I give NO extra XP for roleplaying, writing backgrounds, drawing PC portraits, bringing snacks, showing up for sessions, brilliant ideas, or anything else. I give XP for exactly what challenges the PCs overcome. However, I use a system called Player Experience Points that awards the players for all the above "out of game" things.
I've never understood why Marduke the wizard would learn new spells, get better at skills, become a better fighter, get tougher, etc. just because Joey (Marduke's player) was a good actor, new the rules well, or brought some extra-yummy snacks to the game session. I think 3E advances a little too quickly and I like for the PCs to advace closely together so this works pretty well. Here's my PEP system:
Player Experience Points (PEP)
A player can earn Player Experience Points (PEP) through exceptional roleplaying and game related activities such as painting miniatures, writing a detailed background for their PC, making miniature scale scenery, creating or finding illustrations of their PC or equipment, etc. Some example PEP awards follow:
• Exceptional role-playing = 1 - 5 PEP per game session
• Heroic actions = 1 PEP per action
• Miniatures = 1 - 3 PEP (1 for buying, 1 - 2 for painting)
• Character development (PC background, family tree, etc.) = 1 - 3 PEP
• Campaign development (new prestige class, organization, spell, etc) = 1 - 3 PEP
• Illustrations of PCs, NPCs, locations, symbols, etc = 1 - 4 PEP
• Exceptional DM suckup = 1 – 3 PEP
• Bringing group goodies: 1 – 3 PEP
Players can spend PEP to help keep their characters alive. For every PEP a player spends, she can roll one extra die and keep the better result. PEP can be spent on any die roll but no more than 1 PEP per character level can be spent on a single role. In other words, you can't roll more extra dice than your PC's level. The decision to spend PEP on a die roll must be made before the roll is made. For example, Malaran is a 7th-level brigand and Dave, being the roleplaying juggernaut he is, has acquired a whopping 25 PEP over the last several weeks. During a harrowing game session, Malaran is being chased by several displacer beasts and he sees a chasm in front of him. If Malaran can make the jump, he'll leave the displacer beasts behind. Dave decides to spend 3 PEP on the Jump check (which lets him roll a total of four d20 and choose the best result for the check). Dave could spend up to 7 PEP (getting a total of 8 dice to choose from) for Malaran's actions with any single action. As another example, Clint is tired of Neilo being a wimp with low hit points so when Neilo becomes a 5th-level wizard, Clint decides to spend his maximum of 5 PEP so he can roll a total of six d4s for hit points and take the best result.
PEP only affect single die rolls. When multiple dice are rolled (such as spell damage or some large weapons) only a number of dice equal to the character’s level can be affected. In other words, a single PEP can only affect a single die. For example, Neilo the 7th-level wizard casts a lightning bolt that deals 7d6 points of damage. Clint only has 4 PEP left and decides to spend them all to get the most out of his damage roll. Clint can now reroll the four lowest dice in his damage roll, taking the better result of each die.
Named or “special” NPCs get a number of PEP equal to their character level for each encounter.
If a player’s character dies, any number of the player’s PEP can be carried over as XP to a newly created character on a 1 PEP equals 100 XP basis. Likewise, the player can choose to keep the remaining PEP to acquire extra die rolls as above for the newly created character. PEP cannot be spent to affect a newly created character in any way but determining starting XP until it actually enters play.
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