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hperantunes
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Maximum value for Skills and unspent XP

Fri 01 Nov 2019, 06:20

The official character's sheet in the Player's Handbook has 25 "slots" for writing down unspent experience points, which implies that the maximum value for a player's character skills is 5 (increasing a skill from 4 to 5 costs 25xp).

However, the rules don't specifically say that the maximum value for any given skill a player's character can have is 5, or that a player's character can only accumulate a maximum of 25 experience points - those are assumptions.

What do you do in your game table? Do you use these numbers as a cap for both skills and unspent xp?
 
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Fenhorn
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Re: Maximum value for Skills and unspent XP

Fri 01 Nov 2019, 09:39

"<> They are measured by skill level on a scale from 0 to 5"
Player's Handbook p32
“Thanks for noticin' me.” - Eeyore
 
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Valyar
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Re: Maximum value for Skills and unspent XP

Fri 01 Nov 2019, 09:49

In addition, the character sheet's layout show not be taken into consideration to enforce something as a rule. No idea who came up with this idea, but I recall similar conversation in Discord.
For example the official charsheet has 12 slots for talent. Does this mean that you are limited to 12 talents only? No. It is just how the layout is done, you don't have infinite space.
There is 4 PCs in the relationship tab, does this mean that you can have a game only with 4 players? :D
 
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hperantunes
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Re: Maximum value for Skills and unspent XP

Fri 01 Nov 2019, 13:55

"<> They are measured by skill level on a scale from 0 to 5"
Player's Handbook p32

I was mistaken on the skills, thanks for correcting me. :)

Then, what do you folks do in terms of xp?
 
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Ebrim
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Re: Maximum value for Skills and unspent XP

Fri 01 Nov 2019, 16:55

In addition, the character sheet's layout show not be taken into consideration to enforce something as a rule. No idea who came up with this idea, but I recall similar conversation in Discord.
For example the official charsheet has 12 slots for talent. Does this mean that you are limited to 12 talents only? No. It is just how the layout is done, you don't have infinite space.
There is 4 PCs in the relationship tab, does this mean that you can have a game only with 4 players? :D
The character sheet layout does not determine rules, no, but it's a decent precedent where no other exists. The layout wasn't determined randomly, space was assigned as was thought would be reasonably needed in the vision of the game by its creators. So sure, there's no rule saying you should only have 12 talents but goodness you're talking about 12 talents, that's a heap for something that should represent specialization. That campaign should probably be ended and maybe someone has given out xp a little too generously. :D

Also worth saying that as far as official character sheets go, this one is a beauty and very functional, well done Fria Ligan.

RE:OP xp actually isn't something I'd cap. If someone wants to haul around a ton of unspent xp it really doesn't harm anything especially if you keep the leash on advancement (it takes time, wits rolls, justification - RAW for skills but I do with talents too). I guess if someone wanted to improve a magic talent to 3 without training they'd need what, 36? So 25 maybe shouldn't be a hard cap.
 
SpandexAndy
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Re: Maximum value for Skills and unspent XP

Sat 02 Nov 2019, 08:10

Ebrim:  ...and maybe someone has given out xp a little too generously
I've seen you make comments like this one on the Discord, Ebrim, and I'm afraid it doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps I am feeling defensive for the XP I have awarded our group!

To my view there is no question of "generosity" when awarding XP. A group simply follows the guidelines on pg. 39 and answers the questions. XP is counted up and awarded. "Did you participate in the session? Did you move to a new hex? Did you defeat a monster? Did you discover a new adventure site?" These are simple yes/no questions which are decided by the group (not just the GM).

IN FACT, the rules for awarding XP are in the Players Handbook (not the GM Book) and it says "Talk it through and let the whole group discuss..." .
 
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Ebrim
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Re: Maximum value for Skills and unspent XP

Sat 02 Nov 2019, 15:35

Oh sure, that’s exactly the guideline. I say too much subjectively, not objectively, nobody is doing anything wrong by following the guideline but it results in outcomes that for me seem detrimental to a longer game, I also prefer slower advancement. So I also put a lot of weight on the bit at the end of xp being the final choice of the GM.

Apologies if I'm coming off as judgy of someone else' table, that's certainly not my intent. If you're having a good time you're doing everything right.

So my method right now is base 1 xp, 2 if they can answer 1 or 2 of the questions, 3xp if maybe they can answer 3 or more or if something crazy has happened. Never more than 3.
 
SpandexAndy
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Re: Maximum value for Skills and unspent XP

Sat 02 Nov 2019, 21:50

No problem! Your method sounds good, if you want a slower game. I'm not opposed to a speedy advancement. Campaigns seldom go on forever, and it can be frustrating to finish a campaign and never get to play with the top-tier abilities. So I tend to have a campaign length in mind (maybe 20 sessions, about 6 months), and then aim to cover the full game in that time.

I do find it interesting that the XP awarding in FBL is something that could actually be done without a GM present. I could trust my players to go through the questions on pg. 39 and award XP in a fair way. I do prefer the "questions" method of XP awarding to milestones or XP, because the game declares upfront what activities the PCs should do to be rewarded. Players can look at the list of questions and see that, for example, moving to a new hex warrants an XP. The game wants to reward exploration. So players will seek to do those activities. I enjoy that - as long as the questions are carefully selected to reward what you want the campaign to be about.

I guess you could change those questions for your campaign to encourage different behavior. For example, maybe you want to explore the theme of "Rebuilding the Ravenland" and then you could have XP questions that reward overthrowing evil rulers rather than earning gold, or whatever.
 
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Konungr
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Re: Maximum value for Skills and unspent XP

Sun 03 Nov 2019, 07:11

I prefer to use a different set of criteria from a different game.

1 exp for showing up
1-3 exp for plot advancement (minor advancement is 1, major advacement is 2, concluding a major ark is 3)
1-3 exp for personal advacement (the characters learning and growing or decending acording to events around them)
1 for innovative solutions to a problem
1 for exceptional rp (especially if its to the detriment of the character but "what the character would have done")

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