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 awarding experience points
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mikie
Seeker

USA
73 Posts

Posted - 08 Mar 2014 :  16:24:01  Show Profile Send mikie a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Well met all!
I have 2 questions about awarding experience points.
1. In the campaign I'm running, I have a assassin who just completed his contract. My question is: Do I give him the experience of the target? Or do I split the points with the party? (He had help in "slowing" the target down.)
2. Also in this group, is a priest. He had prayed to his deity & I rolled percentiles to see if Kelemvore had heard his prayer. I actually rolled a 100! HE HEARD!! Now my question is: How do I award or how much do I award for the avatar to grant his prayer?
Any ideas and advice is always welcome. Thanks!

hashimashadoo
Master of Realmslore

United Kingdom
1152 Posts

Posted - 08 Mar 2014 :  20:57:59  Show Profile  Visit hashimashadoo's Homepage Send hashimashadoo a Private Message  Reply with Quote
1. As long as other party members were involved somehow, you should split XP evenly. If you think the assassin deserves more for doing the actual killing, then award him a small ad hoc XP award for fulfilling his contract.

2. All gods hear every prayer directed at them. I don't understand your question. What did your priest pray for?

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The Arcanamach
Master of Realmslore

1847 Posts

Posted - 09 Mar 2014 :  00:10:49  Show Profile Send The Arcanamach a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I think he means that he prayed for something more specific than a daily spell. But even if he didn't, the idea would be that Kelemvor was particularly interested in this PCs prayer. I would use the opportunity to 'bless' the character in some way (perhaps his prayer was particularly pleasing to Kelemvor, or mayhap the gods just sometimes do things in mysterious ways, who knows). Or, Kelemvor's attention could mean 'pushing' (gently I might add, no railroading PCs...it's just not good to do that IMO) the campaign in some direction.

Not that you need a dice roll to do any of that.

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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader

USA
2717 Posts

Posted - 09 Mar 2014 :  01:15:36  Show Profile Send Jeremy Grenemyer a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by hashimashadoo

2. All gods hear every prayer directed at them. I don't understand your question. What did your priest pray for?
Rolling to see if a deity hears a prayer such that they take a direct, active interest in what the party is doing at that moment is something DMs have been doing for a long time.

It happens rarely, and I don't know where the mechanic/idea came from (ask Ayrik, he probably knows), but I've seen DMs do it, and I've been doing it as a DM, for a long time.

As to the OP's question: I wouldn't award XP for the PC getting lucky on a dice roll. The fact that the deity took an interest and (presumably) helped the party should be reward enough, since events like that are (or should be) rare.

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Cbad285
Learned Scribe

161 Posts

Posted - 09 Mar 2014 :  08:51:06  Show Profile Send Cbad285 a Private Message  Reply with Quote
my two cents...

as far as the assassin goes, if he wanted the xp to himself he should have completed the assassination by himself. kind of roll of the assassin i think...never the less, physical experience points from monsters killed is always divided among those in company to the killing. However, you should question as to how much they helped and if the pc should get more xp than the others.

On the question of prayer...Id as well stay away from rolling dice to decide if a prayer is 'heard'. He is a cleric, thus he is chosen by his god to act as a servant to their wishes. The act of prayer for an answer to said god really should be answered with dictation by the DM to the pc. Dice have no 'role' here. Use your best judgment on how you wish to 'answer' your pc's prayer. But remember the gods should rarely take an active role in the affairs of mortals. Unless your pc is some high priest or abbot who has his gods ear personally, I would give some sort of sign to reaffirm his faith in the god but nothing that would set a standard that prayer equals precise answers.

Point being, if he still receives spells in the morning, obviously he is still in his maker's good graces

"Beware the Dream Fever!"

Edited by - Cbad285 on 09 Mar 2014 08:53:52
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MisterX
Learned Scribe

Germany
118 Posts

Posted - 09 Mar 2014 :  20:37:57  Show Profile Send MisterX a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Just to give a different point of view: When I run as DM (which, unfortunately, I tend to do significantly more often than not…) I always split XP evenly within the party (provided the player is present and the character alive). Even if I run "stand-alone" scenes with some players, everyone gets a share. Worked always fine for my groups. Sometimes someone gets some extras (for extraordinary roleplay and such) but in general the rule of thumb goes "You are here, you get XP." Also: Less paperworks. ;)

I've lost track of recent realmslore, since my campaigns are still in the 1370ies. :-)
---
When talking about rules (and related stuff) I always refer to 3.5e unless explicitly noted.
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Wenin
Senior Scribe

585 Posts

Posted - 11 Mar 2014 :  18:09:47  Show Profile Send Wenin a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Consider doing away with XP and have characters advance as the story progresses. One less accounting thing you have to deal with, more time spent developing story.

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Monkeyofficeboy
Acolyte

United Kingdom
9 Posts

Posted - 12 Mar 2014 :  12:33:20  Show Profile Send Monkeyofficeboy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I have always split XP between the characters present and taking part, even if it was towards one particular character's goals (such as carrying out a contracted assassination). For me that is part of the reason for bringing a party along on such an event. Shared risk, shared reward. This way the party gets stronger and the individual character goals are met too.

Hope that makes sense.
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 12 Mar 2014 :  13:49:54  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well bearing in mind that i am incredibly mean with experience points and i prefer slow progression through the levels.

I award 10xp per CR of every monster defeated (slain or made to retreat, or even avoided if they successfully hide from an encounter) which is then divided amongst everyone taking part.

I also award 10xp per skill check successfully completed that accomplishes something meaningful (stupid Elder Scrolls games mean players now feel obligated to jump while moving all the time)

I award 100xp per quest completed. If it is a shared quest then its 100xp each, if its a solo quest then 100 xp goes to one person only.

Since the amount of xp awarded is so low it doesnt matter if some characters gain xp and others dont, they will all be the same level for almost 95% of the adventure/campaign anyway.

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