XP Alternatives -- What Have You Tried?

[Desdichado]

I'm curious, for those of you who level the players "when appropriate" instead of assigning xp awards (that might look like I'm being critical, I'm not) how do you handle item creation and other magic effects which require xp expenditure?

Yeah, well I kinda cheated on that one. My campaign only has Cthulhu-style magic, so there is no item creation or xp expenditure magic effects.

 

[shilsen]

I'm curious, for those of you who level the players "when appropriate" instead of assigning xp awards (that might look like I'm being critical, I'm not) how do you handle item creation and other magic effects which require xp expenditure?

I still assign a certain amount of XP per session, so I have a running XP total for issues such as those you list. For example, my PCs are currently 6th lvl, and I wanted them to spend about 6 sessions to get to 7th. So each session they get 1,000 XP (since you need 6,000 XP to get from 6th to 7th).

 

[Mystery Man]

I use the alternative XP per CR in the Undearthed Arcana. Much easier, IMHO they should have just used it to begin with.

 

[Gothmog]

My general way of assigning XP is to figure it takes a number of adventures to advance equal to the character's current level +1. So a 1st level character takes two adventures, while a 12th level one takes 13. This can be modified by longer and/or more difficult adventures. For each adventure, I make it worth a certain number of XP (for example, an adventure for 1st level characters is worth 500 XP), and award extra XP for good roleplaying or clever ideas. I just hate nitpicking over XP for killing monsters and overcoming challenges. So there is some variance between characters, and my game rewards good roleplaying, not monster slaying.

As for item creation and spell effect XP- I got rid of them. Instead, the character in question must find essentia, or magically/divinely infused items that are incorporated into the item or spell. There are different kinds of essentia for different uses- necromantic, abjuration, infernal, etc. You simply cannot buy essentia- it has to be found, given to you, or offered in exchange for services. It takes roughy one use of essentia per 500 XP of the item or spell, so magic item creation and high-powered spells are rare in my games.

 

[TerraDave]

My group gets awarded xp at the end of each session based on their level adjusted a little for how well they played. The base amount is one fifth of the required xp for the highest level character to go up a level (i.e. new level min xp requirement minus current level min xp requirement divided by 5.) If they stuffed around all session they may only get one tenth. If they complete a major component of the campaign a quarter or a third.

This means:

a) they are not focused on combat unless it is required for survival or to achieve an in-game goal. They will hunker down to achieve goals rather than trying to find things to kill.
b) they still have xp for creating magic items, powering spells, etc
c) lower level characters can still gain ground on the higher level ones in regards to levelling
d) Less admin. I don't have to calculate xp from combat

Exactly (or would be if the reward was 1/4)

I am leery about rewarding individual PCs relative to each other. Role (or roll) playing should be its own reward--and normally is, from my own exp. On ther other hand, DM "brownie points" pushes the DM to be more judemental and may annoy players who are not on the recieving end. In game events or out of game talk may be a better motivating mechanism, if one is needed.

When a PC does something that is just cool, what is the more important, the action point, or the bragging rights?

Of course, this is focused on the PC. The player may be a different story: showing up on time, bringing extra snacks...now that is worth a reward!

 

[TerraDave]

thinking about alternate "currencies" that might allow different strategies to be optimal.

The example given in the thread linked above is Action Points (in the Spycraft/Grim Tales version), where a DM can convert a critical hit by an NPC only by awarding the targetted player an Action Point.

This is a compensation for taking a hit that--given the massive damage threshold--could easily kill your charecter. In turn, to crit something else in GT, you have to pay an action point.

The alternate currency introduced in 3.0 is XPs. Not just in the sense they are a reward (as in the all versions), but in that you can buy things with them.

One advantage is that these are alternate currencies, and so give the DM a reward (or compensation or cost) besides g.p.s ($$), (and to follow up on my earlier post, they don't "play favourites" with the PC's).

 

[Fenes]

We don't use EXP either, just level the whole party up when we feel like it. Works out very well for our playstyle.

 

[Olorin]

But they can kill you, which amounts to much the same thing.

I guess they added that in 3.5, because my 3.0 DMG definitely has nothing like that in it. I'd be interested to see the rule quoted, if somebody has it handy.

Definitely huh?

3.0 DMG p. 168 "Challenge Ratings for Noncombat Encounters"

See also: "Mission Goals", "Roleplaying Awards"

p. 103 "Rewards and Behavior" is an interesting read as well.

Not much in there about efficiently slaughtering monsters though.