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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8854084" data-attributes="member: 6877472">I can confirm this- I had a new player lose their mind when they realized I wasn't using the optional xp awards.&nbsp; They had showed up to my game with an Elven Ftr/Thf/MU and after the first session, I expressed my doubts about their survivability going forward.&nbsp; Even with my approach to multi-class hit points (when told to halve or divide hit points by three, I would track fractions of hit points to prevent unfair &quot;salami slicing&quot;), just the idea of needing 3750 xp just to get their 2nd Thief level and a third of a d6+1 hit points (15 Con) was worrying to me.&quot;Yeah, but I'll get xp awards for each of my classes, right?&quot;I blinked at him.&nbsp; &quot;Say what now?&quot;I'd seen the optional rules in the DMG, but as far as I knew, none of the other DM's I played 2e with were using them, so I hadn't bothered to add them.&nbsp; So when I explain that, the guy was like &quot;I can't play in your game, that's entirely unfair.&quot;I was completely at a loss- if I was supposed to be doing this, why was it presented as an optional system?&nbsp; And tracking each action a character made, like tracking video game achievements today, felt artificial and strange to me.&nbsp; Of course, I soon realized that to achieve higher levels by slaying monsters along wasn't going to work- I used a lot of modules back in the day, and if a module said &quot;for characters of 4th-7th levels&quot; and the next one I had was &quot;for characters of 5th-9th levels&quot;, I knew people were going to have to go up a level and a half or so during the first one, so I stopped using monster xp entirely, and just gave out large chunks of xp over the course of the adventure- I guess it was an early version of milestone leveling, thinking back on it.No one seemed to have any problem with this approach, at least.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8854084, member: 6877472"] I can confirm this- I had a new player lose their mind when they realized I wasn't using the optional xp awards. They had showed up to my game with an Elven Ftr/Thf/MU and after the first session, I expressed my doubts about their survivability going forward. Even with my approach to multi-class hit points (when told to halve or divide hit points by three, I would track fractions of hit points to prevent unfair "salami slicing"), just the idea of needing 3750 xp just to get their 2nd Thief level and a third of a d6+1 hit points (15 Con) was worrying to me. "Yeah, but I'll get xp awards for each of my classes, right?" I blinked at him. "Say what now?" I'd seen the optional rules in the DMG, but as far as I knew, none of the other DM's I played 2e with were using them, so I hadn't bothered to add them. So when I explain that, the guy was like "I can't play in your game, that's entirely unfair." I was completely at a loss- if I was supposed to be doing this, why was it presented as an optional system? And tracking each action a character made, like tracking video game achievements today, felt artificial and strange to me. Of course, I soon realized that to achieve higher levels by slaying monsters along wasn't going to work- I used a lot of modules back in the day, and if a module said "for characters of 4th-7th levels" and the next one I had was "for characters of 5th-9th levels", I knew people were going to have to go up a level and a half or so during the first one, so I stopped using monster xp entirely, and just gave out large chunks of xp over the course of the adventure- I guess it was an early version of milestone leveling, thinking back on it. No one seemed to have any problem with this approach, at least. [/QUOTE]

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