Xp for non adventurers

[Tonguez]

If you really must think of a method then assign a challenge rating to the item he's making/researching. Perhaps the PC's are collecting ingredients for a spell that's so challenging to cast that it deserves a CR. Of course this doesn't work for PC's when they cast their own spells.

NPC's face challenges at their jobs, and they get XP for it. A 1st level Blacksmith trying to craft a masterwork sword will get a TON of XP for it since it's far beyond his normal abilities. A 15th level blacksmith probably won't get any. Figure it's CR 5 or something, that's fair. It requires just as much work as anything else though.

I support this idea the DMG states that XP should be got for overcoming challenges and although a lot of people intepret this to mean 'kill monster x who is standing between you and treasure' this is not necessarily so.

When Einstein came up with the theory of relativity he was facing a challenge of DC 40 proportions (it was an entirely new way of seeing the 'scientific' world) so he made his Skill: Knowledge(Physics) check and beat the DC and was thus struck with inspiration (okay give it a CR 6 and calculate XP accordingly but)

Personally I give skill bonuses (for innovative skill use) which break level limits in addition to XP so a Level 1 Einstein could still have Knowledge 20 ranks imc