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View Full Version : Just some questions on an unexperienced DM on 3.5d&d



dota600
2010-06-27, 01:50 AM
1. I will admit it, I am not that good at Math. Although I am slightly good at the basics but when it comes to big numbers I get lost.
So, how does one calculate the XP that I will give to my players? I am pretty at lost in the core books about the explanations and everything. How do I calculate the xp when they multiclass or will I just let them multiclass without penalty?

2. How will I calculate the XP on their roleplays and encounters? Do I give bigger XP on roleplay or is it encounters?

3. I am slightly confused on how one will constitute one's reason to use diplomacy about asking gold on NPC's without pay. I am also agitated if there is a better way to stop PC's using Sleight of Hands on their Party members all the time.

4. What is the best way to give my P.C's encounter? Do I use the random table provided in D.M's 3.5 manual or is it better that I tailored it? And about tailoring, do I give them enemies 2 ECL higher than them when it comes to normal encounters or not?

thats all for now.. I hope. :smalleek:

PId6
2010-06-27, 02:07 AM
1. Allow multiclassing without penalty; it's stupid and doesn't really make any sense. For calculating XP, just use this (http://www.penpaperpixel.org/tools/d20encountercalculator.htm) handy tool. It pretty much does everything for you.

2. Depends on what type of game your players like you to run. If they're dedicated roleplayers who love intrigue-based campaigns with little combat, then make most of the XP roleplay-based. If they're mostly hack-and-slashers, make it mostly combat-based. I usually prefer leaving most of the XP to combat and give roleplaying XP only for exceptional roleplaying, but that depends on the group.

3. For Diplomacy, use the Giant's Diplomacy fix (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/jFppYwv7OUkegKhONNF.html) and make "asking for money" requests tend towards "unfavorable" or "horrible." Also reduce NPC relationships to PCs if they ask for money too often. For in-party stealing, unless they all like that sort of game and have fun doing it, you should just tell them OOC to stop. Most of the time, such disruptive behavior isn't fun for the group as a whole, and shouldn't be allowed unless all of the players desire such a game.

4. Supposedly, you should on average send ELs equal to party level and do it four times per day. However, the CR system has a lot of problems and can break down depending on optimization level, so I'd suggest you tailor the encounters yourself. Use CR as a rough guideline, and don't be afraid to adjust things mid-combat if you miscalculated and sent enemies too strong for them to handle (though you should be subtle about these things).

AslanCross
2010-06-27, 02:30 AM
1. I will admit it, I am not that good at Math. Although I am slightly good at the basics but when it comes to big numbers I get lost.
So, how does one calculate the XP that I will give to my players? I am pretty at lost in the core books about the explanations and everything. How do I calculate the xp when they multiclass or will I just let them multiclass without penalty?

Encounter calculators like the one posted above are perfect for this. I'm awful at Math too, and these make everything much quicker.



2. How will I calculate the XP on their roleplays and encounters? Do I give bigger XP on roleplay or is it encounters?
I'll have to agree with the post above as well--depends on what the campaign is about. Since my campaigns tend to have a whole bunch of very difficult encounters, most of the party's XP comes from combat even if there are very important RP moments as well. For very important roleplay moments (say, convincing an elf tribe to join the kingdom the PCs are working for against the hobgoblin horde), give the PCs enough XP as if they had defeated a monster of their level+2.



3. I am slightly confused on how one will constitute one's reason to use diplomacy about asking gold on NPC's without pay. I am also agitated if there is a better way to stop PC's using Sleight of Hands on their Party members all the time.

Do not use the Diplomacy rules in the PHB. They're very easy to break. Again, as posted above, use Rich's Diplomacy Rules. They take more factors into consideration.

As for party members stealing stuff from one another: I think you'll have to tell the players that the game is about EVERYONE having fun. If they all get a kick out of kleptomania, then let them do it. But if it begins annoying party members (or even you), let them know. D&D is a team effort, and if people have fun at somebody else's expense, it's not fun for everyone anymore.
Come up with a gentleman's agreement so that people don't be jerks to each other.



4. What is the best way to give my P.C's encounter? Do I use the random table provided in D.M's 3.5 manual or is it better that I tailored it? And about tailoring, do I give them enemies 2 ECL higher than them when it comes to normal encounters or not?

thats all for now.. I hope. :smalleek:

I prefer preparing encounters. If I use published adventures, I tweak and retweak the encounters, sometimes even changing the terrain to make it more interesting.

If I use random encounter tables, I use my own and make sure that each encounter is unique and interesting. I roll on the table first, long before the session, then plan each one so that it doesn't seem like it's just a chance encounter. Thus, even if the PCs fight the same encounter multiple times, you can get "four ogre barbarians with greatswords," "four ogre rogues throwing rocks from a cliff 30 feet up," or "four ogre rangers charging down a snowy hillside on snowboards."

Larger parties often need higher encounter levels, but keep in mind that this mind make them burn up their daily resources much faster. This was the downside to the high ELs in my recently-concluded campaign: each encounter was very challenging, but only after about 2 or 3 encounters (as opposed to 4) the PCs would have to stop and rest.

The CR system uses very rough approximations. If you believe at the end of an encounter that it was far more difficult than the players can handle, give them more XP for it.