People new to roleplaying read the section in the rule book they’re using about awarding experience to players and simply follow it. Those who have been in the hobby a while know they can award experience different ways and each of those ways affects the campaign. It is always surprising how motivated players are to advance their characters. Changing the source of experience points has a huge impact on the game.
For Gold
Awarding experience based on how much treasure the party acquires sounded crazy to me when I first heard it. Many games make it one gold piece to one experience point. If the gamemaster controls how much treasure the party finds after an encounter isn’t that taking too much control of character advancement? The speed at which player characters advance is supposed to be controlled by the gamemaster. There’s nothing dishonest about dialing it up or down based on what’s happening in the game.
Motivating the players with treasure encourages problem solving rather than greed. Players look for ways to avoid fights. They try to trick monsters rather than kill them in combat. Players are more motivated to quickly attain their objective and leave the scene of conflict rather than clean out every enemy they encounter.
Using gold for experience must be done properly, though, or it spirals out of control. Money or valuable items stolen from civilized beings living within the borders of society should never give experience (but make exceptions for taking needed things from villains). Treasure found or otherwise gained without risk should also give no experience. Likewise, when a player character dies the share of treasure already claimed by them gives no one experience. These provisions will help you avoid backstabbing and criminal characters. One idea I found noteworthy was making the treasure players find mostly non-monetary. When the players sell it back in civilized society only then do they gain their experience points.
One thing to note about experience for gold is it encourages players to regain valuables lost to society and return them where they can once again contribute to a community’s wealth. Even though the players may look like anarchic opportunists they are, in effect, benefitting society. If a gamemaster worries that players are getting too rich from this system give them things to buy with their money. A political campaign will need bribe money. Make them spend more on expeditions that take them farther then they’ve traveled before. Get them thinking about domain level play where a character saves up to build a fortress or bankrolls the outfitting of followers. Mages should be spending big money on rare ingredients and specially crafted ritual pieces. In medieval settings fine clothes were expensive and the players may need to obtain entry into the upper echelons of society to move their plans forward.
For Defeating Opponents
When experience comes primarily from defeating opponents you get a combat-heavy campaign. Players will be unwilling to make a tactical retreat or negotiate. A gamemaster may make it clear to their players that negotiating or tricking a monster counts as defeating it. Be aware that this approach will have the players always looking out for their next fight. Experience based on conflict can be what’s needed to cure an overly cautious party or one that only thinks about gold.
Milestones
Page 261 of the Dungeon Masters Guide for D&D 5th edition describes awarding experience to players based on reaching milestones in the adventure. For example, when the players decide to investigate and find the village people are treating them poorly because the mayor demanded it on threat of punishment, they reach a milestone and are awarded experience. When they find out it’s a hobgoblin warlord pulling the mayor’s strings that’s a second milestone. Tracking the warlord to his lair would be a third and defeating him would be a fourth.
Milestones is a less frequently used method but has its advantages. It encourages players to interact with a story instead of assuming every adventure will follow the same sort of objective. Milestones can be a change of pace for players and free them up to be curious and try new things. Instead of chasing the next treasure haul they may start exploring the world they’re in and pay attention to what they find.
Some veteran players worry that the milestones technique only rewards players for jumping through the hoops of their gamemaster’s pre-planned story. This doesn’t have to be the case, though. Players can set their own goals and the gamemaster can set milestones for two things: explicitly getting closer to those goals and doing things that change the character or the nearby residents in some way that accommodates those goals.
Wizards of the Coast released a PDF on their Web site in 2017 for a method of awarding experience called Three Pillars. It is a hybrid technique that covers exploration, combat and in-game social interaction. It’s a short read and worth a look.
Extra Credit
Apart from the regular method you use for distributing experience consider handing out “extra credit.” Some players at your table work harder than others and some need encouragement to become better players. Stating at the beginning of the session that extra credit is available can motivate people. If one player is mapping the dungeon or keeping track of party resources, make it worth their while. Each session one player can be awarded for doing the best job of roleplaying their character or problem solving. If someone risks their character’s safety for the sake of the party give them something extra for it. Some groups even give extra credit to the person who brings the snacks. Before you call this petty, think about nice it would be to nudge others to keep up their end of the social contract.
Before you think about getting a new group of players or changing games to fix a problem consider changing how you hand out experience points. It may be all you need to keep the game fresh.
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