Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7381816" data-attributes="member: 42582">In the 4e DMG, XP are awarded for success in encounters (whether combat or skill challenges) and for completing quests. DMG2 adds what it calls &quot;drama rewards&quot; (p 25): &quot;you can give player characters experience rewards for time spent in dramatic scenes of interaction . . . as if they had defeated one monster of their level for every 15 minutes they spend in significant, focused roleplaying that advances the story&quot;.The Rules Compendium further adds (p 161) that experience points are accrued for a skill challenge &quot;[w]hether the adventurers succeed or fail&quot;.The upshot of these rules, in combination, is that around each hour to an hour-and-a-half's play (that is actually focused on the fiction, whether via resolving encounters or free roleplaying) accrues an &quot;encounter's&quot; worth of XP. 8 to 10 such awards are sufficient for a level. Hence the PCs gain about one level every three to four sessions.This is why I said that the function of XP in 4e is very different from in classic D&amp;D, although the workings of the system superficially similar.See above for skill challenges. Combat encounters are less clear, but there is at least a suggestion that you get XP for the monster you defeat even if you lose overall - I think the absence of a similar implicit option for &quot;partial success&quot; awards on skill challenges helps explain the Rules Compendium change.Quest XP are generally a modest fraction of overall XP - perhaps a quarter to a third? - and I think that it is unlikely that the bulk of quests that are aimed at will not be achieved. If you play solidly by engaging the encounters and fiction of the game, some quests will be achieved. (I should add, I'm taking it for granted - in the context of this thread - that quests will generally be player-generated, as per the advice in the PHB and DMG. If the quests are GM-generated, then it is less likely they will be achieved, but that is already starting to push the game into a rather sucky direction. It's pacing mechanic will start to show some strain under those conditions also.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7381816, member: 42582"] In the 4e DMG, XP are awarded for success in encounters (whether combat or skill challenges) and for completing quests. DMG2 adds what it calls "drama rewards" (p 25): "you can give player characters experience rewards for time spent in dramatic scenes of interaction . . . as if they had defeated one monster of their level for every 15 minutes they spend in significant, focused roleplaying that advances the story". The Rules Compendium further adds (p 161) that experience points are accrued for a skill challenge "[w]hether the adventurers succeed or fail". The upshot of these rules, in combination, is that around each hour to an hour-and-a-half's play (that is actually focused on the fiction, whether via resolving encounters or free roleplaying) accrues an "encounter's" worth of XP. 8 to 10 such awards are sufficient for a level. Hence the PCs gain about one level every three to four sessions. This is why I said that the function of XP in 4e is very different from in classic D&D, although the workings of the system superficially similar. See above for skill challenges. Combat encounters are less clear, but there is at least a suggestion that you get XP for the monster you defeat even if you lose overall - I think the absence of a similar implicit option for "partial success" awards on skill challenges helps explain the Rules Compendium change. Quest XP are generally a modest fraction of overall XP - perhaps a quarter to a third? - and I think that it is unlikely that the bulk of quests that are aimed at will not be achieved. If you play solidly by engaging the encounters and fiction of the game, some quests will be achieved. (I should add, I'm taking it for granted - in the context of this thread - that quests will generally be player-generated, as per the advice in the PHB and DMG. If the quests are GM-generated, then it is less likely they will be achieved, but that is already starting to push the game into a rather sucky direction. It's pacing mechanic will start to show some strain under those conditions also.) [/QUOTE]

Verification