Magic items and XP

[Spanningtree]

Hey there folks, first general community post. Please excuse me if this subject has already been brought up. I noticed that the LL core rules do not have monetary value attached to magic items and experience is not allocated for magic items either. What is the logic behind this? XP is awarded for recovering and taking possession of non-magical treasure but not for magical. Seems counter intuitive.

[Blood axe]

Ive never agreed with this concept.

Take two characters and trade magical items- see what XP are gained.
Things are silly at lower levels.
Imagine this- if a level 1 character has a relative that lets him borrow/use a magic item he could gain 2nd level without doing a thing. Or if he just "gets lucky" and finds it.
Same thing for money -Imagine a fighter who finds a valuable gem that a rich noble drops. Bam!
Is that equal to killing foes in combat?


I give 1/10 th XP for gold/treasure gained. None for magic. Loot is its own reward.

Give extra XP for role-playing, good ideas, overcoming problems(not necessarily killing!),etc,etc.

[Spanningtree]

I guess it's an attempt to balance it out. At the end of the day XP should only be handed out for roleplaying, problem solving and sacking. Nothing else, IMHO. Your right, "Loot is it's own reward.".

[Blood axe]

Im not trying to force my opinion on anybody. Im sure that the gold XP is figured in the XP charts to gain a Level. I just dont use gold XP much and increase other rewards.
If you want XP for magic- get an old DMG on EBAY- it has a list of most of the magic item XP. We could easily come up with a gp/xp list for magic items in LL/AEC.

[Blood axe]

Here is a little something to get you started if you want to work on your own magic item xp.
As you can see - some XP rewards are quite high. Its less for potions 200xp-500xp+. A sword +1 is 400xp, an arrow +1 is 20xp.


[url][/url]

[Spanningtree]

Ya, I have the old DMG w/ the Effrit on the cover and that would be a good starting place. I guess the gold values in LL are set by the GM to fit the campaign (IE: magic is starved or common).

[YHWH]

The more I think about XP for GP the more I like it.

It's like a story reward except it's nice and quantifiable. The 1000 XP for getting the gem out of the wizard's tower covers all the problem solving, sneaking and etc you did to actually get it.

Of course the DM shouldn't use it in situations where it doesn't make sense; borrowing, selling or stumbling over something by chance is very different from a successful dungeon raid.

I'm on the fence about XP for magic. I've read good arguments both for and against.

[Blood axe]

The more I think about XP for GP the more I like it.

It's like a story reward except it's nice and quantifiable. The 1000 XP for getting the gem out of the wizard's tower covers all the problem solving, sneaking and etc you did to actually get it.

Of course the DM shouldn't use it in situations where it doesn't make sense; borrowing, selling or stumbling over something by chance is very different from a successful dungeon raid.

I'm on the fence about XP for magic. I've read good arguments both for and against.

What would be the difference in stealing the gems from a wizards tower and stealing his staff ?

[Mach Front]

It's like a story reward except it's nice and quantifiable. The 1000 XP for getting the gem out of the wizard's tower covers all the problem solving, sneaking and etc you did to actually get it.

Of course the DM shouldn't use it in situations where it doesn't make sense; borrowing, selling or stumbling over something by chance is very different from a successful dungeon raid.

Precisely. That's what it's intended to be.
There's no need to 'tally up' or otherwise keep track of XP for role-playing, ideas, tricks, this thing and that thing and that other stuff...because XP for GP is simply an abstract game mechanic that already does all of that, just like a roll to hit and roll for damage and a 'round' covers a good deal of back and forth between combatants (rather than one swing of a sword). Just as class and level and hit points, etc. are the abstract mechanics that help to define the relative skill and ability of a PC.

[Blood axe]

Ok, what about creatures and problems without gold/treasure?? No XP? Thats why you need to think about the XP reward and not just use GP=XP.