Me and my friends are starting out on Dungeons and Dragons; we are going to do the starter adventure soon once we're done with our characters (which we are almost done) and the main question that our group has is how do we gain XP and how do we know when we level up?
Whenever you accomplish a task such as successfully persuading a guard to grant you passage into a forbidden tomb, you survive a combat, you bypass or disarm a trap, solve a riddle, or many other types of challenges there is generally an XP reward associated to it. When starting out, generally, XP is gained through combat and successfully resolving a conflict. This reward is given out either after the specific encounter or at the end of the session.
There is a variant that many DMs choose to use, and I generally don't suggest it to brand new players, which is referred to as Milestone leveling. This type of leveling does not reward XP after encounters or challenges, instead the players are given a level after reaching certain points in a story. After you finish clearing out the Kobold caves, you gain a level, the next level happens when you successfully persuade the local Marshall to grant you access to the crypts below the city, and another one when you figure out why the undead keep pouring out from said crypt.
Lastly, knowing when you level up is detailed in a table near the front of the PHB, page 15, after gaining enough XP you will be given your next level. You can also find the table here you'll just have to scroll down a little.
It is important to note that XP is cumulative, when you reach the next level you do not go back to 0, instead you keep adding it up. So there will be times when you've received enough XP to level and more. It is possible to achieve multiple levels if the challenge and XP reward are significant enough, unlike previous editions.
In case you were referring to the actual XP tracking on character sheets (I assume you were), you can change the advancement type to XP on the home page in the character editor. After that you just click manage XP on the character sheet every time you gain some and the sheet tells you when you have enough to level up.
As far as the starter adventure goes it tells you the various XP rewards as and when things happen. The first part gives the party XP after a couple of milestones as the players are essentially learning their first encounters so it keeps it simple enough that they're not really XP tracking as they're learning skills, rolls and how combat works. After that it goes towards taking the XP available for defeating the monster (this will appear on their stat blocks) as well as bonuses for solving riddles or whatever else. By the time you've finished Lost Mines you'll have a good feel for how it all comes together when you go forwards.
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Me and my friends are starting out on Dungeons and Dragons; we are going to do the starter adventure soon once we're done with our characters (which we are almost done) and the main question that our group has is how do we gain XP and how do we know when we level up?
Whenever you accomplish a task such as successfully persuading a guard to grant you passage into a forbidden tomb, you survive a combat, you bypass or disarm a trap, solve a riddle, or many other types of challenges there is generally an XP reward associated to it. When starting out, generally, XP is gained through combat and successfully resolving a conflict. This reward is given out either after the specific encounter or at the end of the session.
There is a variant that many DMs choose to use, and I generally don't suggest it to brand new players, which is referred to as Milestone leveling. This type of leveling does not reward XP after encounters or challenges, instead the players are given a level after reaching certain points in a story. After you finish clearing out the Kobold caves, you gain a level, the next level happens when you successfully persuade the local Marshall to grant you access to the crypts below the city, and another one when you figure out why the undead keep pouring out from said crypt.
Lastly, knowing when you level up is detailed in a table near the front of the PHB, page 15, after gaining enough XP you will be given your next level. You can also find the table here you'll just have to scroll down a little.
It is important to note that XP is cumulative, when you reach the next level you do not go back to 0, instead you keep adding it up. So there will be times when you've received enough XP to level and more. It is possible to achieve multiple levels if the challenge and XP reward are significant enough, unlike previous editions.
In case you were referring to the actual XP tracking on character sheets (I assume you were), you can change the advancement type to XP on the home page in the character editor. After that you just click manage XP on the character sheet every time you gain some and the sheet tells you when you have enough to level up.
As far as the starter adventure goes it tells you the various XP rewards as and when things happen. The first part gives the party XP after a couple of milestones as the players are essentially learning their first encounters so it keeps it simple enough that they're not really XP tracking as they're learning skills, rolls and how combat works. After that it goes towards taking the XP available for defeating the monster (this will appear on their stat blocks) as well as bonuses for solving riddles or whatever else. By the time you've finished Lost Mines you'll have a good feel for how it all comes together when you go forwards.