Earn XP during downtime in 3.5?

[Dawgmoah]

While reading a thread on building a village I came across a reference to the PFSRD and started reading. (I'd not really looked at it since I do not run Pathfinder.)

I came across the section on Earning XP during downtime.

Earn XP

If you've missed a campaign session or otherwise fallen behind in XP compared to the other characters, you can spend downtime adventuring to help catch up to the other PCs. Usually downtime adventures feature encounters that are much easier than you'd normally expect as part of a group. For example, a 5th-level character might clear zombies out of a crypt or assist some lower-level adventurers with a problem that's a little too difficult for them.

Spending 1 day of downtime adventuring earns you XP as if you had defeated an opponent whose CR was equal to your character level. For example, if you are a 3rd-level character, you would earn 800 XP. You do not earn any treasure or other capital for downtime adventuring.

If using this downtime activity would increase your XP above the highest XP value among all the PCs in your party, it increases your XP to that value instead; any XP earned beyond this amount is lost. This activity allows you only to catch up, not to get ahead.

My question is: is there anything like this in the 3.5 rules? I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to house rule this into a 3.5 game but if it was unnecessary...

[Dawgmoah]

So with no opinions offered in two and a half weeks I can only guess no one uses rules like this in 3.5.

Usually I will try to allow a person a side quest but may add something like this to the toolbox. But not Experience for CR = to Character Level per day. Maybe half or something. Would depend on the impact to the story arc and party capabilities.

[Khanjar]

Yes, I believe you are correct. 2 weeks of no repsponse would confirm it for mee too, that nobody on the boards knows of a 3.5 rule anything like this. I just started reading the pf SRD a few weeks ago and it was the first time I saw anything like downtime exp formalized as a rule.

The whole downtime/kingdom building system in general is a huge set of extra rules that lets PC's run businesses and Kingdoms if they are so inclined. Not always appropriate for a given campaign or setting, but it definitely has its place.

[Ranting Fool]

Yes, I believe you are correct. 2 weeks of no repsponse would confirm it for mee too, that nobody on the boards knows of a 3.5 rule anything like this. I just started reading the pf SRD a few weeks ago and it was the first time I saw anything like downtime exp formalized as a rule.

The whole downtime/kingdom building system in general is a huge set of extra rules that lets PC's run businesses and Kingdoms if they are so inclined. Not always appropriate for a given campaign or setting, but it definitely has its place.

I'm planning on letting the PC's do this in our new campaign as I came across that book just a short while ago. Lots of useful things that could work just as well for 3.5

Never found any rule in 3.5 books which cover the same thing.

[Maginomicon]

What are the other PCs supposed to be doing in all of this? Sight-seeing?

[Dawgmoah]

What are the other PCs supposed to be doing in all of this? Sight-seeing?

I have many adventures where one or more members of the party are not present. So they go off and adventure leaving you with the option of either running their character as an npc, letting someone else run the character, or stating they stayed home with the runs or that hot new significant other.

After this happens a few times, and the group is splitting the xp with those present, those folks fall behind the power curve. This would allow them, if desired, to say after visiting the hot new significan other, or they can leave the throne room they go do some low level easy stuff to regain some lost turf.

Therefore it is not a matter of the other party members idling sitting and waiting for a character but mentioning what the missing person did while they were not with the party, in my opinion.

A have a fair mixture of military types in my gaming group so deployments and things have a habit of sidelining characters for an extended time.

[Yogibear41]

Doing something smart, or role-playing, or taking risks that other players don't take(if they need to be taken not stupid mistakes), all of these things generally earn a person extra XP in game with everyone else also around playing the game, it allows players to catch up and even begin to pull away from other players, granted this game that I play in isn't always you are level 15 so you fight cr 15 monsters, its more of a you are level 15 you fight what ever you run into that is within reason or lower, there just aren't cr 15 monsters running all over the place, cr 2-8 sure see them all the time. Granted I'm just throwing numbers out there so don't take them to literally. For example the majority of the group is around level 9 or so now, we still run into things like goblins often, just because there are so many out there. Fought some 1 hd darkmantles at the start of a dungeon once, just because well why not? Few rooms later ran into a monster that almost killed me in two rounds.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that having an imbalance in party levels isn't really a bad thing, having low wealth by level isn't bad, getting as much xp as you can when you can is always a good thing.

[Jgosse]

I am going to be having my game go on break for a month or so during Christmas. something like dec8 to early January. This gave me an idea to let them to a post style role play for those couple weeks to get some extra xp or some such. I am hoping that by that point the party will be setting out on a long tedious journey and they can handle the role play and that period while they are gone.