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Our group experiences intermitancy in play time. Recently, one member of the group has risen three levels above the lowest level of the group on account of the lowest level player could not make it one session and the highest level fella got a kill on a charmed higher level enemy, and the player skyrocketed two levels in one session. One player is level 4, the other level 6, the other level 8.
Our fear is the APL is level 6 now. The Level 4 player is relatively new and inexperienced,and we are afraid he will not be able to handle the challenges.
We had an idea to even the odds with regard to XP. Rather than playing individually in order to boost levels faster, which sucks for me as a DM and for the player usually, we came up with an idea.
I know in Pathfinder Society games a player can use the slower tier xp gain. What do you folks think about modifying this for general campaigns. I know a GM has the final say, but I wanted an opinion on this based on gameplay, gamebreaking, metagaming, cheating, whatever, a general opinion of our proposal.
Usually, when an action sequence is completed, the total Xp for the encounter is divided by the 3 players evenly, as long as they began the combat and had an initiative count or were active participants in combat, that an enemy had to take their presence into account.
We propose that the points be divided amongst the 3, but the higher level guy, the level 8, would take 0 points and instead divide them among the other two. Thinking this over, I didn't rather like this idea as it gave the other players an unfair boost, so we then proposed to divide the high level guy's xp by half, then these would then be distributed among the other two but the high level guy would only act as a last resort and play a minimal role in battle.
I have a question for you, how do you handle new players? Do they come in at the APL?
- Gauss
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Usually when one goes down it becomes a wipe. If one dies, they would start over at level one. They are pretty good at protecting each other.
We have been doing the Rise of the Runelords adventure Path. They actually all died at the end of chapter one. Chapter two I think is for 5-7 level characters, so we have been doing small quests here and there to get up to par so we can begin where we left off in the path. Now the APL is about where it needs to be to restart the path, but one player is still level 4.
We have also thought about tayloring the path for higher individual experience awards and allowing a player to gain more that way, too.
If one dies, they would start over at level one. They are pretty good at protecting each other.
From a game designer standpoint, I strongly disagree with this. The DMG even says to try to avoid differences in level by giving at least half XP to absent players. The problem is that low level players never catch up with the group unless other members constantly miss sessions. The high level players quickly outshine the low and it becomes harder for the GM to balance encounters. I always have new characters start at APL with the party's average wealth.
I personally reward XP to all PCs, regardless if they're present or not. However, only the present players get loot, so players are still being rewarded for showing up on time. A poor PC is much easier to fix than an under-leveled one.
In most groups, players would rather have everyone be the same level than get extra XP. If an absent player is upsetting the group, there are better ways to deal with the problem than penalizing XP. In fact, sharing XP might actually encourage the player to show up more or quit for the betterment of the group.
Personally I've stopped using xp when I run adventure paths. The AP expects you to be at a certain level at certain places, it lays it out for you in the beggining of every chapter. I just make the players that level.
That said, I HATE disparity in levels within the party. I get the whole 'they should have to earn the xp' but pathfinder doesnt have the catchup mechanic anymore, so you will always be behind.
I would say you should just let the level 4 player at least be 6th level and catch up to the other player, but if you are hell bent on the player having to play through every level I'd recommend giving 1.5x xp for those players that are lower then the APL. So if the party earns 5000 xp for an encounter, divide it among the number of PCs but then multiplie the level 4 pcs xp by 1.5, so they can start to catch up.
You could also look at the rules for monsters as PCs.
Note that in a mixed group, the value of racial Hit Dice and abilities diminish as a character gains levels. It is recommended that for every 3 levels gained by the group, the monster character should gain an extra level, received halfway between the 2nd and 3rd levels. Repeat this process a number of times equal to half the monster's CR, rounded down. Using the minotaur example, when the group is at a point between 6th and 7th level, the minotaur gains a level, and then again at 7th, making him a minotaur barbarian 4. This process repeats at 10th level, making him a minotaur barbarian 8 when the group reaches 10th level. From that point onward, he gains levels normally.
Or you could just use the 3.5 xp system.
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Zahir,
The PC was level 6. The other PC was away from the scenario, and due to a failed attempt at knocking out a higher level priest, who was unsure of the players intentions (the player wanted a nonviolent confrontation with not death in order to subdue)the priest attacked him as he thought he was going to kill him. The player quickly ended up disabling and knocking him out; thus he was awarded with a lot of XP. the priest was level 12! That caused him to jump up along with the quest rewards at the time, then later in the day they got more awards.
I award XP equally across all characters, regardless of the player being there or not. Since the characters talk to each other and relate their experience of the encounter, that is sufficient for learning and thus the award of experience points.
Gold and magic items, however, are split only among the characters present for the encounter. That alone is both incentive to show up and serves to balance relative character power from one PC to another.