An XP chart for CONAN (for my crew anyway)

[strategos14]

I POSTED THIS ON ANOTHER THREAD BUT FIGURED I'D JUST START A NEW ONE WITH IT.


I don't like an ALL ad-hoc xp system and none of my players do either. They always felt screwed in some way by the seemingly random way that xp was given out. They felt that they weren't deciding their own xp, that the whim of the GM was. They wanted at least some guidelines that would give them an idea of what they were earning. They didn't like feeling that they got too much xp either. So I made an xp chart. Showed it to the players. Revised it a bit after discussing it with them. And now I and the other GM of the group has adopted this chart. We are all obviously old school D&D (in our late 20's and early 30's). From using this chart though, I've noticed that level progression is right where I want it. First couple levels advance at maybe 2 sessions (depending on what's actually happening since sometimes a whole session goes by with little action but just roleplaying) and levels from 4 to 10 take a few sessions. We've been playing Conan a couple years now and 8th level is the highest anyone has got. Anyway, here is the chart:

COMBAT:
100xp per hit die of enemy defeated. If hit die of enemy is half again more that characters level, it's 150xp per. If hit die of enemy is half again less than characters, it's 50xp per. (divide total by number of allies and range up or down a tad based on other difficulty factors)

SKILLS:
Per meaningful instance or group of similar instances. 25xp for a DC10 skill, 50xp for DC15, 75xp for DC20, etc. note: "involuntary" listen and spot checks do not apply

Sorcery:
25xp per PP used per spell. note: this is small because it represents casting only. Often the result of an accomplished spell will yield much more xp.

ROLE-PLAYING:
Per NOTABLE instance. (good character playing, appropriate choice making, interaction, story related, etc) scale from 1 to 5. 25xp per point.

STRATEGY/PLANNING/TACTICS:
Per notable instance. Scale from 1 to 5. 50xp per point.

STORY GOALS/ADVENTURE CONCLUSION/ INDIVIDUAL GOALS:
Scale of 1 to 5 per instance. 100xp per point. (fate points and reputation points are usually given out here as well but they can be received elsewhere also)

This chart has worked well for us and we stick to it fairly well. At the end of each session, the GM will figure out all xp while asking the players for anything he might have missed. I'll hear "don't forget about when I snuck passed those guards" or "Those bandits were on horses and caught us in no armor in the dark, they should be worth more" or "didn't I roleplay well with that whore?" Anyway, I just through this out so everyone could see just another way it's done is all. There are no arguments at ends of sessions anymore and level progression makes sense for the hard combat oriented world and characters. IMO

 

[Clovenhoof]

That looks pretty nice.
When I gm a Conan game, I still take the D&D XP charts as a guideline for combat XP. Let's compare that method and yours:
What is a bit unclear is how combat XP are distributed. Do you split the XP for defeated enemies evenly, or does each character only get XP for his own kills, and if so, what happens if one character drained 70% of an enemy's HP but another gets the killing blow?

Let's say a lowlevel party of five 3rd-levels is attacked by an equally large group of npcs. Most npcs are level 2 but the leader is level 5.
According to your system, that is 4x2x100 + 5x150 = 1550XP.
By D&D 3E system, it would be 4x600+1800 = 4200XP, split evenly among all characters involved in the fight = 840XP for each character.

 

[strategos14]

Yeah my combat xp looks much lower than the D&D table. A couple reasons for this. First, I didn't have the D&D book on me at the time to reference lol. But really though, i figured that D&D didn't offer any other ways to garner xp. Not by the book anyway. So they just put a lot of xp to earn in slaying enemies. Another reason for this is because I think D&D wanted characters to fly up in levels. I don't feel the Conan game is like that. I give xp for other things. I mean when you gain a level, you get better at skills and spells and whatever. Realistically you get better at those things because you use them, i.e. get xp for them. I don't know. It all seems to even out though. Players can actually SEE that they are getting rewarded for everything they should be getting rewarded for and they never feel they are getting jipped when the session is over. Plus the chart makes it seem that it isn't me who is bequeathing xp on them as I see fit, but rather the game itself is.
As far as how I distribute it? Most often it is evenly split. MOSTLY. The players know that one session the soldier may have done more damage than the barbarian but the next session it may be the other way around so it will all even out. But sometimes, if it is obvious then I simply give a higher or lesser percentage where it is warranted. These cases never get argued because it's usually obvious to everyone. Like the barbarian threw one dagger then got immediately knocked out by some freak roll, leaving the scholar to miraculously crit the frost giant with his walking stick and slay him. In this case, the barbarian might get 15% or 20% of that kill or whatever. After all, he did take a punch to the face that could have went to the scholar.