Post/Author/DateTime	Post
UberJoker 04-21-04, 01:23 PM	i thought this would be a good idea for a thread that people could really get into. alright what examples of roleplaying xp have you given or received while playing DnD, and any ideas you have. my first one isnt one i have personally used yet but plan to once i get some feedback from here I got this idea from the Baldur's Gate game for the PC. When ever you successfully copy a spell to your spellbook you gain the level of the spell times 100xp. when you successfully steal,lockpick,or disarm any traps you get the DC of the steal, lockpick, or disarm x2 in xp feedback please and your own ideas/experiences
Monsoon28 04-21-04, 04:07 PM	I've used a Experience Bonus (like 50xp) for in-character role-playing, to help incourage speaking and acting like the character your running. Also I'd lower the exp for learning a spell it made more sense in 2nd edition, but in 3rd I feel it's a little high.
primemover003 04-21-04, 06:29 PM	Copying a spell or picking a lock isn't RP... it's using your skills. I wouldn't give any XP to the copier, but if the Skill user really needed to get that door open I would give some... My usual system of additional XP runs like this: If the nights RP went really well, people playing pretty much IC, I give a bonus of the highest CR they faced that night. If there was little to no RP IU don't give any... it is an AWARD you know. I also hand out what I call a Player Award. I stole it from Shadowrun, but it's nice. Extreme Bravery (risking your neck for another) High Drama/comedy Right Place, Right Time (a skill check, use of a feat, use of equipment or a magic item at just the opportune moment) Sheer Dumb Luck (surviving by the skin of your teeth) Depending on level this is the xp breakdown: 1-5=50xp/level, 6-10=100xp/level, 11-15=150xp/level, 15-20=200xp/level
Gotrex 04-21-04, 06:50 PM	our DM gives us xp for RP but dont think he uses any system or anything just know that last session we spent the entire session walking about and talking and got xp for it :)
UberJoker 04-21-04, 08:05 PM	in response to Monsoon28 does 50xp per spell level sound better if not please give me a # that you think is balanced in response to primemover03, in my campaign all the players started apart. the fighter, barbarian, and the ranger were all able to set out and start fighting. but the rogue and the wizard both were not able to, so the rogue starting doing rogue things, he started robbing houses and is now level 4 and has started a small band of theives. he loves it and so do i, its something different. now the wizard has taken his abilities and sold them, he does divinations for other people and other small things. he did a quest in service to the local duke and the duke rewarded him with 3 scrolls of his choice (not above his max casting level of course :)), now he just hit level 4 in the last session and he has decided to join an adventuring party (since they just happened to need a new wizard ;)) and he is fine now but before that he was doing what a wizard does, i thought that deserved xp, including copying spells into his book because thats what a wizard does. now dont think that i just give these bonuses to the wizard and the rogue cus they couldnt go out and fight like the other PCs. i have other things to add for the other PCs to balance it out. the ranger gets xp everytime he succesfully uses his tracking "skills". the barb everytime he rages for a good reason, not just cus battle starts. and the fighter gets bonus xp everytime he uses a bunch of strategy and does something like bull rush someone off the side of a boat(the other players get this too but not as much xp as the fighter does) thoughts on that plz :)
Purple Dragon Knight 04-21-04, 08:09 PM	My RP award system: (just for alignment and RP; not for skills or class abilities) Bad: 0 x 25XP x ECL Average: 1 x 25XP x ECL Good: 2 x 25XP x ECL Amazing: 3 x 25XP x ECL I allocate these XPs after each 4-hour game session (adjust proportionally for longer or shorter games)
Monsoon28 04-22-04, 06:10 AM	PDK: I like it! But isn't Bad really just 0 xp ;) what with any multiplier of 0 being 0. :D
The_Declaration 04-22-04, 10:42 AM	i agree with prime: copying a pell or using your abilities is no roleplay at all. Roleplay is describing the clothing of your character, imitating an accent, showing the personality and the system of beliefs of the PC when taking decisions and behaving, etc. I don't give XP for roleplay anymore, it's too childish i think. My player's are old enough to know whether they want to roleplay or not. Some people just can't do it and it's frustrating for them when the big mouth of the table is 5 levels ahead while he's just talking bull_sh-it. There are many other ways to initiate roleplay: you can distribute the spells after asking the player why this spell would me for suitable for his character than another one. You can ask for such arguments for feats, multiclassing, etc.
Purple Dragon Knight 04-22-04, 05:30 PM	Originally posted by Monsoon28 PDK: I like it! But isn't Bad really just 0 xp ;) what with any multiplier of 0 being 0. :D Yep: 0XP if there's no roleplay involved.
ender 04-23-04, 02:50 AM	I'm planning on beginning a roleplay experience award for my next campaign (and it may be a bit childish, as The_Declaration says, but the rest of the players tend to like hacknslash and I would like to encourage something different to see if they can get into it). I'm not planning on giving an ad-hoc award for using skills (as there is often a reward for this already, such as diplomacy-ing your way out of combat or disabling a trap). I'm thinking more of giving it for speaking "in character," reacting to situations appropriately to the character's point of view, making "non-optimal" decisions such as blowing lots of money on clothes and liquor because the character is a high-class noble, etc. Nothing big, necessarily, just small rewards for enhancing the game.
ZeroEffect 04-23-04, 03:53 AM	I don't award experience points for combat in my current campaign. The players only receive experience points for furthering the plot or accomplishing quests and personal goals. Before I switched to this method, the characters were going up in level too fast, and they saw all NPCs and creatures with a great big experience point price tag attached to them.
Nalmitar 04-25-04, 10:06 AM	Alright, this may sound strange and all, but in my DnD-group we don't use an EXP system. The DM just gives you a level up when he feels you are ready for it. And really, I like this. It allows you to role play more and doesn't make you kick extra monsters just for the exp. We are playing for almost three years now and everybody seems to have no problem with this way. Anyone here who doens't use an EXP system?
Autosponge 04-26-04, 08:10 PM	I do my non-combat awards like this: CR=DC-15 (min 1) If there is a mission critical roll made (or take 10) the group gets the XP as if it were a monster encounter. There is only one per story arc with usually at least one per session.
ender 04-26-04, 09:21 PM	Originally posted by Autosponge I do my non-combat awards like this: CR=DC-15 (min 1) If there is a mission critical roll made (or take 10) the group gets the XP as if it were a monster encounter. There is only one per story arc with usually at least one per session. Hm. I don't know, that sounds like it would result in a lot of xp per skill check. Correct me if I'm wrong (or not fully understanding how you implement this). Most 3rd level rogues have at least a +10 to Open Lock (6 ranks, +2 Dex, +2 masterwork tools), which allows them to open a DC 30 lock no problem, taking 20. That means that a 3rd level rogue would earn experience for a CR 14 encounter? 2nd level bard has 5 ranks in Diplomacy, 5 in Bluff, 5 in Knowledge (nobility), 5 in Sense Motive, 15 Cha--that's Diplomacy +13. So if he turns a hostile encounter into an indifferent one (DC 25), which he can do a little under 50% of the time, he gets xp for a CR 9 encounter, on top of the xp for the battle ("battle" figuratively, of course, assuming that you award xp for talking your way out of the fight)? Or even if its just the CR 9, that seems pretty high. Do you use this system for every skill roll, or just certain ones? If the latter, what are your criteria for determining whether a check is xp-worthy?
The_Declaration 04-27-04, 07:52 AM	Nalmitar, it's a good idea to forget totally the whole XP thing. but then it's problematic to know when you should let the PC progress. Players might complain to the DM, whereas with XPs, rules solve the problem.
Duke Lenethar 05-04-04, 02:33 PM	I add it on at the end of the game day as an incentive to roleplay, not just hack/slash (or rather, cast/burn, since the two worst roleplayers and story-haters are casters). Ironically, it's the purple dragon knight player who has the belief that "if the world doesn't go in my favor something is wrong with it", and has a really abrasive group personality, always gets the roleplaying award, followed closely by the dwarf monk/drunken master.
Autosponge 05-04-04, 06:45 PM	Originally posted by ender Hm. I don't know, that sounds like it would result in a lot of xp per skill check. Correct me if I'm wrong (or not fully understanding how you implement this). Most 3rd level rogues have at least a +10 to Open Lock (6 ranks, +2 Dex, +2 masterwork tools), which allows them to open a DC 30 lock no problem, taking 20. That means that a 3rd level rogue would earn experience for a CR 14 encounter? 2nd level bard has 5 ranks in Diplomacy, 5 in Bluff, 5 in Knowledge (nobility), 5 in Sense Motive, 15 Cha--that's Diplomacy +13. So if he turns a hostile encounter into an indifferent one (DC 25), which he can do a little under 50% of the time, he gets xp for a CR 9 encounter, on top of the xp for the battle ("battle" figuratively, of course, assuming that you award xp for talking your way out of the fight)? Or even if its just the CR 9, that seems pretty high. Do you use this system for every skill roll, or just certain ones? If the latter, what are your criteria for determining whether a check is xp-worthy? I don't allow take 20. I said a roll or take 10. So by that, he could open a DC 20 lock no problem. That would be a CR 5 encounter worth of XP for the group (unless it was something the rogue did to further the storyline between sessions on his own in which case he gets all of the CR 5). It does increase the XP that's dished out, but not by much. The PCs in my current campaign use it primarily to keep people who missed a session or something caught up in levels with everyone else. One PC stays behind and does "research" on something pertaining to the story. I tell them it costs X*Y gp in fees (usually related to the DC/CR) compare their skill check with the DC on take 10, and award a CR X encounter. There aren't too many DC's above 20 for this sort of thing, so at most I'm giving out a CR 5 to a bunch of lowbies. After a while, it's not as much of a boost. It mainly helps me advance the story and the PCs quickly from say 3rd to 8th.
ender 05-04-04, 08:18 PM	Originally posted by Autosponge I don't allow take 20. I said a roll or take 10. So by that, he could open a DC 20 lock no problem. That would be a CR 5 encounter worth of XP for the group (unless it was something the rogue did to further the storyline between sessions on his own in which case he gets all of the CR 5). It does increase the XP that's dished out, but not by much. The PCs in my current campaign use it primarily to keep people who missed a session or something caught up in levels with everyone else. One PC stays behind and does "research" on something pertaining to the story. I tell them it costs X*Y gp in fees (usually related to the DC/CR) compare their skill check with the DC on take 10, and award a CR X encounter. There aren't too many DC's above 20 for this sort of thing, so at most I'm giving out a CR 5 to a bunch of lowbies. After a while, it's not as much of a boost. It mainly helps me advance the story and the PCs quickly from say 3rd to 8th. Okay, that makes a lot more sense. I figured that you weren't dishing out that much experience, but I wasn't sure how you went about it.
Chronomage 05-04-04, 08:24 PM	On point: The only role playing experience I'm currently giving out is a version of CR for monsters and traps: If the players come up with a solution for getting past a monster, healing an alliance, or avoiding a trap, I provide experience equal to the CR they would have earned for killing the monster, destroying one side of the alliance (or rather, it's key members), and disabling the trap, assuming that the way they avoid the trap in some way marks it for others and/or allows them to use it to their advantage in combat. I used to allocate 10% of the xp a party could have earned, and hand that out in allotments of 25, 75, 100, 200 and 500 for what I deemed good role playing, especially when characters hewed true to their alignment or religion or loyalties and lost something that would have made life easier if sleep a little harder.
Autosponge 05-05-04, 02:32 PM	Here's an example from my campaign: Party fights and kills two Winter Wolves. These wolves have been competing with a mature adult White Dragon for the same hunting grounds. The dragon attacked their lair once, so they stole the dragon's egg and hid it in their lair, carefull to keep it alive to use as leverage against the dragon should she attack them again. The party ranger made her survival check to track back to their lair (DC 20) and found the egg. They took it with them and were able to keep it alive by way of endure elements and ray of frost, but later tried to open it killing the wyrmling (failed CON check). They gained a CR 5 encounter for finding the egg (that was the highest DC=20) as a story award. It was up to them if they wanted to sell the egg to the Cult of the Dragon (huge money but morally reprehensible), kill the wyrmling on principle (since it's only going to grow into an evil monster), or give it back to its mother (could have produced a powerful but evil ally). None of the other choices would have given them any XP, they have thier own intrinsic rewards: morality, gold, ally. But that mini-plot was worth a CR 5 for just finding the egg and "unlocking" that plot. I do this for mini-plots and over-arching plots. If the PCs do something to further the plot/story, they get a reward, but it doesn't get compounded by "correct" moral decisions or by other rewards. Finding out that the Monks of the Long Death may be up to something is worth a small amount of XP. Actually finding their abbey is worth considerably more. Thwarting their plans isn't really worth anything--it concludes a plotline, not furthers it--and has it's own intrinsic rewards (phat lewt and a clear concience).
C.M.O.T. Stanleigh 05-07-04, 05:19 PM	I grant about 1/2 the experience (from what they would get if won the battle) if PCs dodge a fight in some kind of extraordinary way, it's really amazing how they sometimes just do excatly the opposite I thought they would.
C.M.O.T. Stanleigh 05-07-04, 05:21 PM	Stupid double post...
Damien_Hiro 05-08-04, 09:08 AM	I grant Roleplaying XP just like an encounter on the chart. If they succesfully get information from a NPC, then it is the same as defeating one of the same level. Now I control the level of their NPC and I keep them at or 1 step higher than the party average level. We have spent whole nights roleplaying with few dice rolling. I think they average 3-5 roleplaying or combat encouters in a two hour peiod. which is one seesion for us. I also us episodes, like on TV. Make on character a star for 4 episodes and rotate it through the group. It works out great. Let me know if that makes sense to you.
Aesyka the Forlorn 05-09-04, 03:05 PM	I don't give specific RP XP awards, but that's because when players come to my table, it's a given that they're going to play/speak in character while playing. For sessions where the majority of play has been IC role-playing, I'll hand out a flat award for the session, presuming that they've forwarded the plot, so to speak. I do give XP for traps and locks and the like, because they're part of the overall "conflict," and are task specific--disarming (or not disarming, and then surviving anyway) a trap is the same to me as killing the five Orcs or whatnot. I think the scroll copying a la Baldur's Gate is counter-productive--if they were successful, they got a new spell, after all; that's a reward in and of itself.