Awarding experience points question

[chibikami]

Should players receive XP based on the level of the encounter, or individually for each monster defeated?

The scenario: Doomsday Dawn's area A2 has 4 level 0 goblins for the level 1 heroes to encounter, but the book lists it as a level 0 encounter. Do the players receive 30 XP for each defeated goblin for a total of 120 XP, or do they receive 30XP for the whole encounter

[Xelaaredn]

Level 0 enemies are considered to be weak encounters acting, in terms of XP, as a creature of Pary Level -2 for first level characters. The specific encounter you are referring to is worth 80 XP for each character as it is not stated anywhere (that I've found at least) that you divide the XP among the party.

That said, James Jacobs already stated there isn't much since in tracking XP for Doomsday Dawn as the characters won't level from the chapters and that the point of it is not to test the XP/leveling mechanics but more the combat and such.

The XP values and all that is however still important for balancing the encounters for larger/smaller groups as well as if you are running your own campaign to see how things work and for characters to actually level up in such a case.

[Chemlak]

PF Playtest, Gamemastering, Rewards, XP Awards wrote:

Any XP award gained goes to all members of the group. For instance, if the party wins a battle worth 100 XP, they each get 100 XP, even if the party’s rogue was off in a vault stealing a treasure during the battle.

Also, there’s no indication that “encounters” have a “level” anywhere. It looks like the Creature 0 indicator on that stat block is saying “each of these is a level 0 creature”, which would make them 30 XP each.

[Xelaaredn]

Chemlak wrote:

PF Playtest, Gamemastering, Rewards, XP Awards wrote:

Any XP award gained goes to all members of the group. For instance, if the party wins a battle worth 100 XP, they each get 100 XP, even if the party’s rogue was off in a vault stealing a treasure during the battle.

Also, there’s no indication that “encounters” have a “level” anywhere. It looks like the Creature 0 indicator on that stat block is saying “each of these is a level 0 creature”, which would make them 30 XP each.

I had overlooked that, but glad to see that I was right about not dividing the XP. That said, even though I already said it...

PF Playtest Bestiary, Building Encounters, Choosing Creatures wrote:

Level 0 creatures are weaker than normal, counting as a “party level – 2” creature for a 1st-level party, a “party level – 3” creature for a 2nd-level party, and a “party level - 4” creature for a 3rd-level party.

If you then look at Table 4: Creature XP and Role, a creature that is considered Party Level - 2 is worth 20 XP.