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2021-10-16, 03:07 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
How would you handle this? Magic trap exp question
In a dungeon there is a magic trap that casts summon monster 1. The PCs walk right into and fight the summoned monster. Do they deserve the exp from the monster, or the trap? If the trap, why?
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2021-10-16, 03:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2019
Re: How would you handle this? Magic trap exp question
Do they make any attempt to search for/disable the trap beforehand? Did they intentionally go out of their way to set it off? What's their lvl?
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2021-10-16, 03:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2006
Re: How would you handle this? Magic trap exp question
Of course, by the time I finish this post, it will already be obsolete. C'est la vie.
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2021-10-16, 05:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
Re: How would you handle this? Magic trap exp question
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2021-10-16, 05:50 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2016
Re: How would you handle this? Magic trap exp question
Because if their level is way over the CR they get no XP.
As for the trap, it depends. Did they fight the monster? Trap defeated, XP for trap. Did they wait a round for the monster to disappear? I'd say they get nothing out of it. No resources spent, no danger or chance of failure, no XP.
At no point do you get XP for monster from summoned creatures.
Of course, all of these weird corner case scenarios are moot if you embrace the path of enlightenment and eliminate XP from your games.
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2021-10-18, 05:32 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2020
Re: How would you handle this? Magic trap exp question
IMHO you get the xp for the trap. As mentioned before you don't get XP for summoned monsters but you did overcome the trap. Just like you would get the xp for an arrow trap that shoots 1 arrow. No matter if it misses or hits you have passed the challenge.
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2021-10-18, 05:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2015
- Gender
Re: How would you handle this? Magic trap exp question
I think there was a rule that said Summoned Monsters don't give XP (can't remember the source though). If so, they get the xp from the trap.
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2021-10-18, 06:40 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2008
- Location
- Orlando, FL
- Gender
Re: How would you handle this? Magic trap exp question
I agree with the group saying you get the exp from the trap, not the summoned monster.
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2021-10-18, 07:13 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2009
- Location
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Gender
Re: How would you handle this? Magic trap exp question
I agree re eliminating xp.
I don’t agree re waiting for the monster to disappear. That sounds like they are either just letting the monster get it’s one hit in (in which case, it’s like a damage spell trap with a to-hit roll and damage) or they are somehow cleverly preventing the summoned monster from doing its thing, in which case it’s like a monster encounter bypassed by diplomacy or stealth. Either way they should get exp for trap.
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2021-10-18, 11:00 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Gender
Re: How would you handle this? Magic trap exp question
You get XP for overcoming things preventing you from reaching your objective. If the party correctly identifies the trap as a spell effect they can just wait out, and then uses that knowledge to limit its impact, they get full XP. The idea that combat = xp is explicitly at odds with how the DMG tells you to handle it, and it creates incentives that cause characters to act irrationally. Like this one right here, where the party fights the summon monster trap despite knowing they can just wait it out because they won't get XP if they take the intelligent option.
EDIT:
Originally Posted by DMG pg. 39Last edited by Zanos; 2021-10-18 at 11:03 AM.
If any idiot ever tells you that life would be meaningless without death, Hyperion recommends killing them!