What was Sam's level here?

Also desu Mr Froto probably gained most levels in the story - your "kill = XP" logic is really best left at board games.

The regular mook-hobbits also banded together and slaughtered the rest of the thugs afterwards, so they couldn't have been that tough.

you could say he grows as a person (though that probably applies more to merry and pippin, who grow up a lot, than frodo, who becomes a bit of a PTSD case) but he doesn't really develop any marketable skills.

>best in an empire is higher than best in a continent
What.

I'd disagree with the Conan one.
He was repeatedly spoken of as one of the best warriors anyone had ever seen in Hyboria, the greatest of all pirates, and had led several downfalls of kingdoms.

Roleplaying exp is important but hard to guage. It ultimately comes down to gm bias, and can result in favoring certain players over others and breed resentment within the group. Having simple definable and measurable criterion for the awarding of exp, such as kills or feats like disarming a trap etc, makes it more fair and generally promotes better relations between the players. At least in my experience, so when I dm I hesitate to hand out role playing exp, but I do hand out exp for other actions that can be taken by members of the party that aren't killy.

Frodo does kinda develop PTSD but if you read closely the part where they come back, it is Frodo who rallies and commands the Hobbits with just a couple of words. At the end of the books he has turned into a natural leader.

And I never could figure out if he really developed PTSD. I think he was the only Hobbit to whom the Shire had just become too small.

As a player than has seen a GM give exp for doing stuff, yes you are quite correct in the way that it breeds a little bit of resentment.

That player kept trying to do shit that has nothing to do with the goal, so he could get extra exp, and was honestly quite annoying.

Nevertheless, I do wish there was a way to mechanize it so it doesn't boil down to that.

DESU in our rounds we just hand out levels/XP when the group feels like it. We usually stay on the low ones a bit longer and rarely play campaigns up to the final levels in class-based, cause they're typically broken. In the end it's all hand waving anyway.

One of the best ways i've seen it handled is to put it to a vote at the end of the session. have several different categories worth certain amounts of exp and then let the players decide who earned them. It doesn't breed as much resentment as the dm just handing out exp for what he thinks is good, though you still get players who are offended when they thought they did a great job and then they don't win the vote.

Fair enough, and that would work well depending on the group to just fiat it like that, but in my experience players generally really really like the sense of accomplishment and progression they get from leveling up, and they want to do it quickly. Even splits of exp generally works decently since they all level at more or less the same rate.

>conan
>not the best on the empire or continent
You wut? Hell you could argue that he was the best in the world

It's true but we've all played for quite a while and we're in it for the story. So typically the reason that everyone gains a level is:

1. Often: We've passed a significant point in the story. Time to raise the stakes. Everyone gets a level.

2. Rarely: All the players go "Yo GM we're getting bored, we've seen everything and you're taking your sweet time with this arc, cough up a level."

This mainly leads to no one doing anything for the XP. All that's done is for the story. But I admit it might not work with another group.

Frodo's the one who develops magical abilities, which are prettty rare in Tolkien. He's able to command Gollum, and lay that curse on him to get him to jump into the fire if he ever touches the ring.

Not him, but

> it is Frodo who rallies and commands the Hobbits with just a couple of words
Is wrong. Frodo does the least of the 4 when it comes to the Scouring of the Shire. Merry even points it out, that he won't be able to do anything just by looking shocked and sad. It's the two of them, Merry and Pippin, that take charge.

>And I never could figure out if he really developed PTSD
Check out letter 246. timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/the_letters_of_j.rrtolkien.pdf

>'Alas, there are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured', said Gandalf (III 268) - not in Middle-earth. Frodo was sent or allowed to pass over Sea to heal him- if that could be done, before he died.

Most of the people on that list were between levels five and nine if we go by their actual capabilities.

Must be written by Ed Greenwood. Only he would claim his OC donut steal was a better wizard than fucking Merlin.

>Frodo's the one who develops magical abilities, which are prettty rare in Tolkien. He's able to command Gollum, and lay that curse on him to get him to jump into the fire if he ever touches the ring.

he uses the ring for that, i wouldn't say it was "his" power.

I think it might work better as 'country'?

I'm not so sure; he retains some of the abilities even after the ring is destroyed, like his prophecy about the number and naming of Sam's children, and how Sam will become the mayor of Hobbitton.

Empires can span contents

isn't that the result of Frodo carrying the ring so long into such peril, as well as being stabbed by the morgul blade he partially crossed over into the spirit world which even the destruction of the ring couldn't reverse?

Or the result of him actually exerting power with the Ring's help, such that he can do lesser amounts later even without the Ring. The books aren't that specifics in the exact metaphysics as to how magical power works. Either way though, Frodo has a small degree of supernatural power by the end of things that he certainly had no evidence of having beforehand. That counts as XP growth and abilities in my book.

Nope. But this would also mean that eventually anyone's magic user would be as good or better than Merlin.

Chasing off Shelob isn't as big I deal as you might think. Spiders, especially web-making venomous spiders, are very risk adverse. They aren't built for an even fight, and their primary weapon (venom) has a very high calorie cost to produce. A bite that doesn't become a meal is a serious and possibly fatal waste of resources, depending on how fast it can replenish it.

Sam was alert, untied, armed, and waving around a magical artifact that was diametrically opposed to creatures of darkness. Shelob by comparison was wounded and had already used her bite. It was a horribly lopsided scenario for her, so she cut her losses and ran.

Sorry I forgot also the paragraph after that. Please do not save and spread that screencap without this.

My GM just gives rp xp as a group sum.

Strictly speaking Merlin wouldn't have been a wizard anyway. He'd be some flavor of fiend-blooded sorcerer.

See he's the problem
Shelob had about as much in common with a house spider as Smaug with a monitor lizard

Her venom was without limit and the only reason she ran was because she had forgotten what pain felt like and as a result was enraged and confused
if not for that she could have easily killed Sam right then and there

Remember: this is not just a bigass spider, it's the daughter of the very concept of hunger and fear

You don't have to be anything special to stab a bitch, just quick, lucky and out of fucks to give.

And what do you mean the rest of the fellowship was snowflakes? They were competent hero types chosen for a dangerous mission, there's nothing bizarre or out of place about that.

Why did you make two threads about this?

>only combat gives exp
Gross.
>characters gaining separate exp
Fucking disgusting.