Questions tagged [experience-points]
For questions pertaining to "experience points" or any other kind of point gained during play and used to "level up" or otherwise permanently increase a character's abilities.
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Who created the idea of Experience Points?
The idea of XP in all its many forms has been around for quite some time.
What designer had the idea of quantizing success and advancement through a numerical method? What game was it for?
The ...
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My party bypassed a combat encounter. Should they still get XP?
Some thug bandits set up a road block on the main road to extract a toll from passersby. It was twilight when my party encountered them. They used the Rogue to scout ahead, and they ultimately decided ...
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What is the reason behind "one level at a time" level advancement in D&D? [closed]
During the answering to this question about large experience point gains getting truncated -- when a single XP award would raise a character more than one level at a time -- the following question ...
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What do I do with a player who's always trying to go out on their own to farm XP?
This is my first time being a DM, and one of my players (the reason I became a DM), is constantly going out on their own, hunting or stealthing ahead of the group, to kill things before any one else ...
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My players want to grind XP but we're using milestone advancement
I've been running a D&D 5e campaign where the levelling up has been done at certain landmark points or milestones. Regardless of your opinion on that specific system, it's reached a point where ...
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I erased an obstacle from having ever existed. Should I get any experience for it?
In yesterday's session, our characters scouted a room full of reanimated corpses, and it was the only way to go through. Our characters were completely exhausted of resources and couldn't rest, so I ...
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DM taking away XP from players as a form of punishment
So I got a group of friends in high school and were all nerds but with no way to play together. Not all of us had a computer or console. We found someone who claims to have a lot of experience as a DM,...
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What rewards can compete with experience points? [closed]
My group is running a series of published adventures. I am GMing one of the modules (level 21-24) after which another member will be taking the reins.
I have plans for a side-adventure that will take ...
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How can I raise concerns with a new DM about XP splitting?
My wife is new to DMing and D&D as a whole.
We had our first game yesterday and one of my friends raised a concern about how she was awarding XP as she was giving the XP to the person that got ...
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Is leveling up mandatory?
In D&D 3.5e, being behind in levels compared to the party grants the relevant characters more experience per encounter. Intuitively, this is because the encounter is relatively harder for them and ...
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What can I do about players who "cheat" when answering the end of session questions?
At the end of a Dungeon World session, the GM has to ask to the players 3 questions. They win 1 xp if they answer positively. The questions are:
Have you discovered something about the world?
Have ...
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Why does the experience-to-next-level not change between some levels?
At every level from 1st to 11th, the experience needed to reach the next level (from the current level) increases every level. However, this pattern gets broken for most of the later levels:
Going ...
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Do PCs understand the leveling system and its experience requirements?
Do PCs understand the nature of the leveling system and its experience requirements? For example, suppose a PC is just below the XP requirement for a level and is planning to undertake a major quest. ...
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Do any newer D&D versions grant experience for exceptional role-playing?
Do any of the newer D&D editions' books (most likely the DM Guide) have guidelines for granting experience for exceptional role-playing?
I once played with a professional DM (there's a job I want)...
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Is the XP for an encounter split among the party members or not?
At this point, I am unclear as to how to handle encounter XP. Does each surviving party member receive a proportional share, or the full amount?
That is, assume a 4-character party had completed an ...
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Does a PC who was KO'd earn experience for that combat?
A friend of mine's character just died, and as we chatted he lamented all the bad luck he had over the course of the campaign. One thing that stuck out (other than his death being at the hands of a ...
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Can a character gain two levels with the same encounter?
We played with the Deck of Many Things last night and a character drew the card that gives you 50000 XP. The character was 14 and the XP amount was enough for him to gain the next two levels. 15 and ...
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How should XP be awarded for an encounter when enemies flee, get intimidated, or are convinced to help?
This is my first time DM'ing and I'm playing DnD 5e's "Lost Mine of Phandelver" campaign with 3 other players.
The PCs seem to have a trend of encountering a group of enemies, start fighting and ...
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Can PCs gain XP from “defeating” an enemy who actually just used Feign Death?
I have a NPC who, when is about to be killed, uses Feign Death just before it is killed. As the point is to trick the players, do they gain XP for its death or not? And if so, the full amount or less?
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The GM ruled that we didn't get XP for killing the boss because an enemy caster's spell killed them. Is this allowed?
We are playing Rise of the Runelords, and were fighting Nualia and her minions in Thisletop. During the heat of the battle, Nualia was near death at just 12 HP. Her minion caster fireballed the party ...
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Why don't players get extra xp for large encounters?
Based on the table Encounter XP Multipliers from the Basic Rules' DM section, Page 57, when you're building encounters in 5E, you include an XP modifier depending on the number of creatures your PCs ...
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How much XP can the Wish spell grant?
If someone had the Deck of Many things, drew the Moon and got a wish spell, and wished to "Level up as much as (They) can", how much XP would the wish spell give to the player?
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Are PCs that died counted when dividing a combat's XP?
Generally, XP is divided equally when an enemy is killed. So let's say a low level party of four all fought and killed an orc worth 100xp; they all get 25xp.
But what happens if the orc kills (...
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How can I balance gradual character advancement for new players vs. trying to keep the PCs at a similar level?
I've been running an Open Table game this summer and it's going pretty well. I normally favor milestone leveling or other forms of keeping all PCs at the same level so I don't have to deal with level ...
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Does 5e address the murderhobos problem?
In DnD 3.5, the system by default only gives significant XP for killing things (monsters, vermin, shopkeepers, etc), which often leads to player characters becoming "murderhobos" in an ...
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Experience Awards For Role-Playing; Should I keep it?
When I GM, I award bonus experience for roleplaying. My intent is to promote roleplaying from my players, who occasionally fail to remember that it's a 'roleplaying game.' It's generally a small ...
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Determining "level" of an NPC ally for purpose of budgeting encounter XP
Hypothetical party:
1st level human wizard (PC)
3x guard NPC
1x acolyte NPC
This is the player's first time, and it's a solo campaign. The first mini-adventure involves recovering the cargo of a ...
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Non-Combat XP, with combat later
Assume there is a troll guarding a bridge (for all bridges need trolls). Instead of attacking the troll, the party found some intrigue way of bypassing the encounter. I'm happy with it and award them ...
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Are there any quick, reliable ways to level up in D&D 5e?
I am the Dungeon Master in a new campaign. Since I made the players start new characters, they were wondering if there was a fast way to gain experience. The players wanted the game to still be legit, ...
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What is the purpose of slow experience gain in Pathfinder Society Organized Play?
Pathfinder Society Organized Play allows players to advance either 1XP or 1/2XP per session. There are no advantages offered by taking the slower XP (experience) gain, so why would someone use this ...
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Does a True Polymorphed player character continue to gain experience?
Suppose a 5th-level human wizard (let's call her Morgan) is subject to true polymorph, and the spell becomes permanent. While polymorphed, Morgan remains with the party and contributes to adventures. ...
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Amount of Ability Score on level up in Pathfinder?
First of all, I'm really new to RPGs, and I cannot find in the core rules or online how many ability score to give a character at level 4,8,12,16,20. The manual says "and possibly an ability score ...
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I am using milestone leveling, what happens when a character dies?
In D&D 3.5e, resurrection can be achieved using several different spells.
Only the 9th level spell True Resurrection, however, comes with a completely monetary cost; all other more economic ...
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Do PCs gain experience from a fight that they lost?
If the PCs lose a fight but do not die (e.g. imprisoned), do they gain experience points from the battle?
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What's the difference between XP and adjusted XP?
What's the difference between XP and adjusted XP in D&D 5th edition?
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Should a PC get XP for assisting outside of combat?
Related, but about a PC not participating at all in a combat: Do people get XP for battles they weren't in?
Generally, experience points for a combat encounter are divided equally among the ...
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How can I add encounters in the Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign without giving PCs too much XP?
I'm currently reading the LMOP scenario. I was thinking about adding some encounters if the PCs want to explore the forest or other side-story zones that aren't considered in the book.
But actually I ...
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Should a DM award XP for avoiding or surviving traps?
I just was reading the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure when I noticed that page 21, section "3. Trapped Hall" says:
Awarding Experience Points
Divide 100 XP equally among the characters if ...
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What do NPCs do with gained XP?
I'm the DM of our group with several player characters, and often there are NPCs with the party as well (partly because the party really likes persuading friendly creatures to come join them, and ...
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Is the use of XP as a narrative currency for both GMs and players a novel idea?
In Monte Cook's new roleplaying game Numenera, XP is used as a narrative currency not only by the GM but by the players as well. Taken from his design diaries:
Say the PCs find a hidden console ...
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Is the epic boon progression too fast?
The PHB's required XP for leveling can generally be described as, "For your next level, you'll need more than what was required for this level," with a notable exception between going from level 10 to ...
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What is the most reasonable conversion rate for a 5e "Gold for XP" house rule?
I am thinking about using a OSR-like XP for Gold rule for my next 5e campaign. Instead of handing out Combat or Quest XP, I want to use the following rule:
Players can purchase XP / a level when ...
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Can a character Level Up twice in a row?
The question came up in last night's session...
If a character has enough XP and time, is there any reason they cannot trigger the Level Up move twice in succession?
In this circumstance events have ...
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In-game rewards for game-related work?
The other GM in my group and I are both big fans of giving XP rewards for things done out of the game. Ex: We have an artist who will draw and design all sorts of stuff to "fluff out" our campaign.
...
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Is a "too easy kill" worth no XP?
Once in an AD&D 2nd edition game, after a not very successful encounter with wererats, our beaten-down 2nd/3rd level party — one character unconscious, both clerics exhausted — was traveling a ...
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Can I defer levelling up after reaching the XP threshold?
As a rogue, I've gained enough XP to level up to level 3. However, I'm not yet ready to pick what archetype would fit best for me.
Despite having gained enough XP, can I wait until later to level up ...
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How can I substitute bonus XP in a non-XP campaign?
I have a party that have taken up sneaking past guards and avoiding traps and thus not getting encounter XP.
They all first time D&D players but long time boardgamers so they picked it up quite ...
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How to assign exp for indirect kills
During the last session, my players sneaked into a camp at night. A lot of enemies (several tens) were resting in their tents. My players managed to set fire to the tents without being caught and so ...
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Should the party get XP for a monster they never attacked?
Attempting to keep things vague to avoid possible spoilers for Dragon Heist
During the first session, after the barfight, a couple monsters crawl out of the hole in the middle of the tavern, one big ...
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Do I award experience points for a trap that goes off?
In a recent session my players triggered a trap that they didn't notice; it went off and did damage to most of the party.
I've done a rudimentary search through the Pathfinder SRD and couldn't find ...
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