D&D 5E My D&D Next Wishlist: Bring back XP for GP!

[dagger]

AD&D wasn't consistent about gold for xp. There was already a note about the DM awarding xp:gp at 1:1, 1:2, or even 1:10 ratio, based on difficulty. Also--


3. Xp for magic items, and also for selling the items? Could PCs double-dip?
4. Hard monsters sometimes had little treasure, and easy monsters had lots; this happened frequently when doing random monsters/treasure

Its actually pretty clear cut (to me)on these issues....

 

[Crazy Jerome]

I agree with you, xp for gold should definitely be there in some form. I also agree with Kamikaze Midget, that perhaps the best way to present the idea would be as part of a discussion about the awarding of xp as a driver of player behaviour in gamist play. And ofc, a simulationist version of xp also needs to be included.

This. A modular system needs multiple methods to grant XP, including ad hoc awards or doing away with XP entirely--with clear discussion of the likely effects on play. Without the discussion, they might as well not bother.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Could PCs double-dip?

With regard to the ale and whores system, I had an evil thought. Could a PC pay a prostitute, thus gaining xp, then kill the unfortunate sex worker, get his gold back and spend it again elsewhere? This could continue indefinitely, at least until the police arrive.

Note: I'm not advocating killing prostitutes and taking their stuff.

 

[the Jester]

I agree. At the very least, this should be an optional rule. Frankly, it should be quite easy to set the expected wealth for each level at the same number of XP needed to advance, which would make it easy to house rule even if they didn't specifically include it as an optional XP rule.

While I like xp for gp, I hope we never see an "expected wealth by level" in D&D again.

 

[AeroDm]

With regard to the ale and whores system, I had an evil thought. Could a PC pay a prostitute, thus gaining xp, then kill the unfortunate sex worker, get his gold back and spend it again elsewhere? This could continue indefinitely, at least until the police arrive.

Note: I'm not advocating killing prostitutes and taking their stuff.

I read that 100% as an endorsement of killing prostitutes and taking their stuff....

I'm really not a fan of XP for GP. It was a clunky system and if anything I'd like to see XP moved more into the abstract. Players progressed much more slowly in OD&D or 2e and so experience needed to be a very tangible reward. Since 3e, we've steadily moved towards a range of rewards with powers, bonuses, skill pts, magic items, etc every level. Experience can fade into the background and I'd like to level when it suits the story.

 

[BobTheNob]

We abandoned XP for our 4e campaign and to a large part that worked really well. In a way, XP can be overhead that can get in the way of the real experience (sitting there counting XP points rather than slaying enemies).

That said, some interesting things have been said on this forum. I especially (sorta) like the idea of spending money for XP. Its a good "gold dump" and you can allow players to define their own RP terms for how this happens (e.g. the fighter goes to the training yard, while that surly dwarf wastes his on beer and gambling, whilst the paladins is in the form of tithe's to the poor).

As long as there was also a equally good way to spend gold (so that gold isnt used exclusively for level gain and items are a little wonky to me) this idea is intriguing to me.

 

[Talath]

Gold for XP was an integral part of the dungeon crawling experience in earlier editions, but it's only half a component without a defined end game that allows a character to hoard gold in order to secure some untouched land to build their fortress/stronghold/temple/what-have-you. Add in domain rules and there is a setting contextual reason to loot and hoard gold.

 

[F700]

As far as I can recall from AD&D, xp for gold was largely because you weren't supposed to level up while in the dungeon. You were expected to:

a) get the loot OUT of the dungeon before it counted as xp
b) the gold counted as xp because you were expected to find a higher level mentor and pay them for the training that became your level increase.

Ten thousand gp wasn't ten thousand xp and ten thousand gold you could spend. If you took five thousand as xp, it was considered spent on training, leaving you five thousand to spend as cash.

 

[CleverNickName]

I've always awarded equal XP for avoiding combat...sometimes more.

Sure, slaying the evil wizard and bringing his body back for the reward money will earn you some XP. But convincing him to surrender and turn himself in? That's some serious roleplaying right there. I'd award the party double, maybe even triple the XP that they would have gotten for slaying him.

 

[Tortoise]

When I was gearing up towards running a 1e game for the first time in 20 years a few years back, I ended up re-evaluating a lot of the things I'd basically disregarded as either too-complicated or too-silly while I was growing up playing the game.

The most striking of these was the XP-for-GP system.

As a middle- and high-schooler, I thought it was the silliest thing I'd ever heard. How in the world can getting money make you better at your job? As an adult, with the help of a few forum discussions, I realized it's a feature of 1e that makes its playstyle unique among the various D&D editions.

XP-for-GP rewards you very directly for a smart, cautious playstyle. Monsters give XP when you kill them, sure, but that's piddling compared to the XP you get from escaping with a ruby necklace or a +1 sword. So, given how lethal combat could be, your best course of action is to infiltrate a dungeon, make minimal deadly contact with monsters, and escape with the loot.

One of the things Next could provide to get it close to 1e in my "top editions" ranking is by incorporating this as an optional module. It was one of the most eye-opening things about 1e for me, and it's one of the main reasons it's my second-favorite edition now.

-O

Despite being a 30 year veteran, I was for many years baffled by the XP for Gold idea. Now though, I understand it and love it.

I would really like there to be various xp systems in 5e so we can do things as it suits the individual groups.