How do you award XP?

[Dragonhelm]

Back in the AD&D days, I would give out XP based on monsters fought, etc. etc. As I got older, I tired of all the bookkeeping.

These days, I level up when it seems right. It's not something tangible, just the feel of when we should level. This works well for me since I'm a story-driven DM.

If I run an adventure, I may go by the adventure itself. For example, when I ran the Age of Mortals adventures for Dragonlance, a good pace seemed to be to level up at every chapter.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

I roughly follow the xp guidelines for D&D 4e, but I don't actually award XP. Instead I plan encounters and rewards such that we level once every 3 or 4 sessions. Probably they actually "earn" a little more XP than is necessary to make a level, but they don't notice the difference.

 

[Haltherrion]

For years (pretty much all my 25 yrs as a DM) I had been awarding monster XP 'by the book' with an individual 'bonus' for each player depending on how well they each role-played. This led to some disgruntlement however when some players started comparing XP and wondered why they werent getting a lower amount since, they reckoned, "I Role Played better than, or as good as, him". I recently canvassed re my players opinions about their overall campaign preferences (including methods of awarding XP/Levelling) and they said, almost unanimously, that they would prefer if we ditched the 'awarding' of XP after each session and that I (as DM) just decided when they should level up. I'm cool with that, and if thats what they like then thats what I'll do from now on.

Did you also go away from different individual awards at this time? or do different PCs level at different rates?

I've used individual XP bonuses at times although I do it less then I used to. It can cause strife and when I do something that causes friction, I like to step back and see if the benefits outweigh the negatives. Our group has played together well for a long time now and doesn't really seem to need any incentive to RP well so I just award a little extra when someone does something that we all agree truly stands out.

 

[Haltherrion]

Thanks for all the insight into how you award XP.

Must say I'm a little surprised the poll split fairly equally between by encounter, by session and "as it makes sense". Reading the forums, I got a different sense but I suspect that is because "by encounter" is a crunchier and crunchier rules can inspire more traffic as people ask about specific mechanics and situations.

 

[Hereticus]

Bonus Action Die - 25 Base XP (in play this would be multiplied by adventure's threat level, which is the average party level plus a modifier representing the difficulty of the adventure, -2, 0, +1, +2, and +4 are possible values) covers roleplaying, the practical joke, and other moments of cool and mirth at the table. The XP is nice, but the die itself is a significant reward too.

As for the dungeon, as an example:

Exploring the Dungeon:
a) Explore 25% of dungeon: 50 XP
b) Explore 50% of dungeon: 100 XP
c) Explore 75% of dungeon: 150 XP
d) Explore 100% of dungeon: 200 XP

You could also base objectives on amount oif treasure recovered, have an objective like "Sneak past goblin guards" worth the same as the guards themselves (so the PCs get X for killing the guards, or 2X for sneaking past them).

Turning the dungeon into a fortress for the PCs isn't directly worth XP in Fantasy Craft, primarily because holdings give other benefits. Nothing prevents you for setting milestones in the holding's development. As for planning, it's not really XP worthy since there's no risk, and they tend to reward themselves in the system.

1) Those are minute amounts of experience.

2) That is alot of math.

3) I'd level in mathematician before my characters leveled in their classes.

 

[Krensky]

1) Those are minute amounts of experience.

2) That is alot of math.

3) I'd level in mathematician before my characters leveled in their classes.

1) No, they're not. Not in the system in question. 200 Base XP is a major reward. On par with overcoming a Dragon, Kraken, or Godzilla. (243, 182, and 230 respectively).

2) Basic addition and multiplication is too much? Last game I ran, the party earned about 1000 XP, average party level is 4, and the adventure was Challenging. Total XP reward is 1000 * (4+1) = 5000. Puts them a little over halfway to 5th level. Of that, maybe 200 or 250 was from advesaries and traps.

3) Hardly. Mock all you want, but the system is easy, flexible, and lets you reward what you want to reward.

 

[weem]

Voted:" I don't use XP. We level when it seems about right."

I've done it this way since 3e and prefer it. I have, however, ran a campaign that had a player in it (for 4-5 games or so) who really wanted to know what XP he earned after each thing they did. He was a little irritated that he didn't "earn" anything from session to session, or even encounter to encounter.

Eventually he stopped playing (for other reasons). Other than that, everyone I have run games for this way has been fine with it.

 

[Obryn]

Depends on what we're playing. Right now, I'm doing 4e by the book (mostly.) In latter-era 3.5, Call of Cthulhu d20, and in the future for 4e, it will be per session.

-O

 

[Lord Xtheth]

I note down how much xp the group gets, and whenever I think they level up, or I just need a 5 minute break from DMing is when I tell the players how much XPs they get. Also at the end of the session.

 

[Dykstrav]

Back in the day (before everyone commonly had e-mail), I'd typically award XP at the end of the session. For some campaigns, however, I did it after every encounter. Some players really dig the idea of getting an immediate reward for doing well, so I tried to cater to that play style. It also encouraged those players to interact more with the environment and to get more immersed in the narrative, because they knew that they might receive a tangible lump of XP on the spot for doing so. The carrot on a stick method, I suppose.

Ever since most people commonly had email (since early-to-mid 3E), I've been handing out XP per session during the week. I also do "bluebooking" through email so some players get individualized attention for things they want, but the whole table doesn't necessarily have to be there for (to handle a paladin's quest for a mount or recruiting followers with the Leadership feat and the like, for example).

Lately, Pathfinder Society's model of three sessions equaling a level has really inspired me to think about level advancement in a different way. In order to encourage narrative immersion, I'm thinking of making some sort of system where you become eligible to gain a level every two or three sessions, but you have to fulfill some narrative justification for doing so (training at a temple, defeating a major enemy, earning training from a master sword-fighter, et cetera). I'm thinking that this would make people think of their advancement in terms of what they have accomplished in the world, rather than what they have survived or killed. Maybe require one quest per level to advance or something of that nature.