it seems like all exp is spent and given out in units of 5 is there a reason for this?

I'm about to start a new game. I thinking of dividing all exp the values by 5 and tracking it that way. tell me if this is a bad idea and why?

examples.

• raising skill cost the rank of the skill level you going into.. with an extra one if it's not a career skill.
• stats cost x2 the rank you going into.
• average human start with 22 exp.
• talents cost their ranks.
• So on..

The question I would ask is "why". What benefit do you gain from this besides apparently having to divide everything by 5 instead of using the established XP system for Abilities, Skills, and Talents? If your players also using this new system then you have added extra math and complexity. This is not Mathfinder (pathfinder ? ).

21 minutes ago, adairhammer said:

it seems like all exp is spent and given out in units of 5 is there a reason for this?

I'm about to start a new game. I thinking of dividing all exp the values by 5 and tracking it that way. tell me if this is a bad idea and why?

examples.

• raising skill cost the rank of the skill level you going into.. with an extra one if it's not a career skill.
• stats cost x2 the rank you going into.
• average human start with 22 exp.
• talents cost their ranks.
• So on..

I think it's because people like bigger numbers. And no, there are no XP increments smaller than 5XP. And yes, they are all in 5XP increments. So you could have all XP be in 1XP increments, but as @lyinggod said so elequently: "why?"

All existing character sheets, cards, official products, fan-made products, etc all use the 5XP increment. Is there anything specifically, besides feeling better using the lowest common denominator (believe you me, when I first started playing SWRPG I was in the same boat. It took me awhile to just accept that this is how things are), that you hope to accomplish with using 1XP as the base?

It just seems like too much work for too little gain. Also, it makes anything you make that much more difficult for others to use, as they will have to do all your work in reverse to use it. That last point might not be that big a deal if you don't plan on sharing with the community, though.

11 minutes ago, lyinggod said:

The question I would ask is "why". What benefit do you gain from this besides apparently having to divide everything by 5 instead of using the established XP system for Abilities, Skills, and Talents? If your players also using this new system then you have added extra math and complexity. This is not Mathfinder (pathfinder ? ).

I'm thinking if we start out that way it will be simpler. Smaller numbers being easier to work with.

I mean, it's really just a matter of preference really. 5 or 1 doesn't effect the game at all. The only place where it would change things is some people do give out XP in increments of 1, allowing the PC to gradually build up bonus, but I typically go no lower than 5 anyway.

I suppose it's a perception thing. "Oh, I got 15XP" sounds better then "Oh, I got 3XP," but some games do use minimal points for progression anyway.

You absolutely could divide the XP by 5 but doing so would not save you any time or mental effort since everything is printed in 5s. It would have been better if the system had been printed the way you say, but introducing it as a houserule would pointlessly confuse your players.

18 minutes ago, c__beck said:

I think it's because people like bigger numbers. And no, there are no XP increments smaller than 5XP. And yes, they are all in 5XP increments. So you could have all XP be in 1XP increments, but as @lyinggod said so elequently: "why?"

All existing character sheets, cards, official products, fan-made products, etc all use the 5XP increment. Is there anything specifically, besides feeling better using the lowest common denominator (believe you me, when I first started playing SWRPG I was in the same boat. It took me awhile to just accept that this is how things are), that you hope to accomplish with using 1XP as the base?

It just seems like too much work for too little gain. Also, it makes anything you make that much more difficult for others to use, as they will have to do all your work in reverse to use it. That last point might not be that big a deal if you don't plan on sharing with the community, though.

the only community item you would publish that would have exp is premade adventures right. (how much exp to give out)

if you put out talents it would just be the rank.. even 'Heroic Abilities'.

(just changing the base line of giving out and spending exp should fix this.. and for horrics how much you need to level that up.)

does it feel better to get 5 vs 1?

1 minute ago, adairhammer said:

the only community item you would publish that would have exp is premade adventures right. (how much exp to give out)

if you put out talents it would just be the rank.. even horrics.

(just changing the base line of giving out and spending exp should fix this.. and for horrics how much you need to level that up.)

does it feel better to get 5 vs 1?

Don't forget archetypes/species, they have starting XP. And people have put out quick-reference guides/GM screens/etc that have XP costs. And fan-made character sheets have the XP cost listed for talents.

And I'm assuming you mean 'Heroic Abilities' when you say 'horrics'. Otherwise I have no idea what that means.

People just like bigger numbers. It feels 'better' when you get 15XP after an adventure rather than 3XP. Even though it's the same relative amount people see bigger numbers and automatically like them better.

4 minutes ago, c__beck said:

Don't forget archetypes/species, they have starting XP. And people have put out quick-reference guides/GM screens/etc that have XP costs. And fan-made character sheets have the XP cost listed for talents.

And I'm assuming you mean 'Heroic  Abilities   '  when you say 'horrics'. Otherwise I have no idea what that means.

People just like bigger numbers. It feels 'better' when you get 15XP after an adventure rather than 3XP. Even though it's the same relative amount people see bigger numbers and automatically like them better.

3

I did mean Heroic  Abilities . that's my dyslexia getting the better of me.

Honestly, I've considered introducing a mechanic to my games like the one in the Cypher System, where a character can spend 1 XP to get a reroll with all the original modifiers. Not sure if that mechanic would be better or worse in Genesys with a 5-pt scale or 1-pt scale for upgrades.

In Cypher, it's 4-pts per upgrade so I suppose I could just as easily apply that same scale to Genesys with tier-1 talents costing 4, tier-2 costing 8, etc. That is, if I was feeling like I didn't have enough to do already...

My group and I have pondered this to, and the only thing we can come up with is that by having the purchases all divisible by 5 it allows you to award smaller XP for things like good role playing or enhancing group dynamics, assisting people etc. Good role play moment? Have an XP or two. Stuff like that. Since you can't buy anything with an individual reward this small it dampens the player jealousy that can result from non equal XP allotments.

I fail to see the necessity.

I do the same thing as @Ryckarde . I give out partial rewards for random things. Or if the players just kind of screwed around a whole session I'll give them 2 or 3 instead of a usable amount.

Like people already said, there's no problem in reduce all XP values by 5.

But if you need something lesser than the regular 5XP, would be a little... well, you can work with fractions as well, but I think players want full numbers.

It's possible but I don't think it's necessary by any mean.

As a few others here have pointed out, all you are really loosing is the ability to hand out custom rewards of 1-4 XP, which the book never discusses (as well as always reminding players consulting printed resources that you've scaled XP down).

To be honest, aside from the aesthetic of larger numbers, I don't quite understand why Genesys uses 5 XP increments. I'm also not bothered by it. Just curious if this is a holdover from an earlier set of the rules. Your table, your rules.

It's minimal effort to change, so I'd say go ahead.

On 8/2/2018 at 3:12 PM, adairhammer said:

I'm about to start a new game. I thinking of dividing all exp the values by 5 and tracking it that way. tell me if this is a bad idea and why?

IMO, it's not good or bad idea, it's a change, which may work for you. Personally, it wouldn't for for me, because I often give additional points of XP from good roleplaying. And base amount is based on time (following Jay Little's recommendation for SW, which was 5 points per hour or actual playtime), and currently our session usually are from 1.5 to 2 hours, which means 7 to 10 XP plus 0-3 points based on player actions.

With your change, you would lose some granularity when giving XP, but only you can find out whether that is problem, because that fully depends on your gaming style.