D&D General The Old "Boil an Ant Hill" Problem

[Lanefan]

In our case, we run usually through one adventure per session (unless the adventures are short, in which case we can occasionally get through two in a session). We're talking homebrewed adventures, by the way, not published modules (which I understand can get pretty lengthy). We play on Saturdays from noon until 5-6 PM and generally get in about one session per month, sometimes two if we're lucky.

Ah. So when you say the players have adequate time to learn their PCs' new abilities, you're referring to the time between sessions.

For me, the only time I'm going to learn about such things is when I'm actually playing the character at the table...which in this case would be one session at most before getting a new layer of abilities tacked on, i.e. pretty much no time at all.

Part of this is because our rule here is that character sheets stay with the DM between sessions, so that if you for some reason don't make the next session your character can still be played (our adventures always take more than one session, thus we often end in mid-adventure and sometimes even in mid-combat).

 

[LordEntrails]

For those of you that use XP rather than milestone leveling: How do you deal with the issue of players wanting to earn the final few XP to level up?

I have a standing policy to allow "extra credit" projects for bonus XP. Stuff like in-character journaling, painting your mini, and for-the-good-of-the-order options like buying a new set of wet-erase markers or building a new initiative tracker all count. I find that preferable to going out and murdering the nearest wolf just to ding, but I suspect there are simpler ways to address the issue.

How do you guys handle it at your table?

(Comic Related. Also, Munchkin card related.)

Don't do that? I mean XP for real-life stuff? Yea, not for me. Just like I don't penalize a player by reducing their characters XP if they miss a session, I don't reward a player's character for something the player does. In stead I given them a heartfelt thanks and smile.

But hey, bribery works so I guess if it works for you...?

I also don't give out XP every session. It's just not that important so when I do it's usually in some nearly random, "Oh, for the last several session the party did well, here's 10,000xp to split among all of you." And yes, I just pull the number out of my @55.

 

[Lanefan]

If they want more XP, they go hunting monsters or take on a side quest that they have been avoiding. Otherwise they just have to wait until they get a bit further in the campaign.

Also, if they reroll their character, because of death, the new character starts at the first level of our lowest character's current tier and only has starting level equipment. If they want to swap out characters (not due to death/in-game consequences), I might let them start at their previous character's level, but only with the base XP for that level and only starting level equipment.

First level of the lowest party tier sounds a bit harsh. I usually set a floor, which slowly rises along with the average party level as the campaign goes along, and replacement PCs come in at that level.

I dole out XP as soon as the battle is over (otherwise I'd forget), but other than hit points, if a player isn't ready for his character's updated stats, it continues playing with only the previous level's abilities until the end of the session.

If PCs have xp coming to them they don't get them until after an overnight rest (in 5e that'd be a long rest, usually). If nobody's close to bumping I'll let them pile up for a while; if someone's close I'll give them out every in-game morning.

My characters get individual XP, but it gets divided equally amongst everybody involved in the fight (that survived). If it doesn't come off as equal, whomever the table feels was the most effective/dealt the determining blow gets the extra.

Yes, everyone involved usually gets full xp, those not involved get none, and sometimes someone only peripherially involved might get half. If you die you get half, which is relevant if-when you get revived.

I just round any extra, thus if 3 characters are sharing 100 xp they'd each get 33 but if they were sharing 101 they'd each get 34.

 

[The Green Hermit]

First level of the lowest party tier sounds a bit harsh. I usually set a floor, which slowly rises along with the average party level as the campaign goes along, and replacement PCs come in at that level.

We thought about just having them start at Level 1, but since this campaign is aimed at going through Level 20, we figured that would just be an exercise in futility.

If PCs have xp coming to them they don't get them until after an overnight rest (in 5e that'd be a long rest, usually). If nobody's close to bumping I'll let them pile up for a while; if someone's close I'll give them out every in-game morning.

I see no reason to make them rest first, but to each their own.

Yes, everyone involved usually gets full xp, those not involved get none, and sometimes someone only peripherially involved might get half. If you die you get half, which is relevant if-when you get revived.

Characters being revived isn't a possibility right now, but I would still not give them XP for a combat where they died.

 

[Richards]

Ah. So when you say the players have adequate time to learn their PCs' new abilities, you're referring to the time between sessions.

For me, the only time I'm going to learn about such things is when I'm actually playing the character at the table...which in this case would be one session at most before getting a new layer of abilities tacked on, i.e. pretty much no time at all.

Yes and no. Yes, because the players all keep their own PC binders, so they have time between sessions to bone up on their PCs' various abilities should they be so inclined. But also no, because by stretching out each level to cover five separate adventures, I'm extending the in-play time for each level. So while using the standard 3.5 XP rules I could easily have a 1st-level party make it to 2nd level by the end of their first adventure, but I plan on running them through five entire adventures before they make it to 2nd level (and then five more before they reach 3rd level, and so on). So they should hopefully have enough time during those five sessions to more or less master what their PCs can do at that level before they gain a new level and gain some more feats/class abilities/whatever.

That's the plan, anyway. We'll see how it plays out. This will be the first time I've tried abandoning the standard XP system. Fortunately, my players historically haven't been interested in magic item creation that would drain their PCs of XP; I'm hoping to keep them all at the same XP level so they can all level up together as a team each time.

Johnathan

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I have a standing policy to allow "extra credit" projects for bonus XP. Stuff like in-character journaling, painting your mini, and for-the-good-of-the-order options like buying a new set of wet-erase markers or building a new initiative tracker all count. I find that preferable to going out and murdering the nearest wolf just to ding, but I suspect there are simpler ways to address the issue.

That's not bad, so long as it's only applied for the last little bit of XP. I may be yoinking this.

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

I don't tell XP to the players, and I only let them level up in between sessions. Even if they knew the CR of all homebrew monsters, they still can't calculate their XP anyway because I also reward XP for good roleplay.

 

[Fauchard1520]

I don't tell XP to the players, and I only let them level up in between sessions. Even if they knew the CR of all homebrew monsters, they still can't calculate their XP anyway because I also reward XP for good roleplay.

That secrecy business is a fair trade-off. You do give up on the anticipation of level-up though, which can bring a fair bit of excitement as players begin to weigh their build options.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

If they really want to kill NPCs in town, they can. I'm not going to stop them. But the guards might.

 

[Bohandas]