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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Uller" data-source="post: 6253844" data-attributes="member: 413">Where in the article does it say that you can't gain XP from other sources? All the article says is a monster's XP will be based on this formulation. Wouldn't it be a big divergence from every previous version of D&D if they say that XP is only awarded for killing monsters?  I've never played in a D&D game or DMed a game where XP awards weren't handed out of non-combat related things.  XP award for an encounter that saps X% of party resources yields Y XP and typically takes up about an hour of table time.  That gives you a base line.  So if your adventure is finding your way out of a maze, talking your way through an enemy camp, engaging in intrigue at court or what have you, the DM can substitute that scene, challenge, goal, etc equals an easy, average or hard encounter and hand out XP.  If you are really into awarding individual effort you can give bonus XP to the players that contributed the most (I used to do this...before I got lazy) Some DMs will hand out XP at significant milestones (the Hobbits make it to Rivendel, example), some at the end of each game session for how well the party did that night, some for each individual encounter and challenge, but I don't see anything from WotC saying the only way you get XP is by killing monsters.</blockquote>