Quasqueton
First Post
The party is 3 PCs and 4 NPCs (1 NPC party member and her 2 personal bodyguards, and 1 guide). The group is traveling in the wilderness with a wagon, 2 horses, and a mule.
They needed to reconnointer an army location, so 2 of the stealth-capable PCs (read: lightly armored and unarmored, but not rogues) left the rest of the group. The 3rd PC and the NPCs concealed their camp as best they could to avoid detection while the group was split up.
The 2 scouters looked the army over and was returning to camp when they were spotted by a patrol. A fight ensued. The patrol was not an overwhelming encounter, but the fight could have gone badly for the 2 PCs. As it turned out, the 2 PCs won and returned safely to camp. Now, after the game session, I'm awarding xp.
Normally I award xp according to who was in a particular encounter. For instance, I'd just award the patrol xp to the 2 PCs in the situation, and call it fair. They risked the danger, they could have died, so they get the reward.
But this is rewarding the 2 PCs for splitting up the party, and is in effect penalizing the 1 PC for doing the best thing for the scenario. The 1 PC stayed out of the scouting because:
1- She is not at all stealthy (plate armor, no big Dex bonus).
2- The NPCs would be outclassed alone against any of the patrols they had so far seen and encountered.
3- The horses and wagon have gear and loot they'd be dumb to leave completely unattended.
The Player willingly sat quietly, yet attentively, for 10 minutes while the other 2 PCs scouted. All the PCs took effort to find a concealed camp location.
When I randomly rolled the patrol encounter, rolled spot checks to see if the PCs were seen, and then began the encounter, I considered "duplicating" the encounter for the 1 PC's location. But that would mean ignoring the party's effort at specifically concealing the camp so that such an encounter would not happen. Kind of unfair to overrule that, and would teach the Players to not bother with such effort in the future -- "The DM will make an encounter for us whether we try to conceal our camp or not." Plus, just as the encounter was dangerous for the 2 scouting PCs, it would have been dangerous for the camped PC and NPCs -- "Whoops, I just killed the PC who specifically played smart and stayed behind and concealed."
So I'm wondering if I should just include the 1 PC in on the xp for the encounter with the 2 PCs:
1- To show that they are all "in this together" even when one PC willingly allows him/herself to be sidelined for the good of the situation.
2- To not reward anyone for splitting up the party and/or going off on their own to get more xp.
But, I also like rewarding xp to the PCs who actually earned it:
1- To reward those who actually take the risks/dangers.
2- Because one or both of the PCs could have died, but the other PC could not have. (Essentially reward for no risk.)
If things had gone better in the stealth for the 2 PCs, they would have had no encounter. But, as it turned out, they'd have been better off if the 1 PC had gone with them -- they still failed the stealth attempt, and they would have had more help on their side. But, of course, they didn't know this before starting out -- they *tried* to be stealthy, and the 1 PC *tried* to help by staying at camp.
What would you do? What would you suggest?
For the record, if it matters, the xp award for the one encounter was significant -- the 2 PCs would get around 50% more xp than the 1 PC would get: 2,366 vs. 1,566.
Quasqueton
They needed to reconnointer an army location, so 2 of the stealth-capable PCs (read: lightly armored and unarmored, but not rogues) left the rest of the group. The 3rd PC and the NPCs concealed their camp as best they could to avoid detection while the group was split up.
The 2 scouters looked the army over and was returning to camp when they were spotted by a patrol. A fight ensued. The patrol was not an overwhelming encounter, but the fight could have gone badly for the 2 PCs. As it turned out, the 2 PCs won and returned safely to camp. Now, after the game session, I'm awarding xp.
Normally I award xp according to who was in a particular encounter. For instance, I'd just award the patrol xp to the 2 PCs in the situation, and call it fair. They risked the danger, they could have died, so they get the reward.
But this is rewarding the 2 PCs for splitting up the party, and is in effect penalizing the 1 PC for doing the best thing for the scenario. The 1 PC stayed out of the scouting because:
1- She is not at all stealthy (plate armor, no big Dex bonus).
2- The NPCs would be outclassed alone against any of the patrols they had so far seen and encountered.
3- The horses and wagon have gear and loot they'd be dumb to leave completely unattended.
The Player willingly sat quietly, yet attentively, for 10 minutes while the other 2 PCs scouted. All the PCs took effort to find a concealed camp location.
When I randomly rolled the patrol encounter, rolled spot checks to see if the PCs were seen, and then began the encounter, I considered "duplicating" the encounter for the 1 PC's location. But that would mean ignoring the party's effort at specifically concealing the camp so that such an encounter would not happen. Kind of unfair to overrule that, and would teach the Players to not bother with such effort in the future -- "The DM will make an encounter for us whether we try to conceal our camp or not." Plus, just as the encounter was dangerous for the 2 scouting PCs, it would have been dangerous for the camped PC and NPCs -- "Whoops, I just killed the PC who specifically played smart and stayed behind and concealed."
So I'm wondering if I should just include the 1 PC in on the xp for the encounter with the 2 PCs:
1- To show that they are all "in this together" even when one PC willingly allows him/herself to be sidelined for the good of the situation.
2- To not reward anyone for splitting up the party and/or going off on their own to get more xp.
But, I also like rewarding xp to the PCs who actually earned it:
1- To reward those who actually take the risks/dangers.
2- Because one or both of the PCs could have died, but the other PC could not have. (Essentially reward for no risk.)
If things had gone better in the stealth for the 2 PCs, they would have had no encounter. But, as it turned out, they'd have been better off if the 1 PC had gone with them -- they still failed the stealth attempt, and they would have had more help on their side. But, of course, they didn't know this before starting out -- they *tried* to be stealthy, and the 1 PC *tried* to help by staying at camp.
What would you do? What would you suggest?
For the record, if it matters, the xp award for the one encounter was significant -- the 2 PCs would get around 50% more xp than the 1 PC would get: 2,366 vs. 1,566.
Quasqueton
