Slowing Advancement and Other Arbitrary Restrictions

[Ry]

Double the requirements for levelling - I do this, it works great.

 

[Emirikol]

Wow, these are great ideas. I too am looking to slow my next campaign's advancements.

Half the x.p. given out. Half the g.p. given out.

jh

 

[Kestrel]

Dump xp altogether, since it leads to a killacon attitude (kill kill kill for levels). Level the PCs at story appropriate times or due to party consensus (I do this)

 

[Crysmalon]

I've been running a Wilderlands game for a few months now and am using the default "double XP" progression chart. I'm 'loosy-goosy' with CRs and XP and use CR as a rough guide. After 6 5-6 hour games with much fighting, a party of 5-6 is near 3rd level and crawling to reach there. I like it. I also strip back treasure by at least 1/3 and this seems to give me the feel I'm after.

Furthermore, all 'cheating' spells (detect x, locate y, tongues, easy raise dead) require XP costs and/or other penalties to require thought before they are used.

End result: gritty, rough fantasy that combined with a tone and campaign feel help out quite a bit.

 

[Reynard]

Dump xp altogether, since it leads to a killacon attitude (kill kill kill for levels). Level the PCs at story appropriate times or due to party consensus (I do this)

1) You don't get XP for killing things in 3E. You get XP for overcoming challenges.

2) I don't tell my players stories. They tell stories to one another after the game is done.

3) "Party concensus" is for answering questions like "There's an ogre in front of you. What do you do?"

2 and 3 IMHO, of course.

 

[RFisher]

I always looked on the wealth by level guidelines as just a tool for the DM creating NPCs or for when you decide to create PCs beyond 1st level. When I ran 3e, I gave out treasure as I thought best & ignored the guidelines. When creating PCs beyond 1st level, I usually didn't give them anything but the standard starting gold. (They may have to avoid some encounters that would normally be considered appropriate to their level, but they should fairly quickly make up the difference.)

As for XP, I've been considering the alternate XP system from UA should I ever run a d20 game again. It looks pretty "old school". Anyone have any experience (pun ^_^ intended) with it?

 

[Kestrel]

Fair enough. You were elicting opinions, so I posted mine.

Personally, I think tracking xp as a mathematical formula is a total waste of effort. Instead of complicating it with further divisions, why not simply decide the pace that you actually want and go with it? (Hmm...I like for 1st level to last two sessions...boom done)

For my own group, we like to maximize the fun for all players, including the GM. Consensus allows us to determine when we want to move to the next level in the game.

YMMV of course.

 

[Emirikol]

Furthermore, all 'cheating' spells (detect x, locate y, tongues, easy raise dead) require XP costs and/or other penalties to require thought before they are used.

Sounds like a fun game. I do the same for our Conan D&D games.

A suggestion on the "cheating" spells. Instead of x.p., just bump them up a level. It may allow you to slim down your house rules. Here's what I do for the spells that I don't think are congruent with our campaign:

Campaign Magic Bumps The following spells and magical items are bumped up one level:
1ST) Create water, Command, Detect alignment, Endure Elements, Entangle, Magic missile, Hold person, Lesser orb spells (CA), Revification (CD)
2ND) Command undead, Invisibility, Locate object, Scorching ray, Spider climb
3RD) Create Food & Water, Fireball, Firebrand, Fly, Lightning bolt, Invisibility Sphere; Speak with Dead
4TH) Dimension Door, Evards Black Tentacles, Imbue with Spell Ability, Stoneskin
5TH) Commune, Raise Dead (bumped two levels), Polymorph
6TH) Disintegrate
7TH) Teleport, mass teleport

All non-core spells are subject to DM approval and if same as core spell, they will be bumped

jh





..

 

[jensun]

Throw out XP based on CR or anything else in-game and just award enough per session to have PCs advance at the speed you want. If your PCs never use item creation or particular spells that drain XP, you could even drop XP altogether and just advance them as needed.

This is very sound advice.

If you dont want to go down that route then throw less combat encounters at your players. Up the level of social, political, intrigue or investigation elements into the game.

If you are going to cut xp awards or change the xp requirements then do it in conjunction with your players rather than just imposing it on them.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Have you even seen the XP method used in some Midnight campaigns? It awards XP based upon goals and events at the end of "chapters". For example:

PCs defeat the goblins: 360xp
PCs show enough common sense not to tangle with the golem and successfully avoid the threat it represents: 500xp
PCs simply kill the wounded orc: 100xp
PCs coax useful information from the wounded orc: 200-400xp

It is a little harder to use when you have a more free-flowing game than a written adventure, but you can set some general guidelines that you can use.