How do you calculate XP?

[teitan]

I use a system similar to BESM D20. 200 x the character level with some little +10 variables for roleplaying added into the 200 here and there as well as -10s for doing things that are utterly stupid and unheroic (even villains can be heroic in a sense) like stabbing the party in the back etc...

This way de-emphasizees monster bashing and emphasizes creative thinking on the PCs part since the players don't think... I have to kill that minotaur to advance. Despite all of them having the DMG, none of them have read it to any great extent and definitely not the XP rules.

I may go with the standard system when I get back into DnD in a few months, just put a heavy emphasis tat you DON'T have to slay the monsters to get the XP...

Jason

 

[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?
*snip*

I thought I'd go one better and post it here for everyone to see and try. Feedback is always appreciated.

Dr. Dan

 

[hunter1828]

Has anyone tried the XP awards in the revised Star Wars rulebook? I was thinking of trying them out and was curious if they work well for D&D...

I've been using the Star Wars Revised XP system for a while and it seems to be working well.

hunter1828

 

[Leopold]

FRCS theres a nice XP calculator on the net..crap can't find it now..it's an .exe that is like xpcalc.exe real nice

 

[enworldatemylogin]

When I DM I use the 3.0 method modified by what I think is right, sometimes I think the battle was too easy and reduce the award and sometimes I add for role playing or other deeds.

In the games I'm currently playing in, I once leveled up after just 2 sessions in the Scarred Lands campaign. XP seems easy to come by in that.

In the 3.0 homebrew we get about the normal DMG style, I think, which is NOT leveling up every 13.3 encounters, more like every 9 or 10.

In the Farscape d20, we get very little and have to accomplish real story forwarding deeds and have a good game night. This is probably closer to the 13.3 needed.

 

[wighair]

I couldn't get Ravellion's link to work, so here is a version I just created. hopefuly the values haven't changed between 3 and 3.5 (i don't have my books at hand). It allows you you divide the values automatically by any number, but 2-10 are already done.
Hope its useful to someone...

 

[Psion]

I use a variation of one of the methods in the 3.0 book. Namely, I grant 74 xp/hour * (average party level)^.5 as a baseline, then add a percentage based on my perceived difficulty of the adventure and contribution (cleverness, roleplaying) of the players. Players below the party average level get a 20% bonus; those above get a penalty.

I rarely find the EL/CR is the pivotal factor in the difficulty of the adventure and find it is not the best way to ajudicate non-combat encounter. I also feel that the book method rockets through higher levels too fast.

 

[Shallown]

I just use an outline for the ongoing story/plot and assign Xp for each encounter. Encounters consist of several things; Things to fight; things to do (find X information, Sell X magic items) and people to talk to. Most encounters fall into those categories.

I use an outline of planned events that is very sketchy allwoing room for sidetracks and such. It takes a hand written page to plan out the next 3 character levels and contains maybe 15-20 encounters. I assign XP for each encounter based on what I think will be the difficulty then adjust that number after the encounter. It can be 1/2 to doubled based on how well the characters do.

An encounter may be so general as Arrive at capitol city. This leaves me free to not railroad but adjust to what the characters want to do. Since the outline is based on a epid quest type of plot the players have accepted they will have to follow a ceratin path to succeed so little railroadingthere since they can bail on the quest and do something else. They know I'll keep running the game, of course, when the world is taken over by Demons and devils don't come crying to me.

And If you think arriving at a city isn't an encounter realize I run my cities as living breathing things some cities are friendly some are not. I have one city that is not evil but the characters sure think so.

I award Xp based on a heirarchy
First Was the encounter challenging
Second did you roleplay your character as established
Third did you cooperate with the party (Within the bounds of your characters personality)
Fourth did you cooperate with the GM

Just my thoughts