People new to roleplaying read the section in the rule book they\u2019re using about awarding experience to players and simply follow it. \u00a0Those who have been in the hobby a while know they can award experience different ways and each of those ways affects the campaign.\u00a0 It is always surprising how motivated players are to advance their characters.\u00a0 Changing the source of experience points has a huge impact on the game.<\/p>\n
For Gold<\/strong><\/p>\n Awarding experience based on how much treasure the party acquires sounded crazy to me when I first heard it.\u00a0 Many games make it one gold piece to one experience point.\u00a0 If the gamemaster controls how much treasure the party finds after an encounter isn\u2019t that taking too much control of character advancement?\u00a0 The speed at which player characters advance is supposed to be controlled by the gamemaster.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing dishonest about dialing it up or down based on what\u2019s happening in the game.<\/p>\n Motivating the players with treasure encourages problem solving rather than greed.\u00a0 Players look for ways to avoid fights.\u00a0 They try to trick monsters rather than kill them in combat.\u00a0 Players are more motivated to quickly attain their objective and leave the scene of conflict rather than clean out every enemy they encounter.<\/p>\n Using gold for experience must be done properly, though, or it spirals out of control.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 Treasure found or otherwise gained without risk should also give no experience.\u00a0 Likewise, when a player character dies the share of treasure already claimed by them gives no one experience.\u00a0 These provisions will help you avoid backstabbing and criminal characters.\u00a0 One idea I found noteworthy was making the treasure players find mostly non-monetary.\u00a0 When the players sell it back in civilized society only then do they gain their experience points.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s wealth.\u00a0 Even though the players may look like anarchic opportunists they are, in effect, benefitting society.\u00a0 If a gamemaster worries that players are getting too rich from this system give them things to buy with their money.\u00a0 A political campaign will need bribe money.\u00a0 Make them spend more on expeditions that take them farther then they\u2019ve traveled before.\u00a0 Get them thinking about domain level play where a character saves up to build a fortress or bankrolls the outfitting of followers.\u00a0 Mages should be spending big money on rare ingredients and specially crafted ritual pieces.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n For Defeating Opponents<\/strong><\/p>\n When experience comes primarily from defeating opponents you get a combat-heavy campaign.\u00a0 Players will be unwilling to make a tactical retreat or negotiate.\u00a0 A gamemaster may make it clear to their players that negotiating or tricking a monster counts as defeating it.\u00a0 Be aware that this approach will have the players always looking out for their next fight.\u00a0 Experience based on conflict can be what\u2019s needed to cure an overly cautious party or one that only thinks about gold.<\/p>\n Milestones<\/strong><\/p>\n Page 261 of the Dungeon Masters Guide for D&D 5th edition describes awarding experience to players based on reaching milestones in the adventure.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 When they find out it\u2019s a hobgoblin warlord pulling the mayor\u2019s strings that\u2019s a second milestone.\u00a0 Tracking the warlord to his lair would be a third and defeating him would be a fourth.<\/p>\n Milestones is a less frequently used method but has its advantages.\u00a0 It encourages players to interact with a story instead of assuming every adventure will follow the same sort of objective.\u00a0 Milestones can be a change of pace for players and free them up to be curious and try new things.\u00a0 Instead of chasing the next treasure haul they may start exploring the world they\u2019re in and pay attention to what they find.<\/p>\n Some veteran players worry that the milestones technique only rewards players for jumping through the hoops of their gamemaster\u2019s pre-planned story.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t have to be the case, though.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n