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Fridge
2017-03-24, 11:34 PM
I'm a new player to D&D (having only just today done my 7th session) and I just walked away from a session. However, at the end of this session when the experience was being handed out I got a measly 2XP. This was pushed to 12XP once one of the other players pointed out to the GM that my character had, in fact, been involved in a few conversations at the start of the session. I feel like I've been punished for not playing the game the GM had laid out. Basically, I play as a rogue and I just wanted to see if anyone else agreed with the GM's ruling in regard to my XP.
For context I'll write out a brief (as brief as I can) break down of the events;


The rogue, sorceress and druid head to a pub for some much needed rest. The owner of the pub is a hug in disguise who seems to have taken a shine to us (from actions taken in earlier sessions).


We've been told to lay low for a while, and so the rogue decides to look for a fence to try and get some jobs and the sorceress goes out to investigate the scene of where some strange explosions have occurred.


The rogue proceeds to attempt to teach the druid and sorceress how to understand Thieves Cant, at least at a basic level.


While making her way to the explosion the sorceress was beset by a very angry pirate, she panics and after a good hour and a half (not an in game hour, an actual hour) she eventually manages to fell the pirate.


Meanwhile the rogue goes to an alleyway to see if he can find some street urchins that live in a alleyway, turns out they aren't there and so he finds another urchin and after a little persuasion and a little coin the urchin reveals that he may know who they are. The rogue accidentally lets the urchin know where he's currently staying


Seeing nothing else to do the rogue returns to the pub. All is quiet there so he spends time training his pet rat.


While this has happened the druid has been contacted by the sorceress to come to her aid and heal her. He does as he's been asked and gallops (as a horse) to her. And then while still in horse form proceeds to 'Lay Hands'.


The pair carry on to the bombsite and investigate gleaning a lot of information, at the same time the rogue decides to take a short rest.


The sorceress and the druid return to the pub, a brief exchange and exchanging of information between the rogue and sorceress happens.


The sorceress goes for a long rest and the druid for a short one. The rogue opts to rise from his slumber and check the pub for guests.


On the way to the main hall of pub, the disguised hag beckons the rogue over.


She attacks with a frying pan but the rogue dodges the blow (it wasn't intended to kill just embarrass).


The rogue waits outside for two hours for ANYTHING to occur. Nothing happens. He returns in.


The rogue sits with the druid and they start to get to know one another better. They also discuss whats been happening around town and speak on a few adventures past.


The druid and rogue go to their respective bedrooms.

Divusmors
2017-03-25, 12:05 AM
What would really help out is knowing what everyone else got for exp. It sounds like you got gypped, but if everyone one else also got crap exp, then it wouldn't be purely against you.

theasl
2017-03-25, 12:15 AM
It sounds like you're trying to find things to do, but the GM isn't giving you anything. Does the GM think you don't want to participate? If so, giving you less XP could be an attempt at a carrot-and-stick thing, especially since you say you're new. Maybe talk to the other players and/or the GM to see if they feel that way (I'd guess that the other players don't, given their reaction). You don't mention how you go about this, but maybe being more active in trying to find things to do - less "wait outside for something to happen" and more "go find the others and see if they need help", or something like that - could help. Then again, it doesn't seem like a lot happened in that session in general to anyone, either, except for the long boring solo fight.

RazorChain
2017-03-25, 12:42 AM
If this was a session I participated in then I would probably have died of boredom.

Why didn't you go together to investigate the explosion?

Why is a hag running an inn and trying to hit your rouge with a frying pan?

I gather that trying to find a job through a fence didn't work?


When confronted with this situation again and nothing is happeing then just go do something else, burglarize the mayor! Pull down the pants of the nearest town guard and then run away...at least you'll get a chase scene! Break into everyone houses and steal one sock from all their pairs and replace them with other socks so everyone has mismatched socks! Ask for rumors! Put on your most charming face and woo the daughter of the wealthiest merchant in town, compose your own original serenade while the other players are hogging the spotlight and perform it live under your love interests balcony! Pick a fight with a cripple...and let him win! Put on a long coat and walk through town with a perverted smile and ask the ladies if they wanna pet your rat!

theasl
2017-03-25, 12:44 AM
If this was a session I participated in then I would probably have died of boredom.

Why didn't you go together to investigate the explosion?

Why is a hag running an inn and trying to hit your rouge with a frying pan?

I gather that trying to find a job through a fence didn't work?


When confronted with this situation again and nothing is happeing then just go do something else, burglarize the mayor! Pull down the pants of the nearest town guard and then run away...at least you'll get a chase scene! Break into everyone houses and steal one sock from all their pairs and replace them with other socks so everyone has mismatched socks! Ask for rumors! Put on your most charming face and woo the daughter of the wealthiest merchant in town, compose your own original serenade while the other players are hogging the spotlight and perform it live under your love interests balcony! Pick a fight with a cripple...and let him win! Put on a long coat and walk through town with a perverted smile and ask the ladies if they wanna pet your rat!

Yeah, that. This comes to mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHpavdaM8t0

ATHATH
2017-03-25, 02:02 AM
What edition are you playing?

Did the Druid use an ability called "Lay on Hands", or did he just cast a touch-range healing spell?

ATHATH
2017-03-25, 02:05 AM
Did you ask the Druid OOC to "remember" to come back and pick up your Rogue so that he could help with the investigation? That might have helped.

Calmly explain the situation and your issues with it to your table/DM, and ask your DM what he expected you to do/what you could have done to improve that session.

jayem
2017-03-25, 01:17 PM
Did you ask the Druid OOC to "remember" to come back and pick up your Rogue so that he could help with the investigation? That might have helped.

Calmly explain the situation and your issues with it to your table/DM, and ask your DM what he expected you to do/what you could have done to improve that session.

Or to have got you before (left a message) or something. According to the timetable given, was rat training at the time (although if it's misremembered it doesn't make a lot of diff).

It's possible it just wasn't your day in the spotlight, and another session the other characters miss out. In which case their's not a lot you can do.

Failing that the DM presumbably expected you to do something, either join the others (forgetting it's via metaknowledge?) or pick up a plot thread.
For the first perhaps putting a big flag on "My rogue would be totally joining the fight, IF he knew about it. I don't suppose he can hear it from here"

Perhaps some of his actions could have been more lucky coincidence friendly (e.g. asking the rogue about the explosions), meeting the adventure half way as it were.But you did leave the pub.

Failing that, you really only have the hag as something odd, there may have been some expectations there?

Fridge
2017-03-25, 04:01 PM
What would really help out is knowing what everyone else got for exp. It sounds like you got gypped, but if everyone one else also got crap exp, then it wouldn't be purely against you.

Oh sorry, didn't think to mention that. By the end of the night the Sorceress received 125XP and the Druid 50 or so (I forget exactly how much).


It sounds like you're trying to find things to do, but the GM isn't giving you anything. Does the GM think you don't want to participate? If so, giving you less XP could be an attempt at a carrot-and-stick thing, especially since you say you're new. Maybe talk to the other players and/or the GM to see if they feel that way (I'd guess that the other players don't, given their reaction). You don't mention how you go about this, but maybe being more active in trying to find things to do - less "wait outside for something to happen" and more "go find the others and see if they need help", or something like that - could help. Then again, it doesn't seem like a lot happened in that session in general to anyone, either, except for the long boring solo fight.

The GM had hinted that it would be best if we all just stayed in the inn for a few days but had also granted us the option to use the time. Actually the other players do feel that I've been unjustly punished as well but they're also new to the whole thing, but they don't wish to rock the boat. I'm their lift home at the end of the night so the other players and I discussed the whole thing on the way home.
Ah, that bit with me waiting outside is actually after the other player characters have returned and have gone off to rest.
The thing about that solo fight is that the sorceress isn't really geared for combat generally and her character is actually something of a coward. So the character would opt to run and hide over stand and fight, top that off with the actual player being new and quite indecisive (and I mean generally) and it made the whole fight drag a lot more than it really should have.


If this was a session I participated in then I would probably have died of boredom.

Why didn't you go together to investigate the explosion?

Why is a hag running an inn and trying to hit your rouge with a frying pan?

I gather that trying to find a job through a fence didn't work?


When confronted with this situation again and nothing is happeing then just go do something else, burglarize the mayor! Pull down the pants of the nearest town guard and then run away...at least you'll get a chase scene! Break into everyone houses and steal one sock from all their pairs and replace them with other socks so everyone has mismatched socks! Ask for rumors! Put on your most charming face and woo the daughter of the wealthiest merchant in town, compose your own original serenade while the other players are hogging the spotlight and perform it live under your love interests balcony! Pick a fight with a cripple...and let him win! Put on a long coat and walk through town with a perverted smile and ask the ladies if they wanna pet your rat!

This is where a little backstory comes in.
The sorceress and the rogue had decided to split up to get more done. I was to attempt to find some urchins that I had met previously and hopefully get them to show me a fence so we could get some 'off the books' work. Meanwhile the sorceress was to find out more about a series of explosions that had rocked the city, we already knew they were somewhat magical in nature so she was the best person for the job. As for the Druid... he was protesting his lack of payment (he's a hired mercenary) by not performing any tasks we ask of him, or rather what the sorceress asks of him since she hired him.

As for the hag running the inn... well I know why she attacked my character but my character can probably make a good guess. The actual reason is because I told that urchin where we were staying, and we were supposed to be laying low. A dumb mistake to be sure. And I, the player, know that the hag can scry meaning she could, in theory, have witnessed the event. However my character doesn't know that.

Yeah finding the fence came to naught. The urchins I was originally seeking weren't there and I don't know the city well enough to hunt down a fence myself.

Hehe, I shall bear all these suggestions in mind. I'm still getting used to playing and I've actually enjoyed it quite a lot despite this recent happening.


What edition are you playing?

Did the Druid use an ability called "Lay on Hands", or did he just cast a touch-range healing spell?

We're playing 5e.

Actually I think it was a touch-range healing spell, sorry I got that bit utterly wrong.


Did you ask the Druid OOC to "remember" to come back and pick up your Rogue so that he could help with the investigation? That might have helped.

Calmly explain the situation and your issues with it to your table/DM, and ask your DM what he expected you to do/what you could have done to improve that session.

True it might have been, the errors of the new player I guess.

Good idea, that's why I came here. I felt that the ruling was quite unfair, but I also don't want to seem like I'm throwing my toys out of the pram, so to speak. I thought it would be a good idea to get some opinions from more veteran players, not that I'll use them as a bludgeon.


Or to have got you before (left a message) or something. According to the timetable given, was rat training at the time (although if it's misremembered it doesn't make a lot of diff).

It's possible it just wasn't your day in the spotlight, and another session the other characters miss out. In which case their's not a lot you can do.

Failing that the DM presumbably expected you to do something, either join the others (forgetting it's via metaknowledge?) or pick up a plot thread.
For the first perhaps putting a big flag on "My rogue would be totally joining the fight, IF he knew about it. I don't suppose he can hear it from here"

Perhaps some of his actions could have been more lucky coincidence friendly (e.g. asking the rogue about the explosions), meeting the adventure half way as it were.But you did leave the pub.

Failing that, you really only have the hag as something odd, there may have been some expectations there?

The rat training would have been after the combat had occurred.

I understand that sometimes one character will have a more impactful role on a sessions events than others at times. I should mention that in the previous session I had been told off for 'hogging a scene'. That's why I took a more backseat role and tried to find some work instead. I suspect that if that combat hadn't been quite so drawn out we could have done a lot more.

Thank you for the suggestion, next time I'll try and remember that, see if it helps.

The hag aspect is... somewhat explored. The party know who and what she is although not why she's in the city. She keeps herself disguised generally as a tongueless old woman so communicating is quite hard unless you have her trinket. Sadly the trinket (a iron coin) is currently in the possession of the sorceress. Its actually how the druid knew to help the sorceress, because the hag told him to.

Elysiume
2017-03-25, 04:20 PM
What level are you? 12, 50, and 125xp are significantly different if you're going to level 2 (0-300xp), but it's fluff if you're going to level 8 (23,000-34,000xp).

RazorChain
2017-03-25, 08:41 PM
Oh sorry, didn't think to mention that. By the end of the night the Sorceress received 125XP and the Druid 50 or so (I forget exactly how much).



The GM had hinted that it would be best if we all just stayed in the inn for a few days but had also granted us the option to use the time. Actually the other players do feel that I've been unjustly punished as well but they're also new to the whole thing, but they don't wish to rock the boat. I'm their lift home at the end of the night so the other players and I discussed the whole thing on the way home.
Ah, that bit with me waiting outside is actually after the other player characters have returned and have gone off to rest.
The thing about that solo fight is that the sorceress isn't really geared for combat generally and her character is actually something of a coward. So the character would opt to run and hide over stand and fight, top that off with the actual player being new and quite indecisive (and I mean generally) and it made the whole fight drag a lot more than it really should have.



This is where a little backstory comes in.
The sorceress and the rogue had decided to split up to get more done. I was to attempt to find some urchins that I had met previously and hopefully get them to show me a fence so we could get some 'off the books' work. Meanwhile the sorceress was to find out more about a series of explosions that had rocked the city, we already knew they were somewhat magical in nature so she was the best person for the job. As for the Druid... he was protesting his lack of payment (he's a hired mercenary) by not performing any tasks we ask of him, or rather what the sorceress asks of him since she hired him.

As for the hag running the inn... well I know why she attacked my character but my character can probably make a good guess. The actual reason is because I told that urchin where we were staying, and we were supposed to be laying low. A dumb mistake to be sure. And I, the player, know that the hag can scry meaning she could, in theory, have witnessed the event. However my character doesn't know that.

Yeah finding the fence came to naught. The urchins I was originally seeking weren't there and I don't know the city well enough to hunt down a fence myself.

Hehe, I shall bear all these suggestions in mind. I'm still getting used to playing and I've actually enjoyed it quite a lot despite this recent happening.



We're playing 5e.

Actually I think it was a touch-range healing spell, sorry I got that bit utterly wrong.



True it might have been, the errors of the new player I guess.

Good idea, that's why I came here. I felt that the ruling was quite unfair, but I also don't want to seem like I'm throwing my toys out of the pram, so to speak. I thought it would be a good idea to get some opinions from more veteran players, not that I'll use them as a bludgeon.



The rat training would have been after the combat had occurred.

I understand that sometimes one character will have a more impactful role on a sessions events than others at times. I should mention that in the previous session I had been told off for 'hogging a scene'. That's why I took a more backseat role and tried to find some work instead. I suspect that if that combat hadn't been quite so drawn out we could have done a lot more.

Thank you for the suggestion, next time I'll try and remember that, see if it helps.

The hag aspect is... somewhat explored. The party know who and what she is although not why she's in the city. She keeps herself disguised generally as a tongueless old woman so communicating is quite hard unless you have her trinket. Sadly the trinket (a iron coin) is currently in the possession of the sorceress. Its actually how the druid knew to help the sorceress, because the hag told him to.

Just a few tips as you (the whole group) seem inexperienced

1) When the DM presents you with what seems to be an adventure hook, like the explosions, then you should go together to investigate. That way everyone can participate.

2) The Druid should beware of the selective self exclusion syndrome. This is where a player excludes his character from adventure because of RP reasons or character concept. The classic is a lone wolf with trust issues. Him grumbling about not getting paid is fine but if he's not going to participate then he's crossing the line that keeps the party together.

3) Valuable Game Time.
You want to cut to the meat of things and get to the fun parts, many things could have been adressed as "you lay low for awhile" or "you find no work through fence or you find no fence". This is more directed to the DM as it is his job to keep things interesting and provide you with something meaningful to do. The group has to bite on plothooks to have some meaningful fun.

4) The XP Issue.
If you had been doing interesting things then this wouldnt be an issue. The DM is probably looking at some table, calculating how much xp you should get and going by the book. Of course in a decade or so he can't really bother and has learnt it's only for reference. By then he'll just say "everybody gets 100xp". Who can be bothered to count how many HD the fighter killed this evening and add 10% for primary stat or tally how many checks the rouge made, multiply by level x 50 and add together?

Fridge
2017-03-26, 03:08 AM
What level are you? 12, 50, and 125xp are significantly different if you're going to level 2 (0-300xp), but it's fluff if you're going to level 8 (23,000-34,000xp).

We vary between levels 3 and 4. My rogue has recently hit level 4 as has the sorceress. The druid is only about 50 XP away.


Just a few tips as you (the whole group) seem inexperienced

1) When the DM presents you with what seems to be an adventure hook, like the explosions, then you should go together to investigate. That way everyone can participate.

2) The Druid should beware of the selective self exclusion syndrome. This is where a player excludes his character from adventure because of RP reasons or character concept. The classic is a lone wolf with trust issues. Him grumbling about not getting paid is fine but if he's not going to participate then he's crossing the line that keeps the party together.

3) Valuable Game Time.
You want to cut to the meat of things and get to the fun parts, many things could have been adressed as "you lay low for awhile" or "you find no work through fence or you find no fence". This is more directed to the DM as it is his job to keep things interesting and provide you with something meaningful to do. The group has to bite on plothooks to have some meaningful fun.

4) The XP Issue.
If you had been doing interesting things then this wouldnt be an issue. The DM is probably looking at some table, calculating how much xp you should get and going by the book. Of course in a decade or so he can't really bother and has learnt it's only for reference. By then he'll just say "everybody gets 100xp". Who can be bothered to count how many HD the fighter killed this evening and add 10% for primary stat or tally how many checks the rouge made, multiply by level x 50 and add together?

No argument here lol. We're all still very new.

We've actually investigated the explosions together previously, it was just that we had some info that we thought could yield some new results (which it did).

I think that that is something he's starting to realize. I our last post game chat he said that he thinks he's perhaps playing his character in too much of a insular manner.

In fairness the DM did suggest quite heavily that we should laylow and just allow the time to pass for a few days. It was the groups decision to see if we could find extra work and continue investigating the explosions, I think our DM wasn't expecting us to do that.

True, not much interesting happened but not through lack of effort. I attempted to find us a lead for work and was denied twice. Once with seeking the urchins I had met originally and again with the second urchin. I had good rolls but I was essentially left with 'the alley is empty, no signs of the urchins.' and 'he doesn't trust you enough.' with the other urchin.
As far as I could see it my only option was to wait for the others to return and check in. Sadly, our session time had basically ran out, largely due to the combat the Sorceress had.

theasl
2017-03-26, 04:42 PM
Hmm, so it seems like I was right, but for all the wrong reasons:

It sounds like you're trying to find things to do, but the GM isn't giving you anything.

I'm guessing that if you guys chose to not do anything, you would have gotten a timeskip "a couple days later..." and went on from there. Sometimes it's okay to follow the rails. :smalltongue:

Is the DM also new-ish? It sounds like their preparational and/or improvisational skills were being tested quite a bit. Maybe better OOC communication about what they wanted to do compared to what you wanted to do before the session (like at the end of the previous one) could have helped in this case.

VonMuller
2017-03-26, 08:19 PM
How experienced is the GM? Did he have anything prepared? Is this a Sandbox campaign?

It sounds as if he didn't have anything prepared and was hoping that something would come from what you did and it all fell down to a terribly boring and meaningless session.