How experience works in Avernum 2

[Rich]

I just restarted a game in Avernum 2, this time picking up Becca right off the bat. Then I went through the normal beginning quests, and noticed that my characters are going up in experience much, much more slowly - even when I leave Becca out on the sidelines and let everyone else fight. I nearly finished clearing out the Nephilim fort before my Slith (no extra abilities) got to second level!

 

Is the entire party given an XP handicap by having a powerful fighter like Becca along for the ride? And is everyone given experience equally, regardless of who does the actual fighting / killing?

 

If so, maybe it's best if I keep the party down to three until everyone reaches eigth level, before asking Becca to join...

 

Rich

[We Didn't Shard of Fire]

I'm no expert, but I know that if your party's level increases, they'll get less or even no experience for creatures.

[Alorael at Large]

Experience is divided evenly among members of your party and then modified for each character by traits so that those who have, for example, Elite Warrior and Natural Mage will take much longer to gain levels than characters with Cursed at Birth and Totally Inept. The amount of experience you get is reduced as you gain levels, so that killing goblins because absolutely worthless for a level fifty party.

 

—Alorael, who doesn't know if the amount of experience gained is modified by highest level or average level. If the former, and the former seems equally likely, having Becca in your party could be crippling. Try depositing her somewhere you can leave party members and see if experience picks up.

[Rich]

I think experience must be adjusted for either the average level or the max level of the whole party BEFORE it is divided up among players. After some adventuring, Becca (L8) had received just about the same amount of experience as my level 1 Slith. Becca reached level 9 just shortly after my Slith reached level 2 (which would be because her Elite Warrior penalty is slightly higher than the Slith race penalty.) So in spite of their dramatically different levels, they both get the same amount of experience. I'm definitely getting a penalty for having a high level character in the party!

 

I restarted the game with just three players, and they're gaining levels much faster now. I figure when I get up to 8th level, that's when I should go pay a visit to Becca.

 

(PS: For some reason, evey time I type 'Slith', I keep typing 'Sith' by accident. Damn that George Lucas!)

[Lilith]

Be warned that experience penalties for race and positive traits in Avernum 2 are extremely harsh. For example, a total 70% penalty literally means that you'll be gaining 70% less experience. Avernum 3 changes this, but it's still an oddity of A2 that has to be kept in mind.

[Drakefyre]

Well, it's also a matter of splitting experience between three people and four people - when they would have gotten 20 xp apiece before, now they'll all get 15.

[Rich]

It's not an issue of how many people are in the party, it's about the entire party being penalized for having someone with high experience in it. I went up levels much faster playing four L1 characters than I did with three L1 characters and one L8 Becca. To settle any doubt, I noticed that Becca was receiving experience at almost the same rate as my L1 Slith. (If you take Attribute and race experience penalties into account - she has a 30% Elite Warrior penalty and he has a 20% Slith penalty - they went up in experience at the same rate.)

 

Playing with three characters is just to get them up to level 8 fast enough so I can get her to join without fear of penalty.

[Alorael at Large]

Then it probably does adjust for the highest level in your party before distributing. Avoid Becca until your levels are high enough for it to be reasonable.

 

—Alorael, who believes A1 and A2 apply the penalty or bonus to each point as well. If you get 10 experience points and have a 30% penalty, you could get anywhere from 0 to 10 points, though 7 is the average. A3 finally made the adjustments static and reasonable.