Challenges and Rewards

An Expanded Rules
System For Awarding
Experience For
Non-Combat
Challenges

Written by Julie Ann Dawson

And Josh Benton
 Challenges and Rewards

Contents
Determining CR from Skill DC pg 3-4
Breaking Things pg 4
Contests pg 4
Item Creation pg 5
Sacrifices pg 5

OGL pg 6-7

Challenges and Rewards

Written by Julie Ann Dawson

And Josh Benton

Illustrated by Josh Benton

(see OGL for further information)

Published b
 Challenges and Rewards

concept of experience points has long been an important one in many games. Through experience points, characters
increase in level – and therefore power. The Challenge Rating system provides a way for GMs to calculate the experience
a party of adventurers earns from an encounter. Monsters that the group encounters already have a CR established; as do
such things as traps. However, the current Challenge Rating System relies heavily on combat. This is no problem when
running a traditional dungeon crawl, but what about when you want to run a more political game? What about your party
of CR 15 characters trying to build their own city, for example? How many great wyrm dragons can you attack the city
with before all the NPCs move for safer lands? But with the current CR system, this is the sort of thing a GM would have
to do if you actually wanted to allow the roleplaying of the political element and give PCs a chance to level at the same time.

Characters should be rewarded for actions that help to achieve the group's goals, or which enhance the game. Determining
the amount of experience to award shouldn't have to be based on just guessing, and it should not always have to rely on how
many critters get killed in the process.

Determining CR From DC

As its name implies, the Difficulty represents how difficult (or not so difficult) a task is to complete. This gives us a baseline
for establishing a Challenge Rating for a task. With a little basic math, we can determine how much experience a player
should receive for completing a task that has a significant impact on the game. Such awards are player specific, not group
specific. If a player achieves a skill check that has a significant impact on gameplay, the experience should be awarded to
that player only. A paladin that rushes into a burning castle to save an NPC while the rest of the party waits outside, or a
bomb squad member who disarms a bomb while everyone else hides behind a concrete wall, should reap the benefits of
their heroic. Only in situations where the final check is an end result of a group effort should the entire group share in the
rewards.

(Actual DC of skill check) - ( Minimum potential skill check roll + Maximum potential skill check roll/2)

This isn’t as complicated as it looks. We will use Bob the Fighter as an example. At 1st level the maximum number of skill
ranks Bob could have is 4. This number is added to the minimum (1) and maximum (20) numbers that can be rolled on a
d20, leaving us with 5 and 24. We add these two numbers together for a total of 29, then divided by 2. The result, 14.5, is
rounded up to 15. We use the same procedure for cross-class skills, which will give us a result of 13.

So let’s assume Bob needs to swim across a channel with a rescued child on his back. He has four ranks in swim. The water
is calm, but he has the additional weight of a frightened child on him. The GM sets the difficulty at 17. If Bob is successful,
the rescue would be treated as a CR 2 encounter.

Sarah, a 10th level rogue, is trying to rescue her friends from jail. She has 13 ranks in open locks, and a dexterity modifier
of 3. Her masterwork thieves' tools give her an additional +2 to the check.

Her minimum roll (19)+her maximum roll (38)=57

57/2=28.5 (round up to 29)

The lock on the jail cell is a good lock, requiring an Open Lock check of DC 30. 30-29=1. Sarah should be rewarded
experience as if it was a CR 1 encounter. If it was only an average lock (DC 25), Sarah would receive no additional
experience for the check, as there was no real challenge to her skills. The only reward her friends would get is being freed
from jail.

But suppose the lock is a superior lock (DC 40), outside of Sarah’s capabilities. Her bard friend, trapped in the cell, uses
his Inspire Competence ability on Sarah, granting her a +2 bonus. The sorcerer, meanwhile, casts Cat’s Grace on her. The
spell’s increase to her dexterity gives her an additional +2 bonus.

Her minimum roll 23 + her maximum roll 42=65

65/2=32.5, rounded up to 33.

DC 40-33=CR 7
 Challenges and Rewards
The party would be awarded experience as if this was a CR 7 encounter, because the final check was the end result of a
group effort.

Not everything that requires a skill check should result in an experience award; that would tend to result in things rapidly
getting out of control. These situations should only be resolved as encounters when they have impact on the game that could
be equated to a combat or trap encounter. Negotiating a peace treaty with an enemy kingdom should be awarded experience.
Haggling over the price of a masterwork sword would not.

In some cases you may wish to award experience, but the above method isn't applicable to the situation. Players are
notorious for coming up with the strangest plans, and no formula can cover every situation. Here are some general
guidelines that can help you when applying CRs to unexpected situations.

Breaking Things

Sometimes things just need to be broken; a lich's phylactery, a door or the chains being used to keep the party hostage.
Whatever the object is, if you feel the situation warrants granting experience points, divide the Break DC by 10 to determine
the CR.

Contests

A summer contest in which bards read poetry, each one hoping to be proclaimed the greatest in the land. Physical contests
such as wrestling or a footrace. Unlike combat
these sorts of contests typically have rules that
limit what can be brought into play. So even in
physicals contests such as wrestling a traditional
encounter CR is of limited use.

The means of determining the CR for such

contests is almost the same as any other skill
check, except the actual DC is the opposing roll.

If one PC faces another, the encounter CR is

determined as normal, using the maximum class
or cross class skill number for the participant of
the lowest level.

For example, Alexander the Bard enters the

king’s annual bardic contest in hopes of winning
the grand prize. He has 13 ranks in perform
(mandolin) and a charisma modifier of +3.

17 + 36=53

53/2=26.5 (rounded up to 27)

The highest performance check among all of the

other bards who have participated in the event is
30. So the DC for Alexander’s performance
check is 30. If successful, Alexander earns
experience for the contest as if it was a CR3
encounter.
 Challenges and Rewards
Item Creation

Magical items have an experience cost in their creation.

Experience should not be awarded for item creations that
benefit the player or the player’s party. However, a cleric who
stays in a poor town an extra week creating healing potions to
give to the peasants or a wizard who volunteers to repair a
noble’s broken magical sword should be rewarded for such
acts. In such cases, you should reward players for such acts
of charity or interaction with NPCs by occasionally assigning
a CR using the normal rules discussed earlier. The same holds
true for any craft or profession check, so long as the check
does not directly benefit the party (a weaponsmith repairing
his own weapons, or an alchemist creating potions for sale)
and has an impact on the game.

In the above mentioned scenarios, the cleric sacrificing his

time to make potions for the poor has significantly impacted
the town’s opinion of him and his god. The wizard’s repair of
the magic weapon, which turns out to be a family heirloom of
great personal value to the owner, has gained a powerful ally
who may be of help in the future or who might offer future
quests to the party. By awarding experience for these acts,
GMs encourage players to interact with the world, not just
move from monster encounter to monster encounter.

Sacrifice

This category can cover any number of things, all of which are difficult to apply specific numbers to. The one thing that
they have in common is that they represent the loss of something important to a character; particularly when it's in
furtherance of something or someone else.

One example might be a donation of money or items (magical or mundane) to a local temple, or to benefit a worthy cause.
Another example would be if the party found a chest of money that had been stolen from local merchants, and instead of
keeping it returned the money to the rightful owners. A simple formula to determine the CR of such a sacrifice is as follows:

(Worth of item in gold pieces/level of character)/1000=CR rating

Example: Bob the Fighter has reached level 5. He uncovers a bandit hideout and discovers a chest full of money that had
been stolen from a caravan driver. The 10,000 gold is tempting, but Bob decided to return the chest anyway, even though
he could use the money to upgrade his arms and armor.

(10,000 gold/5=2000)/1000=CR 2

Bob should receive experience as if it was a CR 2 encounter.

The above should only be used when the donation has meaning and true impact. A character giving up his favorite magic
sword is a worthy sacrifice. Giving up the wand he can't even use may take money from the character, but lacks meaning.

There are sacrifices other than money that can be made. Perhaps one character risked death in order to protect a loved one,
or to help the group achieve its goals. If you feel that the action deserves a reward than a CR 1 per 1/10 of the character's
total hit points lost serves as a good rule of thumb.
 Challenges and Rewards
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