Experience Points or What?


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In AD&D, characters earn experience points as they adventure.  When they earn enough experience points they are able to advance in level.  This means more hit points, more spells, more powerful spells, and better abilities in combat.  This is a pretty important part of the original game in 1E ,which is the kind of games that I run.  With this post we'll talk about awarding experience points (XP) in the game.

Combat

This is probably the most obvious.  In 1E a foe's worth in XP is based upon how strong they are (i.e. their hit dice or level), whether they have special abilities or exceptional ones, and how many hit points there are.  Normally this gets divided up amongst every character that participated in the combat.  For example, if Bob hangs back and doesn't do anything then he doesn't get any XP for the combat session.

What about if monsters are weaker than the party?  For example, a group of 9th level characters encounters 1HD orcs.  The characters are going to go through this group of orcs easily.  Should they still get the same XP?

The Dungeon Master's Guide says no.  It says that the levels of the party should be added up (four ninth level characters equals 36 levels).  The levels of the monsters should be added up (12 orcs equals 12 levels).  This is made into a faction where the monsters are the numerator and the party the denominator (so 12/36 or 1/3).  If the numerator is greater, then full XP are awarded (i.e. the party was challenged).  If the denominator is greater, then that fraction is awarded (so 1/3 the XP would be awarded to the party in this example, combat was not challenging).

Treasure

In 1E, XP is awarded for treasure.  This is on a one gold piece equals one experience point basis (so 500 gold pieces equals 500 XP).  Now, the treasure has to be taken out of the lair, converted to something usable or stored in a stronghold or bank to become XP.

What is the XP is taken from creatures that aren't challenging?  For example, a tenth level fighter takes 1000gp from a group of 20 goblins.  In that case the XP can be adjusted down according to the DMG; 4xp to 5 gold pieces, 2 to 3, 1 to 2, 1 to 10, etc.  This is arbitrary and up to the DM.  But, this is a check to keep the campaign challenging.

Magic Items

Magic items are worth XP in 1E.  This is in one of two ways.  First, they can be sold.  This means their gold piece value results in XP.  Second, if a character keeps and uses the item then they get XP for the item.  There are several tables in the DMG listing XP values for magic items.  For example, a +1 sword is worth 400xp.  Now, if the character sells the item instead of keeping/using it then they only get the XP for the amount it is sold for.

Solving Problems

I like to encourage role playing and problem solving in my campaigns.  So as the DM I award XP for this.  For example, our party ran afoul of some city officials and had to help repair the city wall.  They were given tools and supplies but they had to figure it out.  Solving this problem resulted in XP for the party.

Completing Quests

Just like a video game, there can be tons of sidequests.  Since I essentially run a sandbox campaign with adventures thrown in this is really important.  These sidequests depend on where the party goes and what they decide to take on.  Successfully completing a sidequest in my campaigns results in XP.

Complete the Adventure

I don't do this personally, but some DMs do and this works for them.  The idea here is that if the party completes the adventure then they level up automatically.  This means there is a lot less tracking that has to be done and for some people the game flows better.  I personally like the slow grind (and I attract players that like this), but it's a game and different things work for different people!

Tracking

Who tracks the XP?  Does the DM do it or does the party?  When I was 12 the fun was in tracking it myself, so this is the approach that I take.  I get that some people are dishonest and may inflate things, but I generally won't keep them with the party and the game has a way of fixing this.  For example, as the party advances in level then the foes become more difficult and smarter...

What if a player misses a session?

The last thought here is what happens if a player misses a session.  The answer is that depends.  If we use their character then they participated and get XP.  But if they are absent then I personally don't award them any XP and they are behind.

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