Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
How do you award XP and how often?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 9249893" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>So for the most part, I award xp for overcoming dangerous challenges, and reward other stuff with inspiration. I give xp for overcoming monsters by the book- xp value of monsters divided by number of pcs. </p><p></p><p>For traps or hazards, I evaluate it as if it were a monster, usually checking its offensive value only. For instance, if it is a single target trap that attacks at +5 to hit and deals 4d10 damage to one target target, that's 22 average damage, so 7 per round. I treat the defensive CR as equal to the offensive CR.</p><p></p><p>In this case, I award xp as soon as there's enough in the 'bank' for any pc to level. Also, I run mixed level groups, so this can mean I award xp every combat (or hazard) if someone is close to leveling.</p><p></p><p>I also have one game I am running that uses an entirely different system, which I call "ale and whores". Basically, you only get xp for throwing your money away (thus the name of the system). Not for spending it on gear, bribes, etc; only for spending it ways that give you nothing, no advantage from making friends, nothing. This system can encourage things like pcs hocking their gear for those few extra gps needed to gain a level, or stealing part of the treasure they find from the rest of the party. These aren't bugs, they're features. "Ale and whores" xp is supposed to encourage a specific playstyle, but what has actually happened is that the party has been scrupulous about not dividing treasure until there is enough for everyone to level. In this case, I award xp as soon as the money is spent uselessly.</p><p></p><p>I have two more systems that I used previously (in 3e) and have considered as options in 5e, but like I said, inspiration kind of takes their place. In both cases, you still get xp for overcoming challenges, but only half the normal amount. Since I haven't used them in 5e, I am not sure when I would award xp with them exactly, but traditionally, it was at the end of each session.</p><p></p><p>The first of these variants is the "Four Categories of Roleplaying" system. At the end of each session, in addition to monster/challenge xp, each player can earn xp for roleplaying each of four categories: their class, race, alignment, and personal concerns. I play in a game where the DM uses this system, but you can choose your ideal, bond, and flaw as categories too, with a maximum of four. You can't call simply using your abilities as roleplaying, but other than that, the requirements to gain xp for the categories are very loose; the idea is that everyone always gets those as long as they do a little minimal roleplaying. For example, if you are a LG human paladin, you might get alignment xp for sparing a foe; paladin xp for preaching the virtues of your god or oath; race xp for associating with other humans; and personal xp for visiting the grave of a fallen companion. I tailored the amount of xp gained by your level such that if all you did was roleplay, never dealing with any dangerous challenges or monsters, and you earned all four categories of xp each session, you would level up after 10 sessions. </p><p></p><p>The second variant is the "Ten Traits" system. Each pc can choose ten character/personality traits, and can add one per level above first if they choose. These can be literally anything. I like to wear blue. I hate spiders. I am scared of big dogs. I speak in a loud voice. I prefer spicy food. Etc. At the end of each session, each player points to how they played up to ten of these traits, earning xp for each. Again, it was tailored so that you would level up after 10 sessions given only "ten traits" xp each game. In this case, I expected a slightly lower rate of pcs getting these xp- I thought ten traits would be hard to hit every time if we had a high combat session- but I found that almost every pc got 10 almost every session.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 9249893, member: 1210"] So for the most part, I award xp for overcoming dangerous challenges, and reward other stuff with inspiration. I give xp for overcoming monsters by the book- xp value of monsters divided by number of pcs. For traps or hazards, I evaluate it as if it were a monster, usually checking its offensive value only. For instance, if it is a single target trap that attacks at +5 to hit and deals 4d10 damage to one target target, that's 22 average damage, so 7 per round. I treat the defensive CR as equal to the offensive CR. In this case, I award xp as soon as there's enough in the 'bank' for any pc to level. Also, I run mixed level groups, so this can mean I award xp every combat (or hazard) if someone is close to leveling. I also have one game I am running that uses an entirely different system, which I call "ale and whores". Basically, you only get xp for throwing your money away (thus the name of the system). Not for spending it on gear, bribes, etc; only for spending it ways that give you nothing, no advantage from making friends, nothing. This system can encourage things like pcs hocking their gear for those few extra gps needed to gain a level, or stealing part of the treasure they find from the rest of the party. These aren't bugs, they're features. "Ale and whores" xp is supposed to encourage a specific playstyle, but what has actually happened is that the party has been scrupulous about not dividing treasure until there is enough for everyone to level. In this case, I award xp as soon as the money is spent uselessly. I have two more systems that I used previously (in 3e) and have considered as options in 5e, but like I said, inspiration kind of takes their place. In both cases, you still get xp for overcoming challenges, but only half the normal amount. Since I haven't used them in 5e, I am not sure when I would award xp with them exactly, but traditionally, it was at the end of each session. The first of these variants is the "Four Categories of Roleplaying" system. At the end of each session, in addition to monster/challenge xp, each player can earn xp for roleplaying each of four categories: their class, race, alignment, and personal concerns. I play in a game where the DM uses this system, but you can choose your ideal, bond, and flaw as categories too, with a maximum of four. You can't call simply using your abilities as roleplaying, but other than that, the requirements to gain xp for the categories are very loose; the idea is that everyone always gets those as long as they do a little minimal roleplaying. For example, if you are a LG human paladin, you might get alignment xp for sparing a foe; paladin xp for preaching the virtues of your god or oath; race xp for associating with other humans; and personal xp for visiting the grave of a fallen companion. I tailored the amount of xp gained by your level such that if all you did was roleplay, never dealing with any dangerous challenges or monsters, and you earned all four categories of xp each session, you would level up after 10 sessions. The second variant is the "Ten Traits" system. Each pc can choose ten character/personality traits, and can add one per level above first if they choose. These can be literally anything. I like to wear blue. I hate spiders. I am scared of big dogs. I speak in a loud voice. I prefer spicy food. Etc. At the end of each session, each player points to how they played up to ten of these traits, earning xp for each. Again, it was tailored so that you would level up after 10 sessions given only "ten traits" xp each game. In this case, I expected a slightly lower rate of pcs getting these xp- I thought ten traits would be hard to hit every time if we had a high combat session- but I found that almost every pc got 10 almost every session. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
How do you award XP and how often?
Top