Queston on Experience Point awards [Archive] - Wizards Community

Queston on Experience Point awards [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
ElyasRavenwood
01-05-08, 10:39 AM I have a question concerning the rules. I have a question about figuring out experience specifically.
Usually what I do is to take the average party level, then I look up on the monster’s challenge rating. I cross reference them on the Experience point award single monster chart on page 38 of the DMG to get the experience point award for the monster. Then after I have gone through and looked up the experience point award for each monster, I add them all up. After that, I divide the total experience point award by the number of players and I give that number of experience points to each player.
I read in the DMG they suggested a slightly different process.

I then began cross-referencing each PC individually with the CR’s of the monsters. For example the base XP award for a 1st level fighter defeating a CR 1 orc would be 300 xp. I then would add all of the base XP awards for the evening, then divide that total number by the number of PCs in the party. Then I would award the PC that amount of experience.
Upon a closer reading I found the DMG said something slightly different. On page 37 of the DMG they suggested to take each player character, and to cross-reference them individually on table 2-6 on page 38 in the DMG with the CR of the monster to find what they call the “base experience award”. Then divide this number by the number of party members that took part in defeating the monster. This number is the number of experience points a PC gets for the encounter.

Lets say for argument’s sake a party of 4 1st level adventurers, consisting of a human fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue defeat in 1 gaming session, 3 groups of 3 goblins and 1 group of 4 orcs. All of the monsters are taken strait from the Monster Manuel.
With my first method I would take the average party level which would be 1, and with cross referencing the experience awards on table 2-6, P 38 I would get for 3 CR 1 encounters (adding up the 3 goblins CR 1/3 to 1) at 300 a piece. The four Orcs, each being CR ˝ would add up to a CR 2 encounter for 600 exp. Adding everything up I get 1500 exp. Dividing that number by 4 I get 375 for each player
With the second method, I would take each PC, Starting with the Fighter, who is 1st level, Then cross referencing him with each encounter I get 3 CR 1 encounters and a CR 2 encounter. The total base EXPs 1500 and then divided by 4, I would get 375. So each player gets 375.
The only difference is that I do this calculation 4 times instead of 1. I can see how, if the various PCs are of different levels, this would mean the lower level PCs get a bit more exp and the higher level PCs in the group get less Exp for the same encounter, thus over the long run, the lower level PCs catch up with the higher level PCs.
With the third method, I think the one mentioned in the DMG, I would first take the 1st PC, a 1st level human fighter, and figure out his ECL, which would be 1. Then I would cross-reference this with the CR of the encounter. Being a CR1 encounter with three CR 1/3 goblins, the base exp award would be 300. Then I divide this by 4 to get 75 exp. We have two other CR 1 encounters for a sum exp of 225 The CR 2 encounter would yield 150 exp. So I get a total of 375 exp for each party member.

With the third method, did I get what was written in the DMG concerning figuring out EXP for monsters defeated? At the end of the day all three methods seem to be the same. Are they? Which one should I use to stick to? Which on is the closest to the RAW of the DMG? Which method might be the easiest on my feeble brain? My math skills are a little feeble and any thoughts would be appreciated thanks.
Dalzig
01-05-08, 04:47 PM The default method for determining XP is comparing each character's ECL separately against the CR and dividing by the number of party members. The number found goes to that one character. Rinse, repeat. This is in place to allow lower level characters to catch up in terms of XP.

If your party is all the same ECL, you can go ahead and add all the XP and divide by members in the party.
Merestil Haye
01-05-08, 06:25 PM With the third method, did I get what was written in the DMG concerning figuring out EXP for monsters defeated? At the end of the day all three methods seem to be the same. Are they? Which one should I use to stick to? Which on is the closest to the RAW of the DMG? Which method might be the easiest on my feeble brain? My math skills are a little feeble and any thoughts would be appreciated thanks.Your example party produces the same results for all characters because they're all the same level.

The correct method to use, as per the DMG, is your third. The purpose of using the method is to (a) allow the integration of creatures with nonstandard races into the party and (b) provide a method that leads to the gap in levels between the PCs closing.

Let's consider the following party.

A half-human half-celestial Barbarian 6. Char level 6, ECL 10.
A Tiefling Rogue 6 (ECL 7)
A human Cleric 8 (ECL 8)
An elven Wiz 3/ Master Specialist 4. (ECL 7).

Now suppose this motley crew band together and defeat an Elder Earth Elemental (which has a CR of 11). A character of ECL 7 gets a one-fourth share of 8,400xp; thus the Tiefling and Elf both receive 2,100xp.
An ECL 8 character gets a one-fourth share of 7,200xp, thus the cleric gets 1,800xp.
An ECL10 character gets a one-fourth share of 4,500xp, thus the half-Celestial gets 1,125xp.The XP award for a lower-level character is usually significantly larger in material terms, because the character both earns more XP and requires less to advance. In the example above, the two ECL7s earned 30% of the xp to advance to the next level in one fight (2,100/7,000=0.3). That same fight gave the ECL8 22˝% of the xp needed to advance (1,800/8,000), and the ECL10 11Ľ% (1,125/10,000). Which is what you would expect given that adding 2 to the CR of an encounter doubles the xp yield for a character of a given level.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ElyasRavenwood 01-05-08, 10:39 AM	I have a question concerning the rules. I have a question about figuring out experience specifically. Usually what I do is to take the average party level, then I look up on the monster’s challenge rating. I cross reference them on the Experience point award single monster chart on page 38 of the DMG to get the experience point award for the monster. Then after I have gone through and looked up the experience point award for each monster, I add them all up. After that, I divide the total experience point award by the number of players and I give that number of experience points to each player. I read in the DMG they suggested a slightly different process. I then began cross-referencing each PC individually with the CR’s of the monsters. For example the base XP award for a 1st level fighter defeating a CR 1 orc would be 300 xp. I then would add all of the base XP awards for the evening, then divide that total number by the number of PCs in the party. Then I would award the PC that amount of experience. Upon a closer reading I found the DMG said something slightly different. On page 37 of the DMG they suggested to take each player character, and to cross-reference them individually on table 2-6 on page 38 in the DMG with the CR of the monster to find what they call the “base experience award”. Then divide this number by the number of party members that took part in defeating the monster. This number is the number of experience points a PC gets for the encounter. Lets say for argument’s sake a party of 4 1st level adventurers, consisting of a human fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue defeat in 1 gaming session, 3 groups of 3 goblins and 1 group of 4 orcs. All of the monsters are taken strait from the Monster Manuel. With my first method I would take the average party level which would be 1, and with cross referencing the experience awards on table 2-6, P 38 I would get for 3 CR 1 encounters (adding up the 3 goblins CR 1/3 to 1) at 300 a piece. The four Orcs, each being CR ˝ would add up to a CR 2 encounter for 600 exp. Adding everything up I get 1500 exp. Dividing that number by 4 I get 375 for each player With the second method, I would take each PC, Starting with the Fighter, who is 1st level, Then cross referencing him with each encounter I get 3 CR 1 encounters and a CR 2 encounter. The total base EXPs 1500 and then divided by 4, I would get 375. So each player gets 375. The only difference is that I do this calculation 4 times instead of 1. I can see how, if the various PCs are of different levels, this would mean the lower level PCs get a bit more exp and the higher level PCs in the group get less Exp for the same encounter, thus over the long run, the lower level PCs catch up with the higher level PCs. With the third method, I think the one mentioned in the DMG, I would first take the 1st PC, a 1st level human fighter, and figure out his ECL, which would be 1. Then I would cross-reference this with the CR of the encounter. Being a CR1 encounter with three CR 1/3 goblins, the base exp award would be 300. Then I divide this by 4 to get 75 exp. We have two other CR 1 encounters for a sum exp of 225 The CR 2 encounter would yield 150 exp. So I get a total of 375 exp for each party member. With the third method, did I get what was written in the DMG concerning figuring out EXP for monsters defeated? At the end of the day all three methods seem to be the same. Are they? Which one should I use to stick to? Which on is the closest to the RAW of the DMG? Which method might be the easiest on my feeble brain? My math skills are a little feeble and any thoughts would be appreciated thanks.
Dalzig 01-05-08, 04:47 PM	The default method for determining XP is comparing each character's ECL separately against the CR and dividing by the number of party members. The number found goes to that one character. Rinse, repeat. This is in place to allow lower level characters to catch up in terms of XP. If your party is all the same ECL, you can go ahead and add all the XP and divide by members in the party.
Merestil Haye 01-05-08, 06:25 PM	With the third method, did I get what was written in the DMG concerning figuring out EXP for monsters defeated? At the end of the day all three methods seem to be the same. Are they? Which one should I use to stick to? Which on is the closest to the RAW of the DMG? Which method might be the easiest on my feeble brain? My math skills are a little feeble and any thoughts would be appreciated thanks.Your example party produces the same results for all characters because they're all the same level. The correct method to use, as per the DMG, is your third. The purpose of using the method is to (a) allow the integration of creatures with nonstandard races into the party and (b) provide a method that leads to the gap in levels between the PCs closing. Let's consider the following party. A half-human half-celestial Barbarian 6. Char level 6, ECL 10. A Tiefling Rogue 6 (ECL 7) A human Cleric 8 (ECL 8) An elven Wiz 3/ Master Specialist 4. (ECL 7). Now suppose this motley crew band together and defeat an Elder Earth Elemental (which has a CR of 11). A character of ECL 7 gets a one-fourth share of 8,400xp; thus the Tiefling and Elf both receive 2,100xp. An ECL 8 character gets a one-fourth share of 7,200xp, thus the cleric gets 1,800xp. An ECL10 character gets a one-fourth share of 4,500xp, thus the half-Celestial gets 1,125xp.The XP award for a lower-level character is usually significantly larger in material terms, because the character both earns more XP and requires less to advance. In the example above, the two ECL7s earned 30% of the xp to advance to the next level in one fight (2,100/7,000=0.3). That same fight gave the ECL8 22˝% of the xp needed to advance (1,800/8,000), and the ECL10 11Ľ% (1,125/10,000). Which is what you would expect given that adding 2 to the CR of an encounter doubles the xp yield for a character of a given level.