That's why at the end of every session I write the character's names at the top of our dry eraser board and ask the players "Okay, what happened this session?" and we proceed in roughly chronological order though the session reviewing everything, seeing if any of it is EP worthy.
Anytime a player did something clever or well is worth EP. A particularly interesting or humorous conversation can be EP worthy. Defeating critters is of course worthy; though running away can be worthy as well. Definitely being a good [insert class or race here] in a particular instance is worth EP. If it was particularly cool or stylish then the player will have earned experience points for sheer style. If it gives the players a story to talk about for years to come it is worth EP. If the player(s) achieve a goal they get a nice chuck of EP. Making decisions can be worth EP. If the players have roleplayed their character their character impressively then they stand to get a huge chuck. If other players say a particular player deserves extra EP for something then those points will be awarded. Two players may deal with the same thing, but one expounds on why it meant something to him and how that will affect him in the future and thus earn more EP.
In short, everything is potentially EP worthy.
The kinds of experience I award is generally in amounts of 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, or 300. Particularly impressive fights could go up to 600. Story goals once achieved are usually 1000. The most experience that I can recall handing out was 2000 for a character roleplaying his character. Essentially, the strongest character of the game made a bargain with his god so he would be returned to the land of the living and rescue the party that was locked up. His evil deity simply wanted him to do one thing that would have hurt the party and the character. After getting the party out of said jam he then double-crossed his own god knowing full well that he would be dust for it. And it was all in character. He continued being true to his character unto the characters death. Very cool. Very EP worthy. He got to create a new character using the experience of the last character. On the other end of the scale I'll award 5 EP for silly things. Things that are not really worth EP, but I’ll award EP just to acknowledge that they happen and for a laugh. Occasionally there is even call for awarding a single experience point.
This entire process is entirely devoted towards encouraging player involvement and fun at the table. As such I will almost never award negative EP. On those rare times when I do award negative EP it is usually -5 EP. Not enough to hurt, but enough that it could potentially be a badge of honor.
It's not an exact science, but generally I expect players to be able to haul in 1000 to 2000 experience most games. This might not be an appropriate amount for other groups. My group may meet once every two weeks and may do so for up to a year in one game. It's enough that they progress over the course of the game, but not enough that they get ridiculously powerful. More importantly, the players feel they've earned their EP.
Awarding experience as a review session insures that I the DM do not miss anything. As I'm doing in front of everybody and everybody has input into EP awarded, I cannot be accused of being unfair. Additionally, by reviewing the session the players will often say, "Wow, it doesn't feel like it, but a LOT happened this session!" Generally players feel better about themselves, their character, and the game as a whole after the review process. Having players who feel good about all three is a good thing to have if you are worried about the long-term health of your game.
While half of the game really happens between sessions (when the DM is able to talk with each player individually and can find out exactly what's going on in a characters head) EP is very rarely awarded. Usually this is just an EP adjustment of one or two hundred. Whereas in other groups this might be cause for concern it is not in mine. I am open about the fact that EP may be awarded between games, but that it happens rarely. As everyone sees how I arbitrate EP at the end of a session and I do rarely hand out EP between sessions the players feel that such EP was earned.
I have had DMs who keep how they calculate experience a secret or worse, just inform the party when the party as a whole levels up. As a player I always feel in the dark in these situations and I don't get much input as to what the DM would like to see. For the worse case scenario I feel like there is no reason to try to be more involved to play my character better because regardless of how I play I will go up in level at the same time everybody else does. I have also been in a very few games where the DM awards strictly by what was defeated. I find that only encourages players to hack and slash. I'm sure there are DMs out there who award that way who don't know why he can't get his players to roleplay. I feel those DMs are missing a huge opportunity to better their games by not being open transparent and willing to award experience for anything that makes the game more fun. And because it IS an ad hoc system you can simply adjust it on the fly. If your players aren't earning enough EP then start awarding them 100 points for what you had been handing out 50 for. If they are earning too much, just pull back a bit on what is handed out.
And that’s my two cents.
I award you 50 EP for having read this.
- kelcimer
I see what you're saying about it hindering roleplay, but in my case, not really. I find that when you don't award xp for things like roleplay it lets people do it more freely instead of forcing it out to make them keep up with the guy who took acting classes. I see tons of genuine roleplay, not someone forcing out a soliloquy.
Party levels also, like I alluded to, keep one person from being ahead of the others. Which I know for at least one of my players, would make him very upset if someone got to level before him. There's just no power level disparity, and in my group one level can shift the party from a party to a one man wrecking crew and his lackies.
Anyway, what you do is really really cool.
The xp has to be linked to the character's level to be worthwhile, for example, a minor dramatic act may be worth 50 xp multiplied by level, the likes of which is dependent on the character's level (a 1st level character needs less than a 10th level character to achieve this bonus).
Humor shouldn't really be rewarded with xp - indeed anything that relies on the player's abilities rather than the character's should be not be rewarded in-game (good roleplay is it's own reward anyway).
I argue this point voraciously with my DMs, the value of impartiality to extra-game rewards, as the game is designed to be escapist, a good DM must not reward talented roleplayers or comedians more than the others.
Although I do award experience for combat, I do not worry about calculating how much each creature is worth - xp awards are at a flat rate depending on how difficult the battle was, how much the characters risked and most importantly how significant the battle was for working towards the current adventure plot.
Bonus awards for individual characters who succeed at daring maneuvers.
Bonus awards for clever roleplay gambits or clever ideas that pay off.
Bonus awards for class-specific actions, rogues disarming dangerous traps, wizards making important magical discoveries, etc.
However, IMHO, it's bad to do away with xp completely, or to simply declare when players can level. Players need to feel that their actions are directly related to gains in xp.
YMMV, --- Wheldrake
If the EP system works for the group and everyone is happy with it then that's one less thing to worry about. I suppose that's the first rule of awarding experience: if it works, don't fix it.
There's just no power level disparity, and in my group one level can shift the party from a party to a one man wrecking crew and his lackies.
Having party parity is a good thing, though I haven't known unbending effects like that. As long as everyone is within a few levels of each other then all's fair. If the average party level is 10 then I expect at least one player to be 11th and one least one player to be 9th. After you throw magical items into the mix everyone in the party should be able to pull their weight. I can't say that I've ever had anyone pull ahead by more then a level for anything more then a single session. Those that are lagging behind have incentive to become more involved. I can't say that it has ever come to that, but if someone pulls too far ahead they could always cash in experience for other things. If the high EP earner is creating magic items then the problem takes care of itself. I've also had high EP earners elect to stay to the background every so often so to downgrade their individual haul and give room for others to do more.
Anyway, what you do is really really cool.
Thanks.
katarl
I argue this point voraciously with my DMs, the value of impartiality to extra-game rewards, as the game is designed to be escapist, a good DM must not reward talented roleplayers or comedians more than the others.
But would you penalize a player for being talented? Therein lies the rub.
Humor shouldn't really be rewarded with xp - indeed anything that relies on the player's abilities rather than the character's should be not be rewarded in-game (good roleplay is it's own reward anyway).
I can see your point of view on that and I agree that good roleplaying is it's own reward, but what works better? Discussing with your group how you should all strive to roleplay better or a constant reinforcement of that ideal? With the former it can be like kicking a pillow, whereas the latter has consequences and is therefore harder to ignore.
To be clear, a player can't get by on humor alone and if they were to try they would quickly find themselves to the back of the pack. Nor would a player be able to get by with other aspects of the player's abilities. Some players are better at strategy, others have an insane mastery of the rules, some are really good at being in the moment and act as a force multiplier of fun, and there are many ways to be a good roleplayer. On the whole, it balances out, because every player has something. I could not award experience for things the players would do in some way regardless of character and they would do that stuff anyway. Or I could reward them for their participation and let them know that I value their participation. Their characters don't suffer, and the game is more fun.
slwoyach
I handle experience far more simply. I give the group whatever I feel like giving. Then I let players tell me why they think they deserve more individual experience. If it's good enough, I give them something.
How do you begin to calculate that or is it truly a whatever-you-feel-like system? While awarding experience is inherently an arbitrary system, the game always seems to benefit when there is a method to the madness.
The trick is that you still have to give the players some kind of reward for good behavior and such, so I give them character points, which work like the hero points in Mutants & Masterminds -- you get a re-roll on something, minimum roll of 10, so it can totally save your butt if you're doing something that is actually well within the capabilities of your character, and give you a second chance at something really difficult.
I also let them cash in character points for weird, random stuff. Useless magic items or high-tech gadgets. Just something they want that won't screw with the game but is technically outside their resources.
They used to try to amass levels, now they try to amass character points. It definitely changes their approach to violence and combat (there's less incentive to kill things when they don't have an XP value).
I still find levels useful as a DM. They help to control the overall pacing of a campaign. And the players still seem to enjoy them, so I give them one whenever A) they want one; and B) I'm ready to give them one. Which, when you think about it, is the perfect time.
How do you begin to calculate that or is it truly a whatever-you-feel-like system? While awarding experience is inherently an arbitrary system, the game always seems to benefit when there is a method to the madness.
It's whatever I feel like. I just go with how difficult the challenge was, how creative the players were, and basically anything that happens and give a number that I feel is appropriate. I then ask what everyone did to earn bonus experience. Taking individual risks, advancing the storyline, coming up with creative solutions, or playing in-character to the detriment of your character (passing up rewards, doing something insanely risky, ...) are all worth experience. I also award experience for a well written back story or tidbit of campaign background (yes, I do allow players to help build the flavor of the game world).
Our campaigns were less typical D&D adventures, but the rough script for a new classic (or so we would have liked to think), so EP were awarded based on if it would be good for a movie or the storyline. When players demonstrated motivation for making the best storyline possible, they were awarded generously.
For example, I tried my hand at creative writing using our gaming sessions as motivation. Before sessions, I would read the between gaming events I wrote and soon the others were looking forward to my ten to twenty page short stories and helped not only develop mine but several other's PCs as well as fleshing out many of the NPC and adding to the overall movie like experience.
I say reward all fairly, but do so based off of their motivation to keeping the game going, as we all know how hard it is to get and keep good players so why not reward those who exhibit a passion for gaming.
I sometimes enjoy playing a weaker character in a party, because it forces me to be more creative and strategic. Having a weaker member in your party also occasionally forces you to adopt a strategy to protect that member until whatever his/her special skills might be called for - again, a more interesting approach that requires strategy, rather than "let's all crash in together and hack and slash."
Mind you, wading through a field of orcs with five 20th-level characters can also be fun, but after a while it just becomes rolling dice.
Is 4e going to address the issue of "party parity," or are DMs simply going to deal with it as they always have - either strictly "by the book" or using their own judgement?
But I keep most of these calculations in my head, otherwise the rest of the players will usually be eager to go, "Well, MY character did THIS" and "THIS character should get extra experience for THAT." I don't really allow suggestions for what's given extra experience, I just give it out, though if questioned, I'm not going to LIE to them. I give experience for what I think deserves experience, and so that stays with me, and the players don't really have too much of a say in it. Well, at least they don't have much in the final say, but I pick up a lot from players in the midst of the action--like, "Wow, that was really cool!" or "Dude, that enemy just got OWNED by your Greatsword," or "Way to go, now we don't even have to fight that guy!" So, essentially, they get their votes cast, just not knowingly.
~D-Draw
My first 3.0 game I ran, I gave xp bonuses for consistant multiclassing, a 33% bonus. Consistant meant you couldn't run up 2 FTR levels and cash out on that the whole game. Like a Paladin or a Monk would individual classing, you had to match classes. It was based on the idea of dual-classing from 2nd, but incentivized it more.
One of my players complained, a straight spellcaster (of course). He said multiclassing 'wasn't supposed to be this way.' Bull. He cited another DM's opinion, who said my version was 'wrong.' But I hadn't changed the rules: Multi-classing was still multiclassing. And I wasn't playing favorites: there was a set rule with objective boundaries. And by 11th level he was less than 5,000xp points behind the Barb/Cleric in the party.
Would I run another game like that? No. But the fact is, XP is a complete DM perogative.