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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 7475143" data-attributes="member: 20564">I'm of several minds about this.&nbsp; Let me talk about all my contradictory thoughts and maybe you'll find something that resonates.1.&nbsp; I currently do &quot;level-when-I-say&quot;, no XP even recorded.&nbsp; The game normally grants XP for defeating encounters, which leads to a particular mentality.&nbsp; If you aren't defeating encounters, you aren't advancing.&nbsp; So I do something closer to milestone XP, but since the players have a lot of freedom in what hooks to follow or to make up their own, I don't have defined milestones.&nbsp; It's more like when they are entering a new arena, a larger scope, that I level them.2.&nbsp; 5e games I've played (/am playing) with several DMs have group XP - everyone levels at the same time.&nbsp; Penalizing someone in their hobby for having real-life intrude so they miss a session isn't fun.2a.&nbsp; #2 is especially true if you don't vary XP in other ways - if no matter how well you play there's no chance to catch up, and no matter how badly you play attendance is the only thing that matters for an XP reward, what behavior are you rewarding and reinforcing?3.&nbsp; Because of bounded accuracy, 5e is still decent with players a level or two apart.&nbsp; Perhaps give those who are not at the top level a 20% bonus to earned XP.&nbsp; They will be going against more difficult opponents for them then for others.&nbsp; This way you preserve the varying XP feel but it's not a permanent stain on their character for missing temporary thing (a single session).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Blue, post: 7475143, member: 20564"] I'm of several minds about this. Let me talk about all my contradictory thoughts and maybe you'll find something that resonates. 1. I currently do "level-when-I-say", no XP even recorded. The game normally grants XP for defeating encounters, which leads to a particular mentality. If you aren't defeating encounters, you aren't advancing. So I do something closer to milestone XP, but since the players have a lot of freedom in what hooks to follow or to make up their own, I don't have defined milestones. It's more like when they are entering a new arena, a larger scope, that I level them. 2. 5e games I've played (/am playing) with several DMs have group XP - everyone levels at the same time. Penalizing someone in their hobby for having real-life intrude so they miss a session isn't fun. 2a. #2 is especially true if you don't vary XP in other ways - if no matter how well you play there's no chance to catch up, and no matter how badly you play attendance is the only thing that matters for an XP reward, what behavior are you rewarding and reinforcing? 3. Because of bounded accuracy, 5e is still decent with players a level or two apart. Perhaps give those who are not at the top level a 20% bonus to earned XP. They will be going against more difficult opponents for them then for others. This way you preserve the varying XP feel but it's not a permanent stain on their character for missing temporary thing (a single session). [/QUOTE]

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