D&D 5E [Worldbuilding] XP is Real

[I'm A Banana]

So I posted this in another thread, but I figured it'd be an interesting idea for everyone to play with and see what it inspires. The high-level idea: XP exist as a physical substance that clings to the souls of those who become heroes and villains of myth and legend. Envision it something like a slight white shimmer, a bit of a nebula.

In this world, when you take HP damage, it is always an injury. Because you're heroic, you can push on through all but the worst injuries (the ones that reduce you to 0 hp) without any real effect. However, your injuries do not heal on their own - a broken leg or a deep sword wound remain debilitating, even years later. All HP loss is permanent. Death always comes closer, and never goes back.

However, a way was discovered to keep Death at bay - to accomplish heroic deeds, and to keep your name sung about in myth and legend. When you accomplish heroic deeds, including slaying monsters, you earn life-force in the form of XP, which takes the physical form of a white nebulae that clings to legendary beings. When you've accumulated enough XP, it turns into a spark, which is the physical manifestation of your heroic deeds. When you have a spark, you heal your wounds and recover your energies (gaining the effects of a short rest), once. When you gather your third spark, you can join them together into a lifespark, which heals all your wounds and recovers all your energies, once. The XP you accumulate is sought by others in this world, as slaying you qualifies as a heroic deed for them. Additionally, as you accumulate XP, sparks become more difficult to generate - as a being who is already heroic, it is that much harder to generate a big enough epic deed to warrant a spark. This is reflected by the amount of XP required before you get a spark going up as you gain levels.

The constant need for XP is what drives great heroes and horrible villains, and what spurs many of them to target each other. Most normal people accept their inevitable demise with grace - the gods provide solace, and the soul awaits its release. But you are different - you seek this numinous stuff of legend. As long as you gather it, you can keep death at bay and face off against even legendary foes. But if you relent in your pursuit, and stop pursuing your legend, you will slowly gather injuries and die, just as everyone else in this world does.​

....so, what kind of world would you build on this idea? What conflicts do you envision? How would it change D&D? What nefarious or amazing ideas does it inspire? Let me know!

 

[Savage Wombat]

I've read this book. I have to ask my wife what the title/author was.

Ideas it that exp are "Tael" - and having it is associated with nobility, and it lets you use magic and survive wounds. And you earn Tael by success in battle. So every year the nations of humans and goblin march off to war, so that the high-level nobles can scrape up more tael by butchering goblins.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I have no problem with the idea that XP is real. I've been using that idea for over a year now and it works well. The distinctive feature of the world you've created is that it combines "XP is real" with a variant rest paradigm based on milestones instead of time: "narrative pacing is real".

And the world it leads to isn't all that different from one where bathing in the blood of ten virgins really does make your skin younger. 20th level megalomaniacs are in charge and farm humanoids for XP so they can replenish life force at need. Whether or not heroes last long enough to level up through heroic deeds depends entirely on how fractious and self-absorbed the bad guys are; if they think to band together in intelligent ways that reduce their losses (thanks, Lanchester's Laws!) the putative heroes will have lives which are idealistic, hopeless, and short.

One assumes that Fiendlocks and Monks of Long Death are very popular classes among the megalomaniacs, since both can recover temp HP by killing instead of resting.

 

[TwoSix]

Good post, KM...err, Banana.

So for some reason the word that stuck in my head for this kind of life force is "Numina". (Not this guy). So that's what I'm referring to it as below. Couple brainstorms I had about the concept that impact worldbuilding:

1) Children are regular Numina factories. They regenerate wounds exactly like we do in the normal world, a process that only slows down upon reaching adulthood. This makes children quite valuable to dark cultists who would harvest Numina by sacrifice.

2) The daily grind generates XP for your average farmer, but very slowly. About one short rest a year, a long rest every 3 years, and a "level up" every 15-20 years.

3) This makes villages with a charismatic leader, whether spiritual or temporal, much more likely to survive the ravages of time. (An NPC with Inspiring Leader gives permanent temporary hitpoints, almost doubling survivability for a 1 HD peasant.)

4) Warlocks are the most common spellcaster, due the flexibility and power of invocations in a world where spells can only be recharged every year or so. Likewise, rituals are highly prized.

5) Assuming quest and roleplay XP is a thing, alternate religious practices based on pilgrimages to new places and having new experiences are common, much like the Sensates in Planescape.

6) People aren't the only substance that accretes Numina. Certain plants (especially near planar boundaries), animals, and monsters also accumulate Numina in measurable, transferrable quantities. (A basilisk's eyes, for example, might be highly charged with Numina.) This creates a nice little business in exploring and hunting for creatures, as elixirs of Numina-infusion (granting the benefits of a short or long rest, but no XP) are highly prized items.

 

[SkidAce]

Demon's Souls the RPG.


Actually without taking it to the "xp is tangible level", we've kinda always had that kind of flavor in the background.

Kill it, absorb its essence, grow stronger. Its why the currency of the Outer Planes is souls, they are xp.

 

[Jediking]

In having "heroes" running off trying to slay dragons, krakens, and even the Tarrasque, the ecology in many areas were destroyed. With the lack of apex predators and their important role in keeping other populations down, not to mention their overlooked environment [Lair] functions, the "lowexpee" creatures that people ignored suddenly swelled. The constant competition of hunting Arctic Wolves, then Wolves, to attacking a poorly-trained Mastiff finally caused people to fight each other out of desperation, not heroism. And the gods took notice.

As humanoids knocked off higher XP species, wondering why their wounds did not close as they once did, they turned on each other. With the overhunting of herbivore creatures and environmental damage, and the gods seldom answering their pleas for help, vegetation and fertile land became scarce. Heroic deeds became difficult to achieve when you must steal from or kill a passerby to feed your family It caused great distraught to many after they fought off a previous friend but, to their surprise, did not receive any XP.


It's cold now. The land is barren. The roads aren't safe, never safe. Locked into your barricaded home with your family and last friend, you don't feel brave or heroic. All you feel is the fear. You look over at your neighbour, with his back turned to you. Why does he keep glancing at your wife? Is he still a commoner, or a bandit by now? Surely it's heroic to protect your family. It has to be. Doesn't it?