D&D 5E Sacred Cow Bites The Dust.

[Zardnaar]

After 23 years I killed a sacred cow.

I no longer use XP.

I just level the PCs up. Generally it is.

1. At the end of an adventure OR
2. Something epic happens.

Yesterday the PCs at level 7 killed a CR 13 Dragon (Adult White) in Skyreach Castle which I mined for my current game (not playing HotDQ).

The PCs were 1 breath weapon away form a TPK, I rolled great on the weapon recharges and in the 3rd round the weapon recharged again. The Dragon did not breathe (white Dragon not to bright) and the Dragon still had almost a 3rd of its hit points left. High damage roll and a crit later though= dead Dragon.

TPK the party or give them an "IT" moment. I went with the "IT" moment and then nailed them with an attack later that obliterated a +1 rapier +3 vs reptiles.

 

[ArchfiendBobbie]

Off in some forgotten pasture, a single tombstone lays at one end of a mound dirt. The name on the grave reads "XP."

Suddenly, a half-rotten hoof bursts through the mound of dirt, followed by another. These hooves pull a partly-rotted cow head with red-glowing demon eyes from the dirt, followed soon by the rest of the undead cattle's body. As it claws its way from its final resting point, a solid form of blackness rises from the ground beside it, taking on a thin pole shape until it reaches its full length and an axe head forms.

The cow finally frees itself and grabs the axe, before turning and staring off into the distance. It mutters one single word, a name, before it departs on its unholy quest for vengeance.

"Zardnaar."

Are the players having fun? If they are, then yay!

I can understand why they did experience, but at the same time I've not found it integral to DnD leveling since it no longer is necessary for magic item creation.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

Aye, that's how we run it - when it feels about time, they level.

Works wonders.

 

[Capn Charlie]

I have had a love/hate relationship with XP over the last few decades that has soured to the point that in 5e when I read about milestone leveling, I just shrugged, and moved on.

I have never felt freer.

Before I had players that would go out of their way to force more fights for xp, that never let anything live if they could help it, and now.... if they butcher a bunch of npcs, it is because they are annoyed or bored, not because they are being rewarded at a system level.

 

[Oofta]

I haven't used XP for a few editions now. I don't miss it.

 

[DeanP]

Heretics! Heathens! Your souls will burn in the Nine and three quarters hells!

Sometimes I award XP, other times it's milestones.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Heretics! Heathens! Your souls will burn in the Nine and three quarters hells!

Sometimes I award XP, other times it's milestones.

I've been using XP as a general guideline since 3rd Ed. - Assuming it's not just easiest to have them level-up entirely by story pacing, if they're anywhere close to the XP needed to hit the next level, I'll just raise them up at the next story-appropriate moment. Alternately, there have been a few times a party was technically past the XP requirement but either it seemed really lame to have them increase in power when they'd been slogging through nothing more than a bunch of random encounters, or I wanted them to have a more challenging fight against an upcoming bad guy...

 

[guachi]

I would get rid of XP if the same players showed up for every session.

Giving XP every session rewards those who show up to play. Though XP isn't solely from monsters so as to encourage other ways to accomplish tasks.

 

[Rhenny]

I throw them xp after each session, but really it is just a way for me to let them know that they are 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or at leveling up. Level 1 basically gets done in 1 session. Level 2 in 2 sessions. Levels 3+ take between 3-4 sessions.

The crazy thing is, I'm a 1e D&Der, who was used to spending years working a PC up from level 1 through level 12 or 13. We used to spend 5 or 6 sessions at any one level. Now with 5e, I just like to keep the leveling more fast and furious. During the playtest, I had my group level up every session so that we could play test different options more quickly. Even now, that feeling of fast leveling has stuck with me and my group. I guess old dogs can learn new tricks.

 

[Cyrinishad]

I've found that players focus more on story, immersion, and stronger role-playing once XP is taken out of the equation, my table gave up on XP decades ago. I understand the appeal of the XP award system for Organized play, but not as much for house-games.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Heretics! Heathens! Your souls will burn in the Nine and three quarters hells!

Sometimes I award XP, other times it's milestones.

I gave XP for that post.

 

[Inchoroi]

I actually did the opposite. I ran my first 5e campaign using milestones--it didn't have the right feeling, and my players commented on it on several occasions. We never used XP during 4e or PF, either, so it was natural to use milestones. It just didn't have the same feel. It just wasn't...D&D to us. To be fair, we're a bunch of old grognards that played a lot of older editions, so that's our norm.

However, as a DM, I give XP for more than just killing monsters, and I'll give XP for solving a situation that doesn't end up as a fight, because of their cleverness (or lack thereof). I also second the idea that it provides incentive to come to sessions every week; I do have rules that allows a character to train to catch up a bit, but if you miss a session, you'll miss out on a good potion of XP.

 

[Ilbranteloth]

After 23 years I killed a sacred cow.

I no longer use XP.

I just level the PCs up. Generally it is.

1. At the end of an adventure OR
2. Something epic happens.

Yesterday the PCs at level 7 killed a CR 13 Dragon (Adult White) in Skyreach Castle which I mined for my current game (not playing HotDQ).

The PCs were 1 breath weapon away form a TPK, I rolled great on the weapon recharges and in the 3rd round the weapon recharged again. The Dragon did not breathe (white Dragon not to bright) and the Dragon still had almost a 3rd of its hit points left. High damage roll and a crit later though= dead Dragon.

TPK the party or give them an "IT" moment. I went with the "IT" moment and then nailed them with an attack later that obliterated a +1 rapier +3 vs reptiles.

I've been doing this for years. Decades probably. But then characters in my campaigns advance much more slowly as well.

As I've been going through the forums and tweaking my rules I've come to understand what I'm looking for in my game related to this: Character development and growth combined with story. Success is measured as it is in life, as well as most other media (movies, novels, comics) in that it's about achieving goals, overcoming challenges, defeating (or at least hindering) villains, etc. Gaining levels and new abilities are long-term goals. Most of the new abilities that characters gain in my campaigns are from magic items, most of them consumable. The rest of it is them figuring out how to achieve what they are attempting to accomplish. They aren't focused on gaining another level for that cool ability, or whatever. It's really cool when it happens, but it happens when it's appropriate.

 

[werecorpse]

Tried both.

I Find milestone is more about what you are going to encounter and works well when running adventure paths or linear campaigns but xp is more about what your characters have experienced and i prefer it when I run sandbox

 

[guachi]

4 level 6 PCs kill CR23 Sacred Cow!

That should have been your subject line.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I've never used XP, part of it is that I don't like the system that way, part of it is that it is way too much work for me to invest t do it properly.

Since I prefer the game without it anyways, I've never felt the need to put in that extra work to use XP.

 

[Ancalagon]

I give XP but it's not precisely calculated. If I feel a lot was accomplished in a session, I give more, if less I give less. I keep the amount needed to level up in mind vs the speed I want the party to progress. Absent players get half XP. I'm going to replace level-draining monsters with XP draining monsters.

So I get most of the benefits of XP with almost none of the effort.

I started operating like this in Warhammer frpg 2nd ed and in starwars Saga, and I never looked back.

 

[cbwjm]

We do still use party xp, players don't need to track individual xp totals, rather we just have a single total and every character, old or new, has that xp total. We could use milestones without any real change to how we play.

In all honesty, I haven't really thought DnD needed xp ever since 3e, even though back then it was required for creating magical items and casting some spells. With the same xp chart for every class it kind of killed the need to track individual xp.

 

[Zardnaar]

4 level 6 PCs kill CR23 Sacred Cow!

That should have been your subject line.

Next week.

 

[ArchfiendBobbie]

Next week.

Now I want to stat up both a Sacred Cow and an Undead Sacred Cow.