Milestone by far. Since 5E was released it's been overwhelmingly popular with every group I've played with. Not trying to chase down every last bit of XP has been great.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
XP is insanely hard to keep track of, and also, characters might be like 1 xp away and get frustrated, or they might level up by trying to slaughter innocent goblins. Milestone is by far better,
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Shoutout to the 2 Crew! - the cast of Not Another D&D Podcast
Roomba Knight, Architect of the Cataclysm, Foxy Lunar Archpriest. He/Him.
Ravenclaw, bookworm, Lego fanatic, mythology nerd, pedantic about spelling.
I love K-pop Demon Hunters and the theatre. Also, the aforementioned podcast as well as Floor is Lava.
Tracking XP isn't that hard as long as you're keeping everyone leveling in lockstep (I admit I can't be bothered, though), but if you want to reward the players for success that isn't encounters, you're really doing milestone with extra bookkeeping.
Milestone all the way, as both a player and a DM. XP is a lot of unnecessary book keeping and can lead to some really dysfunctional behaviour from the wrong group as they feel they need to pick fights and kill innocents just to get the next level up
I’m still using xp, after 40+ years it’s just muscle memory. Though I’m pretty liberal with story xp for accomplishing something important, and I do sometimes round up if they’re really close to leveling to the point where it’s almost a hybrid of both systems.
Milestone all the way, as both a player and a DM. XP is a lot of unnecessary book keeping and can lead to some really dysfunctional behaviour from the wrong group as they feel they need to pick fights and kill innocents just to get the next level up
I pretty sure you’re joking, but I would never even consider giving xp for killing innocents. Also, I make sure the players know that the world is not just filled with walking xp piñatas, and their characters get full xp for talking or sneaking their way past an encounter. The xp is for overcoming an obstacle, not committing murder.
Milestone all the way, as both a player and a DM. XP is a lot of unnecessary book keeping and can lead to some really dysfunctional behaviour from the wrong group as they feel they need to pick fights and kill innocents just to get the next level up
I pretty sure you’re joking, but I would never even consider giving xp for killing innocents. Also, I make sure the players know that the world is not just filled with walking xp piñatas, and their characters get full xp for talking or sneaking their way past an encounter. The xp is for overcoming an obstacle, not committing murder.
Not joking at all sadly. I run a 12-16 year old D&D club and particularly the younger kids come in with what I can only describe as a very video game mentality that NPCs aren’t real and they have to “win” at D&D by levelling up. It doesn’t last long but taking XP out of the game entirely speeds up the process
XP is much harder to keep track of, whereas Milestone makes it easier to keep the story going and you don't have to keep track of anything.
However, XP does have a place in pen-ended games, where the players only explore things and there isn't too much of a structured story. It's a niche playstyle, but it exists.
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He doesn't have much besides the skin on his bones. Me: I'll take the skin on his bones, then.
"You see a gigantic, monstrous praying mantis burst from out of the ground. It sprays a stream of acid from it's mouth at one soldier, dissolving him instantly, then it turns and chomps another soldier in half with it's- "
I am debating which method to use for my upcoming campaign.
Milestone by far. Since 5E was released it's been overwhelmingly popular with every group I've played with. Not trying to chase down every last bit of XP has been great.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
XP is insanely hard to keep track of, and also, characters might be like 1 xp away and get frustrated, or they might level up by trying to slaughter innocent goblins. Milestone is by far better,
Shoutout to the 2 Crew! - the cast of Not Another D&D Podcast
Roomba Knight, Architect of the Cataclysm, Foxy Lunar Archpriest. He/Him.
Ravenclaw, bookworm, Lego fanatic, mythology nerd, pedantic about spelling.
I love K-pop Demon Hunters and the theatre. Also, the aforementioned podcast as well as Floor is Lava.
I think milestone is better. If you play XP, your players will just kill everyone and everything to level up faster.
I prefer Milestone leveling as it occur after accomplishment and don't require constant XP calculation.
Tracking XP isn't that hard as long as you're keeping everyone leveling in lockstep (I admit I can't be bothered, though), but if you want to reward the players for success that isn't encounters, you're really doing milestone with extra bookkeeping.
Milestone all the way, as both a player and a DM. XP is a lot of unnecessary book keeping and can lead to some really dysfunctional behaviour from the wrong group as they feel they need to pick fights and kill innocents just to get the next level up
I’m still using xp, after 40+ years it’s just muscle memory. Though I’m pretty liberal with story xp for accomplishing something important, and I do sometimes round up if they’re really close to leveling to the point where it’s almost a hybrid of both systems.
I pretty sure you’re joking, but I would never even consider giving xp for killing innocents.
Also, I make sure the players know that the world is not just filled with walking xp piñatas, and their characters get full xp for talking or sneaking their way past an encounter. The xp is for overcoming an obstacle, not committing murder.
Not joking at all sadly. I run a 12-16 year old D&D club and particularly the younger kids come in with what I can only describe as a very video game mentality that NPCs aren’t real and they have to “win” at D&D by levelling up. It doesn’t last long but taking XP out of the game entirely speeds up the process
XP is much harder to keep track of, whereas Milestone makes it easier to keep the story going and you don't have to keep track of anything.
However, XP does have a place in pen-ended games, where the players only explore things and there isn't too much of a structured story. It's a niche playstyle, but it exists.
He doesn't have much besides the skin on his bones. Me: I'll take the skin on his bones, then.
"You see a gigantic, monstrous praying mantis burst from out of the ground. It sprays a stream of acid from it's mouth at one soldier, dissolving him instantly, then it turns and chomps another soldier in half with it's- "
"When are we gonna take a snack break?"
I've run games in which I used exp as a reward for clever ideas or good RP or bringing the GM pancakes.
But to keep the party on the same "level" I've moved to milestone. It makes it much easier for the instances where a player cannot attend a session.
I have not found an alternative to rewarding good ideas and clever play.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale