D&D General XP Awards for -- what????

[AnotherGuy]

With regard to my approach to Inspiration, I defer to the player. If they feel they portrayed the personal characteristic, that's good enough for me. If they cheese it, they'll get a groan from the rest of the group and that tends to make it so it's kept to a bare minimum. The real reward is not getting Inspiration, but the positive feedback one gets from the other players when you portray that characteristic in a clever way at exactly the right moment. (But, hey, I'll take that Inspiration too!)

Yeah, I'm not doing that anymore. I'm not accepting participation awards.

I'm not unreasonable. The rest of the table is not either. I'm also happy for a character to add flaws, bonds and ideals to give the player a plethora to work with. But at this stage of my roleplaying game life, if someone is going to cheese at my table (and the rest of the players feel the same way about the attempt), I'm not going to give that a pass. Groans at a table are not always effective enough.
If someone wants to advance levels at my table using the Inspiration option, show me you worked for it. Otherwise there are two other options to seek.

I didn't add this system for someone to coast through on BS.

 

[iserith]

Yeah, I'm not doing that anymore. I'm not accepting participation awards.

I'm not unreasonable. The rest of the table is not either. I'm also happy for a character to add flaws, bonds and ideals to give the player a plethora to work with. But at this stage of my roleplaying game life, if someone is going to cheese at my table (and the rest of the players feel the same way about the attempt), I'm not going to give that a pass. Groans at a table are not always effective enough.
If someone wants to advance levels at my table using the Inspiration option, show me you worked for it. Otherwise there are two other options to seek.

I didn't add this system for someone to coast through on BS.

I just don't prefer to sit in judgment of someone else's roleplay. Everyone does their thing a bit differently in my experience and my standard is not necessarily universal, so I trust the players to step up most of the time with the odd cheese now and again. So far so good.

 

[LordEntrails]

I selected almost all of them. Cuz you know, it depends.

Generally I do it based upon defeated NPC XP. But sometimes I forget to add that. And other times it just feels like a good time to level up based upon timing and sessions etc, so I either give bonus or just set the XP level. Sometimes (like level 17-20) we are at the point were we are wanting to get to the end of the campaign and don't detail out ever fight or encounter and just roleplay them and I narrate a simple success. (come on, a bunch of L17 PCs against a couple of fire giant guards? Foregone conclusion!). And of course I don't always want XP tied to defeating NPCs, so I give some for quests, or story elements or most anything else when it fits.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I just don't prefer to sit in judgment of someone else's roleplay. Everyone does their thing a bit differently in my experience and my standard is not necessarily universal, so I trust the players to step up most of the time with the odd cheese now and again. So far so good.

That is fair and I'm not here attacking your style but iserith, I as a DM sit in judgement on a whole range of issues during roleplay - I do this when considering a skill check; whether an approach by a character will succeed automatically, deserves a role and/or what DC to set.

 

[iserith]

That is fair and I'm not here attacking your style but iserith, I as a DM sit in judgement on a whole range of issues during roleplay - I do this when considering a skill check; whether an approach by a character will succeed automatically, deserves a role and/or what DC to set.

Yep, that I'm comfortable with. Just not whether I think they portrayed something about their own character to a particular standard. I think the player is the best judge of that.

 

[M_Natas]

Fate and Persona are earned as I described, and can be spent as I described. Only when spent do they count towards level gain.

I don't think there is any published D&D XP system which requires making a choice about resource expenditure as a necessary step in the process.

Wasn't it in first Edition where you exchange Gold for XP for levels?

 

[Lanefan]

Wasn't it in first Edition where you exchange Gold for XP for levels?

Kind of. You had to get the gold back to safety, then you'd get xp for gp on (usually) a 1-for-1 basis, divided between the party members, and you still got to keep the gold. So, if a party of 6 brought home 3000 g.p. they'd each get [3000 / 6] 500 xp for it.

But magic items worked differently, and with those there was some exchange going on. Their sale value in gp was way higher than their xp value (usually by a 10-to-1 ratio); what I can't remember (and can't be bothered to look it up) is whether you only got xp for the items you kept or the items you sold, but it was one of those got you xp and the other did not.

 

[pemerton]

Wasn't it in first Edition where you exchange Gold for XP for levels?

No. In AD&D, XP are earned for gold taken out of the dungeon. OD&D words it as "treasure obtained", and B/X as "treasure recovered". I don't have Holmes Basic and so can't check it.

Spending the gold is not part of the advancement mechanic.

 

[pemerton]

what I can't remember (and can't be bothered to look it up) is whether you only got xp for the items you kept or the items you sold, but it was one of those got you xp and the other did not.

Items kept earn the "item" XP; items sold immediately earn XP for the gold received from the sale.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

It's not nebulous. Read the section in its entirety. It tells the players what the purpose of the game is, what to do, and how to "win." The problem is likely not that it is not sufficiently explanatory, but rather that people just skip over it or don't take it seriously. Kind of like the DMG in that regard.

Seriously, have you read games like Dungeon World? Some vague admonishments and very nebulous "you're supposed to have fun" and "face deadly perils", sure its SOMETHING, but compare that with the statements of goal and principles, agenda, etc. in Dungeon World, and how it ties DIRECTLY in an obvious fashion directly onto the process of play. Heck, every time DW tells the GM or players something about the process of play it reiterates and points out the concrete mapping between that and goals and agenda, etc. There's really no comparison. 5e (and apparently its successors/follow ons) are EXTREMELY vague and really do not spell out what actually makes the game work. Its not enough to tell the players their goal is to 'create an exciting story', the game needs to provide a map which shows you how what you do at the table DOES THAT. This is what D&D has (4e aside) been missing for 40 years!