GM Question: EXP Awarding

[Longman]

I'd also argue that if you end up with players on the sidelines while others do everything, that's likely to be a fault with your group dynamic or the way you are running the game, and penalising the less active players could be quite unfair. You don't want to end up rewarding table hogs, either.

If this kind of thing actually happens in my games I just try to make sure I have a more balanced session the next time. I keep EXP as equal as possible. Maybe the occasional bonus, but certainly not for being "the guy who did everything..."

[Metroknight]

The way I handle EXP awarding is different from most people. Mostly still a work in progress.

I give a set amount for the session based on the characters level. This is usually 100xp per character level. That means a character that is 1st level gets 100xp for just playing in the session while a 10th level would get 1000xp and it caps out at 20th level for 2000xp.

I then divide up the total of all the encounters between all the characters in that session (player has to be there to control his/her character's actions to gain the experience points). The encounter has to be defeated which could be just bypassing it if the players come up with a smart plan. It never has to be kill the monster but sometimes it is.

I then total up the XP per character and apply racial bonuses.
I also have the players award 50 xp to other players (this is new for my use so i'm still tweaking on it) for good roleplaying, funniest moment, best thought out plan, etc.... but all the group (except the one being awarded) has to agree that player deserves it.

So my award sheet might look like this
Character (elven fighter 3rd level) gets 300xp (session), 60xp (encounters), 0xp (racial), 50xp (willingness to sacrifice himself for the party) for the grand total of 410xp for that one session.

Other characters would be similar if they are similar levels also. It speeds up the level climb at low level but tapers off as the character gets up in the higher levels.

[Solomoriah]

I see no need to weigh in here... you all seem to have a good grasp of the situation.

[Babarock]

I love it!

Players will take care of other players that do nothing on the encounter.

Even though the other PCs weren't the main cause for the win, they experienced it. They're now smarter.

I give it to anyone involved in the event. Must be present to win

...if you end up with players on the sidelines while others do everything, that's likely to be a fault with...the way you are running the game...You don't want to end up rewarding table hogs, either.

I also really like Metroknights original EXP system. Sitting through an entire session does indeed deserve a reward in and of itself. Saving the EXP for the end of session eliminates one more tedious 'erase and rewrite' mechanic and also in-game leveling complications. And getting the players to elect special bonuses to each other for sheer story telling? Brilliant!! Babarock likes.

[Metroknight]

I also really like Metroknights original EXP system. Sitting through an entire session does indeed deserve a reward in and of itself. Saving the EXP for the end of session eliminates one more tedious 'erase and rewrite' mechanic and also in-game leveling complications. And getting the players to elect special bonuses to each other for sheer story telling? Brilliant!! Babarock likes.

Thank you. I have been experimenting with it over the last year or two and it seems to work out rather well. I don't give xp for gold so I had to come up with a method that rewards gameplay. The exp per level speeds up the low level climb without truly sacrificing any roleplaying but once it get towards mid levels it starts tapering off and mostly follows along with the standard xp growth that you would receive with xp gained with gold but without flooding your setting with tons of gold.

The group award bit is something I seen done elsewhere and decided to try it out. I forgot to state that I would setup a pool of exp that the players would award from. Say at the end of the session and you are having the normal chatter about the game. You have already decided to have a 200 xp pool that the players can dip from to award. One player says that X did a great job at coming up with the plan that saved everyone's characters so they should get X amount of bonus points (always include a max per award) then another thinks that Y should also get bonus points for roleplaying. This goes around till either the group awards all the points in the pool or everyone got an award. This is still being worked on and tweaked so if it doesn't work for you, try something different.

[PendragonTX]

I gotta serious query that I can't find a satisfactory answer for. The forum search here ignores the term 'experience', by design, making it difficult to look up any info on the subject.

I am wondering what the popular consensus is on assigning players experience points for non-violent, role-playing, and 'incomplete' encounters. The last thing I want to do is train players to slay everything, no questions asked, by assigning experience for monsters that are killed only. The rules say experience is handed out for monster 'encounters'.

So, say you have a small party of goblins and they fail their morale check when half their number is slain. My inclination is to award the party for the entire compliment of goblins, half of whom they kill and half are driven away. Or say they run into a duo of trolls and manage, somehow, to role-play their way out of a fight. I would award them for a successful encounter as well (according to the rules under 'trolls' the same as if they were beaten down.

Or what about splitting up the EXP? When a party of 4 adventurers encounter and kill a single goblin sentry, do they really earn 3 EXP apiece? Or would it be considered too generous to award them the 10 EXP to each character who 'encountered' the little booger? What about when the killing is unnecessary or excessive? What if killing that sentry was a mindless thing to do, when its ideal purpose was be captured and interrogated for information?

I'd really like to hear the community sound off on this one. Its a really important element of game-play and covered ever so vaguely in the rules. Help a brother out!

Did you beat the encounter / trap / puzzle? Win the xps! I once gavea 1-3 party full xps for convincing (and a small cash bribe) a small band of hill Giants to ignore the village and raid a bandit lair instead.
Which bandits? (Shrug) party knew there were bandits in the area.

[Solomoriah]

You realize Babarock hasn't been around for a while, right?

[PendragonTX]

Working my way through the General Discussion while awaiting release from therapy.
A handful of names are regular and familiar, the others often seem to appear only once.
But for any who, like me, is sifting the whole pile, comment seemed worthwhile.

[Solomoriah]

Yeah, I get it. Been there. It's just that your reply seemed aimed at the OP, and I'm pretty sure he's not around here anymore.