How do you calculate XP?

[Geoffrey]

My game sessions typically last 4 hours.

After 4 sessions, everyone in the party gains a level.

 

[Agnostic Paladin]

I hadn't noticed the change in the rules. (I think I'll be saying that a lot for the next few months) However, that's the way I've always handed out experience. I want to equalize the party level as fast as possible, and this bit of twinking helps do that.

 

[MarauderX]

CR are too subjective for my campaigns, and encourage more 'beat up the bad guys' instead of avoiding them. I let me players know that they will get the same XP no matter if they fight or use reason in a situation, as I think most DMs do, but you have to encourage that somehow. Besides, it makes bards and all those non-combat skills much more important.

I am a numbers guy and I would get annoyed if I didn't know how much XP I had or when we were leveling.

 

[Beelzebub]

I much prefer the Forgotten Realms/ 3.5e to the old 3.0e system of exp distribution. After running my campaign for the first year the 3rd ed was in existence, the 2 newcomers to our game were in the same position they had been for six months: 2 levels behind everybody else.

After implementing the Forgotten Realms version of experience distribution when it was released, they were caught up within 3 sessions. Also, whenever somebody died, they caught up with the party much quicker with the new system than with the old. Yes, yes, death wasn’t nearly as serious, but the players who died had more <b>FUN</b> by catching up to their comrades a few sessions sooner. Anyway, that’s my 2 cents.

 

[S'mon]

The new method seems much better and I plan to use it. However if a lower level PC contributes little to a fight they should prob get a 1/2 share.

 

[S'mon]

In your example combat vs CR 1 foes I certainly wouldn't give the 9th level PCs more than a token award (maybe 50 XP) on either 3.0 or 3.5 method, the 6th level PCs deserve a full award if they contributed fully to the fight.

 

[S'mon]

The new method does seem to require a lot more calculation though - I used the FRCS system for one session and it was horribly clunky, doing all the math. I think I'll aim to apply a single aggregate 'session CR' (being typically party level +4, for one with 4 party-EL fights) and work out XP from that.

 

[A'koss]

In my games it's all story-based, awarded at the end of every "chapter".

I've found that in the long run there was really no point in fussing with XP encounter to encounter. CRs are very dependent on the party build and are often iffy even with a standard group. Plus, awarding levels in the middle of a dungeon has always been a bit of a logical disjoin for me. I like "reflection time" myself...


A'koss.

 

[apocalypstick]

The system works by awarding points for various aspects of play. Two macro categories, Group and Individual Rewards, are subdivided into various other categories, which are further broken down into specific rewards and their Point Value. The main categories are as follows:

*snip*

And, of course, I built a spread sheet to do all the calculating for me.

If anyone is interested in seeing more, let me know. I'll post whatever you like.

Dr. Dan

This looks really interesting, actually - and far more complex than anything I would ever have come up with on my own. Do you think you could semd me a copy of your spreadsheet? email to applespit@netzero.com and I would be, like, all appreciative and stuff.

 

[nsruf]

My only major houserule is my variant XP system. I dislike kill XP just for slaying monsters, and so I adapted a more story based approach a la GURPS or Shadowrun. Basically, it goes like this:

1. After each play session, individual PCs are rated on a scale of 1 (poor) to 10 (outstanding). I do this by giving 1 point for player attendance, and then 0-3 each for danger, achievement, and roleplaying. The average should be about 5 rating points per session. (Characters who are run as NPCs due to player absence only get 0-3 points for danger.)

2. The rating is multiplied by a scaling factor based on average party level, namely

(APL + 1) x 50 XP

The recommended rate of advancement would be APL x 60 XP, but I like faster advancement in the early levels and slower later.

So far, this has worked out quite well. We can do roleplay-heavy sessions and no one complains that there is too little advacement. And we can do combat encounters in a smart way, i.e. no "one more goblin to level up" syndrome.