XP From Creatures?

[GM Ryan]

A quick question regarding XP gain from creature encounters...
If I am understanding XP properly, if a level 1 character party kills a Goblin Warrior they would gain 30 XP (as the Goblin Warrior is a 0 level encounter), if the character party kills 4 Goblin Warriors are they gaining 30 XP per Goblin Warrior killed, or just 30 XP for the entire encounter?

[Pakishi]

The way I'm reading it, the reward would be 30 XP for the encounter. But if you add, say 5 more goblins to the encounter for a total of 6 and you have a party of four, I would say bump the XP to 40.

Just a guess though. The rules really don't clarify how it is expected to be done.

[Paul Jr]

Pakishi wrote:

The way I'm reading it, the reward would be 30 XP for the encounter. But if you add, say 5 more goblins to the encounter for a total of 6 and you have a party of four, I would say bump the XP to 40.

Just a guess though. The rules really don't clarify how it is expected to be done.

I do not have the book in front of me at this time. I believe you look at a chart and determine how hard the encounter will be.

Say a hard encounter.

A hard encounter say gives you 80 xp total for the group as a whole.

You then use that 80 xp to buy monsters. You figure this out by comparing pc level vs monster level. Ie pc minus 1 means a level 0 creature is worth 30.

So you can buy 2 0 level creatures for 60. Buy a 3rd as 90. Probably not matter that much if you are a little bit over

So even though monsters add up to 90. The encounter only gives 80.

[Paul Jr]

Pakishi wrote:

The way I'm reading it, the reward would be 30 XP for the encounter. But if you add, say 5 more goblins to the encounter for a total of 6 and you have a party of four, I would say bump the XP to 40.

Just a guess though. The rules really don't clarify how it is expected to be done.

Ok I got book in front of me.

On page 21 of bestiary

For high threat encounter you get 80 xp.

You use the 80 xp as a budget to buy monsters.

Under choosing creatures it says for 1st level parties, level 0 creatures count as level minus 2. So 20 xp each.

So you buy 4 goblins at 20 xp each totaling 80

[Pakishi]

Yeah, I found that after I posted.

[GM Ryan]

I'm just not sure how this is any easier to figure out then before for XP, in fact it is very confusing. How can level 0 creatures be a high threat level? I mean if I had a group of 5 adventurers, and 4 goblins, that does not seem high threat.

[Alyran]

GM Ryan wrote:

I'm just not sure how this is any easier to figure out then before for XP, in fact it is very confusing. How can level 0 creatures be a high threat level? I mean if I had a group of 5 adventurers, and 4 goblins, that does not seem high threat.

For each adventurer above 4, you add an adjustment to the encounter. For high threat, that's an additional 20 XP and so a fifth goblin warrior (or any other 0 level creature). Also, high threat mostly just means that if the party messes up or doesn't expend appropriate resources such as spells, they'll likely have to rest. If they play the encounter intelligently and roll reasonably well, they can probably continue adventuring (while having expended some resources for the day).

Alternatively, if this encounter happens toward the end of an adventuring day, it's not unreasonable for a 5 vs. 5 to end up with one or more PCs dead or critically injured if the fight doesn't go in their favor.

[GM Ryan]

So let's take this slowly as I still can't understand this,
If I have a party of 5 adventurers they would have to fight 5 Goblin Warriors to adjust for having 1 more then the recommended 4 adventurers, you said I have to add another Goblin Warrior for a total of 5, fine, the original starting XP for a Goblin Warrior is 30 XP, if I add one more it would be 40 XP total as 40 XP is equal to the party level? Why would it be 20 XP, as a 0 level XP creature is 30.

[GM Ryan]

If I am understanding the XP in my eyes Characters would have a total XP gain of 560 XP for the entire Lost Star Adventure, for a party of 5 Players.

[Alyran]

GM Ryan wrote:

So let's take this slowly as I still can't understand this,

If I have a party of 5 adventurers they would have to fight 5 Goblin Warriors to adjust for having 1 more then the recommended 4 adventurers, you said I have to add another Goblin Warrior for a total of 5, fine, the original starting XP for a Goblin Warrior is 30 XP, if I add one more it would be 40 XP total as 40 XP is equal to the party level? Why would it be 20 XP, as a 0 level XP creature is 30.

A level 0 creature is treated as party level minus 2 for a level 1 party (page 21 of the Bestiary in the second paragraph under Choosing Creatures). So for a level 1 party, a single level 0 creature is 20 XP. A high threat encounter is worth 80 XP baseline with an adjustment of 20 XP for each party member above 4. So a total of 100 XP budgeted for the fight. Since each Goblin Warrior is level 0 (and thus 20 XP at first level), you would need 5 Goblin Warriors to reach the XP budget of a high threat encounter for a party of 5 level 1 PCs.

Edit: clarity.

[GM Ryan]

Thank you for all your help Alyran, I understand now, I appreciate your time, effort and patience.