D&D 5E Sacred Cow Bites The Dust.

[Zardnaar]

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

I'm gonna stat up a Sacred Cow at CR 23. It will cast spells as a level 20 cleric as well, have a thunder dealing moo effect and maybe fly.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Undead Sacred Cow should be a Rib Roast...

 

[Satyrn]

Aye. We generraly just level up after an adventure, or after what feels like an appropriate number of sessions. It's completely a DM's whim thing, but it works because we trust our DMs enough, and we'll all just expecting the levelling to happen at a sort of video game pace (probably mostly influenced by Borderlands at this point) where the first few levels fly by and then slow down.

 

[Igwilly]

Honestly, there is a certain appeal in XP for both my players and I. I already killed XP but eventually cast a Wish and brought it back. It’s just fun to keep those numbers somewhere on your character sheet.
However, XP is rewarded in different manners: I give XP for missions and accomplished objectives. Perhaps I‘ll also give XP for monsters and treasure in my next campaign, but make certain that these actions pull the story forward: slaying the NPC who would help you takes XP away from you, muahahahaha!
But I prefer mission-based XP.

 

[Satyrn]

Honestly, there is a certain appeal in XP for both my players and I.

I can totally understand that. I remember enjoying it, too, but it also seems like there was equal parts chore in my memory.

But then, I also find it a chore to track my gold, too - and I'd guess I'm in a very small minority there. I tend to just deal with round numbers on my character sheet, tracking gold to the nearest hundred, completely ignoring copper, and only use silver the odd time I bother tracking something carefully.

Because of this rounding, I pretty much always wind up spending a lot gold than I otherwise would (I try not to do this iffy math in my favor). I wonder how much money I'm actually tossing into the aether during a character's life. Probably thousands. *shrug*

 

[Yunru]

I kinda want to turn the milestone concept into a 'calendar' based level system, but I haven't thought too deeply into it (things like whether down-time counts or not).

 

[Blue]

"Hi, I'm Blue, and I'm a recovering XP-user."

I'm with you. When I run, I ssed to track individual PC XP even (because characters often got bonuses for good RP, etc.). Gave it all up.

I make sure that player know progress is getting made, but level-ups are now at story appropriate points. (And since a players steer most of the story, that puts a lot of control on them.)

I play in an FLGS game that uses XP, but that feels like a bit of a different use-case because of the organized play framework.

 

[Mercule]

I've been debating killing off XP. Being a player for going one 35 years, now, it's hard. I've never had a problem with it before recently, either.

But... My current group includes one younger (since when did late 30s become "younger"?) who has the "clear the level" mentality. One guy I've gamed with for 25 years has also started chaffing at the fact that he gets more XP for killing everything than for talking his way out of a situation, but I know that he'd, at least occasionally, take advantage if I gave full XP for negotiating his way out of a situation by circling back and "cleaning up loose ends".

So, the conundrum is: Using XP is part of D&D, but clearing the level isn't. For that matter, only getting XP for killing things wasn't part of the AD&D design.

 

[Helldritch]

I have tried the mile stone approach and hated it with a passion.

Mile stones feels too subjective for me. Players bypass most of the scene and get to the way point. Good story, but what did the characters actually learned? Almost nothing. But, since the characters are now at the mile stone, they should level... not my cup of tea.

The xp system is a wee bit less subjective.
Players bypass the encounter by chance? No exp.

Players bypass the encounter through cleaver play? Exp given.

Players negociate the encounter with good diplomacy and RP? Exp given.

Players fight their way through? Exp given.

Players know their way in over their heads and flee? Half exp given. They'll have to come back to get the rest of the exp. Knowing when it's time to flee can be quite a good learning experience.

Once exp is given for a given encounter, it won't be awarded again. They negociate with the goblins and come back 2 days later and kill them. No experience the second time. They had received their exp already. No need to give it to them twice and depending on the situation, it could even be a negative experience award.

All my players are aware of my rules and their consequences. This makes the exp system quite objective. Yep, I much prefer exp.

 

[Yunru]

I have tried the mile stone approach and hated it with a passion.

Mile stones feels too subjective for me. Players bypass most of the scene and get to the way point. Good story, but what did the characters actually learned? Almost nothing. But, since the characters are now at the mile stone, they should level... not my cup of tea.

The xp system is a wee bit less subjective.
Players bypass the encounter by chance? No exp.

Players bypass the encounter through cleaver play? Exp given.

Players negociate the encounter with good diplomacy and RP? Exp given.

Players fight their way through? Exp given.

Players know their way in over their heads and flee? Half exp given. They'll have to come back to get the rest of the exp. Knowing when it's time to flee can be quite a good learning experience.

Once exp is given for a given encounter, it won't be awarded again. They negociate with the goblins and come back 2 days later and kill them. No experience the second time. They had received their exp already. No need to give it to them twice and depending on the situation, it could even be a negative experience award.

All my players are aware of my rules and their consequences. This makes the exp system quite objective. Yep, I much prefer exp.

Except you're first point can be countered by replacing "EXP given" with "Milestone awarded" in the rest of your post.