Awarding XP

[bmardiney]

I'm a little confused about how XP is awarded for encounters. At first, I was looking at the XP budget list for creating encounters and awarding based on that (so for a moderate encounter at party level, I was giving 80 XP). I think I realize now that that's the wrong chart to be looking at and I gave out too much XP for a while there.

Now I'm looking at the Adversary Level chart and it's saying 40 XP for a party-level encounter. But from there, I don't know how to raise or lower it based on SEVERE, MODERATE, EASY, etc. And then I assume after I figure that out, I go up or down a step based on how over or under-leveled the party is. Right?

[breithauptclan]

A moderate encounter is 80 XP for each player. You are right the first time.

40 XP is the price tag for an enemy with a creature level that matches the party level.

So quick example:

You start by picking the encounter difficulty. A moderate encounter gives 80 XP. That is your budget to work with.

After that, then you start picking enemies.

A party-level enemy is 40 XP, and after adding that you will have 40 XP remaining in your budget.

Two party-level -2 enemies would be 20 XP each - so 40 XP in total. Which fits the budget exactly.

So then you go into the bestiary or the monster creation rules and create some enemies of that level.

Once the party defeats the encounter, then they each get 80 XP.

[bmardiney]

Oh interesting. Okay, so if I'm using APs written by Paizo, I just use the encounter budget chart, then modify up or down based on level and severity. Okay cool.

My last question is where do I find the official encounter budget chart? I have it printed on my GM divider screen but I can't seem to find it in the core rulebook. There are these charts, but apparently they were just confusing me: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=574

[HumbleGamer]

AP also tells you ( at the beginning of each book) what level the players should/must be depends the chapter.

So if you want, you can just tell them "you level up" at some point, without having do to the math with xp ( or tweaking xp if the party is smaller or larger).

Ps: obv is not necessary, but you might find your that you feel comfortable with it ( we moved from xp to this other mode too).

[bmardiney]

Yeah I get that. Honestly, that seems less fun to me. I like the idea that they can see the numbers go up and feel like they are working their way towards something, rather than daddy GM proclaiming the world is different now. I came from video games so I'm very much of that mindset.

[HumbleGamer]

bmardiney wrote:

Yeah I get that. Honestly, that seems less fun to me. I like the idea that they can see the numbers go up and feel like they are working their way towards something, rather than daddy GM proclaiming the world is different now. I came from video games so I'm very much of that mindset.

I see ;)

[Ed Reppert]

bmardiney wrote:

My last question is where do I find the official encounter budget chart? I have it printed on my GM divider screen but I can't seem to find it in the core rulebook. There are these charts, but apparently they were just confusing me: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=574

Tables 10-1 and 10-2, Core Rulebook, 4th Printing, page 489. The "Building Encounters" section starts on page 488.

[breithauptclan]

bmardiney wrote:

My last question is where do I find the official encounter budget chart? I have it printed on my GM divider screen but I can't seem to find it in the core rulebook. There are these charts, but apparently they were just confusing me: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=574

Page 488 - Building Encounters.

[Mathmuse]

bmardiney wrote:

My last question is where do I find the official encounter budget chart? I have it printed on my GM divider screen but I can't seem to find it in the core rulebook. There are these charts, but apparently they were just confusing me: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=574

The Encounter Budget tables are in the Core Rulebook in chapter 10, Game Mastering. The Building Encounters section begins on page 488, but the tables are on page 489.

The XP from that section works on two different scales, which probably led to bmardiney wondering whether they made a mistake. If a GM sets up a Moderate-Threat encounter at 80 xp, then each individual player character in a four-member party earns 80 xp, for a total of 320 xp. For a five-member party, a Moderate-Threat encounter would have a budget of 100 xp, but each individual party member would still earn 80 xp, for a total of 400 xp. The total xp earned by the party is always four times the encounter budget.

HumbleGamer wrote:

AP also tells you ( at the beginning of each book) what level the players should/must be depends the chapter.

This is called "milestone leveling." For example, The Show Must Go On, the 1st module in the Extinction Curse adventure path, says on page 3:

Advancement Track
“The Show Must Go On” is designed for four characters.
The heroes begin this adventure at 1st level.
The heroes should reach 2nd level by the start of Chapter 2.
The heroes should be 3rd level before exploring the hermitage in Chapter 3.
The heroes should be 4th level when they reach the Erran Tower in Chapter 4.
The heroes should reach 5th level by the end of the adventure.

Thus, instead of tracking the party XP (the game runs more smoothly if each PC has exactly the same level, so I simply keep track of the XP that each party member has), the GM can say, "Okay, next week's game session we reach the hermitage, so level up your characters to 3rd level."

My own players love taking the encounters out of order and adding side quests, so I track the XP from every encounter.

[bmardiney]

Mathmuse wrote:

The XP from that section works on two different scales, which probably led to bmardiney wondering whether they made a mistake.

No I'm not even smart enough to have been confused at that deep of a level :p It really was just that I had the encounter budget XP listed on my GM screen but every time I looked it up online, I got this chart: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=574 and it made me think I was using the wrong system. As in, I began to think that the numbers for BUILDING an encounter were different from the numbers for REWARDING an encounter. But now I'm learning that they are one and the same, which is good because that's easier to understand.

[Errenor]

bmardiney wrote:

Mathmuse wrote:

The XP from that section works on two different scales, which probably led to bmardiney wondering whether they made a mistake.

No I'm not even smart enough to have been confused at that deep of a level :p It really was just that I had the encounter budget XP listed on my GM screen but every time I looked it up online, I got this chart: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=574 and it made me think I was using the wrong system. As in, I began to think that the numbers for BUILDING an encounter were different from the numbers for REWARDING an encounter. But now I'm learning that they are one and the same, which is good because that's easier to understand.

And now I will confuse you once more: when a party size is different from 4, numbers for building an encounter ARE different from numbers for rewarding an encounter :-P Though it's all still in the Table 10-1.

And there's also an issue of different levels in a party...

[bmardiney]

Yeah I probably make it harder for myself but every session, I award an MVP award to whomever was the most fun/engaged player. Part of that is 50 XP. I try to spread it around a little when possible but it does lead to some characters being a level ahead for a session or so.