No XP for summoned creatures, right?

[GorTeX]

Effects created by a spell-like ability.

But where does it actually make that link? I've searched and searched and couldn't find it.

I've asked and asked, and have yet to find anyone who can point me to where it is stated that spell-like effect = spell-like ability...yet everyone (including me) plays it that way.

they both use spell-like, but that is the only actual link I can see (I very well may have just missed the link in all my searching)

 

[pallandrome]

I always ask myself: Does the story gain anything through denying the PCs X. Where X is whatever the PCs were looking to get. Obviously if you give the PCs everything they want, then it drains all of the tension and fun out of the game. But what does giving the PCs a few extra bits of xp do?

 

[pawsplay]

I can't think of any useful other way to play it.

 

[mvincent]

what does giving the PCs a few extra bits of xp do?

As it effectively rewards certain behavior, extra bits of XP can do just about anything.

Example: If XP is given for slaying monsters that they themselves have summoned, the PC's may prefer to stay home all day engaging in furious conjurbation.

But yes, I have a hard time denying XP for creatures that are effectively the same as non-summoned creatures for all intents and purposes.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I always ask myself: Does the story gain anything through denying the PCs X. Where X is whatever the PCs were looking to get. Obviously if you give the PCs everything they want, then it drains all of the tension and fun out of the game. But what does giving the PCs a few extra bits of xp do?

The potential downside is that the PCs will be rewarded for stupid or otherwise undesirable behavior.

An example in a gray area is the party with zero ranks in Survival slogging their way across the Dark Forest beating up random wandering monsters. Should they get a lot more experience than the party with the clever Ranger who quickly & easily bypasses all the danger?

My personal preference is that the DM have a flat XP award for crossing the Dark Forest, and give very small token awards for the random encounters, such that the XP total will end up being pretty much the same.

A weirder example would be playing out The Seven Samurai as an adventure. Should you get more XP for keeping the villagers away from all the fighting? Under 1e guidelines I can easily imagine players bending over backwards to keep all NPCs from the fight, so that fodder NPCs are not soaking up precious XP for "guarding the mules" while barely within the combat zone. Obviously no one who took the spirit of this scenario seriously would allow any the villagers to get slaughtered pointlessly, but it would ruin the mood to go for the other extreme as well.

 

[mvincent]

An example in a gray area is the party with zero ranks in Survival slogging their way across the Dark Forest beating up random wandering monsters. Should they get a lot more experience than the party with the clever Ranger who quickly & easily bypasses all the danger?

Heck yeah! Practically any game I've seen (rpg, computer RPG, etc.) gives points for such activety. Wandering around and needlessly killin' things is sometimes the whole point of D&D.

If the party managed to scry/teleport to the final scene of an adventure, would you give them the same XP as if they hacked their way through each encounter? The result is the same (i.e. offing the BBEG).

I haven't heard of anyone denying points for wandering monsters.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Heck yeah! Practically any game I've seen (rpg, computer RPG, etc.) gives points for such activety. Wandering around and needlessly killin' things is sometimes the whole point of D&D.

Is that not one of the favorite issues over which to mock CRPGs? It is not always a bad thing, but would you say it is a generally good thing in your opinion?

If the party managed to scry/teleport to the final scene of an adventure, would you give them the same XP as if they hacked their way through each encounter? The result is the same (i.e. offing the BBEG).

In a well designed adventure, absolutely yes!

If the Scry and Teleport represent significant resources then those two precious spell slots, the time to research the necessary info to pull this off, the fact the BBEG has extra fodder guards to draw upon if the battle is drawn out, and the risk associated with not necessarily having a reasonable retreat route all add up to a price tag that will usually affect the course of the final battle.

If the Scry and Teleport represent trivial resources, then awarded XP for wandering monsters and fixed guardians along the route seems silly, does it not? You are too powerful to ever have to fight anything!

 

[shilsen]

If the party managed to scry/teleport to the final scene of an adventure, would you give them the same XP as if they hacked their way through each encounter? The result is the same (i.e. offing the BBEG).

Absolutely.

Of course, I probably don't really count since (as I mentioned above) I'd give them the same XP whatever they did, whether they managed to off the BBEG or not. I figure that leaves the PCs free to do whatever it is that the players think they should, without having the metagame concern about whether that'll gain them XP or not. And the main benefits for their actions occur in-game, with victory and defeat being rewarded not by more or less XP but by the in-game repercussions.

 

[Infiniti2000]

It was introduced in 3.5

But that's for summon monster N spells. That's not for Summon (Sp) abilities, is it?

Effects created by a spell-like ability.

While that may be true, it's incomplete. Magical items also explicitly produce spell-like effects: "Magic items produce spells or spell-like effects."

 

[moritheil]

Absolutely.

Of course, I probably don't really count since (as I mentioned above) I'd give them the same XP whatever they did, whether they managed to off the BBEG or not. I figure that leaves the PCs free to do whatever it is that the players think they should, without having the metagame concern about whether that'll gain them XP or not. And the main benefits for their actions occur in-game, with victory and defeat being rewarded not by more or less XP but by the in-game repercussions.

Agree with this approach. Doing dozens of random encounters to level up works in CRPGs; one hopes that a session will not simply replicate a CRPG experience.