D&D 5E Exp. points in Curse of Strahd

[Arilyn]

I was just curious as to whether "Curse of Strahd" uses experience points or milestones. I like the fact that the players are not going to fly up as fast. It's been crazy lately in both 5e and Pathfinder modules. Can't even catch your breath and you have hit another level. I'm rambling a bit here. I usually use milestones, because I hate tracking exp. points, and I like the freedom to just put up characters when it feels right in the story. Don't like having to throw encounters at players just to get them ready for the next section in a module. Also, it can be hard deciding how much story awards are worth. I've noticed in more modern modules that heaps of exp is given out for rather trivial story details. Anyway, back to original question, how does Curse of Strahd handle it, or is it GM's choice?

 

[Z. H. Darkstar]

For non-AL play, it's pretty much up to the DM. The book lists a couple examples of where to use the milestone rule.

For AL play, you have to use XP for everything but Death House. You have the option of using milestone for Death House ONLY, but in no other part of the book.

Overall, I've noticed a severe lack of non-combat XP awards. Fortunately, CoS has the highest frequency of Random Encounter checks out of all 4 seasons.

 

[Savage Wombat]

I'd go so far as to say that I think CoS encourages milestones. I'm not confident that there's enough pure combat EXP in some areas for the party to level, and there's no guidelines for role-playing or goal exp awards.

 

[thorgrit]

I haven't read the whole book yet, but there's a small table near the beginning that shows the average level range of the various areas. I plan to use that to wing milestone levels. As in, once they've finished doing what's in the level 4 range and want to move on to the level 5 range, I'll likely just level them up to 5. No idea yet if or how I'll convey dangers of traveling to a higher level area at lower levels.

 

[Celtavian]

None of the WotC modules have enough xp from combat to level at the right rate. Even in Out of the Abyss, they have you fighting minotaurs in Chapter 13. A CR 2 creature for what should be level 10 plus creatures will not provide enough xp to level. Not sure why the xp tracking is so poor in all these modules.