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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Paul Farquhar" data-source="post: 9791210" data-attributes="member: 6906155">XP rules have always been hand waved for combat as well as non-combat encounters. Different tables play D&D with different emphasis, and XP is awarded to reward the activates the table wants to encourage, in a quantity to match the desired rate of levelling. Ergo Gygax awarded XP for killing monsters and accumulated wealth. Any other activity was played for love (aka no reward). Later, as social activities became more standard, they were seen as a way to bypass combat, and thus awarded however many xp you would have gained by murderhoboing it. 3e then made things even more complicated by including magic items into progression. If you look at CRPGs like BG1, they award xp for completing objectives based on the desired rate of progression.So yes, it’s all completely arbitrary, which is why WotC has largely dumped xp and made milestone levelling standard. You gain a level whenever you reach a certain point in the plot. How you get there is irrelevant.The fact is, xp, gold and level really doesn’t matter anyway. There is no winning or losing in D&D. It’s just brownie points to make the players feel good.</blockquote>