XP Rules Revisited
So after several sessions of my West Marches game I noticed that the PCs were overall getting very little XP.
Partially this was due to the choices that the players had made.
But it was undeniable; the PCs were not getting enough gold - and there's a reason for this.
Basically D&D 5e is stingy with gold - really stingy.
To understand why, you have look at earlier editions of D&D: They had introduced something called 'The Magic Item Economy'. This allowed PCs to buy, sell, trade, part-exchange and upgrade magic items. This also involved spending lots of gold as well.
But the magic item economy was removed from 5th edition, the philosophy behind this decision being that PCs should find magic items on adventures and not buy them.
It's a philosophy I agree with.
Did Bilbo buy 'The One Ring' in a magic shop. Did King Arthur part-exchange a +1 Longsword for 'Excalibur'?
Consequently; the removal of the magic item economy meant that the associated gold-sink was also removed.
This means that PCs have less need to spend their gold and have less need of gold in general.
Therefore the amount of gold that is rewarded to PCs in 5th edition now much lower.
This is a problem for my West Marches game, which rewards XP for finding gold not defeating enemies. Therefore, after some discussion with some of players, I've decided to make the following change to loot:
All coins found in treasure hordes will be tripled or even quadrupled. This should noticeably increase the XP that PCs accumulate.
The amount of loot found on enemies or monsters will not change. Giving extra loot to enemies defeats the point of giving XP for gold.
Partially this was due to the choices that the players had made.
But it was undeniable; the PCs were not getting enough gold - and there's a reason for this.
Basically D&D 5e is stingy with gold - really stingy.
To understand why, you have look at earlier editions of D&D: They had introduced something called 'The Magic Item Economy'. This allowed PCs to buy, sell, trade, part-exchange and upgrade magic items. This also involved spending lots of gold as well.
But the magic item economy was removed from 5th edition, the philosophy behind this decision being that PCs should find magic items on adventures and not buy them.
It's a philosophy I agree with.
Did Bilbo buy 'The One Ring' in a magic shop. Did King Arthur part-exchange a +1 Longsword for 'Excalibur'?
Consequently; the removal of the magic item economy meant that the associated gold-sink was also removed.
This means that PCs have less need to spend their gold and have less need of gold in general.
Therefore the amount of gold that is rewarded to PCs in 5th edition now much lower.
This is a problem for my West Marches game, which rewards XP for finding gold not defeating enemies. Therefore, after some discussion with some of players, I've decided to make the following change to loot:
All coins found in treasure hordes will be tripled or even quadrupled. This should noticeably increase the XP that PCs accumulate.
The amount of loot found on enemies or monsters will not change. Giving extra loot to enemies defeats the point of giving XP for gold.
