[Characters] Xp Awards

[Fil kearney]

Yep! it's getting close to that time to doll out some XP to all the good boys and girs!

right off the bat:
VAleas has bought off 2 LA in character creation, so we get 6,000 and 9,000
(aparently I thouht it was 3 and 12.. but I must ave ben confused... see below for further details.)

I promised 5000 xp as a kicker for all the work you guys did in developing your history. Good work! Val was a late entry, but not to any discredit! great work!

So, that is 20 thousand xp (there was a bit of confusion thinking it was 25... but I can't see anything that contradicts 20k)
-----

what can you do with yer xp?

--level up--
but not more than once per chapter. so most of you will walk off as 11th level at the end of the prologue.

--buy a template--
I've standardized this.
1LA lvl 3 3000xp
1LA lvl 6 6000xp
1LA lvl 9 9000xp
1LA lvl 12 12000xp
1LA lvl 15 15000xp
1LA lvl 18 18000xp
ad infinium.
these can be retro purchased in bulk, and reengineer the characer build to replace the levels. I think this is fair enough.so at level 12 or higher, anyone can buy off 4 levels of LA in a template by cashing in 30000xp.... or you can purchas aditional templates totalling 4 levels of LA at or beyond level twelve for the same cost... basically, if you want 4 levels of LA templates, you can do so at 12th level for 30k xp.
Sul is a great example.. 5LA ghost template.. by level 15 or later, he can pay the whole thing off with 45k xp.
He cannot lose a level as a result of xp purchasing. He has to at minimum remain level 15 after cashing in the 45k. so he may have to wait a while, post a bunch, or do a LOT of wiki background posting and timeline details.

--pay for xp costs--
legacy item costs
pay for weapon enhancement as per certain PrC's
rituals
magic item creation
xp costs for spells like wish
(potentially other things as new ideas arise)

--pay for expended gold--
This game has a static gold value- per- character total equal to your current character level gold allotment.. This is detrimental to folks that use disposable items like potions, scrolls, wands, contengencies because once the item is gone, it is gone, and irreplaceable without permanently draining your gold value pool...
solution--
non casters (3rd level or lower spells by lvl 20) replenish gold for free
half casters (4th - 6th level spells by lvl 20) replenish gold at the rate of 25 gp per xp
full casters (7th - 9th level spellsby lvl 20) replenish gold at the rate of 5 gp per xp
-artificers are considered full casters for this mechanic, but may also use their xp crafting reserve for gold recovery. the retain essence ability works normally... but if the xp is converted to gold, they can't exceed their gold/level limit... so it may still be wasted.

--(other uses may arise in the future)--

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How realistic is it to float over your xp total usable to level up? well, if 100 posts give you a level worth of xp regardless of what you do, then whatever you do i those posts speed up the accumulation.
I won't guarantee a chapter will be finished in 50 posts, and only have 2.5 decent CR encounters in those posts. If you guys get involved in some heavy RP stuff debating with various parties, then you can blow past that xp amount pretty easily.
I will attempt to keep the chapters short enough to accomodate xp accumulation, but I screw up occasionally, and things run long.

----

I provide 1% of needed xp for each post in game, not to exceed my own count as the pace setter. so I'll go ahead and total that to add at the end of the chapter.

I give xp for challenges. A challege is any time the party wants to acheive something that isn't just handed to them.
this includes:
--defeating npcs/monsters: through combat, debate, planning, sneaking, befriending.
if something is challenging the party, there are a lot of ways to make that change.
--solving puzzles in general: traps, mazes, encoded messages, riddles all are mental challenges... I don't like them very much, especially in PbP... but I am pretty creative in deciding what can be cosidered a puzzle to give you some extra xp for the fun of it.

Although I previously stated that I would assign xp as per CR... we have too many variations in character construction, so I am standardzing challenge XP.
Four categories of challenges....
easy- "level"x 50
light - "level"x 100
moderate- "level"x 200
heavy- "level"x 400

AS I'm writing this, we are playing at "level" 12.
so a "light" challege is worth 1200 xp (incedental stuff, like the warforged fight at te cemetary)
a "heavy" challege is worth 4800 xp (Nasty stuff, like BBEG final fights)
an "easy" challenge would be an "aha!" kinda thing... like the interrogatin of the possessed deagan, or the interview at the jewelry store last chapter.

Now you can better track your xp position. I may or may not agree with you on easy challenges... but light and more should be pretty evident..
the swarm of brutes in the first cavern on the road to hell is a "moderate" challenge... dangerous, but hardly life threatening, unless something goes real wrong.
If shirley shows up, though, with a bunch of his gated goons, this would excel to "heavy".

[Fil kearney]

Okay. obviously, there are the big kickers to hand out to everyone.

5000 to everyone here. You all went to quite a bit of trouble to have a background, faction, and sense of purpose walking into this, and I certainly didn't make it easy on you. Well don, and well deserved.

Lonewolf/Valeas took one for the team by buying of 2 LA right from the start. That is granting everyone a bunch of extra XP to spend....
1LA buyoff @ level 6: 6000 xp bonus to everyone other than Valeas
1LA buyoff @ level 9: 9000 xp bonus to everyone other than Valeas

As agreed, each post is worth 100 xp since the average party ECL is 10.
Here is the posting breakdown for folks... I'm just going by the numbers posted online....
Surreal 17 = 1700
DavidWL 16 = 1600
zarzak 14 = 1400
NoldorForce 8 = 800
Valeas 7 = 700

So team grand totals are:
Surreal 21700
DavidWL 21600
zarzak 21400
NoldorForce 20800
Valeas 5700


Obviously, the majority of the party has enough for two levels. as agreed, don't go boosting beyond your 1 level per chapter. that xp aint going bad.
I know some of you have plans to burn a lot of tha xp for LA's to be acquired in future chapters as well.
I'll open up a new thread in the wiki to discuss xp usage officially, and to keep a running group total listed.

[Fil kearney]

I"ve changed teh first post above... I;m allowing first level buy off at level 3 now for 3k.

god I'm so easy. but what's a bit more power?

[Fil kearney]

CHAPTER 1 XP
I racked up 60 posts.. about what I predicted in a chapter.
here's the post count of everyone... this includes the aurok/sul tangents and cohort threads
30 Aurok
47 Celestine
60 Sul
38 Vintereth


We'e also had some interesting encounters...

BBEG fight at the wharf: "difficult" challenge 4000xp
who gets: Aurok, celestine, sul, vintereth

Goblin tunnel: "easy" challenge 1500xp
who gets: Aurok, sul

Khorvaire Stoneworker's Alliance "easy" challenge 1500xp
who gets: Celestine, Vintereth

INDIVIDUAL TOTALS
8800xp Aurok
10670xp Celestine
12100xp Sul
9680xp Vintereth

Obviously, this is rewarding folks that post roughly every 36 hours or better. the best way to gain xp is to write. add to cohort threads, off stage narrations, and just raw in character presence.
I gave folk a decent battery of xp to have so that there is no level lag. everyoe should be able to have 12th lel rather easily.

SW.. aurok is already 12th, isn't he? thi i just extra xp yer adding to yer pool, and you'll stay 12th lvel until the end of next chapter.

I'd like folks to add in their current total of xp, and how much has been spent on templates and gear. This will make it easier for to keep track of where new folks should be at when they come in.

chapter two is underway, so let's have at it!

[Fil kearney]

In SUMMARY:

this game came in at 10th levle oigionally... 45k...
and gave a 20k bonus to use as y'all pleased
then we have had xp awarded since then...

prologue
1400 Celestine
1700 Sul
800 VIntereth

chapter1
10670 Celestine
12100 Sul
9680 Vintereth

Totals:
72070 Celestine
73800 Sul
70480 Vintereth
Aurok came in playing a 12th level character.. which I didn't realize until pretty late, so we've let it rde.
Aurok and all other new folks looking to come in this chapter are therefor gonna have 70k to start.
That's enought to allow the following oppotuinites:
12th level with 4k left over for whatever
12th level with 1LA bought off .. 1k left over
11th level with 2LA bought off.. .6k left over
10th level with 3LA bought off... 7k left over

We''ve been talking so much about long term builds, I haven't been paying attention to what folks are actually able to purchase or even how much xp would be available at chapter's close.

So, you can have as many LA as you want, it's just not all paid off immediately.. as we already knew. LA templates only take one side of the equation.. but not both.

[Fil kearney]

Chapter 2 and what not XP awards!!

This is technically a level 12 game right now. As such, all posts since July 7th, 2007 anywhere other than OOC threads count for 120 xp.
encounters will be rated in grades of difficulty in combination to how tough I thought it would be and how tough it actually was.
easy- 600xp
light - 1200xp
moderate- 2400xp
heavy- 4800xp



post count per character

Poll
Surreal 3
DaveTheMagicWease 2
ChristopherGroves 2
HeadofVecna 1
randomsyllable 1
zarzak 1

Chapter 2 Tangent - Prologue of the Flameforged
MittenNinja 3

Chapter 2 tangent-- Sul Goes for a Ride
Surreal 5
Easy Challenge: 600

Chapter 2 Tangent: Aurok Meets Someone-- Random
randomsyllable 2

Off-Stage Narration
Surreal 6
DaveTheMagicWease 5
Incendius 5
MittenNinja 2
ChristopherGroves 2
HeadofVecna 1

TANGENT: Journey to the Temple
HeadofVecna 2
DaveTheMagicWease 2
ChristopherGroves 2

Chapter 2: The Center of the Storm
Surreal 64 58
zarzak 51
MittenNinja 36
NoldorForce 11
randomsyllable 9
ChristopherGroves 1
Light Challenge: 1200
Moderate Challenge: 2400
Easy Challenge: 600

Location: The Grove
ChristopherGroves 40
HeadofVecna 39
zarzak 26
DaveTheMagicWease 15
LIght Challenge: 1200
Easy Challenge: 600

Location: The Cracked Mirror Inn
randomsyllable 1

Location: Turquoise Sonia
zarzak 6
Surreal 1
HeadofVecna 1
randomsyllable 1

POST TOTALS
Surreal 73
zarzak 85
ChristopherGroves 47
MittenNinja 41
HeadofVecna 44
randomsyllable 14
DaveTheMagicWease 24

XP TOTAL AWARDED
Surreal 8760 + 4800 = 13560
zarzak 10200 + 6000 = 16200
ChristopherGroves 5640 + 1800 = 7440
MittenNinja 4920 + 4200 = 9100
HeadofVecna 5280 + 1800 = 7080
randomsyllable 1680 + 3000 = 4680
DaveTheMagicWease 2880 + 600 = 3480


My apologies to those that came in late in the game... obviously you have had less opportunity to post than the 1st generation players. However, there are plenty of threads where you can pick up a role and post as much as you want.
New folks started with 70000.
This means the minimum xp total is 73480
The new character creation XP total is 72,000 in Chapter 3.

Thank you, CrG for catching my previous error. It has been corrected.

[Fil kearney]

Chapter 13 XP Summary

This is technically a level 13 game right now. As such, all posts since 12/10/07
anywhere other than OOC threads count for 130 xp.
encounters will be rated in grades of difficulty in combination to how tough I thought it would be and how tough it actually was.
easy- 650xp
light - 1300xp
moderate- 2600xp
heavy- 5200xp

Nicky leads sul to a watery grave
post count (DM ceiling: 5)
8- Surreal 5 = 650xp
challenges: none


Moving Beyond to the Temple
post count (DM ceiling: 16)
19- HOV 16 = 2080
17- Dave 16 = 2080
15- CRG 15 = 1950
challenges:
cloud attack- moderate challenge: 2600 xp


Sailing Aboard the Sonia to the Temple
post count (DM ceiling: 10)
2- HOV = 260
2- CRG = 260
8- Mittens = 1040
18- Surreal = 1300
11- ZZak = 1300
challenges: none 0xp


Temple of Long Death
post count (DM ceiling: 29)
14- HOV = 1820
19- CRG = 2470
17- Dave = 2210
15- Mittens = 1950
29- Surreal = 3750
16- ZZak = 2080
challenges:
Demon assault - heavy challenge: 5200 xp


Location: Turquoise Sonia
post count (DM ceiling: 19)
2- HOV = 260
11- Mittens = 1430
8- Surreal = 1040
5- ZZak = 650
challenges: none 0xp

Location: The Grove
post count (DM ceiling: 32)
22- HOV = 2860
27- Dave = 3510
21- CRG = 2730
22- Surreal = 2860
21- ZZak = 2730
challenges:
silver wraiths - moderate: 2600xp
Dozer + lightning - Heavy: 5200xp


Off-Stage Narration
post count (DM ceiling: N/A)
3- CRG = 390
7- Dave = 910
3- Mittens = 390
4- Surreal = 520
1- ZZak = 130
challenges: N/A

INDIVIDUAL TOTALS:
CRG: 22360... wow.
Dave: 24310... holy crap!
HOV: 22880... wow.
Mittens: 10010
Surreal: 20520
ZZAK: 19890

top XP goes to DAVE!!!! 24310!!!!!
That's a lot of work you put in!
As your prize for winning 1st place, you will have 13k additional gold in your character's budget to do as you please
you also have the reward of a free +1 LA template or buyoff to cash in wenver you please... don't be in a rsh, because new stuff could come down the line you may want. enjoy.

The new character creation XP total minimum is 96,310 in Chapter 4-- way to go DAVE!!!!
max character level is 14 without any buyoff.
IF you have enough XP to be level 14 AND buy off all yer LA (if any) let me know, and we'll see if "catching up" is still balanced to the rest of the team (most likely yes)

[Fil kearney]

Tainted Sands XP

This is technically a level 14 game right now. As such, all posts since 8/1/08
anywhere other than OOC threads count for 140 xp.
encounters will be rated in grades of difficulty in combination to how tough I thought it would be and how tough it actually was.
easy- 700xp
light - 1400xp
moderate- 2800xp
heavy- 5600xp


The new character creation XP total is 96,310 in Chapter 4-- way to go DAVE!!!!
max character level is 14 without any buyoff.

easy challenge: searching the wreckage = 700xp

[Fil kearney]

Shout out to DavetheMagicWease(l) for top post count in chapte 3!

As your prize for winning 1st place, you will have 13k additional gold in your character's budget to do as you please starting chapter 4 (which we already started, but Dave had choices to choose from)
you also have the reward of a free +1 LA template or buyoff to cash in whenever you please... don't be in a rush, because new stuff could come down the line you may want. enjoy.

new prizes each chapter, but I on't tell you what they may be! So go ahead and post the crap out of chapter 4, and find out for yourself!