Tldr: how do you as a DM handle xp for characters that have been captured in the story and are unable to participate in the encounter.
Through my story, three out of seven players ended up being captured for provoking a medium boss through the campaign. The boss was meant to be isolated and fought with a small group or handled with diplomacy. Most of the players had fled after poking the bear and failing the diplomacy. I had the medium bad capture and interrogated them allowing the others to infiltrate the castle to rescue then. They did so with relative ease. During the session where they were to reunite in the dungeon, they had to fight 4 guards. I had given everyone the xp for the encounter, but doubled it for the people who actually fought. This ended up pissing off two of the bound characters because that sets then "behind" with nothing they could have done since it was apart of the story. So I was just curious how you guys handle xp through your games.
i'd have just split it equally, the reasoning being that surviving an interrogation/ torture session is an experience in itself, one where your own life is in peril
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All plans turn into, run into the room waving a sword and see what happens from there, once the first die gets rolled
It comes down to how you handle XP and levels in your game.
My personal preference is to use Milestone advancement, where I keep a rough track of XP for what the party have completed and then, at a convenient point, award everyone a level at the same time.
With traditional XP awards, you will always have a situation where some characters are ahead and some characters are behind, whether through the actions of the player or just down to dumb luck. The traditional XP system is based on a time when different characters required different amounts of XP to level up, so everyone knew that they would be levelling up at different times anyway, due to their chosen class(es).
That can work out fine, but in my experience (sic), the downsides of the traditional experience model are more noticeable in 5th edition D&D where everyone needs the same amount of XP to level up:
XP awards can leave some characters slightly behind on XP and potentially a level behind. In turn, this means the characters are less powerful and the player feels like they have less agency and lower capability to earn that XP to close the gap.
Everyone tracking XP is additional book keeping, which (in my opinion) detracts from the fun parts of the game.
As you can probably tell, I am an advocate for milestone XP. :)
My advice to you would be to sit down with your players and have a discussion about the situation and ask them what their preferences are for XP/levelling.
It comes down to how you handle XP and levels in your game.
My personal preference is to use Milestone advancement, where I keep a rough track of XP for what the party have completed and then, at a convenient point, award everyone a level at the same time.
With traditional XP awards, you will always have a situation where some characters are ahead and some characters are behind, whether through the actions of the player or just down to dumb luck. The traditional XP system is based on a time when different characters required different amounts of XP to level up, so everyone knew that they would be levelling up at different times anyway, due to their chosen class(es).
That can work out fine, but in my experience (sic), the downsides of the traditional experience model are more noticeable in 5th edition D&D where everyone needs the same amount of XP to level up:
XP awards can leave some characters slightly behind on XP and potentially a level behind. In turn, this means the characters are less powerful and the player feels like they have less agency and lower capability to earn that XP to close the gap.
Everyone tracking XP is additional book keeping, which (in my opinion) detracts from the fun parts of the game.
As you can probably tell, I am an advocate for milestone XP. :)
My advice to you would be to sit down with your players and have a discussion about the situation and ask them what their preferences are for XP/levelling.
I do like the idea of XP milestones and will have to talk to them about it. I do feel like the get a little to excited over receiving XP though. Guess we'll have to have a talk in order to see.
That was the initial plan, but the interogation happen in the past session in which they all received equal XP.
i'd have probably held off awarding it till after they'd resolved the whole thing rather than awarding for a part completed task, that method might help you out if you meet this sort of situation again in future
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
All plans turn into, run into the room waving a sword and see what happens from there, once the first die gets rolled
When my group switch to milestone xp the players began to role play through many encounters that previously have gone straight into combat. This happened even though we previously allowed earning xp for resolving encounters in a non combat fashion. Basically I find that my players just don't think about XP at all anymore even though they used to live for getting xp awarded.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Tldr: how do you as a DM handle xp for characters that have been captured in the story and are unable to participate in the encounter.
Through my story, three out of seven players ended up being captured for provoking a medium boss through the campaign. The boss was meant to be isolated and fought with a small group or handled with diplomacy. Most of the players had fled after poking the bear and failing the diplomacy. I had the medium bad capture and interrogated them allowing the others to infiltrate the castle to rescue then. They did so with relative ease. During the session where they were to reunite in the dungeon, they had to fight 4 guards. I had given everyone the xp for the encounter, but doubled it for the people who actually fought. This ended up pissing off two of the bound characters because that sets then "behind" with nothing they could have done since it was apart of the story. So I was just curious how you guys handle xp through your games.
i'd have just split it equally, the reasoning being that surviving an interrogation/ torture session is an experience in itself, one where your own life is in peril
All plans turn into, run into the room waving a sword and see what happens from there, once the first die gets rolled
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D&D Beyond FoundersIt comes down to how you handle XP and levels in your game.
My personal preference is to use Milestone advancement, where I keep a rough track of XP for what the party have completed and then, at a convenient point, award everyone a level at the same time.
With traditional XP awards, you will always have a situation where some characters are ahead and some characters are behind, whether through the actions of the player or just down to dumb luck. The traditional XP system is based on a time when different characters required different amounts of XP to level up, so everyone knew that they would be levelling up at different times anyway, due to their chosen class(es).
That can work out fine, but in my experience (sic), the downsides of the traditional experience model are more noticeable in 5th edition D&D where everyone needs the same amount of XP to level up:
As you can probably tell, I am an advocate for milestone XP. :)
My advice to you would be to sit down with your players and have a discussion about the situation and ask them what their preferences are for XP/levelling.
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That was the initial plan, but the interogation happen in the past session in which they all received equal XP.
I do like the idea of XP milestones and will have to talk to them about it. I do feel like the get a little to excited over receiving XP though. Guess we'll have to have a talk in order to see.
i'd have probably held off awarding it till after they'd resolved the whole thing rather than awarding for a part completed task, that method might help you out if you meet this sort of situation again in future
All plans turn into, run into the room waving a sword and see what happens from there, once the first die gets rolled
When my group switch to milestone xp the players began to role play through many encounters that previously have gone straight into combat. This happened even though we previously allowed earning xp for resolving encounters in a non combat fashion. Basically I find that my players just don't think about XP at all anymore even though they used to live for getting xp awarded.