XP/Leveling Up Variants?

[ValhallaGH]

That is indeed a good idea. However, note that someone with craft wondrous item feat can (effectively) trade 1 XP for 12.5 gold, and paying a spellcaster to burn XP cost 5 gp per XP. But still... I really like it (assuming the money is spend in game, and the players state how it is being spent).

With that variant the only way to get experience is to do this. And yes, it does need to be done in game, that's three quarters of the fun.

And please, yoink away. You can vary it to suit the type of campaign you want; for example, one xp for each gp donated to the church or a charity or somesuch, one per gp squirreled away to buy that estate they want, one xp per gp spent on bribes and whatnot or whatever most suits your desired campaign flavor.

 

[shilsen]

oh dear ..

one of my longest campaigns (3+ years); ... party leveled probably once per 8 sessions. eep .... too harsh mayhaps?

Too many factors to say for sure, really. It depends on how often you played, how long each session was, how happy the players were with it, how happy the DM was with it, etc.

On the whole, since the campaign lasted 3+ years, I'd say that's decent proof that the system worked fine.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

The next campaign I run I plan on using a no-XP system. Magic items will not cost XP; instead they will cost 75% market price to craft instead of 50%. XP component spells will instead have material components costing Spell level x Listed XP cost in GP. I can't wait to to just hand out a level to the PCs at the end of an adventure without dealing with the xp chart!

 

[drexes]

I use the following system IMC and it works really well. I still use CR experience but this system gives a nice nod to pur roleplay sessions as well.

I tried and I think succeeded to encourage role-playing with a new session experience point system. It’s a little complicated, but instead of role-playing sessions not giving experience (or very little), they will be worthwhile in a crunchy sort of way! Based on the average level of the party characters will receive a minimum portion of the experience needed to go from their current level to the next one. If standard experience rewards (for gutting gobbies, etc.) would be higher than this number then you will receive that number of experience instead. Justtake the total number of experience points needed to go from one level to the next and divide that total by the divider in the chart below. That becomes the minimum experience point award for a session. Example: It takes 2000 experience for characters to go from 2nd to 3rd level. So 2000 divided by 3 is 666, the minimum experience you will get for a session. If you would earn 750 experience from bashing bugbear brains then you receive that instead, not in addition. Pure role-playing sessions will get you experience, though wasted time will not...

Level Divider
1-4 3
5-8 4
9-12 5
13-16 6
17-20 7
21+ 8

It's really worked well in our current campaign... you could even use this system to get rid of exp entirely just use the session dividers as the number of sessions between levels...

Drexes

 

[Hautamaki]

As a player I actually like accumulating experience points and don't like it when DM's grossly simplify the process or eliminate it. To me exp is just as much if not moreso a desirable reward as gp/magic items. As a DM, I enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out beforehand an appropriate amount of experience to award for a given encounter. If anything, I think the CR system is a little TOO simple!

 

[Vrecknidj]

I've gone to an XP-less system, using action points to still allow for item creation costs. It's working incredibly well. Details attached!

Also, I'll slide this into House Rules.

I've stolen, I mean enjoyed and thus borrowed your file. Thanks.

Sorry for the off-topic tangent here, but I really like this passage "If a PC dies and is raised, they suffer a negative level from the death until they complete a quest that is mandated by the God whose power raised them. There is no way to circumvent this negative level, other than using magic like true resurrection in the first place. The negative level has physical and spiritual signs, and there may be societal implications to having returned from the dead."

I've tried different ways to encourage my players to fear having their characters die, but the temptation of raise dead, and the like, have always had a deleterious effect on my wishes. Peer pressure, why didn't I think of that?

Dave

 

[Piratecat]

Sure! Keep in mind that my system is balanced for a campaign that levels once every 10 sessions or so. If you level more quickly, as most campaigns do, you may want to tweak things a bit.

And I also love the concept of people shunning someone who has returned from death. Hollow and shadowed eyes, the smell of the grave, cold skin... all that sticks around until they complete a quest, and that quest can happen as quickly or slowly as you like.