Training NPCs, how to be a Villain with minions

[unseenmage]

I've seen training NPCs come up once or twice but a Google search brought little enlightenment.

Some questions. And please remember to cite your sources folks, it streamlines our discussions helpfully. Thanks.

- How much xp do NPCs and monsters have? I remember reading somewhere that it's enough to get them halfway to their next level but I can't for the life of me remember where.

- Do Summoned Monsters grant xp? If not why? Would Called monsters change this? If not Why?

Straight from the DMG:

Do not award XP for creatures that enemies summon or otherwise add to their forces with magic powers. An enemy’s ability to summon or add these creatures is part of the enemy’s CR already. (You don’t give PCs more XP if a drow cleric casts unholy blight on them, so don’t give them more XP if she casts summon monster IV instead.)


- Does defeating the same trap over and over grant xp? If not why? Would randomly teleporting that trap around town/the dungeon change this?

- Does xp training have to only involve lethal or potentially lethal encounters? If not why? Is the very essence of "training" in that punches are pulled?

- How are monsters measured against each other? Are two equal CR monsters equals in combat; would they give each other the same xp? Or do all monsters have to go through the rigorous conversion prcess to ECL before one can compare them to other monsters using CR?

- Assuming CRed encounters grant xp to NPCs, how many encounters should they be allowed to benefit from each day? Is this different for Undead/Constructs/Ring of Sustenance wearers?

- Would instituting an NPC training regimen make the Wight deleveling cheese less cheesey now that a Player could both raise and lower a given minion or potential minion's level?

That's all I can think of for now. Please feel free to ask some more good questions or invalidate some of mine. Relevant info on xp awards can be found in the DMG page 36-41.

[Vaern]

- Do Summoned Monsters grant xp? If not why? Would Called monsters change this? If not Why?
Straight from the DMG:

Do not award XP for creatures that enemies summon or otherwise add to their forces with magic powers. An enemy’s ability to summon or add these creatures is part of the enemy’s CR already. (You don’t give PCs more XP if a drow cleric casts unholy blight on them, so don’t give them more XP if she casts summon monster IV instead.)
That should cover both the summoning and the calling queries.

- Does xp training have to only involve lethal or potentially lethal encounters? If not why? Is the very essence of "training" in that punches are pulled?
No. Anything that challenges a character may grant experience points. These thing do not necessarily need to be combat-oriented. Acquiring valuable knowledge, usually something significant to the story, can also make a character more powerful (knowledge is power!). As combat is a significant part of the game, though, it is the main source of experience points for players.

- How are monsters measured against each other? Are two equal CR monsters equals in combat; would they give each other the same xp? Or do all monsters have to go through the rigorous conversion prcess to ECL before one can compare them to other monsters using CR?
Experience is rewarded based on the ECL of the victor versus the CR of the loser.
A level 5 kobold adept and a level 2 kobold wizard are both CR 2, for example. The wizard would gain 600 experience from killing the adept (ECL 2 defeating CR 2), while the adept would gain only 500 from killing the wizard (ECL 5 defeating CR 2).

[Azoth]

Gaining experience for a resetting trap of summon monster (insert number) isn't based on the monster summoned. It is based on the fact that beating the monster is counted as defeating the encounter. You would gain experience based on the traps CR not the monster Itself.

Technically RAW legal, but again...that is RAW for you.

[unseenmage]

Gaining experience for a resetting trap of summon monster (insert number) isn't based on the monster summoned. It is based on the fact that beating the monster is counted as defeating the encounter. You would gain experience based on the traps CR not the monster Itself.

Technically RAW legal, but again...that is RAW for you.

The bit in the DMG that Vaern quoted does call out Summoned monsters as not granting CR regardless of how many times the enemy spellcaster summons them.

Can you show where RAW differentiates between multiple summonings by an enemy spellcaster and multiple summonings by a resetting trap?

[Vaern]

Gaining experience for a resetting trap of summon monster (insert number) isn't based on the monster summoned. It is based on the fact that beating the monster is counted as defeating the encounter. You would gain experience based on the traps CR not the monster Itself.

Technically RAW legal, but again...that is RAW for you.
Except that defeating the monster is not defeating the trap, and the trap is the encounter. It doesn't matter how many summoned monsters you fight if you make no effort to do anything about the thing that's summoning them.

And I see absolutely no reason why intentionally and repeatedly triggering a trap should be any more rewarding than stabbing yourself with a sword. You know exactly what's going to happen, and you won't learn anything new or valuable from it - all you're doing is subjecting yourself to unnecessary pain.

[Azoth]

Whether you disarm, bypass, or trigger and survive a pit trap you gain experience because it is an encounter that you have succeeded. The trap did not kill you, and you dealt with it. Plain and simple.

Again, the summoned monsters aren't what give the experience it is having "defeated" the trap and gaining XP based on its CR.

If you want to up it to qualify as defeating it truly. The room you fight in seals until the monsters are slain. Thereby making the only way, outside of disarming it, to defeat it to defeat the monsters.