D&D 5E XP for gold = a game breaker?

[Grimstaff]

Adventurers gaining xp solely from killing monsters (not counting the occasional "story" or quest xp) irks me.

Do you think an additional 1xp for every 10gp of loot acquired would seriously unbalance 5E's rate of advancement?

 

[Morrus]

Very 1E! You used to get 1XP per GP.

 

[Henrix]

As long as you deal out XP in amounts that you are comfortable with (and possibly in accord with the pace of a published scenario) any rate is good.

I'd skip the XP for blood bit entirely.

XP for gold does have a lot of advantages, but perhaps XP for goals is better (unless the goal is to amass gold (and thus worldly power).

The downside with giving XP for gold is of course that it does not work very well with a purely sandbox game - setting goals like that can detract from the exploration bit.

XP per hex is another old sandbox exploration experience practice.

 

[Zardnaar]

Sounds fine but depends on how much loot the DM is giving out.

I am the DM most of the time I also give out xp for the following.

Per hex explored
Roleplaying
Sparing NPCs lives
Rescuing NPCs
Playing up a flaw even when it is sub optimal.
Story goals

If the PCs evade a creature and it is relevant to a goal I will also award xp assuming the PCs do something clever to avoid them not just fail to find an encounter on a dungeon map.

 

[The_Gneech]

Go for it. You might also want to add training costs in order for them to have stuff to spend those piles of gold on.

-The Gneech

 

[Stalker0]

I still remember my multiclass fighter/thief back in 2e. With gold for Xp, I was 5/5 when the party was about 6th due to my excessive looting and pick pocketing.

Those were the days!

 

[aramis erak]

Adventurers gaining xp solely from killing monsters (not counting the occasional "story" or quest xp) irks me.

Do you think an additional 1xp for every 10gp of loot acquired would seriously unbalance 5E's rate of advancement?

Only if you're careless about it.

As long as your treasure allotment is reasonable, it's no big deal.

But you may want to consider restricting it to monies not spent on adventuring gear. Such as donations to suitable temples, throwing parties in the pub, intoxicants, time with beings of ill repute, etc...

 

[Psikerlord#]

I very much like the idea of 1xp per gp, and hope that makes it into the DMG as an option for experience rewards.

 

[cildarith]

I still remember my multiclass fighter/thief back in 2e. With gold for Xp, I was 5/5 when the party was about 6th due to my excessive looting and pick pocketing.

Those were the days!

According to the 2E PHB a 5/5 fighter/thief will have between 32,000 and 40,000 XP – which would be equivalent to a 6th level fighter, 5th level wizard, 6th level priest, or 6th level rogue. I don't think the pocket picking was helping that much…