This is about D&D 5e specifically, but can be applied to many games.

Do you normally award experience points to the party as a group, or to individuals? For instance, if they defeat an ogre, everyone gets a cut of the XP, naturally.

But what happens if a player fights that ogre 1 on 1 and wins -- does the party split the gains, or is it just the player?

Do you split the awards to create a team spirit or do you let the increased risk the player takes earn more reward?

I am trying to decide how to handle it since we're in a period of downtime in my game where the players could pursue whatever tasks they want, which means some could go hunting monsters -- and if they go alone, they could get more experience if it's awarded to them alone as opposed to taking that and splitting it with the party anyway. (Or they might not bother going alone then.)

The correct answer for this is heavily dependent upon what you are trying to achieve.  That said, my defaults are:

The characters in the party at the time of the action get the points.  A temporary split to achieve the same goal, the whole party benefits.  Going on an adventure with some characters not there, then those characters aren't in the party for those awards.  (In the case of people arriving late or leaving early, I'll usually just eyeball the proportion based on time and accomplishments.  There's no point in being overly precise.)

I also give a +20% bonus to any character in the party that isn't max level (i.e. highest level in the party).  Wandering monsters give 10% of the usual XP (to make them function appropriately as something the party wants to avoid).  Quest awards are about 50 points per level (with "level" defined as what I consider the rough challenge of the adventure).  I usually just roll trap XP into such awards for easier tracking.  

Some of that isn't directly relevant to your question, but it is an example of deciding what you want to achieve, and then set the XP to match.

I used to really favor individual experience rewards, including subjective rewards like "role-playing" and "most improved player" stuff.  Now I'm more a fan of group rewards that are objective in nature.  It keeps people focused in the game, and helps maintain a "one for all, all for one" kind of vibe - at least in D&D.   In general I prefer improvement systems like BRP/Stormbringer/Runequest, which aren't DM/GM dependent.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;1104587This is about D&D 5e specifically, but can be applied to many games.

Do you normally award experience points to the party as a group, or to individuals? For instance, if they defeat an ogre, everyone gets a cut of the XP, naturally.

But what happens if a player fights that ogre 1 on 1 and wins -- does the party split the gains, or is it just the player?

Do you split the awards to create a team spirit or do you let the increased risk the player takes earn more reward?

I am trying to decide how to handle it since we're in a period of downtime in my game where the players could pursue whatever tasks they want, which means some could go hunting monsters -- and if they go alone, they could get more experience if it's awarded to them alone as opposed to taking that and splitting it with the party anyway. (Or they might not bother going alone then.)

I usually put a flat "per character" xp value on an encounter. So a Troll would be worth X experience regardless of how many characters were present. But then I shoot for a 4-6 characters expected party size.
If a single or duo characters were present, I'd try to adjust xp values accordingly. But then I usually eyeball xp values instead of going by the book.

For 5e I just used the rules as written.  I found it lacking but then my favorite XP system is Rolemaster.  You get XP for what you do, plain and simple.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;1104587I am trying to decide how to handle it since we're in a period of downtime in my game where the players could pursue whatever tasks they want, which means some could go hunting monsters -- and if they go alone, they could get more experience if it's awarded to them alone as opposed to taking that and splitting it with the party anyway. (Or they might not bother going alone then.)

If they go alone, might they die?  

Giving SOME players more opportunity to play isn't really fair to the other players that are committed to showing up to the game when and where it is scheduled week after week.  Imagine how it would impact the game if one player were 3-4 levels higher than everyone else at the table.  

XP Farming is a bad system; XP awarded for kills by its very nature creates an incentive to kill things even if it isn't necessary.  To gently dissuade players from a 'scorched earth' play style, you might consider awarding XP for completing adventures.  

If you start with an XP budget for an adventure, you can award the full XP when they complete the adventure - even if they completely avoid every monster and trap.  Now by being stealthy and clever they can advance just as much as if they kill everything...  

If you feel that extra XP is warranted during downtime, make it contingent on their goal.  If someone wants to found an orphanage and someone else wants to bring in 100 orc scalps, you could make each worth the same amount of XP - if they both succeed fully they can both get the full XP; if they partially succeed they get less.  If missions are roughly equally difficult, given enough time and missions, they should average out to the same (but it is possible for someone to 'get ahead' at least for some time with unusual luck).

If the player fights one on one with no input or support from the other players then it is up to you. But in 5e you can adjust the EXP based on this. So the player who fought gets the appropriate amount of EXP for that CR one on one. And the rest get alot less. They still helped the character get to that fight and circumstance may have forced them to sit it out.

Or you can split it evenly. Or not use EXP at all and its all milestones.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;1104587This is about D&D 5e specifically, but can be applied to many games.

Do you normally award experience points to the party as a group, or to individuals? For instance, if they defeat an ogre, everyone gets a cut of the XP, naturally.

But what happens if a player fights that ogre 1 on 1 and wins -- does the party split the gains, or is it just the player?

Do you split the awards to create a team spirit or do you let the increased risk the player takes earn more reward?

I am trying to decide how to handle it since we're in a period of downtime in my game where the players could pursue whatever tasks they want, which means some could go hunting monsters -- and if they go alone, they could get more experience if it's awarded to them alone as opposed to taking that and splitting it with the party anyway. (Or they might not bother going alone then.)

Everyone involved gets the same XP. If he solos an ogre while the others are involved on the field battling other opponents (splitting the opponents within a single encounter) then they all get equal shares. If the encounters happen on entirely separate fields, then they are separate encounters and only the PCs in the encounter get XP.

FIrst of all, I determine group accomplishments and derive a baseline XP reward from that. Then I go over my notes for individual performance and adjust accordingly.

Well, in this case, since there's downtime, the party won't be meeting for regular sessions, but if someone independently wants to do something they can.

This naturally favors people with less busy schedules though. So it could be perfectly possible that someone runs up their XP over everyone else.

My thought was that I will let them run solo but everyone still gets a cut of the experience even if they're not there, so it's still a party gain, that person just becomes a sort of MVP for doing more. But they're still at risk of dying while doing all this ...

In my games, experience is split equally, and everyone who was present gets it. If someone didn't participate in any way whatsoever with an encounter AND were not at risk (so, like, an audience watching a duel), they don't get the xp. But even if all they did was hide behind a table or something as long as there was some possible chance of their being at risk, they get the share.

I normally do XP award at end of session, as an even split. I might give the PC who Solo'd the ogre Inspiration instead. There may be extreme cases where I deny a PC an XP award, though.