D&D 5E XP for a partial encounter?

[Rya.Reisender]

Wow, that doesn't seem like enough.

Tell that the other DMs that made threads about how you level too fast in 5e.

Anyway, yes, XP rewards are static.

This is how I do it:
1. You get XP for every creature that was killed, XP is equally shared to all party members that participated in combat at the time of the kill.
2. If the PCs force the creature to flee or avoid fighting despite encountering the creature through any other mean, they still get full XP of that creature awarded.
3. If a creature leaves combat on its own will (e.g. to get help or inform someone), the PCs won't get its XP for the encounter.
4. If the PCs flee themselves, they won't get the XP of the remaining creatures in the encounter.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Things like things influenced my to not use XP as it's written. There are some things I miss out on, but for me it's worth not dealing with some of the hassle.

I think DEFCON 1 has the right of it. It all come down to when do you want your PCs to level.

 

[Blue]

If the players were successful in what they wanted to do in a scene, but ended up sneaking past or talking through the encounter instead of fighting, how much XP would you reward? Again - assuming they are successful.

If the answer is none, then it seems you give XP for the combat. Give them XP for whatever they killed.

If the answer is full, you're giving XP for the successful outcome. They haven't achieved that yet, so no XP yet. (This assumes they didn't achieve what they wanted and then retreat - grab a macguffin or whatever.)

Personally, I usually use milestones - I want to encourage players not to assume everything is there to fight, nor assume that all fights are winnable. You want to spend your resources to sneak instead of kill and you succeed - kudos to you, same reward.