XP for "defeated" monsters

[Dogbrain]

True, but that was easily solved by awarding XP for accomplishing an adventure objective. In the end the party would end up with more experience for a bad guy who got away but reappeared several more times before finally being done away with than one who went done easily before their blades the first time.

Well, if you're going to inject reason and thought into the matter...

 

[S'mon]

It's purely up to the GM what XP is awarded, players have no business arguing this. That said, it's clear you only really defeated the dragon once, so I certainly would only have given you one lot of dragon XP. If it were a month between encounters I might give 1/2 XP the first time (you drove it off) and half the seciond (you finished the job), or even full XP the second time if the circumstances were noticeably different - eg the first time you surprised the dragon, the second time it had time to prep an ambush with allies.

 

[Creamsteak]

Tough call, in my humble opinion. I'm a very liberal DM about awarding experience for overcoming challenges in non-combat methods. I'll award xp for sneaking, talking, killing, or even just out-planning or out-waiting a particular opponent if it represents that the group has overcome something that through their direct actions.

But awarding experience twice for one creature in the same day seems unusual. I think that I, too, would only award experience a single time. This is grounded in my opinion that "sneaking past the guard twice" or "disabling the trap on the way in and the way out" are not seperate instances of a challenge. They each are a single challenge that exists on two seperate paths. This dragon is a single challenge that had to be overcome two different ways, but it's still only been overcome "once" in total instances. But I understand completely where you are coming from, as the DM would have probably awarded full xp for driving the Dragon away the first time if a substantially long break had been taken between encounters (like 1 session or more).

I'd go with the DM on this one.

 

[Thanee]

I would see this as a single (extended) encounter, thus only one reward.

Bye
Thanee

 

[random user]

Hey, could I capture the dragon, release it every day and then beat it to unconsciousness, put it back in the cage, heal it up, and do the same thing again tomorrow?

I bet I could level really quickly if I did that.

Oh wait, that's Everquest. My bad.

 

[DragonLancer]

I'm with the posters who say it is still a single encounter. Perhaps a little bonus XP might be rewarded for driving it off if it was done in a good well-thought out way, but no where near what you would have got for the dragon itself.

 

[Zappo]

I have two possible views on the subject, but both have the same result.

First, these are two different encounters and in the first one you did not overcome the challenge. Assuming that the dragon was threatening a village or whatever, the challenge was to stop it (with violence or not) from threatening the village. After the combat, the dragon was still a threat for the village (it only needs a short rest); therefore, no XP or only very marginal XP for the first encounter. Full XP for the kill.

Second, this is one extended encounter and therefore you only get XP once.

 

[Grazzt]

I would see this as a single (extended) encounter, thus only one reward.

Bye
Thanee

Yep- I agree with this (and all the other posters who've said the same). I would count it as a single encounter. Award XP one time.

 

[Chronosome]

I'd give the XP twice. But I'd hate it if a player of mine insisted I was awarding XP wrong. That's why I don't give 'em the breakdown on the whys for their awards.

 

[wedgeski]

First, these are two different encounters and in the first one you did not overcome the challenge. Assuming that the dragon was threatening a village or whatever, the challenge was to stop it (with violence or not) from threatening the village. After the combat, the dragon was still a threat for the village (it only needs a short rest); therefore, no XP or only very marginal XP for the first encounter. Full XP for the kill.

Nail=hit. What was the goal of facing down the dragon? To kill it? Then goal initially not accomplished, no XP, subsequently accomplished, full CR-based XP. To drive it out of its lair? Goal accomplished, XP for adventure goal, subsequently XP for killing dragon perhaps with modified EL because it wasn't in its lair.

No way in a million years would I award full CR-based XP twice in this situation. That's crazy talk.