XP Awarding

[SneakyB]

I have a question for you guys (and girls) regarding experience and how you dole it out. Do you, or does your DM, reward experience for encounters that do NOT contain monsters or traps? If so, how is the amount calculated? Is it by the EL?

Pardon my ignorance, but I'm not quite clear on the "proper" amount I should be giving my party members.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Crothian]

I give out XP for everything, just lesser amounts. I figure out the EL for different things even role playing encounters, I think anything can be given an EL and be awarded XP for it.

 

[Tonguez]

Okay

Bub is a Level 12 Warrior guarding the entrance to the Treasury

I can kill him, bribe him, cast charm on him or sneak past him - as long as I've got into the Treasury I ought to gain XP

I use the same principle for every encounter - if I successfully convince Lord Jim (Aristocrat 12) to give me access to his private hunting preserve then I have overcome the challenge of Lord Jim and gain XP accordingly (full if he was hostile to begin with, 1/2 if he was friendly)

this especially makes sense if you consider BAb just another skill - why should using my Attack Skill to overcome a challenge be any different to using my Diplomacy Skill...

 

[Sagrabah]

I actually award XP for roleplaying such as lengthy periods of acting in character, which while seem minor, make the game much more fun. My players have figured this out and now make an effort to shut each other up when jokes go too far astray.
It's like training a dog... positive reinforcement

 

[Arnwyn]

Yes. For situations that the characters overcome some form of non-monster or non-trap challenge, I'll just assign a CR to it and give experience based on that. What CR do I assign? Well, if I think it's worth a decent reward, then the CR will equal the party. If not, then it'll be a lower CR.

I'll give out role-playing XP in however manner I choose. Generally it'll be 50 XP or so at a time (100 XP or sometimes more if they're brilliant) - I want to avoid the ridiculously fast advancement of 3e.

 

[megamania]

Generally it'll be 50 XP or so at a time (100 XP or sometimes more if they're brilliant) - I want to avoid the ridiculously fast advancement of 3e.

You said it. On rare occations I even give out 150 if it was a brilliant idea that saved the entire party from a death.

 

[mseds99]

a different approach

I give whatever I want to the PC's, based on their actions and how fast I want the party to level. I deal with 'encounters', which may or may not be combats. I've pretty much thrown the CR experience charts out the window and give out what I feel is apprpriate. It's worked VERY well so far. We've had 20 sessions of 6 hours and the party has gone from level 3 to levels 11-12. Things are going to slow a bit down a bit as we go higher, but ~50 sessions of six hours was my initial goal as DM.

 

[Destil]

I''ve abandon the XP / challange system. It's too enticive for metagaming, IMHO. There's no reason PCs should kill a pair of Iron Golemes when the sorcerer can just use a wall of force to seal them off and continue past them. Any system that rewards the players for things will in general encourage them, and I'd rather have them make decisions as their PCs would without thinking about how this will effect XP.

I've instead gone to the variant system listed in the DMG where you award so much XP per session + some bonuses (major goals, RPing rewards). All in all I find it works out much better. It's fast, simple and very easy to control. Balancing wealth against it is a little more difficult, but all in all I find it to be far superior.

 

[Al]

You said it. On rare occations I even give out 150 if it was a brilliant idea that saved the entire party from a death.

That's the problem though. 150 roleplaying xp=saving the entire party from death through clever RP. 150 combat xp=killing one orc.

I tend to give out 50rpxp/level/session. This is a lot, but then, I like fast advancement. I had had one idea of halving combat xp to more or less keep overall advancement rates the same...I would recommend this if you want regular advancement speeds and a roleplay emphasis.

 

[Moonglum]

I have a massive XP system for Role Playing that I would rather not get into here. But, suffice to say, we have gone 3 or 4 sessions in a row for one of my campaigns without fighting any monsters. Role-playing rewards, to me, are just as important as fighting.