Can someone explain how Abstract XP works? Also on the 12-2 what are the individual xp columns used for?
Core Pg 399:
"Abstract XP: Simply add up the individual XP awards
listed for a group of the appropriate size. In this case, the
division is done for you—you need only total up all the
awards to determine how many XP to award to each PC."
Can someone explain how Abstract XP works? Also on the 12-2 what are the individual xp columns used for?
Core Pg 399:
"Abstract XP: Simply add up the individual XP awards
listed for a group of the appropriate size. In this case, the
division is done for you—you need only total up all the
awards to determine how many XP to award to each PC."
Normally, Exact XP is used. You take the number under the Total XP column and divide it by the number of characters. That is how much experience each character receives.
Abstract XP, you just take the number from the appropriate column under Individual XP depending on the number of player characters you have, and that is the amount of experience each character receives. IF you have 1 to 3 PCs, use the 1-3 column. 4 to 5 PCs use the 4-5 column, and if you have 6 or more PCs, use the 6+ column.
So if I understand the Abstract method then it is for people who can manage to add up all the CR numbers and find the XP amount on the chart, but they just can't seem to do simple division?
EDIT: This game is not for people who can't do simple division, I would venture to say that no one in the history of Pathfinder gaming has used that abstract method...unless it was dictated by some kind of tournament rules.
Or you can do what my game group does, which is level every time the GM tells us to level.
Or you can do what my game group does, which is level every time the GM tells us to level.
Not sure most PF players could deal with that....we want our XP.
So if I understand the Abstract method then it is for people who can manage to add up all the CR numbers and find the XP amount on the chart, but they just can't seem to do simple division?
EDIT: This game is not for people who can't do simple division, I would venture to say that no one in the history of Pathfinder gaming has used that abstract method...unless it was dictated by some kind of tournament rules.
While I am *capable* of doing simple (or not-so-simple) division, it takes some time and thought and I find that in the absence of a computer program to sort it all for me, the Abstract XP values are *faster* to use. Since at least one of my games is routinely time-limited, and thus time is at a premium, I have often used the Abstract values with very pleasing results.
In a different scenario, I had, at one point, a party of seven PCs. All friends - people I liked and rarely got to see outside of the game, so I didn't want to ask any of them to leave. At the same time, what with 7 being prime and also not particularly nice to divide by (the way that 2, 3, and 5 can be), I really appreciated the 6+ column for speed and simplicity (6,400 / 7 = 914.285714, and that's a helluva number to give/round as an XP reward, especially compared to the simplicity of 1070) and also because the number of encounters necessary to level with a party size greater than 6 using the non-abstract system gets a smidge tedious, moreso at higher level. While it's true that the increased number of PCs makes the group as a whole capable of taking on certain kinds of more challenging encounters, not only are there encounters that are easily handled by a party of 4 5th level players that are nearly impossible for a party of 7 3rd level players, each PC is being run by an individual who is involved in the game to have fun, and tedium is not especially fun.
Or you can do what my game group does, which is level every time the GM tells us to level.Not sure most PF players could deal with that....we want our XP.
The group I play in uses this method as well, and appreciates the absence of another number to do bookkeeping for from session to session, or to track for absent party members.
The group I'm GMing for doesn't use this precise method, inasmuch as I do hand out XP, but that includes both encounter XP and story XP, and while my players have some means to evaluate their progress based on their encounters, their progression is not entirely predictable and can depend to a large extent on my interpretation of how well they've developed their stories.
However, there are more uses for the abstract XP values than just the award of XP - if I, as a GM, want to put together an encounter that causes my players to progress a certain amount towards a level-up, the Abstract values are a great reference tool for me to determine the individual CRs of however many monsters I want to use. Yes, I could do the division in my head or as part of the equation I set up, but I have repeatedly found that the process is made simpler by having the approximate values provided for me already. Additionally, if my players decide to split up, of I engineer a scenario that forces them to, and I want one of the resulting groups to fight a single enemy and the other group to have four fights, the abstract XP listing makes that balancing act much easier as well.
Of course, that's just my experience with it, YMMV.