Level Independent XP Awards

[Anubis]

Oops, I just did some calculations and realized that the CHI/RHO system needs one tiny adjustment. The way you stated it, a Level 20 character gets the same XP for a CR 20 encounter as a Level 10 character does. Obviously, this must be fixed so that the Level 10 character is getting more and the Level 20 character is getting less (as it should be since the less experienced learn more from the encounter).

It's a minor change, though.

RHO simply needs to be changed to a specific character's ECL squared multiplied by the number of party members (instead of adding the individual squares together).

 

[Cheiromancer]

Are you talking about method 2b? You don't use Rho at all. You divide the CHI by the number of players, then each character divides by their level.

So for a CR 20 encounter, that's 20*20*300 = 120 000. Say there are 4 characters. That's a base 30 000 per person, and the 10th level character gets 3000 xp and the 20th level character gets 1500 xp.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

The xp given in an encounter is simply CHI/RHO.

Total XP or per character?

Give us a mid-level example (say 5/6/6/7) with some CR8 critters.

 

[Cheiromancer]

There is a third method that I think is quite elegant. In it, you need 1000 xp to advance a level. If someone has 13500 xp, they are 14th level.

The xp given in an encounter is simply CHI/RHO.

It's per person. You perform the calculation and say "everyone gets...." For example

CHI for a CR 8 encounter is 8*8*300 = 19200.
Rho for a 5/6/6/7 party is 25 + 36 + 36 + 49 = 146

CHI/RHO is 19200/146 = 131 which is each character's award.

It's exactly 13.1% of the xp needed for that character to get to the next level of experience.

Method 2a, what I call the GT method would take the 131 xp and multiply by their character level. But that's because they need (character level x 1000 xp) to advance a level. This method eliminates the escalating cost of advancing a level, so you don't need the extra multiplication.

The simplicity gained in the awards of xp is lost when folks make magic items or cast spells with xp components or the like; they divide these costs by their character level. That's because for a 20th level wizard 5000 xp is a quarter of a level; a character in this system has to divide by 20 to get an expenditure equal to a quarter of a level.

If you give an xp award (for completing a story arc, say) which is intended to benefit lower level characters more, then a division by character level will also have to take place.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Ok.

Not to be nitpicky, but personally I don't think the expression of CHI should include the 300 xp.

Chi/Rho is critter power / party power.

Chi/Rho*300 = XP award.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I think you are right about the 300. Especially since it will likely vary according to how fast GMs want the characters advance.

 

[Anubis]

Actually I was talking about the CHI/RHO system. I invented 2b, silly.

I said I would be adopting the CHI/RHO system you micro-formed it down to, but then realized it gives everyone the same XP regardless of level. This is a flaw and is contrary to the core rules. Weaker characters are supposed to gain more XP than stronger characters, given an identical encounter.

My statement was that, to fix CHI/RHO, you have to multiply the level squared by the number of party members, not just add up the different numbers for the entire party. You even demonstrated the problem in your recent post with the "everyone gets" statement. This means weaker character can't catch up no matter how hard they try.

Instead, just multiply the level squared by the number of party members and award XP individually to sovle the problem.

 

[Cheiromancer]

Ah, you mean the last formulation? Where the individual XP award is CHI/RHO? Yeah, it is closest to Grim Tales, not the 3.5 method.

Wulf's point is good, I think; if CHI is the monster's power, and RHO is the party's power, then having xp = CHI/RHO * 300 makes a lot of sense (i.e. remove the *300 from the definition of CHI) If you change the definition of RHO to be the individual's level squared times the number of party members, it really no longer represents much of anything.

You are free to do as you like, of course, but I think that xp = CHI/RHO * 300 is probably the most elegant formulation to date.

 

[Coredump]

hey Cheiro, would it be better to discuss this in this thread, or the other thread? Which would you prefer?


http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=141922

 

[Cheiromancer]

I check this forum more frequently; I mostly posted over there so I could be sure that Wulf Ratbane would see it. But more of the theory is here. And it is in this thread that Wulf posted, anyways.