How many of you still use XP?


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

51 to 100 of 132 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | next > last >>

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I wanna VROCK!
VROCK!
I want to VROCK!
VROCK!


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Gone, lost, forgotten, and never going back.

I'm a very story-oriented player, and I find having arbitrary "leveling points" fits far better than XP for that kind of game - especially if you're playing a prewritten AP or have planned stat blocks for a campaign far in advance.

I find it encourages players to simply get on with the game and stop worrying about whether an activity earns XP or not, it's one less piece of paperwork to worry about, and it avoids any issues of characters being out of sync with one another. It also means there's no problems if they manage to skip ahead (missing the chance to get XP) or get diverted (and earn extra XP) because whatever you face will always be level-appropriate.


I've never liked the XP system as I've felt it's just unnecessarily large numbers to deal with, both as a player and GM (though the variant system Space Crimes mentioned sounds interesting). I pulled over a session leveling system from my time with True 20. If you need to get to level 5, attend 5 sessions. If someone is falling too far behind the rest of the group, the GM can easily throw an extra point of two their way to get them closer to the group. That way the group still has an idea of when they should be leveling, they still get their "XP" even if we spend 90% of the night with story and role-play without once picking up the dice and once the advancement starts to plateau it's easy to throw a few more points the player's way.


In some cases my GM is glad for Pathfinder. In the case of XP all he has to do is go to the table on page 398 of the CRB. We have a house rule for Level x 100 for extra XP per level and after certain fights we have a "Most Valuable Player". This voted by the group and that person gets extra XP. So I think we have no problem using it.

Grand Lodge

We never use XP in any of my groups anymore. I love it.

One thing we tried was a variant Hero Point system.

You earned them for particular difficult, or well done encounters, but you had a limit based on level.

Liberty's Edge

I still use XP when I run games, and prefer it when playing. It is nice to know how soon I need to sort out my plans for next level, and having different levels in a group opens up another dimension for roleplay (e.g. it is pretty rare to see PCs acting as sort of mentors or tutors for each other, in same-leveled play).

Other alternatives to XP certainly seem more convenient, though.


I use experience points. If, as Zhayne says, the GM controls leveling either way, I prefer to use XP as my tool.

I give experience for solving problems, whether through guile, or force. Solving a puzzle or defeating a foe (including forcing them to flee) both reward XP. I run sandbox style home games, and the randomness of leveling when the XP reaches the right number suits the unplanned nature of things. I do use party XP rather than individual though. If a player misses, they won't be behind on level, but they do risk missing out on special treasure.

Shadow Lodge

Scythia wrote:

I use experience points. If, as Zhayne says, the GM controls leveling either way, I prefer to use XP as my tool.

I give experience for solving problems, whether through guile, or force. Solving a puzzle or defeating a foe (including forcing them to flee) both reward XP. I run sandbox style home games, and the randomness of leveling when the XP reaches the right number suits the unplanned nature of things. I do use party XP rather than individual though. If a player misses, they won't be behind on level, but they do risk missing out on special treasure.

This is pretty much how I like to play as well, whether as a player or GM.


Coriat wrote:
Ssalarn wrote:
Has anyone else tried this? Did you have positive results? Or do you prefer using the experience point system, and if so, why?
I have tried it, and did have positive results. Unfortunately I haven't convinced my main weekly group, so I play mostly with xp.

Uh, your DM wouldn't need much in the way of convincing...

Silver Crusade

I have not used XP or been in a game that used XP since ~2005, with the exception of a short-lived Slumbering Tsar game that wouldn't have worked without it. The preferred system with my group has them level as required for what the GM has planned, usually on a session count basis (3 is typical) or a quest resolution basis (I'm using 4 side quests to level, with main quests counting as 2 side quests).


depends on the campaign. My group has pretty much abandoned XP when we are doing an adventure path. DM just levels us up at different benchmarks

on the other hand when we are doing a more sandboxy style of game I tend to favor XP more.


I stopped working with XP after being in a group where the GM did the same. You don't have to bother how much XP exactly every encounter gives or who was there and who wasn't.

Sure, if the GM forgets to tell you to level up it's worse than if he forgets you to give you the XP for one session but it is nothing dramatic either.
In our KM game we were once fighting something which I evil eyed and the GM told me: But at 8th level the penalties increase to -4 (we were level 7 at that time). We told him we're not level 8 yet, he looked up surprised and said: But the AP expects you to be level 9 after this fight.
So, after that fight, we could get two levelups instead of one. Everyone cheered, no problem.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Once had a friend run a v3.5 Dragonlance campaign in which there was no XP, jus tmilestones (same one I mentioned above). Said campaign had no guidelines whatsoever on how to handle item creation or negative levels. We had players quit after they suffered from energy drain (some were at eight permanent negative levels!) from various undead within the adventure module with absolutely no way to catch up to the party (since there was no XP to give).

Who the hell puts energy drain in a module that makes it impossible to ever get those levels back!?

Paizo Employee Design Manager

It seems like there's quite a few people who don't use it for APs and modules but prefer to have it available for sandbox type games.

Does anyone have any good alternatives for how to manage level gain in sandbox style adventures where milestones are less clearly defined?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

We don't use XP, but leveling isn't all DM fiat, either. The group of PCs declares what their goals are (that can range from "rescue the princess" to "kill that lying b+*@!" to "get mad loot!"). After one major (AP installation-length) and one minor (side-quest) adventure, they look at whether they've fulfilled those goals. If both were successful, they level up. If unsuccessful, they keep track of how many more major/minor adventures are needed, with the exchange rate of 2 minor = 1 major. This works for sandboxes as well as APs.

If you wanted to expand on that, different levels of partial success could give "part credit," and there's no reason each PC's stated goals need to be the same as everyone else's (although it's awkward to have a party with all different levels, so you might not want to allow that possibility).


Ssalarn wrote:

It seems like there's quite a few people who don't use it for APs and modules but prefer to have it available for sandbox type games.

Does anyone have any good alternatives for how to manage level gain in sandbox style adventures where milestones are less clearly defined?

Every four games. Vary to taste.


I did not use it for my current game, and I won't use it for my next game.

I tend to run AP's, and I have to check to be sure the math is correct. I also always get that one player that does not write it down when I give it out, and will wait a few days to let me know or ask if they leveled. Then I have to go back and do the math. One time I setup a website for a campaign, and put all of the notes there, and that did not even work. Things have been so much easier that I don't see myself going back to it again.

Sovereign Court

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I would prefer to not use xp's and just have them level at the appropriate time in the campaign, but since the players seem to prefer gaining xp's and we use the 3.5 item creation rules I am stuck with it for the time being.

I kinda like the idea of it taking 15-20 points per level and fiving 1 xp for an encounter. Have to think on that one.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Cylyria wrote:

I would prefer to not use xp's and just have them level at the appropriate time in the campaign, but since the players seem to prefer gaining xp's and we use the 3.5 item creation rules I am stuck with it for the time being.

I kinda like the idea of it taking 15-20 points per level and fiving 1 xp for an encounter. Have to think on that one.

You'd just need to either adapt the Pathfinder item creation rules, or figure the comparative cost. A magic item would probably cost roughly 1 xp per 1000 of the original crafting cost.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I use xp in my games. I reward for combat, problem solving, role-playing, exceedingly clever ideas, making the entire table laugh, and making the GM laugh so hard that he's incapacitated for several minutes. The rewards are all arbitrary and at my discretion (although I tend to follow the book on monsters), and I've never had anyone complain about my methodology.


Voadam wrote:
Ssalarn wrote:

It seems like there's quite a few people who don't use it for APs and modules but prefer to have it available for sandbox type games.

Does anyone have any good alternatives for how to manage level gain in sandbox style adventures where milestones are less clearly defined?

Every four games. Vary to taste.

Something simple and consistent like this would work. Everyone loves to level up and increase stats, skills, hp. It's a great reward to being a player.

In our sandbox adventure we went roughly 7 or 8 sessions without a level. It becomes stagnant for players to not feel progress and you start to question what you should be doing.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Our group has been moving away from XP for several years, with no complaints so far. I have moved away from it in my Kingmaker campaign, and although it is a sandbox style of game, it is fairly easy to see major accomplishments and achievement of goals as mileposts for new levels. Is it somewhat subjective? Absolutely. But there is enough objectivity when you couple a level gain with major accomplishments. Our players have no problems since it permits the DM to keep things moving along more quickly.

Good player choices and such are rewarded with praise, typically, along with obviously good results in game, which are themselves rewards. Loot and such still provides the incremental rewards that help keep everyone motivated between levels.

Even our most detail-oriented, bookkeeping DM has resolved to move people up at proper times rather than through detailed XP tracking.

Having played for over 30 years with XP and just a few years without, I prefer the latter by far. Perhaps with respect to Kingmaker, at least, since we carefully track the individual player economy along with the kingdom itself, we have plenty enough bookkeeping without adding XP to the mix.

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I stopped using XP during second edition. I found it just got in the way of playing the game and having fun.

When the campaign advanced to a point where I felt the characters should level, I told them to advance a level. I've kept this policy ever since. In today's environment, the AP's tell you what level the party should achieve by a certain point. I just use that guideline when advancing the party.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Ssalarn wrote:

So, I gave up on actually assigning experience points a while back as a bit of an experiment. I was hoping to curb the "murder hobo" tendencies that were arising in some of our games along with a "we're going to need to kill this thing sooner or later anyways" outlook.

So I took away xp and replaced it with a milestone...
Has anyone else tried this? Did you have positive results? Or do you prefer using the experience point system, and if so, why?

Pathfinder society uses a 3 games = 1 level approach.

For my home games (running APs mostly) I award levels at each chapter.
I like to roleplay...not work at accounting.

Still some of my group prefer the old xp method. They claim it doesn't take any extra time...in the other game I am playing not GMing they went with the traditional method. And we spend about half an hour or more every session and I mean EVERY session reconciling 3 people's different xp trackers and what the GM shows. I'd rather spend that time playing but since the group finds xp accounting more fun I only objected at the beginning and then accepted that I was outvoted. It kind of works out, whenever the xp discussion begins I typically use that time for food/drink breaks. :)


4 people marked this as a favorite.
Zhayne wrote:
Captain Wacky wrote:
I use XP. I find using milestones puts too much control into the GM's hands.
It's the exact same amount of control. The GM determines XP awards, so there's no reason to use it.

It's not. there are predetermined XP rewards in the book. Kill/Defeat a monster/encounter/trap/etc., get that XP. Milestones are more abstract and can be placed anytime a GM just "feels" like it (unless I'm missing something).


Captain Wacky wrote:
Zhayne wrote:
Captain Wacky wrote:
I use XP. I find using milestones puts too much control into the GM's hands.
It's the exact same amount of control. The GM determines XP awards, so there's no reason to use it.
It's not. there are predetermined XP rewards in the book. Kill/Defeat a monster/encounter/trap/etc., get that XP. Milestones are more abstract and can be placed anytime a GM just "feels" like it (unless I'm missing something).

Sure, there are preset xp values for those things, but it's the GM that determines how many there are per session. Want a couple hundred more xp? Add a trap or make an existing monster tougher. Want less? Make one of them crippled or substitute it for a lower tier monster or an easy trap. Whether you get a level up from vanquishing a roving bandit gang, or level up from killing 40 bandits makes no real difference from the numbers side of things. Making it dependent on the quest completion may or may not make it more meaningful to your players though.

Currently, my group is using xp, but I can see the potential benefits of switching. Reducing the amount of math is one temptation, but ultimately false, because even with the milestone system, I would use the xp numbers to make sure encounters were properly scaled to the party.


In the 3.5-rules Rise of the Runelords that I'm GM'ing, we're still using XP. And calculating the @#$% thing is a pain in the butt.

In the Kingmaker game where I'm a player - yes, we're still using XP. I hardly know why, though.

In the Sevenarches-based homebrew campaign that I'm GM'ing, we abandoned XP a year and a half ago, and have not missed it AT ALL. Less tedious math to do, and I don't have to slavishly plot out how many encounters and how much XP will be needed to make the players level at story-appropriate points. Instead, they just level at story-appropriate points and we can get on with the story.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16

1 person marked this as a favorite.

The more sandboxy the game is, the more likely I am to use actual XP rather than narrative leveling. As a player, I also prefer actual XP. XP is a reward for defeating challenges; narrative leveling removes the reward incentive because you just are whatever level you need to be when the plot requires it. Ultimately, it takes away a measure of player agency.

I do, however, use group XP. I am not about to track XP totals for 5 different people. Everybody's the same. I reward individual excellence in other ways.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

In our last AP, my group started with XPs, but near the end we just stopped, it just slowed the game to tally them up all the time, and the APs have checkpoints to tell you when to expect to gain a level.

It also helped to stop the "Bribe the DM for XPs" jokes around the table.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Charlie Bell wrote:
XP is a reward for defeating challenges; narrative leveling removes the reward incentive because you just are whatever level you need to be when the plot requires it. Ultimately, it takes away a measure of player agency.

Again, that need not be the case. If the player is able to state his/her own goals, and levels up when those goals are attained (after X amount of effort, measured in terms of sessions or whatever), then it's both player-driven and decided by rubric, rather than whim.

Sovereign Court

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Charlie Bell wrote:

The more sandboxy the game is, the more likely I am to use actual XP rather than narrative leveling. As a player, I also prefer actual XP. XP is a reward for defeating challenges; narrative leveling removes the reward incentive because you just are whatever level you need to be when the plot requires it. Ultimately, it takes away a measure of player agency.

I do, however, use group XP. I am not about to track XP totals for 5 different people. Everybody's the same. I reward individual excellence in other ways.

Funny you should say this because using XP was causing my players to take agency from themselves. I couldnt believe how many times I heard, "I'd really like to explore that but its got to be a red herring or not worth much XP." I would facepalm everytime I heard that and it was often. The players were slaves to what they thought would net the XP. I tossed it and now they are free to persue whatever path they like. They love it.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16

Kirth Gersen wrote:
Charlie Bell wrote:
XP is a reward for defeating challenges; narrative leveling removes the reward incentive because you just are whatever level you need to be when the plot requires it. Ultimately, it takes away a measure of player agency.
Again, that need not be the case. If the player is able to state his/her own goals, and levels up when those goals are attained (after X amount of effort, measured in terms of sessions or whatever), then it's both player-driven and decided by rubric, rather than whim.

I should have clarified what I meant by narrative leveling: the GM tells you you level up when the AP says you are supposed to be level X.

I do like your player goals-based method of handling leveling, but I don't know how well it would work in an AP-style game.


Cuuniyevo wrote:
Captain Wacky wrote:
Zhayne wrote:
Captain Wacky wrote:
I use XP. I find using milestones puts too much control into the GM's hands.
It's the exact same amount of control. The GM determines XP awards, so there's no reason to use it.
It's not. there are predetermined XP rewards in the book. Kill/Defeat a monster/encounter/trap/etc., get that XP. Milestones are more abstract and can be placed anytime a GM just "feels" like it (unless I'm missing something).

Sure, there are preset xp values for those things, but it's the GM that determines how many there are per session. Want a couple hundred more xp? Add a trap or make an existing monster tougher. Want less? Make one of them crippled or substitute it for a lower tier monster or an easy trap. Whether you get a level up from vanquishing a roving bandit gang, or level up from killing 40 bandits makes no real difference from the numbers side of things. Making it dependent on the quest completion may or may not make it more meaningful to your players though.

Currently, my group is using xp, but I can see the potential benefits of switching. Reducing the amount of math is one temptation, but ultimately false, because even with the milestone system, I would use the xp numbers to make sure encounters were properly scaled to the party.

Indeed, it is up to the GM to determine what goes into the game. But that exurting control over the world as a whole, whitch is what the GM is there for. Without XP the GM has direct command over your character and leveling is solely GM fiat.

I have played in games where the group didn't use XP. We leveled when it suited the story. I like a set challenge/reward, when it come to advancement. It's all well and good if that's your play style. But it's not mine.


Ssalarn wrote:

It seems like there's quite a few people who don't use it for APs and modules but prefer to have it available for sandbox type games.

Does anyone have any good alternatives for how to manage level gain in sandbox style adventures where milestones are less clearly defined?

Ever read Monty Cook's World of Darkness. It's a d20 post-semi-apocalypse re-imagining of White Wolf's games.

It introduces an alternate leveling system where you level in steps. End of every game session you advance in one of 4 categories and once you have taken all 4 your were officially up a level.
A = Hit Dice and Attack Bonus
B = Defense and Saving Throws
C = Skills
D = Special Abilities

So after two game session the Fighter might be level 1 A,B, the Wizard might be 1 B,D the Cleric 1B,C and the Rogue 1C,D


Greylurker wrote:
Ssalarn wrote:

It seems like there's quite a few people who don't use it for APs and modules but prefer to have it available for sandbox type games.

Does anyone have any good alternatives for how to manage level gain in sandbox style adventures where milestones are less clearly defined?

Ever read Monty Cook's World of Darkness. It's a d20 post-semi-apocalypse re-imagining of White Wolf's games.

It introduces an alternate leveling system where you level in steps. End of every game session you advance in one of 4 categories and once you have taken all 4 your were officially up a level.
A = Hit Dice and Attack Bonus
B = Defense and Saving Throws
C = Skills
D = Special Abilities

So after two game session the Fighter might be level 1 A,B, the Wizard might be 1 B,D the Cleric 1B,C and the Rogue 1C,D

I haven't seen it, but it looks like an Intriguing idea.

Horizon Hunters

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I've gone both routes; tried leveling up at story-based points, or in an AP when it recommends and have also tried going with XP by the book.

In the end, players wanted something tangible but, especially for higher level games, it became monotonous. We use a simple XP system (I believe it's modified from somewhere, but for the life of me I can't recall where I read it to modify from...). Anyway, if anyone finds it feel free to reference it.

Fast track; takes 20 xp to reach the next level.
Medium; takes 30 xp.
Slow; takes 40 xp.

Easy encounters net 1 xp, moderate encounters or story XP is often 2 xp, hard encounters and major story events are 3 xp, and EPIC encounters or the end of a story arc will net 4 xp.

Encounters in our group aren't just combat, there's also RP/Story events, of course traps and hazards, completing personal character arcs, maybe more xp for unique/non-lethal fights, etc etc.

Players have responded favorably to it and it's easy to keep track of. I still use the CR system to BUILD the encounter, but if it's easier than I anticipated I can reward less xp, and vice-versa. If it's easy for reasons that the players went out of their way to engineer (I.E terrain, a particular set of maneuvers and teamwork, etc) then I award standard or better.


Ssalarn wrote:

So, I gave up on actually assigning experience points a while back as a bit of an experiment. I was hoping to curb the "murder hobo" tendencies that were arising in some of our games along with a "we're going to need to kill this thing sooner or later anyways" outlook.

So I took away xp and replaced it with a milestone and completion chart for the adventure that allowed the party to gain levels by resolving major plot points or story arcs, and a separate tracker for side quests where they gained roughly a third of a level for each completed side quest. It's actually worked out very well, and I find the party is much more likely to explore solutions that involve diplomacy, intimidation, redirection, misdirection, etc. than thy ever did previously. I've also drastically reduced the number of unplanned NPC deaths which is a plus.

Has anyone else tried this? Did you have positive results? Or do you prefer using the experience point system, and if so, why?

I use XP, but I let my player know up front that they will be rewarded for getting past an encounter or solving a problem, in whatever way they choose. If they find a way to sneak past an encounter in a dungeon, or to talk the rogues down in the alleyway, I will still reward them their experience.


Charlie Bell wrote:
Kirth Gersen wrote:
Charlie Bell wrote:
XP is a reward for defeating challenges; narrative leveling removes the reward incentive because you just are whatever level you need to be when the plot requires it. Ultimately, it takes away a measure of player agency.
Again, that need not be the case. If the player is able to state his/her own goals, and levels up when those goals are attained (after X amount of effort, measured in terms of sessions or whatever), then it's both player-driven and decided by rubric, rather than whim.

I should have clarified what I meant by narrative leveling: the GM tells you you level up when the AP says you are supposed to be level X.

I do like your player goals-based method of handling leveling, but I don't know how well it would work in an AP-style game.

Then there's the intuitive, GM determines when you level based on the player's narrative rather than based on any predetermined point method. It does ask for a lot of trust from the players (not that the simple act of GMing doesn't though.)

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I am currently running two games.

Kingmaker: I used XP until the end of book 1 and realized that with all the expansions I planned it would over-level the characters pretty rapidly for when I ran published sections so I nixed using it and just level by fiat.

Jade Regent: I had some ideas about xp so I decided to experiment with it. The one good thing about xp is that there's a little bar that goes up and then the ever wonderful DING, but life is what it is and I don't like when characters fall behind, then die and then fall behind further. So all the xp goes into a shared pool, and when that pool hits certain points the whole party levels up. I'm still not completely happy with it though, because it means I end up playing my own game of math and spreadsheets after each game, but since I'm using Mythic I wanted to differentiate the process of leveling as a character and gaining mythic tiers. If I had my druthers I'd use a variant of the SKR steps system for leveling and use story moments for Mythic.

In the past I used the steps system for Curse of the Crimson Throne, and that kept pace with the AP's expected progression until the game fell apart at about level 11 during book 3.


Wait, wait. Why did the amount of deaths decrease after the XP thing was shifted? XP is awarded for overcoming challenges, not for icing monsters/people. Those solutions shoulda given XP anyway and thus been equally viable.

Correct?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

In Paizo APs I realized a lot of encounters were thrown in just to give XP and most were really easy. They added unneccessary length to sessions, so I cut them and started leveling the party as the book required.

At least thats how I do "xp" for APs.


I'm going to adopt a 'level when I tell you' policy for Wrath of the Righteous when I run it, hopefully it will encourage more Role Play and not just 'kill all demons'.

Depending on how it works, I may adopt it for all of my games in the future. One thing it does is let you throw more things at a party between levels, without worrying about them getting too high a level.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Tels wrote:

I'm going to adopt a 'level when I tell you' policy for Wrath of the Righteous when I run it, hopefully it will encourage more Role Play and not just 'kill all demons'.

Depending on how it works, I may adopt it for all of my games in the future. One thing it does is let you throw more things at a party between levels, without worrying about them getting too high a level.

I would suggest tracking mythic trials, though. Some of the specific trials tied to the campaign traits are massively story-driven, and I think they enhance the AP a lot as a result.


Chemlak wrote:
Tels wrote:

I'm going to adopt a 'level when I tell you' policy for Wrath of the Righteous when I run it, hopefully it will encourage more Role Play and not just 'kill all demons'.

Depending on how it works, I may adopt it for all of my games in the future. One thing it does is let you throw more things at a party between levels, without worrying about them getting too high a level.

I would suggest tracking mythic trials, though. Some of the specific trials tied to the campaign traits are massively story-driven, and I think they enhance the AP a lot as a result.

Of course, that's one thing I'll be tracking, but, one of the big reasons why I'm trying it with WotR is that I feel mythic heroes, more so than others, should be able to do amazing things like fighting huge numbers of people, while not exactly gaining a bunch of XP for it.

Liberty's Edge

Ssalarn wrote:

It seems like there's quite a few people who don't use it for APs and modules but prefer to have it available for sandbox type games.

Does anyone have any good alternatives for how to manage level gain in sandbox style adventures where milestones are less clearly defined?

I have cut XP from my games almost entirely. I say almost because I am running, as a nostalgia experiment, The Temple of Elemental Evil in AD&D 2E and XP rewards are a bit more tied into character advancement as each class is different.

I am preparing to run Serpent's Skull and the milestone method won't work as well because the campaign is pretty sandboxy. As an alternative, I am trying to figure out a way of adopting PFS-style XP advancement where three XP gains a level and tying XP awards to different accomplishments in the game. With only a handful of XP to award each level spreading them out for story-based accomplishments should be easier.

Liberty's Edge

Tels wrote:

I'm going to adopt a 'level when I tell you' policy for Wrath of the Righteous when I run it, hopefully it will encourage more Role Play and not just 'kill all demons'.

Depending on how it works, I may adopt it for all of my games in the future. One thing it does is let you throw more things at a party between levels, without worrying about them getting too high a level.

Chemlak wrote:
I would suggest tracking mythic trials, though. Some of the specific trials tied to the campaign traits are massively story-driven, and I think they enhance the AP a lot as a result.
Tels wrote:
Of course, that's one thing I'll be tracking, but, one of the big reasons why I'm trying it with WotR is that I feel mythic heroes, more so than others, should be able to do amazing things like fighting huge numbers of people, while not exactly gaining a bunch of XP for it.

This is how I ran it and it worked out quite well. I told the players when to level and when they completed a trial. They still had something to track, but it was considerably simpler. This also becomes a nice tool in Book 3 when some of the trials are individual based.


You can have my XP when you pry them from my cold, dead character sheet.

Yes, I still use them and don't plan to change that.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
kaineblade83 wrote:

I've gone both routes; tried leveling up at story-based points, or in an AP when it recommends and have also tried going with XP by the book.

In the end, players wanted something tangible but, especially for higher level games, it became monotonous. We use a simple XP system (I believe it's modified from somewhere, but for the life of me I can't recall where I read it to modify from...). Anyway, if anyone finds it feel free to reference it.

I did some digging and found the article that I base my game on. It sounds like what you're suggesting.

http://www.paperspencils.com/2011/10/22/pathfinder-house-rule-simple-experi ence-points/


XP mattered a lot more in other editions, 2nd ED for example the Druid XP and level table was crazy low numbers!

You could be multi-classed in 2nd with druid and often the druid level would be at the single class party level.

I run several play by posts and do not use XP in those. Instead I use natural stopping points to level and take a short game break.


I actually quit recording it as a player even in games wher dms still insist on using it.no one seemed to notice. I found we were all basically at the same xp and it wasn't really relevant. Though since th point of this was to just avoid erasing or math not to cheat this changes UAS needed.

When I dm I stopped using it years ago Sandpoint just le eled them after every adventure or gave them a reward (like a feat) if they hit a leveling point but I wanted them th same level.

Over the years I realized xp was more often used as as a punishment mechanic than a reward. When it was used as reward this basically ment th player with better social skills advances faster...sohei. punishment mechanic.

51 to 100 of 132 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / General Discussion / How many of you still use XP? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.