D&D General XP: How Do You Like To Earn It?

[Vael]

Other question, are milestones always level ups or are they ever just XP awards that might not be enough to level?

Since we don't track XP, only milestones notable enough to cause a level up are noted.

I generally don't care to track XP granularly, so I'm in the 1983 camp. It's fun for a CRPG to watch the bar fill up, but not worth the math and leads to XP farming at the table.

Ironically, when I've noodled about alternatives to XP ... I tend to think I'd go with the other thing from videogames ... achievements. There'd be plot achievements (find the macguffin, talk to vital NPC, discover villain's plot, etc.), player-driven achievements (craft a magic item, find lost family), and fun, whacky achievements (roll three Nat 1s in a single combat, roll a nat 20 on a superfluous check, kill a monster with an improvised weapon, score a critical hit on a foe with less than 3 HP, etc). Then it'd be a simple, you level when you have X Achievements. Some would be public, others private. It'd be more work, but possibly more fun than just math.

 

[Lanefan]

The only preference that I have is that it doesn't take forever and a day to level up. I'm agnostic as to the means of leveling up.

Which in a way brings up yet another variable, leading to a question:

When playing, is your* primary goal "to level up" or is your primary goal "to just play"? Put another way, is levelling up your main reason for playing or is it just a once-in-as-while happy side effect?

For me it's very much the "I'm just here to play; and if I happen to level up, that's fine too" take. As long as I can see that little xp clock ticking along, it doesn't matter how slowly it ticks.

* - greater "your", not picking specifically on TiQuinn here.

 

[GrimCo]

Last one. Don't care about xp. As a DM, i go by vibes at the table. I like to give them enough time to use their new abilities and have fun with them, but not linger too long on the same level. Depending where they go and what they do, sometimes i'll even give them 2-3 levels bump at once. This is for more roleplay story heavy games. For more combat heavy games, i use 3 session method. After every third session, it's level up. It may seem fast, but with our schedules, that's 3 to 4 years in real time to get from 1-20, and campaigns die long before that.

As a player, i like same approach (i nicked 3 session method from DM i played with). It gives predictable schedule, just enough time to explore and enjoy new ability before leveling up and getting something new again. For rp heavy games, story based milestones are just fine.

With all other methods, well. Loot for XP? We are stripping everything to the bare floor, and if the floor is made of something that can be sold, we are taking the floor also. Xp for fighting? I'm going murder hobo named Lobo. Hell, once i even raised some undead, released control of them, then killed them for that few xp i needed to level up.

 

[TiQuinn]

Which in a way brings up yet another variable, leading to a question:

When playing, is your* primary goal "to level up" or is your primary goal "to just play"? Put another way, is levelling up your main reason for playing or is it just a once-in-as-while happy side effect?

For me it's very much the "I'm just here to play; and if I happen to level up, that's fine too" take. As long as I can see that little xp clock ticking along, it doesn't matter how slowly it ticks.

* - greater "your", not picking specifically on TiQuinn here.

It's not the primary goal, but it is a goal. It's kind of like saying you like playing D&D but would you still like it if you never received any magic items?

I mean, yes, the game could be absolutely awesome and so engaging as to make me forget all about leveling up or getting magical items, but it'd have to be one heckuva game.

Or to quote Pulp Fiction:

"So you're saying if a pig had a better personality, it would cease to be a filthy animal?"

"...we better be talking about one charming muther****ing pig."

 

[SableWyvern]

Since this was posted in the D&D forum, my answer is treasure.