D&D 4E No Roleplaying XP in 4e

[ProfessorCirno]

I reward in ways other then XP. A paladin performs above and beyond the call of duty? He's going to have a nice Holy Avenger knock off in the vague future. Or maybe the story will change a bit to reward them in that matter. I don't think you should make a big deal out of rewarding someone for playing the game well, but at the same time, you shouldn't just ignore it.

 

[Badjak]

I've played some incredibly entertaining hack-and-slash games. I've also played some incredibly entertaining and involving roleplaying games that were character intensive and involved a lot of in-depth character growth. However, some of the WORST games I have ever played (and I've played a couple of doozies) had their faults in the fact that the DM imposed roleplaying regulations either through xp rewards, or alignment arguments, or sanctions of one kind or another. In my experience, rewarding xp for experience tends to create "survivor" moments where the either the most extrusive player or the player who is the better social manipulator get the xp, and others tend to get their feelings hurt. Frankly, I can understand WOTC retinence in adopting rules for something so subjective and prone ego-bruising.

 

[Blackbrrd]

My group tends to stop role playing when we are in combat. Therefore I am thinking of giving xp to players who manage to stay in character in combat.

You really remember the combat when the Minotaur 13th level fighter at 1 hp charges the main bad guy while shouting: "FOR THE EMPEROR!!!"*. It was clear that the character expected to meet his Emperor that day.

Until that moment it wasn't really clear who the lawful neutral Minotaurs owed his allegiance. If the player instead of shouting his war cry had just said "I charge the wizard", we wouldn't have had that insight into the character.

We had at that time played the characters for over two years, starting at level 1. Therefore I am going to encourage RP in combat more than we have until now.

I don't know if I am actually going to give XP for RP in combat, but I am seriously contemplating it. Giving RP XP quickly turns into a quagmire of problems though. "Hey, I was in character the whole evening and only got 100xp for it while A got 200xp, whyyyy?!". Most of the players in my group wouldn't say it directly, but they would at times felt like saying it

*The Emperor is the Minotaur name of Kiri-Jolith in the Dragonlance campaign setting

 

[Lanefan]

As long as everyone had a good time at the table, everyone gets the same XP. What's the point of giving different people different XP anyway? Level disparities suck.

Level disparities are a fact of life. Now, granted, 4e's done its best to reduce their frequency - no more level drain, I think no more level loss on return from death - but if you're giving out ExP fairly, and by that I mean giving ExP only to those characters that got involved in earning said ExP, then eventually luck and good/bad play will see some PCs earn more than others. A PC might be captured for a while, or dead for half an adventure, whatever, and miss out on a bunch of ExP...and that's just one example of how disparity can arise.

I don't do the role-playing ExP reward thing either, but I do expect to entertain/be entertained by the players and their characters. We give out awards for various things at the end of each year - as far as I'm concerned, the most important of these is "Most Entertaining Character"...

Lanefan

 

[drjones]

Indeed, could it be that everyone (other than myself and the 2 you mentioned) missed the point of D&D being a roleplaying game to begin with?

Don't worry, the world is full of uber-nerd RP cops who want things done THE ONE TRUE WAY.

Thing is, the drama school at my university was full of gamers and every one of them was a crummy, crummy actor while simultaneously being the most deluded about their own skills. Myself excluded of course

An hour playing improv games will give you more instruction in performance than a campaigns worth of talking in a bad ye-olde-english accent about hobbits in your basement. There is nothing wrong with wanting to RP a lot in ones dnd game but making it the point of the entire endeavor (and rewarding/punishing others based on how well they fit with your definition of 'good rp') is a huge waste. You do not need a game to act, just start fricking talking. All it takes is imagination, brilliance and charisma. Oh and stability, wisdom, posture, focus and good looks help.

No prob right?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Don't worry, the world is full of uber-nerd RP cops who want things done THE ONE TRUE WAY.

Thing is, the drama school at my university was full of gamers and every one of them was a crummy, crummy actor while simultaneously being the most deluded about their own skills. Myself excluded of course

You knew you were bad?

 

[D.Shaffer]

WotC posted an excerpt about quest XP... in the middle of it, there's this:

I've been using Roleplaying XP awards for over 20 years and it works very well on many levels.

I was holding out a faint glimmer of hope for 4e, but this just snuffed that out.

Thoughts?

I was never found of RP awards. "So, because I havent jumped the right hoops that you, in your long time DM duty, expect me to jump through, I dont get the same XP that everyone else does? Thanks...I'll make sure to bark like the trained seal you want me to be, next time"

As for the game itself, I dont believe a section specifically tailored for rewarding xp for roleplaying is necessary. I also think the title of this post is misleading as it seems to be implying you beleive there is going to be no RP at all.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I was never found of RP awards. "So, because I havent jumped the right hoops that you, in your long time DM duty, expect me to jump through, I dont get the same XP that everyone else does? Thanks...I'll make sure to bark like the trained seal you want me to be, next time"

Actually it's more along the lines of "So, because I've spent the evening talking about World of Warcraft and making as many OOC jokes as possible, can't be bothered to remember the name of my own character and insist on playing a 1000-year old Elf Wizard as if he were a drunk truck driver, I don't get the same XP that everyone does?". - "Yep, that's right".

 

[AllisterH]

I wonder though...If your PC concept is the strong silent type, would you get the same xp reward as the guy who had a more boisterous character?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Actually it's more along the lines of "So, because I've spent the evening talking about World of Warcraft and making as many OOC jokes as possible, can't be bothered to remember the name of my own character and insist on playing a 1000-year old Elf Wizard as if he were a drunk truck driver, I don't get the same XP that everyone does?". - "Yep, that's right".

I can totally understand. It's not easy to tell someone that you think your playstyles are not exactly compatible, and that he might need to adjust or just go...