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<blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 7380632" data-attributes="member: 6669384">Sometimes, when you have a chance to see an encounter ahead of time, as this group did on both occasions, &quot;success&quot; means finding a way to void the encounter entirely.&nbsp; In this case the party had faced the Flying Monkeys archers before, and had faced other airborne opponents in the course of play.&nbsp; They knew how poorly equipped and prepared for such an exchange.&nbsp; Several PCs have no ranged combat ability to speak of.&nbsp; The Fighter/Warmage is proficient with bow, has faced this problem, has had time, money and opportunity to get&nbsp; bow and yet hasn't.The heavy fighter who just died has a crossbow, even though he's proficient in the faster firing short and long bows.The Cleric has spells, but no bow.So I suppose part of the problem with the unwinnable encounter is, why is it unwinnable?If it's obvious that the party is just plain outmatched, and they can see that before they walk in, then maybe they shouldn't walk in.If they're outmatched because they aren't prepared, and had every opportunity to prepare, what then?&nbsp; Exp, full or partial for getting your butt kicked *because* you didn't prepare?Sometimes my 10+ level party encounters low level highwaymen or Orc raiders, encounters that hardly rate as speed bumps.&nbsp; The world doesn't level up with the party.&nbsp; There's stuff they can walk over near-effortlessly, and stuff they aren't ready for.&nbsp; So question:&nbsp; Should the hapless highwaymen, who made the near fatal mistake of waylaying the PC party that's six or more levels higher than they are, all gain one or two full levels of Exp from getting trashed, arrested and sent off to prison?&nbsp; Because they survived?By the same token, should a low level PC party gain a level or two by successfully running away from a Dragon or other &quot;in way over their head&quot; encounter?Hence my original question:&nbsp; How much exp do you award to someone whose only real victory was that they didn't get killed?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Greenfield, post: 7380632, member: 6669384"] Sometimes, when you have a chance to see an encounter ahead of time, as this group did on both occasions, "success" means finding a way to void the encounter entirely. In this case the party had faced the Flying Monkeys archers before, and had faced other airborne opponents in the course of play. They knew how poorly equipped and prepared for such an exchange. Several PCs have no ranged combat ability to speak of. The Fighter/Warmage is proficient with bow, has faced this problem, has had time, money and opportunity to get bow and yet hasn't. The heavy fighter who just died has a crossbow, even though he's proficient in the faster firing short and long bows. The Cleric has spells, but no bow. So I suppose part of the problem with the unwinnable encounter is, why is it unwinnable? If it's obvious that the party is just plain outmatched, and they can see that before they walk in, then maybe they shouldn't walk in. If they're outmatched because they aren't prepared, and had every opportunity to prepare, what then? Exp, full or partial for getting your butt kicked *because* you didn't prepare? Sometimes my 10+ level party encounters low level highwaymen or Orc raiders, encounters that hardly rate as speed bumps. The world doesn't level up with the party. There's stuff they can walk over near-effortlessly, and stuff they aren't ready for. So question: Should the hapless highwaymen, who made the near fatal mistake of waylaying the PC party that's six or more levels higher than they are, all gain one or two full levels of Exp from getting trashed, arrested and sent off to prison? Because they survived? By the same token, should a low level PC party gain a level or two by successfully running away from a Dragon or other "in way over their head" encounter? Hence my original question: How much exp do you award to someone whose only real victory was that they didn't get killed? [/QUOTE]

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