D&D General Xp rewards for defeating monsters

[MarkB]

Fights with which you have a great time should be remembered by the amount of xp.

Which isn't necessarily the ones which took a long time. Often, the most memorable triumphs are the ones where the players found a swift and effective solution to what would normally have been a drawn-out battle.

 

[le Redoutable]

Personally, though, I'm in favour of simplifying XP rrewards - a fixed award for completing a 'challenge' regardless of how that is done or the supposed edifficulty.

Then here's the truth:
Rewards based on great time

 

[Unwise]

What behavior are you trying to encourage with awarding XP this way? I guess that is where I would start in creating a system. Do you want them to fight more / harder enemies / more enemies at once / a variety of enemies? Whatever you choose, they will do, so be careful.

Personally I don't really want to encourage combat much so I use milestone XP.

 

[le Redoutable]

What behavior are you trying to encourage with awarding XP this way? I guess that is where I would start in creating a system. Do you want them to fight more / harder enemies / more enemies at once / a variety of enemies? Whatever you choose, they will do, much so be careful.

TtPersonally I don't really want to encourage combat much so I use milestone XP.

That's cute!
According to Baldur's Gate ( 2 ) rewards from quests are much better than from battles

 

[LordEntrails]

My next D&D campaign all XP will be quest based, with no direct XP for combat.

 

[Larnievc]

Should be based on intensity of the fight x duration of the encounter

Intensity ?
Monster's Challenge Rating ( ? )

Duration ?
In rounds ( lol )

Too much effort for so little return. The last encounter my party had with a troll under a bridge they aced the group stealth check and walked right past it.

Boom. Full xp.

Can’t see the value attached to the added granularity and an inventive party would heal the mob to get more xp.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Should be based on intensity of the fight x duration of the encounter

Intensity ?
Monster's Challenge Rating ( ? )

Duration ?
In rounds ( lol )

if you want to do anything with duration you'd probably want to reward resolving encounters faster than slower, figure out how long you expect your group to take to defeat any given encounter [factoring things like average DPR, favoured enemy types like clerics against undead, ect...] and then add exp bonuses for being quicker than that prediction

 

[Lanefan]

if you want to do anything with duration you'd probably want to reward resolving encounters faster than slower, figure out how long you expect your group to take to defeat any given encounter [factoring things like average DPR, favoured enemy types like clerics against undead, ect...] and then add exp bonuses for being quicker than that prediction

Note that could have the unintended side-effect of causing the xp value of any given combat to in part be determined by sheer luck of the dice, regardless of any planning (or not) done by the players/PCs.

If that's an intended result, however, all is good.

 

[cavetroll]

I'm struggling with this decision too. Are XP awards needed for todays games. When I think about my childhood, it was incredibly important, every amount was critical to calculate precisely and award fairly, otherwise we felt we were "cheating".

But when it comes to todays adventures does it really add value when you have an adventure that expects you to level up once you complete a particular section. Does it make sense when the game shifts from mostly combat to mostly stuff other than combat.

I can't really tell if I am just old and lazy now, and thats the only reason I want to avoid XP and stick with milestones.

 

[Lanefan]

I'm struggling with this decision too. Are XP awards needed for todays games. When I think about my childhood, it was incredibly important, every amount was critical to calculate precisely and award fairly, otherwise we felt we were "cheating".

But when it comes to todays adventures does it really add value when you have an adventure that expects you to level up once you complete a particular section. Does it make sense when the game shifts from mostly combat to mostly stuff other than combat.

I can't really tell if I am just old and lazy now, and thats the only reason I want to avoid XP and stick with milestones.

It depends what you want to incentivize among your players.

Me, I want to incentivize getting in there and taking risks; thus it's individual xp all the way and no xp for you-as-PC if you don't get involved in the situation and-or put yourself at any risk. At the same time I want to dis-incentivize having characters hang back and play it safe, which is easy to do in a large party (which most of mine are).