Durzan
2018-02-05, 01:53 PM
So, in the Wheel of Time D20 Core Rulebook, rewarding XP actually seems to be a lot easier on the GM's part than in D&D 3.5. Normally, in 3.5 you calculate XP based off of the CR of an Encounter. (Which gets complicated real fast)
However, there is a simpler way to calculate and award XP, found in the Wheel of Time D20 Core Rulebook. (Yes I know it is mediocre, but it does have a few gems in it)
In the Wheel of Time Core Rulebook you award XP based off of Adventures, which is defined as a series of encounters (See the Core Rulebook, Pages 199-202). Thus, XP Awards is based on the the number of encounters.
A short adventure (Defined as having 3-5 encounters) grants XP equal to 1000 times the APL, divided among the party of course)
A Medium Adventure (6-10 Encounters) grants XP equal to twice that of a Short adventure, divided among the party.
A Long Adventure (12-15 Encounters) grants XP equal to four times that of a short adventure, divided among the party.
To make things even better, the game defines the relative difficulty of individual encounters based off of how much resources the players use up when dealing with an encounter, as well as providing guidelines for determining the difficulty of non-combat encounters (which can and should be part of an Adventure). See the encounters section of the WoT Core Rulebook for details (p. 226).
A Simple Encounter is an encounter that is relatively easy to the party and should pose minimal risk to them (should still provide some risk, as all encounters should). A simple encounter should use up no more than 10% of a party's resources (on average). These are your weakling mook encounters, your easy skill checks, some minor NPC interactions (if there is any risk involved), and your easy trap encounters. Things that provide only a small amount of risk, and/or only hinder the party momentarily. A good rule of thumb would be to assume that if the APL is 3 or more points higher than the EL of the encounter, then its probably a simple encounter;or if your players breeze through it with little trouble due to their own skills and not a good dice roll, then it was probably a simple encounter. Simple encounters should make up no more than half of a short adventure, and no more than 1/4 of the encounters in Medium or Long Adventures.
A Challenging Encounter is an encounter of relatively moderate difficulty for the players to overcome, using up 20%-25% of the player's resources. They should prove to provide a decent sense of risk and challenge to the party, and should only be able to overcome with some degree of difficulty. As a rule of thumb, approximately half of the encounters in an adventure should be challenging in nature. These are the encounters that should be roughly equal to the player's APL in nature. IE, your standard D&D encounter, although as mentioned before, you can include environmental and non-combat as challenging encounters if you build it right.
An Extreme Encounter is your proverbial boss fight, your climatic encounters, where the danger to the players is greatest. Such encounters should use up 50% or more of your player's resources, prove to be a huge challenge (on average) to overcome, and should provide significant risk to the players. As a rule of thumb an extreme encounter is an encounter that could result in one or more player deaths (or worse) and/or reasonably result in a TPK at worst; an encounter where the EL is 3 or more points greater than the APL of the party is probably an extreme encounter. At most, 1/4 of your adventure should consist of extreme encounters, although in some cases, one or two extreme encounter(s) could be considered a short adventure in and of themselves (if you can theoretically break up said extreme encounters into smaller components, like say... make each individual check or save made against a monster is a simple or challenging encounter). If there are more extreme encounters than challenging or simple encounters, consider awarding your players bonus XP on top of what they would normally earn.
Ultimately, this translates to the fact that your average party of 4 players needs approximately 4 short adventures, 2 medium adventures, or 1 long adventure to go up one level. Boom, there you go. A way to award your players without having to calculate how much XP each individual encounter should give.
However, there is a simpler way to calculate and award XP, found in the Wheel of Time D20 Core Rulebook. (Yes I know it is mediocre, but it does have a few gems in it)
In the Wheel of Time Core Rulebook you award XP based off of Adventures, which is defined as a series of encounters (See the Core Rulebook, Pages 199-202). Thus, XP Awards is based on the the number of encounters.
A short adventure (Defined as having 3-5 encounters) grants XP equal to 1000 times the APL, divided among the party of course)
A Medium Adventure (6-10 Encounters) grants XP equal to twice that of a Short adventure, divided among the party.
A Long Adventure (12-15 Encounters) grants XP equal to four times that of a short adventure, divided among the party.
To make things even better, the game defines the relative difficulty of individual encounters based off of how much resources the players use up when dealing with an encounter, as well as providing guidelines for determining the difficulty of non-combat encounters (which can and should be part of an Adventure). See the encounters section of the WoT Core Rulebook for details (p. 226).
A Simple Encounter is an encounter that is relatively easy to the party and should pose minimal risk to them (should still provide some risk, as all encounters should). A simple encounter should use up no more than 10% of a party's resources (on average). These are your weakling mook encounters, your easy skill checks, some minor NPC interactions (if there is any risk involved), and your easy trap encounters. Things that provide only a small amount of risk, and/or only hinder the party momentarily. A good rule of thumb would be to assume that if the APL is 3 or more points higher than the EL of the encounter, then its probably a simple encounter;or if your players breeze through it with little trouble due to their own skills and not a good dice roll, then it was probably a simple encounter. Simple encounters should make up no more than half of a short adventure, and no more than 1/4 of the encounters in Medium or Long Adventures.
A Challenging Encounter is an encounter of relatively moderate difficulty for the players to overcome, using up 20%-25% of the player's resources. They should prove to provide a decent sense of risk and challenge to the party, and should only be able to overcome with some degree of difficulty. As a rule of thumb, approximately half of the encounters in an adventure should be challenging in nature. These are the encounters that should be roughly equal to the player's APL in nature. IE, your standard D&D encounter, although as mentioned before, you can include environmental and non-combat as challenging encounters if you build it right.
An Extreme Encounter is your proverbial boss fight, your climatic encounters, where the danger to the players is greatest. Such encounters should use up 50% or more of your player's resources, prove to be a huge challenge (on average) to overcome, and should provide significant risk to the players. As a rule of thumb an extreme encounter is an encounter that could result in one or more player deaths (or worse) and/or reasonably result in a TPK at worst; an encounter where the EL is 3 or more points greater than the APL of the party is probably an extreme encounter. At most, 1/4 of your adventure should consist of extreme encounters, although in some cases, one or two extreme encounter(s) could be considered a short adventure in and of themselves (if you can theoretically break up said extreme encounters into smaller components, like say... make each individual check or save made against a monster is a simple or challenging encounter). If there are more extreme encounters than challenging or simple encounters, consider awarding your players bonus XP on top of what they would normally earn.
Ultimately, this translates to the fact that your average party of 4 players needs approximately 4 short adventures, 2 medium adventures, or 1 long adventure to go up one level. Boom, there you go. A way to award your players without having to calculate how much XP each individual encounter should give.