|
At GenCon 2009 I played some of my first Pathfinder Society games (and had a blast!). One of the games I participated in was the Betrayal in Absalom interactive Saturday night. For the adventure I received gold, but no experience nor Prestige award. I completely understand not receiving any Prestige award, but my character fought, performed skills, interacted with a variety of people and almost died. Things that, to me at least, define ‘experience’.
Also, the PFS Organized play guide simply states that you get one experience point for each adventure played. No mention is made of interactives or other special situations.
I’m starting this thread because I believe that experience should be awarded in interactive similar to other adventures and would like your thoughts as well. Let's just look at the issue and see if there is a better way to handle experience or if the current system “isn’t broke so don’t fix it.” Understand, I am not suggesting going back to traditional experience point calculation - not at all.
-Swiftbrook
Just My Thoughts
|
|
Here is a possible solution to this issue, as I see it. In another thread it was mentioned that there is no experience penalty for failing an adventure. As long as you survive the adventure, I think even if you die and are resurrected, you earn an experience point.
Solution (?): Award two experience points per successful adventure. A character levels at every six experience points.
Benefits:
1) Interactive could be awarded 1 XP because they are viewed as easier, but there is still danger for the characters, and the character still gets some experience.
2) GM could be rewarded 1 XP for running an adventure in the same model as 1/2 gold and 1 PA point.
3) If a character fails a scenario they are also awarded 1 XP instead of 2. Max gold could also be set at 1/2 as to keep the level/gold ratio the same.
Downside:
1) We’d have to make a change to the system and change our current XP points to match the new system. Change always has some problems.
Again, your thoughts?
-Swiftbrook
Just My Thoughts
|
Solution (?): Award two experience points per successful adventure. A character levels at every six experience points.
Benefits:
1) Interactive could be awarded 1 XP because they are viewed as easier, but there is still danger for the characters, and the character still gets some experience.
2) GM could be rewarded 1 XP for running an adventure in the same model as 1/2 gold and 1 PA point.
3) If a character fails a scenario they are also awarded 1 XP instead of 2. Max gold could also be set at 1/2 as to keep the level/gold ratio the same.Downside:
1) We’d have to make a change to the system and change our current XP points to match the new system. Change always has some problems.
The bigger problem is that the whole sytem is set at 3 xp per level and 12 levels or 36 xp and retirement It would be less mods to retirement. Players would throw mods to keep playing favorite characters
By giving more xp per mod you also throw the entire gold dynamic out of wack.
The gold aquired system has been designed around the 1xp per mod premis. The gold per level would get very complicated. You would have tie gold received to xp received to keep the proper balance.
Director of Brand Strategy
|
I completely understand not receiving any Prestige award, but my character fought, performed skills, interacted with a variety of people and almost died
Betrayal in Absalom was a no-death event. Had your PC died, s/he would not have been removed from legal PFS play. So far, both interactives I've participated in have had the same no-death condition in effect. Just be glad you got a permanent reward for your participation; all the boons and benefits gained in Grand Convocation were nullified by the conversion in August.
|
|
The bigger problem is that the whole sytem is set at 3 xp per level and 12 levels or 36 xp and retirement It would be less mods to retirement. Players would throw mods to keep playing favorite characters
By giving more xp per mod you also throw the entire gold dynamic out of wack.
The gold aquired system has been designed around the 1xp per mod premis. The gold per level would get very complicated. You would have tie gold received to xp received to keep the proper balance.
You missed the first line. 2 XP per adventure, 6 XP per level jump.
Yes it would be a change, but it wouldn't throw the system out of wack.Or if you wanted, award 1/2 XP for each of the three items and keep 1 XP per full adventure.
Betrayal in Absalom was a no-death event. Had your PC died, s/he would not have been removed from legal PFS play. So far, both interactives I've participated in have had the same no-death condition in effect. Just be glad you got a permanent reward for your participation; all the boons and benefits gained in Grand Convocation were nullified by the conversion in August.
I didn't know that it was a no-death event. (like I didn't know it was 0 XP). I don't know if it would be a good or bad thing to know that in advance. As for the gold and boons, there I made out like a bandit because my I was the low level character at our table and we played up.
-Swiftbrook
|
Director of Brand Strategy
|
I didn't know that it was a no-death event. (like I didn't know it was 0 XP). I don't know if it would be a good or bad thing to know that in advance. As for the gold and boons, there I made out like a bandit because my I was the low level character at our table and we played up.
It's actually better for PCs to get wealth but no experience, as it puts you ahead of the wealth curve. If you received both, you'd still just be on par with someone who played the same number of scenarios and no interactive. The current system promotes play in as many interactives as possible, since it's essentially free loot. And encouraging participation in interactives helps grow the Society.
You missed the first line. 2 XP per adventure, 6 XP per level jump.
Yes it would be a change, but it wouldn't throw the system out of wack.
It could throw things out of whack, though, given enough time and the right circumstances. It would encourage people to play only interactives, since it would allow them to play their PC for twice as long and get double the net wealth because they would be moving up the wealth curve at full speed and only progressing half as fast in XP.
I don't see any reason to complicate the XP system. It works fine the way it is and the fewer changes and intricate systems players, GMs, and organizers have to deal with the better.
|
Downside:
1) We’d have to make a change to the system and change our current XP points to match the new system. Change always has some problems.Again, your thoughts?
Your suggestions sounds simple enough at first, but would mean having to go back and change every active PFS scenario in order to comply with it. That would be a huge undertaking.