PDA

View Full Version : question from new guy. help please



juggalotis
2008-06-16, 06:22 PM
A GROUP OF US JUST GOT TOGETHER TO PLAY DND we are all new players and i was elected dm. im designing my first dungeon but placing monsters is causing me trouble. looking at the dmg it seems monsters give an aweful lot of experiance. how fast should my [paryty level up? also some xamples would be nice.

Galdor Miriel
2008-06-16, 07:54 PM
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/clear.gif

You can either reward xp by the book, using the values, or use your own ideas. In the groups I play with we level up every three or four sessions, which keeps the interest going nicely. I am not sure if we actually even have the right amount of xp, we just level up at appropriate times storywise.

My advice, see how they do, see what they want to do. Do they want to play by the book, do they want roleplay and story xp. Everyone always has different views on these things.

Last point, one of the thing my friends and I enjoy about the game is chewing the fat over the rules, whether to use them or abuse them with a house rule etc.

GM

erikun
2008-06-16, 08:51 PM
Are we talking about 4th edition, or the v.3.5 edition?

Remember that the total EXP is divided up between all the characters, so it's a bit less after being split 4-5 ways. Try to avoid throwing too many level 2-3 (or CR 2-3) monsters at the party, as the party is really squishy at level 1.

PnP Fan
2008-06-17, 08:00 AM
In theory, I think it's supposed to be 14 encounters between levels. So, 1st level to 2nd level that's 72 xp per player, in each encounter. The good news is that you can give xp for "encounters", not just "monsters". An encounter can be anything you decide is challenging to the players. So Traps? That's an encounter. Social interaction? Also and encounter, perhaps. Figuring out the mystery or the story behind your dungeon? Could also be an encounter, if it's relevant.
A lot of folks also give xp for other things like good RP, achieving the end goal for the story, or any number of things. I've had groups where some people's attendance was so spotty I awarded xp for attendance. Or, in one instance, I used to award xp for whoever made me laugh the hardest during a game session. I stopped that because it was the same guy every time, and we weren't getting anywhere in the game.
Point is, it's a tool, use it to reward people for playing the kind of game you want to play.

Tsotha-lanti
2008-06-17, 08:57 AM
Leveling speed is up to the DM. If you follow the instructions (using so-and-so many encounters of level X), they should level in about 14 encounters.

Personally, I prefer to design adventures so that each adventure (which usually take 1-2 sessions) levels the PCs up one level, but that's mostly because we only play a few dozen times a year. Back in high school, when we played about 3-4 times a week (and more on summers), I found it necessary to tone this down. Unfortunately, if you're playing D&D 3.5, this is harder to do - your only option for stretching the amount of adventures it takes to level is to use fewer encounters per adventure, and fill the rest with activities that don't net the PCs any XP.

Khatoblepas
2008-06-17, 09:24 AM
It depends on what kind of campaign you want to run, and how many sessions you want to run it for. My current campaign is a "Rush towards death", quickfire campaign ending at 20th level where all the players are practically at their pinnacle of ability. It's quite a short campaign, but the monsters are hard, there is lots of loot, and it's a level a session.

However, you may want to reign the players in a bit for a long campaign, if it's an epic quest, then you'll want to keep the players low for a long time. Powerlevelling dungeon crawls may be your thing, or the slower development of a long campaign.

I like both, but it depends on what story you all want your player's characters to tell.

kamikasei
2008-06-17, 09:30 AM
In theory, I think it's supposed to be 14 encounters between levels. So, 1st level to 2nd level that's 72 xp per player, in each encounter.

13.333333... encounters of CR = average party level. So fewer than 13 if you have one or two tough fights and no conspicuously easy ones.