So I'd been looking for an XP tracker that had more functionality than just "here's an encounter, here's how much XP it's worth, and here's the value split between all characters", and after not finding one anywhere I decided to make my own. I wanted to incorporate milestones and some roleplay-related rewards. After sharing with a few DM friends who wanted it and receiving positive results, I figured I'd put it here and see what this community thought. I'm not an excel wizard so some of the sections may feel clunky, but anyway, feel free to download and use!
Split XP earned by characters, and remove characters from the encounter if they weren't present
Allow XP awards for reaching minor and major milestones with the XP value scaling by level, and the choice to award milestones to the entire party or only to specific characters
Award individual XP bumps that scale by level for moments of inspired roleplay, creativity, or really any other reason you see fit
Encounter log with options to:
Give boosts to players that strike a lethal blow (still might change this if it awards outsized boosts to melee fighters and tanks)
Increase the value of the encounter by 5% for routs, strong tactics, or creative/inspired ways to otherwise pass or circumvent an encounter
Decrease the value of the encounter by 5% for bad tactics and poor choices that still result in success
Award half credit for encounters that were very well fought and should/could've/would've been passed if not for luck/dice and required the party to make smart decisions like retreating and regrouping
Some notes on why it's such a character-driven XP system:
I know that many DMs don't like to allow such a drastic split in XP between characters, neither do I, but it was important for my game because I made this for a group of mostly new players. It's so character focused because I found that my players weren't exactly exploring their character abilities, and I wanted them to understand that there was an actual, tangible reward system that linked their actions to their level. Once they understood that they could get rewards for good tactics, the planning went up. When they understood that there was value in their out-of-combat creative thinking, they started to experiment with the edges of their character abilities just to explore "if I this weird thing, do I get XP"? At the beginning, even the Druid using Wildshape to turn into a rat and explore a tiny tunnel that nobody could fit through was enough for me to give him a mark. Over time I was able to phase a lot of that out as they became more competent players and now I might only award individual marks for truly magnificent actions or off-the-wall choices. BUT, since the players know this, it makes the game more exciting because they're more open to choosing wild and risky options in order to get that sweet XP bonus.
Thanks for sharing (again). It's inetersting to see how other DM's are awarding XP. It's probably a little to "combat-heavy" for me - I have a version which is based on milestones, but "converts" them to XP.
Some brief notes from a brief look
Milestones per level follows the formula Lvl*25 (minor) and Lvl*75 (major). Since XP for leveling up doesn't follow the same formula, these "milestones" would have "various" impact on different levels.
The xp-split column doesn't include the "1/2-credit"-x after the first row.
Thanks for sharing (again). It's inetersting to see how other DM's are awarding XP. It's probably a little to "combat-heavy" for me - I have a version which is based on milestones, but "converts" them to XP.
Some brief notes from a brief look
Milestones per level follows the formula Lvl*25 (minor) and Lvl*75 (major). Since XP for leveling up doesn't follow the same formula, these "milestones" would have "various" impact on different levels.
The xp-split column doesn't include the "1/2-credit"-x after the first row.
Thanks for the response!
Not sure I understand what you're saying about about milestones. The multiplier increases at each level for both major and minor (25/75 at level 1, 50/150 at level 2, 75/225 at level 3, 125/375 at level 4, 250/750 at level 5, and it continues from there), so milestones at higher levels will have a greater XP value because both the level and the multiplier increase.
Oops, I forgot to drag the 1/2 credit formula down, thank you! Fixed, but anyone who wants to use the sheet will have to continue to drag down the rows as they add encounters
Not sure I understand what you're saying about about milestones. The multiplier increases at each level for both major and minor (25/75 at level 1, 50/150 at level 2, 75/225 at level 3, 125/375 at level 4, 250/750 at level 5, and it continues from there), so milestones at higher levels will have a greater XP value because both the level and the multiplier increase.
Sorry, I only checked the first three "milestones" which increases with 25 xp per level (1 lvl=25xp, 2 lvl=25xp+25xp, 3 lvl= 25xp+25xp+25xp) (three times higher for major milestones). I supposed this was the formula, but I see I was wrong.
As your system is now, a minor milestone on level 1 and 2 gives you 8,33% of what you need to reach the next level (300 xp on lvl 1, 600 on lvl 2). On level 3, a minor milestone "only takes you 4,17% towards level 4. After that it varies between 2,86% (lvl 10) and 5,33% (lvl 11 and 16). That might be OK - I really don't know the XP-system that well. I guess it depends a little on how long you want the players to stay on each level.
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Ludo ergo sum!
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So I'd been looking for an XP tracker that had more functionality than just "here's an encounter, here's how much XP it's worth, and here's the value split between all characters", and after not finding one anywhere I decided to make my own. I wanted to incorporate milestones and some roleplay-related rewards. After sharing with a few DM friends who wanted it and receiving positive results, I figured I'd put it here and see what this community thought. I'm not an excel wizard so some of the sections may feel clunky, but anyway, feel free to download and use!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S93xIPOpKTIWl9ueqji7gMxRMCHz34oX/view?usp=sharing
Sheet Features
Some notes on why it's such a character-driven XP system:
I know that many DMs don't like to allow such a drastic split in XP between characters, neither do I, but it was important for my game because I made this for a group of mostly new players. It's so character focused because I found that my players weren't exactly exploring their character abilities, and I wanted them to understand that there was an actual, tangible reward system that linked their actions to their level. Once they understood that they could get rewards for good tactics, the planning went up. When they understood that there was value in their out-of-combat creative thinking, they started to experiment with the edges of their character abilities just to explore "if I this weird thing, do I get XP"? At the beginning, even the Druid using Wildshape to turn into a rat and explore a tiny tunnel that nobody could fit through was enough for me to give him a mark. Over time I was able to phase a lot of that out as they became more competent players and now I might only award individual marks for truly magnificent actions or off-the-wall choices. BUT, since the players know this, it makes the game more exciting because they're more open to choosing wild and risky options in order to get that sweet XP bonus.
"To die would be an awfully big adventure"
Thanks for sharing (again). It's inetersting to see how other DM's are awarding XP. It's probably a little to "combat-heavy" for me - I have a version which is based on milestones, but "converts" them to XP.
Some brief notes from a brief look
Ludo ergo sum!
Thanks for the response!
"To die would be an awfully big adventure"
Sorry, I only checked the first three "milestones" which increases with 25 xp per level (1 lvl=25xp, 2 lvl=25xp+25xp, 3 lvl= 25xp+25xp+25xp) (three times higher for major milestones). I supposed this was the formula, but I see I was wrong.
As your system is now, a minor milestone on level 1 and 2 gives you 8,33% of what you need to reach the next level (300 xp on lvl 1, 600 on lvl 2). On level 3, a minor milestone "only takes you 4,17% towards level 4. After that it varies between 2,86% (lvl 10) and 5,33% (lvl 11 and 16). That might be OK - I really don't know the XP-system that well. I guess it depends a little on how long you want the players to stay on each level.
Ludo ergo sum!