Banking XP - good or bad? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Banking XP - good or bad? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Delryn
10-12-05, 05:56 AM My group has just acquired the services of a wizard (new player in the group).

When he was rolling up the character he asked if it was okay to bank XP, put some towards leveling and hold some back for item creation.
I thought "wow someone who actually plans ahead - great idea" verbatim
So I told him to "go for it, bank whatever you want - it's your character" verbatim

(these statements are verbatim - I know they keep replaying inside my head again and again)

Hindsight:
I'm just in the process of calculating the probable XP for the next session. There will be XP for encounters, finalizing an adventure, not to mention the obligatory RP'ing or "group crack up" XP. Anyway the combined XP will be enough to lvl twice - in this situation we play lvl once and be half way to the next lvl, the rest of the xp is wasted

It occurred to me that the mage will take the excess xp and use it for creations while the rest of the party gets stuck without any benefit.

Anyone deal with this before? suggestions? criticisms?
Tiran
10-12-05, 06:45 AM Either explain that you didn't realize this would be giving him an advantage over the other players and say he can't, or allow the other players to bank XP as well.
AlphaSquirell
10-12-05, 06:55 AM Um, have them take a break mid-way through and level-up then? That's what I'd do, so that no one lost EXP in the end. (for gaining two levels worth of EXP and only getting 1.5 levels in all)
Stuu
10-12-05, 08:36 AM I handle it one of the ways Tiran stated. Probably let them all bank.

Regardless of what you decide this problem will resolve itself soon anyway. The higher your characters get, the less likely it is they'll get enough xp to level twice anyway. Levels 1 through 3 fly by, but even at about level 5 leveling seems to slow down quite a bit.

Atleast thats been my experience.
dragonchic1500
10-12-05, 08:51 AM I agree that you should let the other players bank XP as well. As far as what they can use it for, how about letting them buy feats with XP. I played in a game where it was 5000 xp to buy a feat, of course it was also an epic game so I would reduce the cost of buying a feat.
MarkB
10-12-05, 08:58 AM By the book, you can never gain enough XP at once to go up more than one level. And even at first level, you'd have to be playing a pretty long or very tough session to accumulate that much XP. AlphaSquirell's suggestion is definitely the most sensible - once they've earned one level's worth of XP, award it to them and let them level up before you proceed with the rest of the session.

Incidentally, it's not necessary to 'bank' XP in order to avoid levelling - it's already perfectly alright for a character to choose not to level up even after he has sufficient XP, if he wants to spend some of it on item creation or XP-component spells, but he'll still get his XPs cut off if he earns enough to level twice.
cmrscorpio
10-12-05, 08:58 AM I agree with allowing the other players to bank as well. I would also add that in my campaign, I allow the players to pay the xp cost of items that they are commissioning others to make for them. This means that if the party fighter wants the party wizard to make him a sword, then the fighter pays the xp so that the wizard can spend his own xp on items for his personal use.
Brknlf
10-12-05, 09:17 AM I don't see a problem with it the way it is so long as it is monitored.

I would say, in hindsight, speak with the player and explain that all the XP that he banks can only be used for item creation and that the items created from banked XP should be used for the party. Sure, some for him, but this should help the party a little as well. XP that he doesn't bank can be used completely for his own purposes. If this seems problematic to him, explain the situation as you just explained it here to us. It seems reasonable enough that it appears like it could be a problem and its a show of good faith to go to the player as the DM and say you may have made a mistake but are willing to work with the decision you made to help him get what he wants out of the game too. The player probably never knew that you'd give out enough XP to get 1.5 levels (or half way to the next level) and he wasn't trying to sneak in a way of saving XP that would be lost in this manner.

I'd have him inform you of how much XP he has in the bank and keep track of it to make sure he's not going back to use it on something else. What other purpose is there for banked XP? If its applied back to leveling, then it defeats the purpose of stopping XP at 1.5 levels (or only one level at a time by the RAW)? If there is no other purpose for banked XP, then the other players have no reason to bank XP unless they plan to take item creation feats as well.
Illion the Red
10-12-05, 09:19 AM It occurred to me that the mage will take the excess xp and use it for creations while the rest of the party gets stuck without any benefit.

Anyone deal with this before? suggestions? criticisms?

I've never allowed my players to bank XP, but they haven't been in a situation in which they would be levelling more than once in a session either, so I can't provide much experiential wisdom in that regard.

However, I do have a question. Will the wizard be making items solely for his own use, or will he be making items for other memebers of the party to use?

If he is using the "banked" experience to make items for the whole party, then the whole party benefits from his banked experience and I don't think you have a problem. Perhaps if you explain your case and see if that is a path that all of the players are willing to take, your conundrum will be resolved.
xxxsammaelxxx
10-12-05, 09:49 AM in this situation we play lvl once and be half way to the next lvl, the rest of the xp is wasted

I don't understand the problem.

If this is the way you play. then award each character enough xp to "be half way to the next lvl, the rest of the xp is wasted" ..

If you mean he has a seperate pool for xp, where he can store xp specifically for crafting. That has no bearing on how much you award him. You give him the same as everyone else, and he splits it up accordingly.

So if he puts .25 of a level in his crafting pool, hes level 7.25, while everyone else is lvl 7.5

....
If you want a rule basis. Use the Artificer system. Full fledged Crafting Pool Xp. Altho the artificer uses bonus xp rather than banked xp, the concept is the same.

- You LOSE all crafting Pool xp (your pool empties) every time you level.
- You can choose not to level until you spend your crafting pool xp.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Delryn 10-12-05, 05:56 AM	My group has just acquired the services of a wizard (new player in the group). When he was rolling up the character he asked if it was okay to bank XP, put some towards leveling and hold some back for item creation. I thought "wow someone who actually plans ahead - great idea" verbatim So I told him to "go for it, bank whatever you want - it's your character" verbatim (these statements are verbatim - I know they keep replaying inside my head again and again) Hindsight: I'm just in the process of calculating the probable XP for the next session. There will be XP for encounters, finalizing an adventure, not to mention the obligatory RP'ing or "group crack up" XP. Anyway the combined XP will be enough to lvl twice - in this situation we play lvl once and be half way to the next lvl, the rest of the xp is wasted It occurred to me that the mage will take the excess xp and use it for creations while the rest of the party gets stuck without any benefit. Anyone deal with this before? suggestions? criticisms?
Tiran 10-12-05, 06:45 AM	Either explain that you didn't realize this would be giving him an advantage over the other players and say he can't, or allow the other players to bank XP as well.
AlphaSquirell 10-12-05, 06:55 AM	Um, have them take a break mid-way through and level-up then? That's what I'd do, so that no one lost EXP in the end. (for gaining two levels worth of EXP and only getting 1.5 levels in all)
Stuu 10-12-05, 08:36 AM	I handle it one of the ways Tiran stated. Probably let them all bank. Regardless of what you decide this problem will resolve itself soon anyway. The higher your characters get, the less likely it is they'll get enough xp to level twice anyway. Levels 1 through 3 fly by, but even at about level 5 leveling seems to slow down quite a bit. Atleast thats been my experience.
dragonchic1500 10-12-05, 08:51 AM	I agree that you should let the other players bank XP as well. As far as what they can use it for, how about letting them buy feats with XP. I played in a game where it was 5000 xp to buy a feat, of course it was also an epic game so I would reduce the cost of buying a feat.
MarkB 10-12-05, 08:58 AM	By the book, you can never gain enough XP at once to go up more than one level. And even at first level, you'd have to be playing a pretty long or very tough session to accumulate that much XP. AlphaSquirell's suggestion is definitely the most sensible - once they've earned one level's worth of XP, award it to them and let them level up before you proceed with the rest of the session. Incidentally, it's not necessary to 'bank' XP in order to avoid levelling - it's already perfectly alright for a character to choose not to level up even after he has sufficient XP, if he wants to spend some of it on item creation or XP-component spells, but he'll still get his XPs cut off if he earns enough to level twice.
cmrscorpio 10-12-05, 08:58 AM	I agree with allowing the other players to bank as well. I would also add that in my campaign, I allow the players to pay the xp cost of items that they are commissioning others to make for them. This means that if the party fighter wants the party wizard to make him a sword, then the fighter pays the xp so that the wizard can spend his own xp on items for his personal use.
Brknlf 10-12-05, 09:17 AM	I don't see a problem with it the way it is so long as it is monitored. I would say, in hindsight, speak with the player and explain that all the XP that he banks can only be used for item creation and that the items created from banked XP should be used for the party. Sure, some for him, but this should help the party a little as well. XP that he doesn't bank can be used completely for his own purposes. If this seems problematic to him, explain the situation as you just explained it here to us. It seems reasonable enough that it appears like it could be a problem and its a show of good faith to go to the player as the DM and say you may have made a mistake but are willing to work with the decision you made to help him get what he wants out of the game too. The player probably never knew that you'd give out enough XP to get 1.5 levels (or half way to the next level) and he wasn't trying to sneak in a way of saving XP that would be lost in this manner. I'd have him inform you of how much XP he has in the bank and keep track of it to make sure he's not going back to use it on something else. What other purpose is there for banked XP? If its applied back to leveling, then it defeats the purpose of stopping XP at 1.5 levels (or only one level at a time by the RAW)? If there is no other purpose for banked XP, then the other players have no reason to bank XP unless they plan to take item creation feats as well.
Illion the Red 10-12-05, 09:19 AM	It occurred to me that the mage will take the excess xp and use it for creations while the rest of the party gets stuck without any benefit. Anyone deal with this before? suggestions? criticisms? I've never allowed my players to bank XP, but they haven't been in a situation in which they would be levelling more than once in a session either, so I can't provide much experiential wisdom in that regard. However, I do have a question. Will the wizard be making items solely for his own use, or will he be making items for other memebers of the party to use? If he is using the "banked" experience to make items for the whole party, then the whole party benefits from his banked experience and I don't think you have a problem. Perhaps if you explain your case and see if that is a path that all of the players are willing to take, your conundrum will be resolved.
xxxsammaelxxx 10-12-05, 09:49 AM	in this situation we play lvl once and be half way to the next lvl, the rest of the xp is wasted I don't understand the problem. If this is the way you play. then award each character enough xp to "be half way to the next lvl, the rest of the xp is wasted" .. If you mean he has a seperate pool for xp, where he can store xp specifically for crafting. That has no bearing on how much you award him. You give him the same as everyone else, and he splits it up accordingly. So if he puts .25 of a level in his crafting pool, hes level 7.25, while everyone else is lvl 7.5 .... If you want a rule basis. Use the Artificer system. Full fledged Crafting Pool Xp. Altho the artificer uses bonus xp rather than banked xp, the concept is the same. - You LOSE all crafting Pool xp (your pool empties) every time you level. - You can choose not to level until you spend your crafting pool xp.