Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 7285515" data-attributes="member: 20564">I know, it's so arbitrary that the DM rates the difficulty of the situation and hands out XP.&nbsp; oh wait, am I talking abotu combat XP or not, I forget?In fact, it's all arbitrary.&nbsp; One just has some math that posits that a combat encounter is equally challenging regardless of the party, the synergy, the builds, the items, and everything else except the number of characters.And milestones need not be &quot;level when I say&quot; because not all plots need be linear.&nbsp; There are bound to be plenty of optional accomplishments.&nbsp; Killing the ogres may be a milestone, but also recovering their prisoners before they are eaten might be one, and getting the back to town safely is another - and it's one that will prevent them from dealing with the goblin tribe because they will have moved on by then.Also, think about this:&nbsp; a party needs to recover an book of heretical prophecies from an evil temple.&nbsp; Three parties go in and get it, none accomplishing any other goals along the way.&nbsp; Do they diverse the same experience regardless of how they did it?&nbsp; Group A fought their way in and out.&nbsp; Group B snuck in and out, and had to deal with a lot of traps.&nbsp; Group C bluffed their way into a group of evil pilgrims, took about two weeks to get there, got a chance to see the book, fabricated a duplicate, and swapped them - killing the guardians at the swap in a way that raised no alarms, then bluffed their way out before the guardians bodies were found.If some of these deserve more or less reward than the others to accomplish, then you are telling your players &quot;this is how I want to to play, and I will reward you for it&quot;.&nbsp; It's why the murderhobo tag get applied so much to D&amp;D style games.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Blue, post: 7285515, member: 20564"] I know, it's so arbitrary that the DM rates the difficulty of the situation and hands out XP. oh wait, am I talking abotu combat XP or not, I forget? In fact, it's all arbitrary. One just has some math that posits that a combat encounter is equally challenging regardless of the party, the synergy, the builds, the items, and everything else except the number of characters. And milestones need not be "level when I say" because not all plots need be linear. There are bound to be plenty of optional accomplishments. Killing the ogres may be a milestone, but also recovering their prisoners before they are eaten might be one, and getting the back to town safely is another - and it's one that will prevent them from dealing with the goblin tribe because they will have moved on by then. Also, think about this: a party needs to recover an book of heretical prophecies from an evil temple. Three parties go in and get it, none accomplishing any other goals along the way. Do they [I]diverse[/I] the same experience regardless of how they did it? Group A fought their way in and out. Group B snuck in and out, and had to deal with a lot of traps. Group C bluffed their way into a group of evil pilgrims, took about two weeks to get there, got a chance to see the book, fabricated a duplicate, and swapped them - killing the guardians at the swap in a way that raised no alarms, then bluffed their way out before the guardians bodies were found. If some of these deserve more or less reward than the others to accomplish, then you are telling your players "this is how I want to to play, and I will reward you for it". It's why the murderhobo tag get applied so much to D&D style games. [/QUOTE]

Verification