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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 2551644" data-attributes="member: 3192">I don't believe they should.  If you have a personal issue, I believe it is best to deal with it outside of the group.  And certainly never in character.  The mix up here is what was initially hashed out in the beginning of this thread.  Some people believe anything less than total equivalence between characters is somehow a Penalty.  (i.e. having a character lower in level / XP / GP / magic items / etc. than any other character).  Others believe all the examples I listed are Rewards; something which must be earned through play.I for one am not suggesting an absent player be penalized at all.  The turning point is the belief that somehow having a lower level character is a penalty for not playing.  I blame the current culture of "All Things in Perfect Balance" for this.  Good Heavens!  Who would ever play a "weaker" race then?  choose a suboptimal build?  or feat?We use the old euphamism of "awarding experience points after the game".  If they weren't awards for play, why are they even necessary for the game?  As I mentioned before, if the DM simply has all characters at equivalent level advancing in levels in accordance to what "best fits the story", then experience really is another vestigial aspect from long ago.  Just as many other aspects of the game have had their original intentions forgotten.  Hence, 1xp == 999xp  They are both 1st level characters.  Drop XPs from the game, if they have no corresponding value.  I would drop XP costs in Wish spells and level loss from death and undead too.  These are "unfair" to the players who must play those lesser powerful characters.Characters can certainly be part of events, if the original player isn't in attendance.  The DM can run them, or another player can take over duties, or they can be off to one side until it's important for the character to be there. (in conversation say)Maybe I"m not remembering what this gulf between DMs and PCs is though?  DM's set the world, Players choose the action.  If a player's absent, their action is left on hold as best as possible. I don't think XP is a macho system or one where the purpose is comparing your progress against another player's.  It's not a competition.  What XP originally was (and still often is) was a chit-based incentive system.  From the kindergartner's star to an adult's dollar sign, these are used in the real world to encourage certain types of success.  In RPGs it is the same.  It is not the sole purpose of the game (as someone mentioned about MMORPGS), but it has been an integral part of RPGS since their inception.  Removing XPs changes the game significantly.How?  I already explained player succeess being represented through experience.  But XPs can be considered worthless, if you want see it that way.  I remember a scene from "Waiting for Bobby Fischer" (the chess angle again <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ) where Ben Kingsley piles up the Chessmaster Award sheets in front of his child student.  The point was they were only paper.  It was the student's actual abilty that was important.  All the awards, high levels, and magic items in the game don't make you a good player.  That can only be achieved through challenging play.  So yes, XPs can be considered worthless.  Our group keeps them around as they are a nice recognition of our accomplishments in game.  And it keeps the focus on those accomplishments.  If you prefer to toss them aside, what do you think will happen to the drive to succeed at the game?  (I think this is a group decision BTW.  But I felt you wanted to know why XPs were vital to the game.)If this is your desire, then I would suggest awarding experience based off of what you prefer to see in game.  Just post 'em up front so players can judge if that's the game for them.  It certainly isn't necessary to award XPs for every goldpiece, or every monster killed.  If these aren't the focus, than change the incentive.Aside: you mentioned wanting a sense of wonder.  IME, this is best engendered by using the unknown (just like in a horror game).  I think a lot of the wonder from olden days came from not being able to know what was in the gaming books and adventure mods.  Publishing practices have changed significantly nowadays, but you can still keep much of your campaign world a mystery to your players (and their character alike).  Than you can slowly reveal the wonderment of it as players/characters explore.  (exploration being the most basic fantasy trope IMO)EDIT: In this example you would reward experience points primarily for learning more about the world.</blockquote>

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