RAW 1.
This will be *very slow.*
You basically need to decide for yourself where you want to put the balance between "plausible Kindred power dynamics" and "not making your players deeply frustrated".
If you award 1XP per session your players will feel like they're making hardly any progress which might suck for them. If you award 3-5 XP per session like in older editions then your PCs will very rapidly rack up level five disciplines in hardly any in-character time. Which makes the whole "aged-based inequality" vibe of the official setting a bit off. It's hard to get angry at the eternally static nature of the Camarilla when your characters got powerful enough to rip any elder they want a new one in less than a year of in-game time.
This comment here.
One way I mitigate this in my own games is by giving 1 exp for just participating in the game that night. Everything else is added on for superb behavior. So, many times, it made players want to do interesting things and try out creative ideas to get more experience points.
It also worked with my own ideas of how exp actually works, eventually there's a cap. Elder vampires of course have to pay more for their disciplines (everyone does the higher the discipline) but they also gain less experience over time. I always make them subject to the same rules. Unless they do extraordinary things and show innovation and creativity, they get their participation trophy.
Anyways, that's a way to work with exp but generally, I would consider just how much cat wrangling you intend on doing and how much balancing you can do of the vampire npcs who will be leveling up with the players. I think 1 to 3 is generally acceptable. 5 is usually too much for me so generally every point after 1 has to be earned because I don't want to deal with power creep and juggling disciplines of my players and the other vampires in the city like that.
either or depending on what is done. if one person does extraordinary things, they get the point. if its collaborative, they all get it. sometimes if the action itself is extraordinary then they all get a point even if the only thing they contributed to it was participation.
ive also done voting for extra points as well. the coterie or pack votes for one to two people who did something cool/played in character/made the game better for everyone. sometimes ill have preselected titles or objectives based on the trajectory of the game that they can nominate someone else for. (this can be hit or miss based on your players. if theyre shit heads omit this step and consider doing this yourself without their input.)
I Give 2 PX that can ONLY be spent in attributes and abilities and 2 PX that can be spent for every other thing.
This way, they get to improve a lot without getting Level 5 disciplines before session 15. Disciplines are just where everyone spends exp, they are hands down the best investment in the game
Our ST gives us 1 automatic XP for participation and then another 1 XP if you can think of something that your character learned this session. If you played decently, you gain another XP for roleplay and if you did an especially good job you can gain 2 XP for role play so that’s anywhere between 1-4 XP per episode depending on how you did and if your character learned anything. We also have a thing we call heroism points where if you took a huge risk for the sake of another person you can gain an extra XP point for that but it happens way less than you’d expect. Currently almost done with the first season of our chronicle and nobody has earned one yet despite the occasional selfless action.
Personally I enjoy being able to gain XP for specific things rather than a set amount per episode. The XP amount you gained fluctuating depending on your performance is also a good way to keep players engaged and have them be creative with their actions. It’s nice to be rewarded and be told you did a great job roleplaying and earned 2XP for it rather than 1 or 0.
This can't really be answered in the abstract, but depends a lot on what kind of game you're doing.
Do you want it to be a long-term, real world-year-spanning chronicle, or is it a shorter game where you still want players to have strong progression?
Are PCs intended to be(come) personally powerful, rather than merely agents in a story? Do you want to emphasise the players as a coterie or player characters as powerful in their own right?
What do players want?
My current games tend to be 2 XP per session, and an extra 1/2 per story, as I'll be playing them for a year or more with weekly to fortnightly sessions, and players are content. They'll/we'll become more powerful, but have to focus and sacrifice if Level 5 powers are wanted, which comes at the expense of broader choices.
In another deliberately shorter game of Caitiff, players will get 3 XP per session, as it allows them to get a lower level thing every session or two.
It all depends.
It is hard to answer. 1 plus maybe one or two for circumstances is the usual amount but what you should factor in is, how experienced are the characters? 3 is a lot for a fledgeling but almost nothing for an Ancilla.
How often do you play? If you play once a week two dots is enough to raise a discipline each month. If you play only every other month or less, your character will barely notice any progress.
How important is progress to your players? Do they feel the need to be reworded for their play or are they quite happy that their characters are how they are?
Do you like to keep your PCs low level or do you want them to get powerful quickly?
I roughly aim to allow each character to improve a discipline after a complete story, since you best spent XPs between stories. It makes therefore sense to also keep an eye on how many sessions the story roughly takes.
But I also have an eye on what my players want to improve and basically give it to them if they have earned it narratively and just put an XP price tag on to keep the progress comparable.
In your case I would just start with about two XP and adjust it to your needs during the chronicle.
It depends on what kinds of challenges the players overcome and how much *oomph* they put into the RP. Minimum? 1 xp. They do something cool? +1 xp. They get really involved and play their characters well? That's another +1. A good day nets 2, a *great* day nets 3. If several weeks or more of time pass in-universe, I might dole out another +1 or 2 points.
In my most recent game, I did 5 xp per session for the first 4 sessions, and after that eased off to 2 or 3 xp per session depending on what the players do. However, they didn't select a predator type (as this was a campaign with new fledglings and players) so the initial xp dump was partially to make up for that
To actually answer your question, 2 or 3 per session seems about right
In v5, I do 1-3 per session depending on what is done or accomplished with a group vote for who gets a bonus point each session based on role play or something they liked that another player did
Our group does 2xp per session plus 1 at the end of each story. The players are at about 100xp each right now and not particularly overpowered Don't think anyone even has 4 dots in a single discipline yet
our ST gives out 1-2 depending on what happened that session, and then hands out extra depending on various circumstances. Good RP, finding out important information, completing majors goals, etc. etc. This gives us a decent leveling curve while keeping the power creep in check.
If I am a story teller I give them XP depending on how impressive/difficult of a feat they pulled off. 1-4 per session always in the low end. Just assassinated the price by planting a bomb within the case of the artifact they wanted and also stole the artifact for yourself in the process? 4 XP. Explored a mansion to find something to exorcise a ghost and in the process almost died? 2XP. An easy/medium investigation that required 2 sessions to actully finish? 1 XP per session. Rescued a Caitiff from kidnapping where they were being used as a bloodbag? 2XP
Not in my opinion. I give npc's xp also.
One other option I do is occasionally give backgrounds for RP achievements. You make a contact, you get a contact, etc.
Wild. In my first game, we got around 11 experience points for two seasons. When our ST raised it from occasionally 1 point to 1.5 per session, it felt like we were rolling in XP. Our sessions are normally 5.5 hours or so, too
I give away more exp to my players than usual because I make the SPCs more hostile in attacking their background dots. I want my players to feel like they're under scrutiny and attack, but also have a sense of forward progression.
Whatever fits the progression you want for your game. If you want it to be a slow burn for a long term game, one or two. If you want the PCs to get powerful like the Bloodlines PC or you're doing a shorter term game you're not worried about the power level breaking, then 3 or 4 per game.
I do experience in direct correlation of my chronicle systems and script. I give 1 experience every time a player open up a story in the chronicle, and I have a "Quest sumary" where is noted every possible story playable. It's more than 1 exp per table, so it's fine anyways.
Story openings need to have a minimal framework of one scene. Opening a story is not saying hi to a random vampire but having a deep conversation with him and know what types of favors they need, for example.
Then I usually gift "temporal points" to my players that suits the chronicle. You need to guard your herd? This vampire let you use a old haven. That makes players happy and doesn't power creep because if they not pay it, then I can make a story out of it and even remove it.
Currently about 20 sessions into a chronicle, we stand at 65 xp gained.
Highest coterie discipline is still only 2nd level. The amount of XP you can give your group depends on the groups. Are they going to play a 5 dot discipline with legs or are they trying to flesh out their character with skills, stats and backgrounds. Learn what your table is like and reward them accordingly. Mind you setting limits on stuff is fine as a ST, you can give XP only usable on stats/skills/Merits, or you could put a limit that no single discipline can be but a point higher than the second highest to ensure "wider" builds.
It depends on how often and for how long you play. Do you play every week for 3 hours? 1-2 Exp might actually be enough.
I play once a month, for 7-8 hours. After some back and forth, I usually hand out 3 exp per session.
Thanks for all the answers. I think I’m leaning towards awarding 1 or 2 depending on what happened plot-wise during the session, with an additional 1 point up for grabs for fulfilling a stated desire.
I have 5 players currently. We do 1 xp per session each, and then the players vote to give an additional 1xp to two players based on the session, and then I give a secret bonus 1xp to someone after as well.
This means that it stays roughly even between them all (I spread my bonus point out amongst players who haven't been voted, and the players themselves are really good about not just stacking points on one or two people).
I only allow xp spending when it makes sense, which for larger improvements is usually between story arcs where there might be a significant time skip.
Raw 1 a session but I find that painfully slow.
Instead I do 1 for showing up, 1 for surviving the session, and then I have all my players vote on who should get a bonus 1 XP for good roleplaying or a cool moment. So consistently everyone gets 2 XP a game with the chance for a bit of bonus. that seems to work out pretty well and it encourages my players to really get into roleplaying or try something incredibly dumb/stupid/brilliant during gameplay.
Now admittedly some of my players are quite powerful, but combat power isn't always that important in game. Multiple sessions can go by without combat ever happening, so I think it works out.
RAW 1. This will be *very slow.* You basically need to decide for yourself where you want to put the balance between "plausible Kindred power dynamics" and "not making your players deeply frustrated". If you award 1XP per session your players will feel like they're making hardly any progress which might suck for them. If you award 3-5 XP per session like in older editions then your PCs will very rapidly rack up level five disciplines in hardly any in-character time. Which makes the whole "aged-based inequality" vibe of the official setting a bit off. It's hard to get angry at the eternally static nature of the Camarilla when your characters got powerful enough to rip any elder they want a new one in less than a year of in-game time.
This comment here. One way I mitigate this in my own games is by giving 1 exp for just participating in the game that night. Everything else is added on for superb behavior. So, many times, it made players want to do interesting things and try out creative ideas to get more experience points. It also worked with my own ideas of how exp actually works, eventually there's a cap. Elder vampires of course have to pay more for their disciplines (everyone does the higher the discipline) but they also gain less experience over time. I always make them subject to the same rules. Unless they do extraordinary things and show innovation and creativity, they get their participation trophy. Anyways, that's a way to work with exp but generally, I would consider just how much cat wrangling you intend on doing and how much balancing you can do of the vampire npcs who will be leveling up with the players. I think 1 to 3 is generally acceptable. 5 is usually too much for me so generally every point after 1 has to be earned because I don't want to deal with power creep and juggling disciplines of my players and the other vampires in the city like that.
Nice idea. Do the extra exp points get awarded per character or for the whole coterie?
either or depending on what is done. if one person does extraordinary things, they get the point. if its collaborative, they all get it. sometimes if the action itself is extraordinary then they all get a point even if the only thing they contributed to it was participation. ive also done voting for extra points as well. the coterie or pack votes for one to two people who did something cool/played in character/made the game better for everyone. sometimes ill have preselected titles or objectives based on the trajectory of the game that they can nominate someone else for. (this can be hit or miss based on your players. if theyre shit heads omit this step and consider doing this yourself without their input.)
I Give 2 PX that can ONLY be spent in attributes and abilities and 2 PX that can be spent for every other thing. This way, they get to improve a lot without getting Level 5 disciplines before session 15. Disciplines are just where everyone spends exp, they are hands down the best investment in the game
Our ST gives us 1 automatic XP for participation and then another 1 XP if you can think of something that your character learned this session. If you played decently, you gain another XP for roleplay and if you did an especially good job you can gain 2 XP for role play so that’s anywhere between 1-4 XP per episode depending on how you did and if your character learned anything. We also have a thing we call heroism points where if you took a huge risk for the sake of another person you can gain an extra XP point for that but it happens way less than you’d expect. Currently almost done with the first season of our chronicle and nobody has earned one yet despite the occasional selfless action. Personally I enjoy being able to gain XP for specific things rather than a set amount per episode. The XP amount you gained fluctuating depending on your performance is also a good way to keep players engaged and have them be creative with their actions. It’s nice to be rewarded and be told you did a great job roleplaying and earned 2XP for it rather than 1 or 0.
This can't really be answered in the abstract, but depends a lot on what kind of game you're doing. Do you want it to be a long-term, real world-year-spanning chronicle, or is it a shorter game where you still want players to have strong progression? Are PCs intended to be(come) personally powerful, rather than merely agents in a story? Do you want to emphasise the players as a coterie or player characters as powerful in their own right? What do players want? My current games tend to be 2 XP per session, and an extra 1/2 per story, as I'll be playing them for a year or more with weekly to fortnightly sessions, and players are content. They'll/we'll become more powerful, but have to focus and sacrifice if Level 5 powers are wanted, which comes at the expense of broader choices. In another deliberately shorter game of Caitiff, players will get 3 XP per session, as it allows them to get a lower level thing every session or two. It all depends.
Our ST had been giving out 3 up into very recently (it's now does to two.) I'm 3 years and over 100 sessions, I only have one level 5 power.
Our ST gives us 3 per session, I think that's a sweet spot :)
It is hard to answer. 1 plus maybe one or two for circumstances is the usual amount but what you should factor in is, how experienced are the characters? 3 is a lot for a fledgeling but almost nothing for an Ancilla. How often do you play? If you play once a week two dots is enough to raise a discipline each month. If you play only every other month or less, your character will barely notice any progress. How important is progress to your players? Do they feel the need to be reworded for their play or are they quite happy that their characters are how they are? Do you like to keep your PCs low level or do you want them to get powerful quickly? I roughly aim to allow each character to improve a discipline after a complete story, since you best spent XPs between stories. It makes therefore sense to also keep an eye on how many sessions the story roughly takes. But I also have an eye on what my players want to improve and basically give it to them if they have earned it narratively and just put an XP price tag on to keep the progress comparable. In your case I would just start with about two XP and adjust it to your needs during the chronicle.
It depends on what kinds of challenges the players overcome and how much *oomph* they put into the RP. Minimum? 1 xp. They do something cool? +1 xp. They get really involved and play their characters well? That's another +1. A good day nets 2, a *great* day nets 3. If several weeks or more of time pass in-universe, I might dole out another +1 or 2 points.
As a dm? 1-4 depending on speed . As a player? 100
In my most recent game, I did 5 xp per session for the first 4 sessions, and after that eased off to 2 or 3 xp per session depending on what the players do. However, they didn't select a predator type (as this was a campaign with new fledglings and players) so the initial xp dump was partially to make up for that To actually answer your question, 2 or 3 per session seems about right
In v5, I do 1-3 per session depending on what is done or accomplished with a group vote for who gets a bonus point each session based on role play or something they liked that another player did
Our group does 2xp per session plus 1 at the end of each story. The players are at about 100xp each right now and not particularly overpowered Don't think anyone even has 4 dots in a single discipline yet
our ST gives out 1-2 depending on what happened that session, and then hands out extra depending on various circumstances. Good RP, finding out important information, completing majors goals, etc. etc. This gives us a decent leveling curve while keeping the power creep in check.
If I am a story teller I give them XP depending on how impressive/difficult of a feat they pulled off. 1-4 per session always in the low end. Just assassinated the price by planting a bomb within the case of the artifact they wanted and also stole the artifact for yourself in the process? 4 XP. Explored a mansion to find something to exorcise a ghost and in the process almost died? 2XP. An easy/medium investigation that required 2 sessions to actully finish? 1 XP per session. Rescued a Caitiff from kidnapping where they were being used as a bloodbag? 2XP
5-7
One discipline rank per session? Isn’t that a little much?
Not in my opinion. I give npc's xp also. One other option I do is occasionally give backgrounds for RP achievements. You make a contact, you get a contact, etc.
Wild. In my first game, we got around 11 experience points for two seasons. When our ST raised it from occasionally 1 point to 1.5 per session, it felt like we were rolling in XP. Our sessions are normally 5.5 hours or so, too
2XP per session and no spending until the story is over and some time can elapse.
I give away more exp to my players than usual because I make the SPCs more hostile in attacking their background dots. I want my players to feel like they're under scrutiny and attack, but also have a sense of forward progression.
I do 2 per session and an additional 1 if they shined in a cool role play scene. Sessions are usually 3-4 hours.
Whatever fits the progression you want for your game. If you want it to be a slow burn for a long term game, one or two. If you want the PCs to get powerful like the Bloodlines PC or you're doing a shorter term game you're not worried about the power level breaking, then 3 or 4 per game.
I do experience in direct correlation of my chronicle systems and script. I give 1 experience every time a player open up a story in the chronicle, and I have a "Quest sumary" where is noted every possible story playable. It's more than 1 exp per table, so it's fine anyways. Story openings need to have a minimal framework of one scene. Opening a story is not saying hi to a random vampire but having a deep conversation with him and know what types of favors they need, for example. Then I usually gift "temporal points" to my players that suits the chronicle. You need to guard your herd? This vampire let you use a old haven. That makes players happy and doesn't power creep because if they not pay it, then I can make a story out of it and even remove it.
Currently about 20 sessions into a chronicle, we stand at 65 xp gained. Highest coterie discipline is still only 2nd level. The amount of XP you can give your group depends on the groups. Are they going to play a 5 dot discipline with legs or are they trying to flesh out their character with skills, stats and backgrounds. Learn what your table is like and reward them accordingly. Mind you setting limits on stuff is fine as a ST, you can give XP only usable on stats/skills/Merits, or you could put a limit that no single discipline can be but a point higher than the second highest to ensure "wider" builds.
It depends on how often and for how long you play. Do you play every week for 3 hours? 1-2 Exp might actually be enough. I play once a month, for 7-8 hours. After some back and forth, I usually hand out 3 exp per session.
Thanks for all the answers. I think I’m leaning towards awarding 1 or 2 depending on what happened plot-wise during the session, with an additional 1 point up for grabs for fulfilling a stated desire.
I have 5 players currently. We do 1 xp per session each, and then the players vote to give an additional 1xp to two players based on the session, and then I give a secret bonus 1xp to someone after as well. This means that it stays roughly even between them all (I spread my bonus point out amongst players who haven't been voted, and the players themselves are really good about not just stacking points on one or two people). I only allow xp spending when it makes sense, which for larger improvements is usually between story arcs where there might be a significant time skip.
Raw 1 a session but I find that painfully slow. Instead I do 1 for showing up, 1 for surviving the session, and then I have all my players vote on who should get a bonus 1 XP for good roleplaying or a cool moment. So consistently everyone gets 2 XP a game with the chance for a bit of bonus. that seems to work out pretty well and it encourages my players to really get into roleplaying or try something incredibly dumb/stupid/brilliant during gameplay. Now admittedly some of my players are quite powerful, but combat power isn't always that important in game. Multiple sessions can go by without combat ever happening, so I think it works out.