One thing I like about 5e is that higher level characters do not necessarily become "untouchable", and as a result, it's more feasible to have interactions between characters of different levels (and some people talked about this with regards to sandbox style gaming). So suppose I am DMing a group of 3 lvl 1 PCs that are traveling with a CR 5 NPC, as if they are apprentices learning the ropes. How should I be dividing an encounter that is worth 1000 xp? Should it be even distribution (each gets 250 xp) or should the CR 5 NPC weigh more (and if so, how much more?)?
D&D 5E Splitting xp between characters of different lvls?
- Thread starter sephyr
- Start date
Warmaster Horus
Explorer
Evenly, especially if they contribute.
Ok, but if we put it more extremely, say a lvl 1 char and a lvl 18 char facing off a CR 10 foe with 5900xp. If it's even distribution, lvl 1 character will gain 2950xp, which is up to lvl 4 at the very least. That said, having a high level companion far exceeds the benefits of having a magic item then --- and every party should be out there seeking such a benefactor to join their group. If we weigh them by the amount of xp they need to gain a lvl (300 for lvl 1 and 40000 for lvl 18) then the lvl 1 char would gain only (300/(40300))*5900 = 44xp, which seems like a more meaningful allocation. A lvl-based weighting would have 1 vs 18, so lvl 1 char in that case would gain (1/19)*5900 = 311xp, which also seems more meaningful to me.
Rod Staffwand
aka Ermlaspur Flormbator
Question: Why would a 1st level character engage in a potentially deadly combat worth 5900xp for a measly 44xp when they could just grind on goblins to level safely?
Because after the previous character death Heironeous decided that the new team member had to start at the bottom.
You can do it that way if you want to, but higher level NPCs generally don't do that. They give quests or information, and they have powerful enemies. If they get involved in the matters of the PCs, then you will have powerful enemies crashing the party who can kill the PCs outright.
The xp weighted by level means that the lower level character will never catch up to the others, and this can create problems at the table.
Rod Staffwand
aka Ermlaspur Flormbator
Oh, I see. So if Captain America bites it, the Avengers go get Paul Blart: Mall Cop?
Fralex
Explorer
Wait til you see what they've installed in his segway.
the Jester
Legend
The problem here isn't even xp distribution, it's the nature of the encounter. IF you're going to have that kind of setup, be aware of and prepared for that kind of quick-leveling effect and decide how you'll deal with it. Let it stand, only one level at a time, bank the xp and award them over time- there are a ton of ways to handle this, and many of them keep such crazy multiple-level-jumps from happening.
The key here is to decide how quickly you are comfortable with pcs leveling in a party with a wide disparity of levels.
If you're going to run ES@1 (Everyone Starts At 1st Level), in my opinion, you're best off letting the pcs choose their adventures and how difficult they are. In such a case, the party is very likely to go for easier (though not necessarily easy) adventures first, and they can still be challenging for a high-level pc! A large group of goblins or hobgoblins is still a threat at high levels, especially if they are at all tactical, yet such an encounter is not an instant death for the low level guys waiting to happen. It rapidly becomes obvious to the bad guys who the deadly enemy that needs to be taken down is (hint: not the 1st level guy), so they may tend to focus largely on that enemy, with only a couple goblins (or whatever) at a time focusing on the low-level guy, since it takes him 2 rounds to drop one of them. (OTOH some savvy monsters might go the opposite way, choosing to weed out the weaklings first....)
The Crimson Binome
Hero
Handing out XP is more of an art than a science, especially when you have vast disparities in level. The game hasn't really considered a party with that large of a gap in it since... AD&D, or so. For what it's worth, back then they also had the rule that you could never gain more than one level at a time (effectively, that meant once per dungeon, since it took so long to train).
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Even though 5e can handle characters of multiple levels id still advise against too large of a gap between levels. What is an easy challenge for your level 18 would kill your level 1 thirty times over again. The keeping to hit values within the same bracket was to allow the use of multiple weaker monsters to challenge players, because level differences still suffer in terms of damage and hit points.
So at higher levels i can put a big bad in a room with a dozen zombies on his team and the zombies will contribute to the fight but probably drop in 1 hit. As for players if you MUST have them at different levels keep them in the same tier of levels. Other than that, distribute exp evenly or your players will resent you
So at higher levels i can put a big bad in a room with a dozen zombies on his team and the zombies will contribute to the fight but probably drop in 1 hit. As for players if you MUST have them at different levels keep them in the same tier of levels. Other than that, distribute exp evenly or your players will resent you
I prefer an older method for dividing experience when NPCs are involved.
Pack bearers count as one eighth of a character each.
Simple men-at-arms count as a quarter of a character each.
Other more experienced NPCs count as half a character each.
It takes a tiny bit of extra math sometimes, but the PCs get the largest part of the XP.
Pack bearers count as one eighth of a character each.
Simple men-at-arms count as a quarter of a character each.
Other more experienced NPCs count as half a character each.
It takes a tiny bit of extra math sometimes, but the PCs get the largest part of the XP.
If I use the ES@1-rule I would go in the opposite direction, because the low level characters should be able to catch up with the high level characters. The higher level character should get less and the low level characters should get more xp.
ExploderWizard
Hero
How strange. Are there high level pack bearers running around then?
We always did half XP for henchmen but simple men at arms, linkboys, and pack bearers didn't gain levels and thus didn't earn XP.
AmerginLiath
Adventurer
That would have made the Brubaker run...interesting.
On the question of level disparity, I'd be cautious of having characters from too-separated tiers together for this reason. I'm reminded actually of how the DMG breaks down groups of levels that are treated as fairly equal for treasure and the like: having characters within 3-5 levels of each other is the traditional issue, rather than the odd "Heironeous is an Equal Opportunity Employer and 1st-level Adventurers have equal rights to apply for this delve vacancy." Having the occasional adventure of far-disparate-leveled characters is fun (we've done it in 'crossovers' of groups in our campaign), but you need to manage the threats so everyone has a narrative role besides "hide in the back" or "cannon fodder."
On the slight-difference level (the 1sts with a 5th, for example, in the OP), I agree that you can divide the XP equally. If the higher-level character did something exceptional (often based off increased abilities and survivability), feel free to award a slight additional bonus (not enough to push him over, but if he gets an extra 10% after a particularly-heroic showing, he feels good about the increased award while the others get to feel good about leveling faster due to to facing the more heroic threats).
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to write up a low-level Apparatus of Kwalish variant (only big enough to stand on) for my Folk Hero town guard to stop thieves with before he receives his shield...
We let them "level" so if we needed a replacement character and there was an NPC left we could have the player that lost a character stay in the action by temporarily promoting the NPC to a PC. At least until the party got to town and a newly rolled up PC could be added.
AmerginLiath
Adventurer
Pack bearers need to level so that they can throw ASIs into Strength and become better at carrying your loads! 
Grazzt
Demon Lord
Yep this. Always split evenly, if they contribute, and no matter the level differences.
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