Forgive me if this is detailed in the book (haven't seen it yet) or has been discussed elsewhere. When a PC dies should the new character the player brings in be a true new character (ie like their character at the beginning of the campaign) or should they receive some xp to buy some more skills and talents?

I get the feeling you probably should give them xp to get their character up to the other PC's skill levels otherwise they would constantly be overshadowed by them. I was wondering how others would handle this.

That's entirely up to the GM and group to decide for themselves.

And up to them to decide on a case by case basis as well, depending on the makeup of the group. I'd be irritated as a GM if someone sacrificed themselves just to make a new charecter because they made some mis-steps. I would be swayed by the motive. However, if a PC was unintentionally killed because of a mistake I made, I would be trying to make the player "whole" again.

When I'm thinking of a character dying it would be in the case of death during a battle from the crit injury chart, or if they did something heroic that led to their death. Basically any kind of death that could happen from normally playing the game.

I can understand taking into account the manner in which the death occurred. I would probably do that.

I generally keep everyone even to prevent sidekick characters.

As a player, it's not fun when your character is not on par with the other characters unless you chose it yourself. So I would say give the new char the same xp as the old

As a player, it's not fun when your character is not on par with the other characters unless you chose it yourself. So I would say give the new char the same xp as the old

This is probably a big reason behind the character sheet allowing you to keep track of total XP earned, not just what's available to spend.

Naw, you guys are over thinking it. The easy solution? Total Party Kill! There - sorted!

As a player, it's not fun when your character is not on par with the other characters unless you chose it yourself. So I would say give the new char the same xp as the old

Depends upon the system. In Savage Worlds* it is easy to have a Novice character (someone with 0 XP) in a party with people at Legendary (80+ XP) and not have them outshined or in more danger of dying because of it. The recommendation there was that new characters should start at half the XP of the dead character.

* in Savage Worlds you typically gain 1 XP per 2 hour session by recommendation of the book and each Rank is 20 XP in size with improvements to the character (skills, edges) every 5 XP.

I usually allow players to start if their PC dies to start with the groups xp or if you do it on attendance average of the collective group xp. Only reason i would not give a player additional xp is if they were running two characters in that case that additional character could possibly take skills to supplment the Players main chracters deficency.

After reading the replies I think I would start them out at the groups xp (or their previous character's xp) and depending on how their previous character died I would give them some type of bonus (probably not xp tho). For instance if they died saving the rest of the group I might give them a weapon with modded weapons and attachments. Or if they had been a playing the character really well but happened to die in a fight from a crit injury I might let them start the next character off with more equipment that suits their character.

As a player, it's not fun when your character is not on par with the other characters unless you chose it yourself. So I would say give the new char the same xp as the old

Depends upon the system. In Savage Worlds* it is easy to have a Novice character (someone with 0 XP) in a party with people at Legendary (80+ XP) and not have them outshined or in more danger of dying because of it. The recommendation there was that new characters should start at half the XP of the dead character.

* in Savage Worlds you typically gain 1 XP per 2 hour session by recommendation of the book and each Rank is 20 XP in size with improvements to the character (skills, edges) every 5 XP.

Well that's IMHO half-true. If it's no big difference between a newly created char and an really experienced char then i guess you could start with 0xp but still if there is no big difference, why not give the xp to the next char. Just to let the player feel that his new character is as good as the others. During my years as a GM, i have played with a lot of players, and for many it's not really the numbers that count as long as they feel they are on par with each other ( unless self-inflicted by choice to be inferior to the others).

But in this game, you get a lot of talents/skills really fast and just a few sessions of experience between players is alot.

/Poseur

Might be some OT but i think this might be a good thread to spread my opinion on handling out experience. And I'm not pointing to anyone in this thread, it's just seems a good thread to place this reply.

I'm of the humble opinion that you shall not give out experience for "good" role-playing as a GM.

As the gamemaster your role is to make sure that everyone around the table has a good time, including the GM, and try to give all the players around the table a fair amount of gaming on their own conditions. Example: player 1 really likes fighting and player 2 is really into character development and forming relations between her character, NPC's aswell as the other PC's. So your job as a GM is to give them both something to play with that they enjoy, ofc not all the time but atleast give the players what they want.

The same goes for roleplaying, some people are really into this tactical combat stuff, others look at it as a form of improvisation theater etc etc. Some people want to explore the deeper feelings and emotions of their character others just want to have fun eating chips and mostly listening and not much else while other just want some cool action and thinking of something else then their lives for awhile. People play by different reasons and play in different stiles. Ergo it's not up to the GM to decide what qualifies as "good" role-playing, because the GM only knows what she likes and her own subjective opinion on what is "good". Therefore either everyone should get the experience for good role-playing or neither one.

The Gamemaster is not some omnipotent and omniscient judge that fairly gives out experience to players that have well deserved it, it only encourages the player to either play more like the GM wants them or to feel resented for the way they enjoy playing. So, either the players get less experience for playing the way they want and enjoy or they change their style of play to more suit the GM and have less fun, which is not what games are about.

(tl:dr) Gamemasters shouldn't give out xp for "good" role-playing, her judgement is subjective.

/Poseur

It really depends on the needs of your group. Basically does the group need someone who is awesome and geared up as they are, do they just need a little help.

As a general rule I keep track of how much XP the player who has earned the most has, and just give new players half. Currently that's a 50xp. So a I'd give a new player joining the group 25 xp to use after they've created their character.

Also for ever 10 xp they start with, they get an extra 500 credits for character creation to help close the gear gap.

This allows new characters joining in to specialize a little and possibly pick up some skills and abilities the rest of the party is weak on, so they have a chance to shine.

This method works for my group because the party is already so big though.

If I were playing with 1 established character and starting a 2nd the new character would be as strong or nearly as strong as the original character.

As a player, it's not fun when your character is not on par with the other characters unless you chose it yourself. So I would say give the new char the same xp as the old

Depends upon the system. In Savage Worlds* it is easy to have a Novice character (someone with 0 XP) in a party with people at Legendary (80+ XP) and not have them outshined or in more danger of dying because of it. The recommendation there was that new characters should start at half the XP of the dead character.

* in Savage Worlds you typically gain 1 XP per 2 hour session by recommendation of the book and each Rank is 20 XP in size with improvements to the character (skills, edges) every 5 XP.

I would note that in the current Deluxe edition, you end up creating a new character less one advance eg, if the party is at 36 xp, (mid Seasoned) the new character would start with 31. Although in our games we kept the xp the same.

Also, in my experience the difference between a Legendary party and a Novice Party can be VERY large. depending on the situation.

That sounds like a good way to handle it actually. Though i have not played Savage Worlds.

I might manage it as starting at 1/2 xp, but gaining xp at 2x normal rate until caught up, rationalizing it as being in the presence of such capable individuals helps the new character learn faster.