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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 6038026" data-attributes="member: 463">The best treatment of XP depends as much on the campaign as on the ruleset. If you run 3.5/Pathfinder in Old School style with variable player and PC group, open world, tentpole megadungeon, etc, then individual PC XP is best. If you run it Adventure Path/Epic Quest style, with a single group of 4-6 PCs expected to go through eg 15 levels of play together, then a single XP tally for the party is best. Same goes for other rulesets, though the older editions tend more towards individual XP and 4e tends more to party XP as the most desirable default.Edit: For instance, my 4e D&amp;D game has a single XP tally that I track. Every PC is the same level. My Pathfinder GM running Rise of the Runelords does the same. My Pathfinder Beginner Box game has every PC start at 1st level and earn individual XP. Both approaches work well in their respective games.I wouldn't like not having XP and having all the pressure on me to decide when a fair or reasonable point to level up was by GM fiat. I like that XP rewards greater achievements with faster levelling.Edit 2: A compromise approach that works well IME is to have individual XP by PC, but a set starting XP tally above 0 for new PCs. This should be whatever the GM thinks is needed for PCs to be able to function in the environment. Eg in my AD&amp;D online Yggsburgh game, PCs currently start with 5,001 XP. This seems to work better than 'lose 2 levels on death' or a floating start level based on average or lowest party level.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 6038026, member: 463"] The best treatment of XP depends as much on the campaign as on the ruleset. If you run 3.5/Pathfinder in Old School style with variable player and PC group, open world, tentpole megadungeon, etc, then individual PC XP is best. If you run it Adventure Path/Epic Quest style, with a single group of 4-6 PCs expected to go through eg 15 levels of play together, then a single XP tally for the party is best. Same goes for other rulesets, though the older editions tend more towards individual XP and 4e tends more to party XP as the most desirable default. Edit: For instance, my 4e D&D game has a single XP tally that I track. Every PC is the same level. My Pathfinder GM running Rise of the Runelords does the same. My Pathfinder Beginner Box game has every PC start at 1st level and earn individual XP. Both approaches work well in their respective games. I wouldn't like not having XP and having all the pressure on me to decide when a fair or reasonable point to level up was by GM fiat. I like that XP rewards greater achievements with faster levelling. Edit 2: A compromise approach that works well IME is to have individual XP by PC, but a set starting XP tally above 0 for new PCs. This should be whatever the GM thinks is needed for PCs to be able to function in the environment. Eg in my AD&D online Yggsburgh game, PCs currently start with 5,001 XP. This seems to work better than 'lose 2 levels on death' or a floating start level based on average or lowest party level. [/QUOTE]

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