Do you grant your players XP even if they don't beat an encounter? I've been running Keep on the Shadowfell and my players killed all the kobold outside the Kobold Den, and almost all inside. Instead of them dying I just had them wake up in the corner of the cave all tied up together and continued from there. But I'm not sure if I should grant them any XP.
If you want to encourage murderhoboism then sure make it so they have to kill everything to get the XP. I'd rather they do the encounter intelligently rather then make them grind everything to dust
3.5 onwards (maybe earlier editions) make the point that overcoming the encounter is enough to earn experience points.
So sneaking past a group of goblins or knocking them out gives the same XP as killing them.
If the players overcome the challenge, they get the XP.
>>43642934
>even if they don't beat an encounter
>my players killed all the kobold outside the Kobold Den, and almost all inside.
>Instead of them dying I just had them [the kobolds] wake up in the corner of the cave all tied up together
> I'm not sure if I should grant them any XP.
>>43643620
>>Instead of them dying I just had them [the kobolds] wake up in the corner of the cave all tied up together
I should've clarified. I meant instead of the players dying, I had the players wake up in the corner of the cave all tied up together.
>>43642934
I don't bother with XP. I just have a party level that raises when the story requires it, or when the players have reached a genuine milestone. IT simplifies bookkeeping, and encourages players to role play and progress their stories rather than just murderhobofully farm XP.
>>43643015
I agree with that, but they lost the battle. I just bullshitted a reason for them to stay alive so they didn't make new characters. They lost their weapons, their horse and cart, and a lot of their money. All they had to do to get out was kill a single minion standing guard.
However, that's because they'll find the rest of them attacking the town they're headed back to.
So they didn't really overcome the encounter.
>>43644177
Losing and subsequently escaping is also a learning experience.
As I see it, since they nearly won to start with, they've earned the XP for the encounter. They just had to pay for it with their stuff, at a steep rate. That's punishment enough.
>>43644272
That"s a good point. I have their missing stuff in the chest that was next to them in the den. But they weren't able to pick it so they're carrying it back with them. The key's on the den chief so I can still give them the xp now and getting their stuff back once they deal with him will be rewarding.
>>43644177
In real life, you learn a lot more from losing than from winning.
In games, of course, you don't want people intentionally losing, so you tell them they only get the experience if they win.
Here's the kicker though: You can give them experience for whatever you want to encourage. If you want to encourage them to take risks and retreat, give them experience for taking on a challenge and getting away with the skin of their teeth. If you want them to win at all costs, then don't.
Use experience to shape the game towards your desired goals, DM-anon. Don't be afraid of doing it "wrong." As long as everybody's having fun, you're doing alright in my book.
>>43644892
Good point. I hadn't thought of changing the way XP is rewarded to encourage certain behaviors. Fairly new to DMing, so thanks for the idea.
