Experience

[Aldin]

While I am certain this must have been discussed in the past, a brief scan of the last few pages didn't turn anything up so I'll try for a new thread.

 

Could someone clarify for me how experience works? I have several specific questions:

 

1) Is experience a pool that is split equally between members or is it individual based on kills?

 

1a) If it is a pool, does that mean that running a solo character would mean that charcter got 4x the experience they would have had as part of a 4 person team?

 

1b) If it is a pool and someone dies in a fight is their experience lost or is it divvied up among the surviving members?

 

2) Is experience given for exercising skills such as tool use, nature lore, etc?

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

~Aldin

[Toenail Returns]

1) It is split equally between the party's members.

 

1a) To answer in the clearest way, suppose you kill a goblin. Say you get 8 experience from killing it. So if you have 4 party members then each member gets 2 experience. If you only have 1 party member though than he gets the 8 experience.

 

1b) Neither since they can come back to life just by entering a friendly town.

2) Only if you level up.

[Aldin]

Thanks for the quick response - I understood most of that ;-)

 

Could I clarify just a tad further though?

 

Say a goblin is worth 12xp. My four member party kills it and gets 3xp each, right? What if one member was dead at the time the xp is rewarded - is it:

a) 3xp each including to the dead dude

3xp to each living member, 3xp is lost

c) 4xp to each living member, reward divvied by current party configuration

 

Also, xp is awarded after a battle for the whole battle, right? (Or is it 'as you go'?)

 

Finally, by your answer to my #2, the only time that, say, tool use, would give xp is if the skill use filled some other quest-type requirement. Is this correct?

 

~Aldin

[Aran]

Experience is awarded whenever a monster is killed. If more than one opponents are killed in a battle, the experience is added each time one dies.

[Alorael at Large]

Experience is divided equally among all living members of your party. Dead members don't count. Experience bonuses and penalties apply to each PC's experience portion separately.

 

Note that experience gained from a kill is reduced as your party's level increases. I can't remember if it's based on the average or the highest level, but it has a significant effect. A level 1 PC could kill a goblin for 8 experience and a party of four level 1 PCs could kill it for 2 experience each. After killing thousands of goblins, though, the single character would have a higher level than any of the PCs in the four person party but the four would have a higher combined experience total than the singleton.

 

You get experience for disarming traps, I believe, but not for picking locks.

 

—Alorael, who recommends piling on those penalties and avoiding experience bonuses.

[Aldin]

Great info, thanks to all!

 

~Aldin

[Schrodinger]

Quote:

Originally written by Epicaricacy:
You get experience for disarming traps, I believe, but not for picking locks.

I think it might actually be the reverse. I've leveled up after opening a door, but never after disarming a trap. Unusual.

[-silver-]

I have levelled up after disarming a trap.

[Randomizer]

The experience penalty for level seems to be based on the highest one in the group. By the time you finish the demo part, most experience comes from doing quests and fighting the most pwerful monsters.

 

A singleton gets penalized sooner than a party of four because he goes up in level faster. As a result there are places like near Fort Draco where it takes a long time to go up. The chitrachs in the Eastern Gallery are nuisances because of their low experience.

[Schrodinger]

Just checked- both disarming things and unlocking things gives experience.

[SaDArtist]

here's a tip for you. if you feel a character is lagging behind in level, just get the rest killed before getting a quest reward. my fighter was 2 lvls behind but he managed o catch up that way(actually found this when he got charmed by hitting a wirmkin and he killed every1 else in my party lol) just don't pass thru city gates

 

edit: do you get xp for calming down monsters in outdoors? cos you should, if you didnt have the nat lore, youd be killing them and getting xp

[-silver-]

with rare exceptions, the monsters you calm outdoors aren't worth experience anymore at your level.

[Alorael at Large]

There's nothing stopping you from assaulting every woodland creature you pass.

 

—Alorael, who thought about adding "except basic decency and respect for life." Then he realized that adventurers are habitually lacking in both.

[Aldin]

Quote:

-Alorael, who thought about adding "except basic decency and respect for life." Then he realized that adventurers are habitually lacking in both.

Which, I think, is why I get such a kick out of the woman south of Formello.

~Aldin, professionally inspecting the contents of every cupboard since 1983

[Ubbelubb]

Quote:

Originally written by -silver-:
with rare exceptions, the monsters you calm outdoors aren't worth experience anymore at your level.

I let them roam freely, at least until I need to restore my energy and have a long way to a friendly town.

[Randomizer]

There are two places in the demo where killing rats that will get you a little treasure. On the way to Grindstone along the Giant Lands section south of the fisheerman a rat blocks a cache with a Smite scroll. On the Fort Draco-Formello road another rat slain coughs up a Smite scroll. Otherwise most calm monsters are not normally worth the effort.

 

There is on real reason to kill them all. When you are retracing your route back to town to revive "dead" party members, if your nature lore total drops too much, then calmed monsters will now attack. I had a bad fight in the Honeycomb when the last member kept getting attacked by Warped Wolves as he dragged everyone back to Mertis.