Hey all,
I just ran my first session of the SCAP, and my 4 players ripped through the investigation and have started into Jzaridune. While they are being roundly trounced by some of the monsters, they seem to be holding their own through clever tactics.
After the session, I did some xp math, and came to the rather surprising conclusion that they had earned over 1500 xp each in the first session. Is this unusual?
Comments are welcome.
Creative Director
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Nope; 3rd edition rockets through 1st and 2nd level, mostly because at those levels characters are too fragile and the fast XP track gets them up where they can hold their own more quickly.
If your PCs clear out every room in that first adventure, they might even be hitting 3rd level by the time they get to the end of it.
Nope; 3rd edition rockets through 1st and 2nd level, mostly because at those levels characters are too fragile and the fast XP track gets them up where they can hold their own more quickly.
If your PCs clear out every room in that first adventure, they might even be hitting 3rd level by the time they get to the end of it.
I'm new at DM'ing, so a little help would be appreciated, specifically around calculating xp.
In the case of the combat with the Skulk(CR2)/Raggomoffyn(CR3) combo in Jzaridune, the EL is 4. Should xp be given on a per creature basis, or per encounter basis? Is EL always equivalent to CR?
I have calculated that for essentially finding Jzaridune, and about 1.5 hrs inside, the players generated about 1500 xp (4 players). Does that seem reasonable?
Thanks.
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Creative Director
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EL is not equivalent to CR. EL is just a handy tool for you to quickly see the relative strength of the encounter. When you hand out XP, you should use each creature's CR on a creature-by-creature basis.
Remember also that once you generate the total XP for the group, you need to divide that number by the total amount of characters in the group. So if your group earned 1,500 XP, and your group consists of 4 players, you'd hand out 1,500/4 or 375 XP to each character.
If your PCs clear out every room in that first adventure, they might even be hitting 3rd level by the time they get to the end of it.
Are you kidding? My five characters have already hit 3rd level, and they're just starting the Malachite Fortress.
How you give experience for the traps makes a huge difference in leveling within Jzadirune as well.
Sean Mahoney
Same here--my group is level four, and they just have a little mopping up left to do in the Malachite Fortress. I think they only got xp for two of the gear door traps, and one of the tilt-a-pits.
--Fang
I am curious then if you felt the need to run Drakthar's Way (assuming you have the HC and ran it after it's release)?
I am almost thinking that if I were to run things again I would either run Drakthar's and Life's Bazaar in tandem or just ease up a little on Drakthar's and run it first.
Sean Mahoney
I'm going to run Drakthar's Way...I told the group at the Campaign Kickoff session that I might have to play fast and loose with the xp to keep them in line with where they should be. They are okay with that, and they all love a good dungeon crawl, so I can't see skipping Drakthar.