long@oliveb.UUCP (Dave Long) (02/24/85)
In article <ucbcad.113> faustus@ucbcad.UUCP writes: | It depends upon how resourceful your players are. For instance, a ring of | telekinesis, a big rock, and a convoy of fire giants walking along a narrow | mountain pass can get people a lot of experience very quickly. Also, | a bunch of poison and a fair number of crossbows (set off with wires) can | have the same effect... I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I tend to give XP based on how much effort it takes to do something, or how much the PC could have pos- sibly learned from it, or whether the PC managed to successfully avoid something This means that I generally only give full monster value when the monster is fought directly, with the PC placing himself in a dangerous situation, and the PC has shown some initiative in his actions. I would give very little in the way of XP for the first one, since it really doesn't matter what got knocked out of the pass. The players could have knocked off a group of elk with the same effort, and all that they've learned is that big rocks and telekinesis rings can be fun. However, they did stop the threat to themselves without having to risk themselves, so that is what I'd be reward- ing. The second situation I would also not give experience points for the monst- ers that blundered into it. I would, however, give quite a few XP for setting the trap up. The player characters will have to find some poison that will stay on a quarrel for reasonable amount of time and retain its potency, they will have to find some method of reliably rigging trip wires that are pretty much un spottable, yet can trigger the crossbows, which will have to have their actions improved. -- gnoL evaD {msoft,allegra,gsgvax,fortune,hplabs,idi,ios, nwuxd,ihnp4,tolrnt,tty3b,vlsvax1,zehntel}!oliveb!long I'd rather be in a universe whose Creator had a bit more mechanical aptitude and a little less imagination.