What Is an Experience Point Worth?

It seems like a simple question, but the way you answer it may, in effect, determine the metaphysics of your game. Many RPGs use some sort of "experience point" system to model growth and learning. The progenitor of this idea is, of course, Dungeons & Dragons; the Experience Point (XP) system has been a core feature of the game from the beginning.

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Yet what exactly an experience point is remains unclear.

Think about it: can anyone earn an XP under the right circumstances? Or must one possess a class? If so, what qualifies an individual for a class? The 1st-edition Dungeon Master’s Guide specifies that henchmen earn 50 percent of the group’s XP award. In other words, they get a full share awarded, but then only "collect" half the share. Where does the other half go? Did it ever exist in the first place?

These esoteric questions were highlighted for me recently when I recreated a 20-year-old D&D character from memory for a new campaign I’m playing in. All I could remember of this character from my high school days was her race and class (half-elf Bladesinger, because I liked the cheese, apparently) and that the campaign fizzled out after only a handful of sessions. If I made it to level 2 back then, I couldn’t rightly say.

I asked my Dungeon Master (DM)—the same fellow who had run the original game for me back in the days of the Clinton administration—whether I could start a level ahead, or at least with a randomly-determined amount of XP (say, 200+2D100). Being the stern taskmaster that he is, he shot down both suggestions, saying instead that I’d be starting at 0 XP and at level 1, just like the rest of the party. As justification, he said that my character had amassed 0 XP for this campaign.

As the character probably only had a few hundred XP to her name to begin with, I let the matter slide. But it did get me thinking: do Experience Points only exist within the context of individual campaigns? Was my DM onto something?

This sort of thinking can in turn lead down quite a rabbit hole. Are classes themselves an arbitrary construct? Do they exist solely for players, or are non-player characters (NPCs) also capable of possessing classes and levels? Different editions of D&D have presented different interpretations of this question, from essentially statting up all NPCs as monsters, with their own boutique abilities (as in the earliest iterations of the game), to granting NPCs levels in "non-adventuring classes" (the famous 20th-level Commoner of 3rd-edition days).

The current edition of D&D has come back around to limiting classes and XP awards to player-characters only—which brings us back to our original question: are Experience Points, like character classes, meant to function solely as an abstract game mechanic, or are they an objective force within the game world? How do you, the reader at home, treat XP in your campaigns?

contributed by David Larkins

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

1 XP per GP, just like Gary handed down on stone tablets.

You may find your silver, copper, and electrum pieces and weep.

 

[Blue]

If the classes were more generic I could agree with that, but some have very specific class based abilities. Only a Wizard has the same skill in memorizing magic spells and using a certain range of spells. There are other magic using classes but they all differ in technique, range of spells available (not the distance at which you cast a spell), and other abilities. That speaks to a difference in training / methodology... in essence a different class. In game they might have 1 or 5 or 10 names for it, but they all have certain training / techniques in common. Hence, a "class".

While on the player side this is the way that they mechanically can present those features, the DM is not under that limitation. There can be plenty of NPCs who are consistent in-world on how they cast but are not based on the Wizard class. Monsters with class features similar to their casting, etc.

 

[Sunseeker]

"Experience Points" are just a numerical representation of in-game experience gained by an in-came character while participating in in-game activities. NPCs can gain experience, gain classes and advance in level just fine. They are simply not the party and not the focus of the story so we don't talk about it, if an NPC survives an encounter, they get XP but they're less likely to ever be involved in another encounter. I think it's odd that one might say NPCs cannot gain classes or levels, if that were true, how would the PC paladin ever get trained? To whom would the Wizard go to learn from? While some classes are self-learning (like Sorcerers) and some degree of self-teaching can occur in all classes, most classes would at least require teaching for level 1. Which would imply that someone else has made it to level 1 to pass on that knowledge, a someone else that is likely an NPC.

 

[SMHWorlds]

Experience Points in the various D&D editions (and some other games and OSR games) is very much everything that has been discussed. It is pacing and it is a judge of experience and a way judge the relative power of a character. In my own head XP are the hand of fate and the currency of the classical hero rolled into one.

The player character is a practically unique individual whose pool of destiny and personal ambition allow them to grow and thrive in a world full of men and beasts that lead stagnant lives. Yes many NPCs are former adventures and some are current adventures but we meet them at a point (or several points) in time where their lives intersect with the lives of the PCs. As classical heroes (i.e. larger than life rock stars as opposed to "good guys") the PCs have this pool of experience to help them over come the tragedies and challenges of their lives. As mechanical as XP are they are the stuff of legends and fuel for the PCs' story to continue on.

One way to look at it is look at how a PC becomes an NPC when they become a lich or "turn evil" (depending on the campaign). They stop growing and stop being able to tap into that quality that makes them great. Greatness fuel might be one way to look at it.

But mechanically an XP is worth one moment of experience, one thought, or one moment of reflection on what has happened. So it takes roughly 300 of those moments to get to 2nd level from 1st. It would take 600 more, 900 total, to get to 3rd etc.. That is how I kind of look at it.

 

[Scoobs]

You can't sell experience, but I suppose you could sell training. Perhaps it would grant a percentage bonus over experience calculated at the end of a session, and only acting as a buff for that level until you 'outgrow' the training that was taught.

 

[Warbringer]

Will answer this once right after

"how many angels can fit on the tip of a pin.?"

 

[Oryzarius]

For one interesting, published perspective on this question, see JürgenWerks' excellent (and, now, pay-what-you-wish) PDF Doomed Slayers.

 

[jmucchiello]

"Mommy, Greebzz said I was worthless."
"Oh, don't listen to him. One day you will grow up to be a strong warrior who goes out raiding the local human villages of livestock, ale, and gold. Other kobolds will be proud of you."
The boy's eyes gleam with pride as his mother continues.
"And then a group of four or five 'civilized' folk will sweep through our caves slaughtering us to last kobold."
"So, ultimately, I am worth nothing."
"Oh, no, child," she says cupping his chin in her hand. "Those civilized folk are only killing you because you are worth 5 or 6 experience points to each of them. So you see, you are not worthless."
"I'm worth ten and ten again x-spear-ee-ants points."
"25 or so, yes."

 

[Jhaelen]

For D&D-like games I've eliminated XP since we started playing 4e. In 13th Age XP no longer exist - not even as an option.

By contrast in D&D 3e XP were even used to pay for item creation or the casting of powerful spells.

I still use them in games like FFG's Star Wars or Ars Magica. Neither game has levels, and a rather loose concept of 'classes'.
In Star Wars, it's used as a currency to buy additional abilities, increase skills, or follow additional career paths.

In Ars Magica, XP are mostly just a measurement for training. You can earn plenty of xp without ever participating in an adventure by spending seasons studying, experimenting, or simply doing whatever your occupation requires. If you do engage in adventures, it allows for quicker advancement, though.

Earthdawn is similar to FFG's Star Wars but has a concept of 'levels' that even finds an expression in-game:
It causes your reputation to increase and it's assumed that nps have a pretty good idea about your power-level.
Similar to old-school D&D, certain levels also translate into titles that are used in-game.

So, there's all kinds of different ways xp are used (or not used) in RPG systems. I don't think there's a 'right' or 'wrong' to use them,
but these days I prefer to avoid them, if possible.

 

[Connorsrpg]

I've always liked XP, but have grown to love systems where there are fewer of them and you get advances (rather than everything at a whole level).

However, this makes giving out RP XP awards harder etc. I have especially noticed this with short lunchtime sessions with students learning the game. I really want to award every attempt to RP.

So, we have moved all the games we play to 100 XP per level/tier etc. BUT at every 25 you get an advance. About to try this with 5E D&D (similar to 13Age) where you choose a level ability every 25 XP (and get the rest at 100).

Just makes it easier to hand out off the cuff arbitrary awards. But everything you had out can be measured as a % of their level (Taking inspiration from the Unearthed Arcana article on the subject).

We also like the idea of XP being used for Bennies, but working that out with new system.