Experience Points and Treasure

[Matthew]

So, just out of interest, I was wondering how many Dungeon Masters use the Default Core Rules for handing out Experience Points and Treasure.

I don't use them at all. In a long term campaign Player Characters get as much Experience and Treasure as I deem appropriate for the next stage of the campaign. For loosely linked adventures they get enough to be able to take on the next adventure.

So, what about everybody else?

[oriong]

I use the standard rules for experience, because I typically allow PCs multiple options some of which are much riskier than others and if they can survive the greater risk they deserve the greater reward.

As for treasure, I make no real effort to follow the official guidelines, I use the treasure tables for generating random treasures and will insert items if I feel the urge, but I don't check to make sure that the amount of cash they have is the same on the chart.

[Saph]

When I'm DMing, I use them as a baseline, then have a look at the result and tweak it if I don't like it.

Our current DM uses them quite rigidly, though.

- Saph

[LotharBot]

I mostly use them, but I don't mind tweaking them when I feel it's necessary or appropriate.

[Zeta Kai]

If my PC's are currently too rich, I either cause their treasure to be stolen, or don't give them for a while, to let them catch up. If they are falling behind, then I'll increase their next haul to compensate. As long as the PC's wealth-by-level roughly matches up, I don't get very stringent with the treasure structure.

[Piccamo]

I don't use XP anymore. I award levels as needed for the next adventure. Item creation doesn't entail an XP cost, either.

[Clementx]

Random reward tables = the devil. The idea that the in the long run you receive the average, thus huge variance and complete randomness is acceptable is horrible game design, and probably the worst part of DnD. The reason- you never get to the long run.

I give exp according to the normal CR system, then base treasure directly on experience earned. I divide the suggested wealth gain figures for each level by the exp required to pass it, and figure how much gold per exp the party earns (with a 10% or so increase for consumable expenses). That way, I can assign a definite gold value to every single encounter. Should the opponents use/be guarding treasure, that gets deducted. The remainder is what I owe the players, which gets summed up into hordes or various other rewards.

Thus, I can give clerics the scrolls that they would sensible be carrying when they are killed, based on NPC gear by level and their currect activities, instead of having them show up stuck in a random troll's loincloth just because that is how the d%s came up.

[LotharBot]

Random reward tables = the devil.

Unless you pre-roll treasure for all encounters that session and then distribute it accordingly.

My wife wrote a perl script that randomly generates treasure based on the treasure-value-per-encounter-at-CR table. The treasure is selected from a themed file, which the user can create according to whatever theme (from"stuff clerics would carry" to "stuff that is crafted by the halflings of farbottle" to "stuff the BBEG would equip his minions with".)

What she'll do is run the generator for several encounters at the levels we'll be at, and then pick one out of the list for each of the fights we face.

I wish D&D (the phb or DMG) came with a CD with a program like this. There's no sense in randomly rolling on the table when you can create themed treasure on a computer...

[Amiria]

We usually go by the book. But lately we've been thinking about a more freeform system of allocating xp, or cut the rewards by half or even more.

Or do what you do, Matthew - give xp/gp rewards as appropriate for the campaign flow. Our group plays since 2nd edition and imo, in 3.x the PCs level up too fast.

[Dark]

Does anyone still use the AD&D 1st edition system, where the players get experience for the amount of treasure they find? It seems it could work well in tomb-raiding adventures, or in mercenary or merchant campaigns.

The original system interacted badly with the training-for-levels system. It was one of those lovable quirks of AD&D :smallwink:. A level 1 fighter would need 2001 xp to qualify for level 2, but would then need to spend 1500 to 6000 gp (depending on performance) to actually gain it -- and would gain 1500 to 6000 xp just from earning that money, all the while still stuck at level 1. This happened again at level 3, with all costs doubled. I think most DMs waived the training costs.

[Matthew]

imo, in 3.x the PCs level up too fast.

A common preception (and one I happen to agree with), but also relatively easily solved (so long as you take into account the other factors that orbit assumptions about experience). The last long term campaign I ran was a heavily House Ruled (A)D&D game(is there any other kind?), which lasted something like 90 sessions; by the end the Player Characters had just reached 6th Level...

[Quietus]

My DMs butcher the exp charts pretty quickly when we play; I've got one that I play with regularly who cuts the exp granted by half, in addition to his tendency to send fights at us we shouldn't be dealing with (like a troll, being sent at a level 1 druid, level 3 cleric, and level 5 cleric.... or later, when he sent 12 level 1 fighters at us, I'd levelled to Druid2, and we had another Druid2 with us. But he gave them an enormous circumstance bonus, in that they were in a tower and on the other sides of murder holes, arrow slits, and the like, in a 10x20 hallway). Another of my DMs cuts it even further than that.

[Tough_Tonka]

I use the XP rewarding system straight from the DMG, I give certain skill checks(diplomacy, hiding from a giant monster etc.), traps and puzzles CRs and reward them according to the books.

I don't use the random treasure generator but I do use the GP reward per encounter table, but I dont reward them after each incounter. Instead I add up the total gold they'd get and divide it up into coins, mundane and magical items.

[Rabiesbunny]

You know, none of our DMs use any kind of XP system or Treasure system. Leveling is usually determined by how active you've been in the campaign, how often you're in character, and how much information/stories you post on the website. That's a good way to make people better at the game.

[Flawless]

We play with the default xp rules, only that you need ten times the xp the level up. So it's 10,000xp for lvl2, 30,000 for lvl3 and so on.
gp rewards are only one tenth of normal value.

[Roderick_BR]

I use the base table to calc the CR, then I adjust it for the encounter. I add XP bonuses for Roleplaying and missions accomplished also.
For treasures, I roll them before hand. If something is too extreme, I just average it. I also allow some inteligent monsters or NPCs to use them against the PCs.

[JoeFredBob]

Wow, I find it hard to believe that people would want to level SLOWER. Then again, the groups I play in generally appreciate both starting a character at low-ish level, and being able to play at high-ish level. Coupled with the fact that campaigns typically run one school year, and nobody in their right mind has time to play more than once a week, we usually end up leveling very fast. I've been DMing this year and have generally been looking at DMG experience, but mostly ignoring it. Most typically I end up assigning 2-4 times what the DMG recommends, and people level somewhere between every session and every other session. (I run hard encounters, EL+2 is a typical encounter, and EL +4 is not uncommon, but I also use lots of class levels and make those enounters using creatures of CR near the party's level, so it's not as bad as it could be.)

[Sardia]

XP, sure. Mundane treasure? No problem.
Magical items? Like finding hens' teeth, and usually come with strings attached.

That being said, levelling every 4-6 game sessions works.

[PnP Fan]

Depends ;-)

For one of my groups I use the charts for xp, but I also give additional awards aside from just encounter awards (acting awards, finish-the-story awards, major-plot-point-covered awards, etc. . .) because my group enjoys a slightly faster advancement rate. I use the cash value per level guidelines, but I place specific treasure according to the encounter, instead of randomly.

For another group, in a grittier campaing setting, they have to figure out how to generate cash, but I award xp in terms of 1/4 and 1/2 levels. In a particularly good session I tell them "you earned half a level this session". This particular game is highly story driven, and combat is deadly enough that even high level characters can get killed fairly easily. (Game of Thrones d20 variant) So I can't award on combat encounters, because the pcs are just as likely to run from an encounter as anything.

[Indon]

Personally, I'm a fan of both level and non-level based progression; my players often get plot-based increases in power alongside a modest xp and some treasure progression.

Honestly, the Mutants and Masterminds point-based system works great for my campaigns, as do the systems for World of Darkness and Exalted.

[Golthur]

I never give XP "by-the-book" - I find it ends up creating the "It's XP, kill it!" mindset from my players, so I usually cut combat XP in half or a third, and supplement with RP/Goal related XP. That being said, I also prefer a slower advancement rate than normal, since low-level fun is just that - fun.

Money and treasure, likewise. I usually give less treasure, less magic, as well, but then again, I prefer a lower magic world than the D&D standard. The magic items I do give out tend to be oddball things rather than a standard +x-to-whatever sort of item. If a player wants a particular type of item, they've got to quest for it, rather than just picking it up in the next town for 5000gp.

[Galathir]

I did XP and treasure by the book for my first few adventures as a DM, but now I assign what I see fit. I like awarding XP for storyline and roleplay more than just killing things. I try to keep the party pretty close to the WBL, but I generally figure out the treasure myself. For some things like a dragon's horde I might role randomly, but for most encounters I give them treasure that would make sense for the NPC to have. A NPC ranger/archer probably isn't going to have a Holy Avenger or even a +1 keen flaming burst longsword. A nifty bow on the other hand would make a lot of sense. If the party can use it, great, but if not: that's life.

I keep the number of magic items in towns very limited. Pretty much anything can be found, but it might take a long time and lots of effort to track it down and find someone willing to make or sell it.