Sunday, October 2, 2022

Alternate D&D Monster XPs

In the wake of producing OSR conversion booklets for Calidar's new Series 3 collection, it occurred to me that the mechanics to calculate monsters’ experience points are unnecessarily fiddly and not always clear. I took a closer look at the system presented in the Rules Cyclopedia, pages 127-128. The standard process involves two sets of numbers that should be added up. One is the basic XP based on HD, and the other a bonus that is multiplied by the number of the monster’s special abilities. To make matters worse, the chart ends at 20 HD. After tallying scores of those XPs ad nauseam I thought of an alternate and simpler approach. I also questioned the extremely low value assigned to special abilities of monsters with few or less than 1 HD.


With this in mind, I came up with the idea of having just one set of values that could be multiplied directly by the number special abilities,
plus one. So for example a HD ½*** creature would be worth 5 x 4 = 20 XP instead of the Rules Cyclopedia's mechanics calling for 5 + (1 x 3) = 8 XP. There’s a big difference but I don’t see this as a critical issue because, if anything, it enables low-level PCs to rise faster through the initial levels of play. Giving a 15 XP bonus for some tiny critter with, say, abilities like charm, poison, and some limited spellcasting, is somewhat better than just a lousy 3 XP bonus. Fortunately, this discrepancy gradually decreases to almost match standard XPs for 36 HD monsters.

Here’s the standard XP table, expanded to 36 HD.

HD

XP

Bonus

*

**

***

****

Under 1

5

1

6

7

8

9

1

10

3

13

16

19

22

1+

15

4

19

23

27

31

2

20

5

25

30

35

40

2+

25

10

35

45

55

65

3

35

15

50

65

80

95

3+

50

25

75

100

125

150

4

75

50

125

175

225

275

4+

125

75

200

275

350

425

5

175

125

300

425

550

675

5+

225

175

400

575

750

925

6

275

225

500

725

950

1,175

6+

350

300

650

950

1,250

1,550

7

450

400

850

1,250

1,650

2,050

7+

550

475

1,025

1,500

1,975

2,450

8

650

550

1,200

1,750

2,300

2,850

8+

775

625

1,400

2,025

2,650

3,275

9

900

700

1,600

2,300

3,000

3,700

9+ to 10

1,000

750

1,750

2,500

3,250

4,000

10+ to 11

1,100

800

1,900

2,700

3,500

4,300

11+ to 12

1,250

875

2,125

3,000

3,875

4,750

12+ to 13

1,350

950

2,300

3,250

4,200

5,150

13+ to 14

1,500

1,000

2,500

3,500

4,500

5,500

14+ to 15

1,650

1,050

2,700

3,750

4,800

5,850

15+ to 16

1,850

1,100

2,950

4,050

5,150

6,250

16+ to 17

2,000

1,150

3,150

4,300

5,450

6,600

17+ to 18

2,125

1,350

3,475

4,825

6,175

7,525

18+ to 19

2,250

1,550

3,800

5,350

6,900

8,450

19+ to 20

2,375

1,800

4,175

5,975

7,775

9,575

20+ to 21

2,500

2,000

4,500

6,500

8,500

10,500

21+ to 22

2,750

2,250

5,000

7,250

9,500

11,750

22+ to 23

3,000

2,500

5,500

8,000

10,500

13,000

23+ to 24

3,250

2,750

6,000

8,750

11,500

14,250

24+ to 25

3,500

3,000

6,500

9,500

12,500

15,500

25+ to 26

3,750

3,250

7,000

10,250

13,500

16,750

26+ to 27

4,000

3,500

7,500

11,000

14,500

18,000

27+ to 28

4,250

3,750

8,000

11,750

15,500

19,250

28+ to 29

4,500

4,000

8,500

12,500

16,500

20,500

29+ to 30

4,750

4,250

9,000

13,250

17,500

21,750

30+ to 31

5,000

4,500

9,500

14,000

18,500

23,000

31+ to 32

5,250

4,750

10,000

14,750

19,500

24,250

32+ to 33

5,500

5,000

10,500

15,500

20,500

25,500

33+ to 34

5,750

5,250

11,000

16,250

21,500

26,750

34+ to 35

6,000

5,500

11,500

17,000

22,500

28,000

35+ to 36

6,250

5,750

12,000

17,750

23,500

29,250

Now, here’s the “simplified” version:

HD

XP

*

**

***

****

Under 1

5

10

15

20

25

1 to 1+

10

20

30

40

50

2 to 2+

20

40

60

80

100

3 to 3+

35

70

105

140

175

4 to 4+

75

150

225

300

375

5 to 5+

175

350

525

700

875

6 to 6+

275

550

825

1,100

1,375

7 to 7+

450

900

1,350

1,800

2,250

8 to 8+

650

1,300

1,950

2,600

3,250

9 to 9+

900

1,800

2,700

3,600

4,500

10 to 10+

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

11 to 11+

1,100

2,200

3,300

4,400

5,500

12 to 12+

1,250

2,500

3,750

5,000

6,250

13 to 13+

1,350

2,700

4,050

5,400

6,750

14 to 14+

1,500

3,000

4,500

6,000

7,500

15 to 15+

1,650

3,300

4,950

6,600

8,250

16 to 16+

1,850

3,700

5,550

7,400

9,250

17 to 17+

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

18 to 18+

2,125

4,250

6,375

8,500

10,625

19 to 19+

2,250

4,500

6,750

9,000

11,250

20 to 20+

2,375

4,750

7,125

9,500

11,875

21 to 21+

2,500

5,000

7,500

10,000

12,500

22 to 22+

2,735

5,470

8,205

10,940

13,675

23 to 23+

2,970

5,940

8,910

11,880

14,850

24 to 24+

3,205

6,410

9,615

12,820

16,025

25 to 25+

3,440

6,880

10,320

13,760

17,200

26 to 26+

3,675

7,350

11,025

14,700

18,375

27 to 27+

3,910

7,820

11,730

15,640

19,550

28 to 28+

4,145

8,290

12,435

16,580

20,725

29 to 29+

4,380

8,760

13,140

17,520

21,900

30 to 30+

4,615

9,230

13,845

18,460

23,075

31 to 31+

4,850

9,700

14,550

19,400

24,250

32 to 32+

5,085

10,170

15,255

20,340

25,425

33 to 33+

5,320

10,640

15,960

21,280

26,600

34 to 34+

5,555

11,110

16,665

22,220

27,775

35 to 35+

5,790

11,580

17,370

23,160

28,950

36

6,025

12,050

18,075

24,100

30,125

You’ll notice the separate XP rows for “plusses” at levels 1-9 are now gone, again for simplicity. The extra XPs for special attacks more than make up for the deletion, at least in the long run.

Asterisks and Special Abilities

What constitutes a Special Attack isn’t entirely well defined. Here’s what I’m thinking:

  • All special attacks listed on page 154, including Acid, Blindness, Charge, Charm, Continuous Damage, Disease, Energy Drain, Paralysis, Petrification, Poison, Spellcasting, Swallow, Swoop, and Trample.
  • Special defenses, such as: immunity to normal weapons, spell immunity, and other types of immunities likely to affect combat.
  • Magic items affecting combat, such as armor, weapons, and items with spell-like powers (one asterisk per power).
  • Natural abilities affecting combat, such as breath weapons and other magical attacks, as well as others that aren’t magical, such as for example a thief’s backstab or a fighter’s weapon mastery (one asterisk per skill level).

Don’t forget that spellcasting awards one asterisk for each 2 spell levels that can be memorized. So a 3rd level spellcaster should get 2 asterisks. Use your discretion to add or remove asterisks based on relevance.

Optional Rewards

Clearly, experience is earned when heroes circumvent or otherwise deal with a monster in ways other than combat. I've been toying with a system that helps estimate experience rewards for accomplishing other goals. I've implemented this in the latest Calidar adventure module (and I'm hoping for some feedback on this). Here's the material from Adventures in Alfdain, a collection of short adventures easily portable to D&D BECMI:

Heroes earn achievement bonuses in addition to normal gains from combat and treasure. Awards are suggested at the end of each adventure. A Basic Reward amounts to 10% of the experience between a hero’s previous and upcoming experience thresholds.

            For example: A novice fighter’s base experience starts presumably at “0” in the chosen RPG. The next career threshold may require an experience of 2,000. An entry-level adventure’s Basic Reward, therefore, amounts to no less than a +200 experience bonus until the next career threshold has been reached. Basic Rewards, therefore, become increasingly greater as the heroes’ careers progress.

Multiple Basic Rewards are often allocated to important adventuring goals, while minor ones may only yield fractions thereof. Use common sense and fairness when awarding these experience bonuses. Basic Rewards are allocated to each hero individually; they aren’t collective bonuses to be divided among survivors. Notoriety Points (NP) are also awarded in some of the adventures (see CAL1 pp. 86).

A few comments about the above: Some players may object to heroes earning the same percentage of experience (thus a wizard would progress up its advancement chart as fast as a thief). If this is the case, calculate a fighter's Basic Reward and apply it across the board. Generally speaking, if the players unlock all the Basic Rewards in an adventure, I make sure the bonus experience tops out at 50% of what the heroes need to level up. This comes in addition to experience earned from combat and treasure (if any). It ensures that PCs move up their advancement charts very quickly. After all, you do have 36 experience levels to go! As a DM, you can always tone down the number of Basic Rewards allocated to each adventure or how much each is actually worth (see examples below). This approach also makes adventures high on roleplaying but low on combat more appealing.
     Notoriety Points are a feature of Calidar that doesn't exist in BECMI. It's a separate track enabling heroes to earn divine favors in exchange for cult expectations. This connects with attaining demigodhood eventually.

Here are some examples of Basic Rewards listed in Adventures in Alfdain:

Adventure A: For each goal accomplished, each hero earns a Basic Reward. Goal #1: Seeing Nella and her barge to their destination. Goal # 2: Exposing Master Gabbot as a criminal. Goal #3: Handing Gabbot to the local militia. Goal #4: Any hero who consistently acted with creativity, panache, swagger, and daring in the face of adversity.

Adventure B: 1. Finding the nut (Basic Reward x2). 2. Enabling Arla’s capture (Basic Reward). 3. Handing the nut to Dialla (½ Basic Reward). 4. Capturing Arla’s crewmates (¼ Basic Reward for every 5 prisoners). 5. Returning Luriel’s compass to Dialla (¼ Basic Reward).

Adventure C: 1. Newán is killed (Basic Reward). 2. Newán is taken to Corellion (1 Notoriety Point + Basic Reward x2). 3. The heroes enable Newán’s escape (Basic Reward). 4. Newán is taken to Seághal (Basic Reward x4). With outcomes 1 or 2, heroes earn a +2 Cha bonus with Clan Melwë and a –2 with its rival. With outcomes 3 or 4, Clan Ilmarëan secretly compensates the heroes for their uncollected bounty; the heroes also earn a +2 Cha bonus with its people and a –2 with the other clan. Disgruntled clans may seek retribution against the heroes later on.

Adventure D: 1. Delathien is freed: all wounds are healed; heroes afflicted with the forest’s dreaming torpor are awakened (3 Notoriety Points + 1 Divine Favor + Basic Reward x3). 2. Alzeborath is slain (2 Notoriety Points + Basic Reward x2). 3. Alzeborath flees without the amulet (1 Notoriety Point + Basic Reward). 4. Heroes retreat: after challenging the fiend, they vow to return after earning more experience Basic Reward).

Etc. You can see it's pretty flexible.  That's it for today’s pet peeve! 

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