Xp or no Xp

[Herzog]

The problem with escaping enemies is that you might encounter them again later in the adventure.

If they (the enemies) have the opportunity to heal themselves and regain their resources, should the party gain XP every time time they defeat them?

I should think not!

However, the 'challenge' is approximately the same. (could be worse because the enemy might be better prepared now he knows what he's up against....)

How do you handle this?

Herzog

 

[shilsen]

The problem with escaping enemies is that you might encounter them again later in the adventure.

If they (the enemies) have the opportunity to heal themselves and regain their resources, should the party gain XP every time time they defeat them?

I should think not!

However, the 'challenge' is approximately the same. (could be worse because the enemy might be better prepared now he knows what he's up against....)

How do you handle this?

Simple. I make XP gain completely unconnected with anything that the PCs do in the game, and simply award an amount per session to keep PCs progressing at the rate I want them to. So whether enemies are killed or escape or never found is irrelevant to XP progression. PC success is rewarded by events in-game. Similarly, PC failure is punished by events in-game.

After having run 2 campaigns, each lasting 2 years, one of which is continuing (see sig), I'm quite certain that I'll never tie XP to in-game events again. There just aren't any real benefits to it for me, and there are a lot of disadvantages, such as having to worry about issues like the one in this thead.

 

[Pbartender]

What about:

Goal:
Exterminate permanently the lich

Players:
Destroyed the lich and his fake phalactery, leaving his true phalactery untouched: the doorknob.

DM:

Partial XP. They defeated the Lich, and think he's permanently destroyed. Give them the other half later, if they discover their mistake later and rectify it.

Simple. I make XP gain completely unconnected with anything that the PCs do in the game, and simply award an amount per session to keep PCs progressing at the rate I want them to. So whether enemies are killed or escape or never found is irrelevant to XP progression. PC success is rewarded by events in-game. Similarly, PC failure is punished by events in-game.

I've done almost the same thing, except that I don't even bother tracking XP anymore... The PCs gain a level whenever it's dramatically appropriate for the plot.

 

[Arkhandus]

By the rules, you don't have to kill or destroy enemies to be victorious, and you don't have to do so to get XP. As long as you defeat them (whether or not they still live, and whether or not they've become your prisoner or a mangled corpse or whatever), you have nonetheless defeated them, and earned normal XP for it.

Same discussion was in the D&D Rules forum a week or two ago, pertaining to a similar situation in someone's game. Turned out more complicated than that, as the guy eventually mentioned details of the encounter, but the general consensus was more or less the same as what I've said.

Now, if the villain makes his escape and the PCs chase after him a few moments later, then reach him again before he's had any chance to recover or whatnot, they won't get more XP for defeating him again, unless he provides enough of a minor additional challenge to warrant a small amount of further XP (as his effective CR, or rather the second battle's Encounter Level, would be severely diminished if he didn't have much of his usual resources (HP, spells, expendable items) remaining).

 

[Phlebas]

Here's a question that came up when we started playing the Red Hand of DOOM adventure. In this adventure many of the enemies, primarily the leading villains (i.e. leaders and bosses) are suppose to flee if reduced to a certain amount of HP. If they do get away do the players get EX for overcoming the encounter? Someone was saying no, because the enemies were not killed. But I said yes because the challenge was still over-came, to defeat an enemies doesn’t necessarily mean to kill them

What would you say?

following on from Arkhandus

If the NPC flees when he still has a large % of hit points, spells unused, magic items untouched, then i'd be tempted to reduce the CR of each encounter appropriately. That would allow multiple 'defeats' of a NPC that was more interested in running away than fighting to give xp, but not the same as actually killing / capturing him each time.

Otherwise you can end up 'farming' an NPC. Beat them up, let them run, come back the following day and repeat. Not that PC's do that kind of metagaming......

IMHO

 

[RFisher]

I (usually) give full XP for every encounter the PCs overcome. (Or, perhaps I should say "survive".) I do not necessarily give them any additional XP if they later kill the same foe they already earned XP from.

 

[Arnwyn]

For us, it depends:

- Does the vilain never intend to return/harass the PCs? Full XP.
- Does the villain remain a threat? Half XP now, half XP when 'fully defeated'.
- Does the villain still have lots of hps, spells, etc remaining? No XP.

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

I had a similar issue with a reoccurring Vampire. One difference was the vampire wasn't always directly fighting them, he had his own agenda.

In the initial fight (where the party pretty much determined he was a vampire, or other powerful undead), I gave full XP, as the vampire made an initial stand against the party.

In subsequent meetings, the party was always chasing the vampire. The vampire would engage them at certain points along the way, with additional help from wolves, bats, dominated NPCs, etc. At those points, I gave XP for the additional foes, and maybe partial for the vampire.

At the end, the vampire made a final stand against them, and I gave the party full XP again (after they destroyed the body).

 

[glass_snake]

Personally, my methods are very similar to those of Shilsen. I started off giving XP for the usual stuff like killing monsters and getting treasure. But then I also wanted to reward good roleplaying, tasteful comedy, amazing plans, etc. I soon realized the XP rewards would either be so subjective that I might as well just make a number up, or, the system would be so detailed it would take me days to hand out XP rewards. So now I just hand out blocks of XP as adventures progress, keeping the characters moving through their levels at the pace I want.

However, if you're going to hand out XP in the traditional way, I'd still give them the points for driving the enemies into flight. Sure, they might come back, but in my mind that's a new encounter. If the dragon shows up and I scare him off, I beat that encounter. If he comes back for a rematch, we're both completely healed up and I have to beat him all over again. Might as well call that a new encounter. Functionally, it's no different than meeting a new dragon anyway.

Though taking this all back to its roots, didn't the earlier versions of D&D specifically say that you should get XP for beating a monster, and then list actions like parlay or evasion as acceptable ways of "winning"?

 

[kensanata]

If they (the enemies) have the opportunity to heal themselves and regain their resources, should the party gain XP every time time they defeat them? I should think not!

I like recurring enemies, and my party gets full XP every time. My argument is that XP should be proportional to the danger they faced. So if they drive away the bandit captain, they get XP. When the bandit returns with reinforcements, and is beaten back again, they get XP. Again. Same danger, same XP.