goal to survive the ambushand contunue down the river? Or did they for some reason need to confront and defeat the ambushing party?

If it's the first I'd award full XP.

For the 2nd, I wouldn't award any.

 

[daTim]

Give them the experience, they are already forfeiting the treasure and possible money they could gain. I suppose it depends on how you look at it though... did they run away or did they defeat the ambush.

 

[Silveras]

It is important to remember that the XP system is for overcoming challenges, not specifically for killing monsters. The question here is, What was the challenge ? If the ambush was meant to prevent the PCs from continuing downriver, they "overcame" it nicely. If the challenge was to survive the ambush, they "overcame" that version nicely as well. If the challenge was to obtain some clue that the leaders of the bowmen have, well, they failed that version (so far; they will probably have to come back and earn the XP later, though).

 

[johnsemlak]

From reading the thread and considering the comments, I agree with those who said it was appropriate to award XP. In this case, they PCs were travelling to reach a certain point, and the ambush was aimed at preventing that. The PCs bypassed the enemy and reached their destination.

Now, I think I may have allowed to PCs to get away to easily, but that's a different question.

Still, the quantity of XP is still a question for me. Should it be full XP based on all the monsters involved the ambush? (THere were several leader NPCs who didn't engage, as the PCs got away before all of them got involved) Should I determine a story award that is independant of the Monsters involved (or atleast one that considers other factors)?

Of course at the end of the day it's somewhat arbitrary how much XP PCs get and the improtant thing is to run the game enjoyably. I'm just trying to get a handle on how best to apply the rules.