I have struggled to find an answer to this very question, and most of the prevailing opinion has been presented here.
The one thing that has bugged me about "Non-combat" XP is that there is no XP table for traps?! It would seem logical that anything with an attached DC should have some kind of XP potential, as the characters are experiencing difficulty, and usually learning. But for some reason, the designers seem intent on only awarding XP for combat? Surely we could have a nice little add-on of XP values next to the DC table, making the relative judgment for non-combat experience an easy job.
I have struggled to find an answer to this very question, and most of the prevailing opinion has been presented here.
The one thing that has bugged me about "Non-combat" XP is that there is no XP table for traps?! It would seem logical that anything with an attached DC should have some kind of XP potential, as the characters are experiencing difficulty, and usually learning. But for some reason, the designers seem intent on only awarding XP for combat? Surely we could have a nice little add-on of XP values next to the DC table, making the relative judgment for non-combat experience an easy job.
It makes sense to don't award XP for deactivating a trap because usually it is only one party member who takes care of the trap.
It is how the DM has designed the adventure which determines if some non-combat XP award can be granted, generally with several checks. And for situations which failure is meaningful for the adventure. Here 2 example that comes to mind:
1) Not killing an NPC but, instead, interrogating it to gain useful information.
2) A series of traps and secret doors which lead the party to a safer path, without going onto the other simpler path which would have been resulted in a deadly encounter.
I have struggled to find an answer to this very question, and most of the prevailing opinion has been presented here.
The one thing that has bugged me about "Non-combat" XP is that there is no XP table for traps?! It would seem logical that anything with an attached DC should have some kind of XP potential, as the characters are experiencing difficulty, and usually learning. But for some reason, the designers seem intent on only awarding XP for combat? Surely we could have a nice little add-on of XP values next to the DC table, making the relative judgment for non-combat experience an easy job.
While not the perfect solution, find the equivelant trap at the bottom of the 3.xE Traps Entry, determine what the CR was on the trap there, and award the CR appropriate XP based on the XP chart in the Monster Manual. I love the simplicity of 5E but at times have to fall back on earlier editions' metagame to adjudicate some in-play elements a little more robustly (or my brain recalls older rules more easily than 5E ones still).
It makes sense to don't award XP for deactivating a trap because usually it is only one party member who takes care of the trap.
So with this logic, if bard is able to dupe the guard to let the party into an estate for "botanical inventory of the Lord's garden", no one earns XP for the encounter because one party member took care of it? This sounds like a premise for a Monty Python skit.
Traps are just as much an encounter as critter with motivations and hit points. The trap's motivation is to inhibit the party as a whole. It may be the character with thieves' tools proficiency that gets the majority of the die rolls, but some traps are hallway/room-sized encounters that take the entire table of players to think of a solution to bypass the trap.
Award the group XP you feel the trap warrants and if one particular player came up with a clever solution, give them a 5% bonus on that XP award. Kudos to that player.
It makes sense to don't award XP for deactivating a trap because usually it is only one party member who takes care of the trap.
So with this logic, if bard is able to dupe the guard to let the party into an estate for "botanical inventory of the Lord's garden", no one earns XP for the encounter because one party member took care of it? This sounds like a premise for a Monty Python skit.
Traps are just as much an encounter as critter with motivations and hit points. The trap's motivation is to inhibit the party as a whole. It may be the character with thieves' tools proficiency that gets the majority of the die rolls, but some traps are hallway/room-sized encounters that take the entire table of players to think of a solution to bypass the trap.
Award the group XP you feel the trap warrants and if one particular player came up with a clever solution, give them a 5% bonus on that XP award. Kudos to that player.
No wait. I am sorry for my wording. I meant that usually a trap is just one or two skill checks, which does not put the whole party at great risk, like combat encounters do.
Of some, more complex and deadly traps are worth of XP awarding, at the DM discretion.
Rexx - many thanks for your input and help - I shall have a look at the table and hopefully put it to good use 👍🏻
Similarly, my group stumbled across an incarcerated NPC and chose to free them before interrogating them. There was never any XP value given for the encounter, but in my mind the only way that PCs could avoid this experience, was to just walk away and avoid the NPC entirely. So surely, as the DM we should be given the opportunity to award XP as we see fit, and be given the necessary tools to do so?
From the original post-maker, there was a follow-up comment that caught my eye, about giving players exp for all the circumvented obstacles if they find a certain secret door.
Personally, I don't think that good luck on that 1 roll could justify exp for all the dangers "overcome". I tend towards a number of non-combat rolls / effort that is roughly parallel to what it would take to overcome the threats. And clever ideas count double. Actually, I think that basic levels of reward is a better approach than "5 kobolds X 1 dead-fall trap / 3 characters". If the players run headlong into an encounter and one manages to survive so he can stabilize everyone else, I'd give that a minimal experience. But if they are surprise me with a solution or take a hit for character-flaws or entertain me with role-playing, I'd give them maxed out exp.
My dilemma is when to say the experience has been "earned". My players have convinced an NPC to help them with another encounter - but there's a chance things could still go sour. I probably should have awarded XP already, but I'm thinking, if it falls apart and comes to blows, would that be double-experience for a single obstacle?
I have struggled to find an answer to this very question, and most of the prevailing opinion has been presented here.
The one thing that has bugged me about "Non-combat" XP is that there is no XP table for traps?! It would seem logical that anything with an attached DC should have some kind of XP potential, as the characters are experiencing difficulty, and usually learning. But for some reason, the designers seem intent on only awarding XP for combat? Surely we could have a nice little add-on of XP values next to the DC table, making the relative judgment for non-combat experience an easy job.
If you have page 274 of the DM's Guide, you can just calculate the trap's average damage/round over 3 rounds, consult the table, modify for attack bonus or DC (up or down by 1 for each 2 points of difference), consult the table again to determine final CR and use the corresponding XP.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
It's not that hard of a struggle if you use a challenge rating system for the non combat encounter the party is trying to overcome. Get familiar with the challenge rating system in the DMG. Defeating the Challenge gains the XP not killing enemies. If you defeat an encounter by means of trickery or bluffing through role play, it is still a win, and should be awarded the same amount of XP as fighting.
FYI Xanthars guide has Traps and threat ratings for each tier of character level that can easily set to a CR. pg 113 Xanathars Guide. or better yet there is an encounter difficulty chart in the DMG chapter 3 that lists the XP by level and difficulty of the encounter you are using it even uses the same terminology Easy Hard difficult and deadly. So you can gauge the XP for a trap or anything really.
I was just going over this same topic with a fellow DM and we started brainstorming a more streamlined way to award XP for NCE's (Non-Combat Encounters). The primary thought was that everything the characters do, or do not do, grants experience. For traps, triggering a trap yields just as much, if not more, experience than disarming it. Exploration is another key game element we are trying to highlight, along with using backstories, ideals and bonds while roleplaying. The other is social interaction comprised of negotiations, regular discussion and rumor gathering and decision making, (progressing the story). I don't know how to do this yet, but just wanted to say that I think this is important and will happily share once the kinks are ironed out
I feel like it should be on a scale from very easy to near impossible just like the task difficulty chart but instead of going up by 5 like on the dc chart have it go up by 15 xp
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B.A.D Takovr
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I have struggled to find an answer to this very question, and most of the prevailing opinion has been presented here.
The one thing that has bugged me about "Non-combat" XP is that there is no XP table for traps?! It would seem logical that anything with an attached DC should have some kind of XP potential, as the characters are experiencing difficulty, and usually learning. But for some reason, the designers seem intent on only awarding XP for combat? Surely we could have a nice little add-on of XP values next to the DC table, making the relative judgment for non-combat experience an easy job.
Shadow Council Sourcerist
We all leave footprints in the sands of time.
So with this logic, if bard is able to dupe the guard to let the party into an estate for "botanical inventory of the Lord's garden", no one earns XP for the encounter because one party member took care of it? This sounds like a premise for a Monty Python skit.
Traps are just as much an encounter as critter with motivations and hit points. The trap's motivation is to inhibit the party as a whole. It may be the character with thieves' tools proficiency that gets the majority of the die rolls, but some traps are hallway/room-sized encounters that take the entire table of players to think of a solution to bypass the trap.
Award the group XP you feel the trap warrants and if one particular player came up with a clever solution, give them a 5% bonus on that XP award. Kudos to that player.
We all leave footprints in the sands of time.
Rexx - many thanks for your input and help - I shall have a look at the table and hopefully put it to good use 👍🏻
Similarly, my group stumbled across an incarcerated NPC and chose to free them before interrogating them. There was never any XP value given for the encounter, but in my mind the only way that PCs could avoid this experience, was to just walk away and avoid the NPC entirely. So surely, as the DM we should be given the opportunity to award XP as we see fit, and be given the necessary tools to do so?
Shadow Council Sourcerist
http://daedaluswing.*******.com/xp-values-for-traps This is totally fan made but if you wanted to award XP for traps this is a decent guide.
From the original post-maker, there was a follow-up comment that caught my eye, about giving players exp for all the circumvented obstacles if they find a certain secret door.
Personally, I don't think that good luck on that 1 roll could justify exp for all the dangers "overcome". I tend towards a number of non-combat rolls / effort that is roughly parallel to what it would take to overcome the threats. And clever ideas count double. Actually, I think that basic levels of reward is a better approach than "5 kobolds X 1 dead-fall trap / 3 characters". If the players run headlong into an encounter and one manages to survive so he can stabilize everyone else, I'd give that a minimal experience. But if they are surprise me with a solution or take a hit for character-flaws or entertain me with role-playing, I'd give them maxed out exp.
My dilemma is when to say the experience has been "earned". My players have convinced an NPC to help them with another encounter - but there's a chance things could still go sour. I probably should have awarded XP already, but I'm thinking, if it falls apart and comes to blows, would that be double-experience for a single obstacle?
Chandelierianism: Not just for interns anymore.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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It's not that hard of a struggle if you use a challenge rating system for the non combat encounter the party is trying to overcome. Get familiar with the challenge rating system in the DMG. Defeating the Challenge gains the XP not killing enemies. If you defeat an encounter by means of trickery or bluffing through role play, it is still a win, and should be awarded the same amount of XP as fighting.
FYI Xanthars guide has Traps and threat ratings for each tier of character level that can easily set to a CR. pg 113 Xanathars Guide. or better yet there is an encounter difficulty chart in the DMG chapter 3 that lists the XP by level and difficulty of the encounter you are using it even uses the same terminology Easy Hard difficult and deadly. So you can gauge the XP for a trap or anything really.
I was just going over this same topic with a fellow DM and we started brainstorming a more streamlined way to award XP for NCE's (Non-Combat Encounters). The primary thought was that everything the characters do, or do not do, grants experience. For traps, triggering a trap yields just as much, if not more, experience than disarming it. Exploration is another key game element we are trying to highlight, along with using backstories, ideals and bonds while roleplaying. The other is social interaction comprised of negotiations, regular discussion and rumor gathering and decision making, (progressing the story). I don't know how to do this yet, but just wanted to say that I think this is important and will happily share once the kinks are ironed out
By default I give my players 100XP per level of the character plus combat XP. this takes care of RP XP. Ill give bonus for esspecially good sesions
I feel like it should be on a scale from very easy to near impossible just like the task difficulty chart but instead of going up by 5 like on the dc chart have it go up by 15 xp
B.A.D Takovr