Other ways of handling XP

[Nightchilde-2]

I'm not currently running D&D or d20, but when I start up a new D&D campaign, I'm thinking of using the True20 "level when the GM says so" system, and the Craft Points system from Unearthed Arcana for magic item creation/spell XP (i.e. all classes get X amount of Craft Points per level which can be used for crafting items or spending for spells).

I'm also probably going to allow non-spellcasters to "donate" their Craft Points for creating items, but I'm not sure how this will work in-game yet.

 

[delericho]

I tried various things, but eventually settled on just going by-the-book as being the simplest (since there's no need to change anything, and no worries about things like Item Crafting).

I award XP whether the player attends the session or not. And, if a new character joins the group, that character comes in with the same XP total as everyone else. (Except, a character brought in to replace a character who died enters with the XP total that the old character would have had, had that character been raised. Or, the player can opt to pay 25,000 gp from the character's starting funds, and come in at the same XP total as the group, exactly as if a True Resurrection had been used. Naturally, that option only really applies to high-level campaigns, and has never actually been used in one of my campaigns, since at that level characters were always Resurrected anyway.)

 

[Hellefire]

Because I've only been playing 3.x for 2 months now, I've been trying to do it by the be\ook to get a feel for it. I was offering full xp for absent people if they had someone run their character and had the chance of dying. I recently changed that to 1/2 xp, because I think that people who show up and put themselves in the game deserve to be rewarded for that. House rules include bonus XP for learning something (usually something witty and having to do with the session), for mapping, for keeping notes/lists of loot, for setting up beforehand and cleaning afterwards, etc. I also let players write a background for their character when they first appear, and give them some bonus xp and occasionally a skill point depending on whats in the background.

Aaron

 

[delericho]

I was offering full xp for absent people if they had someone run their character and had the chance of dying.

It's always been my policy when a player is absent then the character kind of fades into the background, and becomes generally less active (unless another player actively takes him over, but that's rare). However, unless the character has been written out (due to a long absence that I've known about in advance), then the character is still there, and still at risk from any of the many dangers the group faces. And, if the character dies, that's just too bad. I've never had any problems with this policy, which is not to say they can't occur.

I recently changed that to 1/2 xp, because I think that people who show up and put themselves in the game deserve to be rewarded for that.

I like to think I run a good game. That being the case, isn't showing up and having a good time reward enough?

(I use the same rationale for not giving individual role-playing awards, awards for detailed character backgrounds, or anything else. In general, the more you put into one of my games, the more enjoyment you get out of it, so there's no need to offer further incentives.)