D&D General What do you prefer to give/get XP for?

[Reynard]

When playing D&D, what sorts of things do you as GM give out XP for, or as a player prefer to get XP for.

This is one of those polls with as many things as I could think of, but feel free to suggest additions and I will add them.

 

[payn]

My journey was annoyance at all the work deciphering every twiddly action into an XP award divided by solo/group or who was present...im getting a headache just thinking about it. Then it became add up everything done during a session and divide it equally amongst the party. Finally, just getting rid of it and going milestone. Never going back.

 

[Reynard]

My journey was annoyance at all the work deciphering every twiddly action into an XP award divided by solo/group or who was present...im getting a headache just thinking about it. Then it became add up everything done during a session and divide it equally amongst the party. Finally, just getting rid of it and going milestone. Never going back.

Did you ever play Rolemaster? XP for moving! Yay!

 

[Yaarel]

I havent used XP in years.

I would probably use the new Inspiration for mini rewards where earlier editions used "bonus xp".

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

A few years back, Mearls tested the 3 pillar XP in a UA and I've been using it. I short, you gather xp (on a 100 points scale) for combat, finding rare items or locations, or coercing a NPC based on your tier. So a finding a Goblin cave at lvl 1 grants you 10% XP, but 0 XP at lvl 5+.

It's simple but it works well.

 

[CleverNickName]

I used to do milestone leveling, until my players complained about it. ("So basically we only level-up whenever you say so? DM-may-I have a level?")

When we switched to online gaming, we went back to tracking numerical XP. It's a lot easier to do on Roll20--I've installed a mod that automatically distributes and tracks XP for us. Anytime a monster token is marked "defeated," it looks at each monster's CR, adds up the XP for each one, then distributes it to the party. I can also type in any amount of XP and distribute it to one or more characters with a click of a button. I push that button whenever:

• A trap is successfully disarmed
• A curse is broken
• A downed character is rescued
• A quest is successfully completed
• Exceptional in-character roleplaying
• Certain parts of the map are reached

The mod is called Lazy Experience.

 

[payn]

A few years back, Mearls tested the 3 pillar XP in a UA and I've been using it. I short, you gather xp (on a 100 points scale) for combat, finding rare items or locations, or coercing a NPC based on your tier. So a finding a Goblin cave at lvl 1 grants you 10% XP, but 0 XP at lvl 5+.

It's simple but it works well.

I dont like XP because it drags players by the nose, but this is an interesting idea of balancing out the pillar play of D&D if one so desires.

 

[Aldarc]

Whatever XP is rewarded for, I prefer that it is player facing in the game rules.

I can tell you what I don't like giving it for:

• "good roleplay"
• DM-says-so milestones

I don't like XP being at the whims of the GM.

 

[Reynard]

I dont like XP because it drags players by the nose

How do you mean?

 

[payn]

How do you mean?

It's so simplistic in do X get XP. I dont need an XP award system to tell my players to kill something, pick locks, and talk to people. The mechanics of character build inform them of their tool set. What is worse, they get into meta arguments about which things to kill, locks to pick, or people to talk to are worth doing becasue of the XP they award instead of actually doing it because its interesting in of itself.

So, in a pillar system where you award combat/exploration/social XP, you can get the players to balance out more amongst the pillars, but its the XP thats leading them there and not the interest of just playing the game itself.