As a character journeys to far off lands on heroic quests and engages the forces of evil in combat, they will acquire Experience Points (XP). Once significant amounts of experience are earned, the character will go up in level. Each level provides a designated amount of Skill Points and Attribute Points. Also, with each level of experience, a character's DP (Damage Points) and SP (Spell Points) will increase.
There are two ways to receive XP.
1) Engage and defeat something in combat. Soundly defeating an opponent means they have surrendered, died or been knocked unconscious. They are at your characters mercy. All PCs involved in the melee receive the number of XP equal to the opponents highest combat ability divided by the number of PCs involved in the fight. Combat attributes include: 1) maximum amount of damage the opponent can do or 2) maximum number of hits (DP) the opponent can take. Therefore, defeating an Anaconda (CON 26, DAM 24) would give the players involved in the melee 26 XP to be divided equally. Defeating a Bat (CON 2 DAM 4) would result in 4 XP to be divided by the players (Numbers that do not divide evenly are lost). Humanoid targets are based solely on the damage they can inflict. Defeating an evil knight weilding a broadsword (1d10), having a Damage Bonus (DB) of +6 would result in 16 (10+6) XP.
The above examples are given to 1st level creatures and opponents who have no particular experience or tactics. However, players should be rewarded for defeating higher level opponents. If the PCs are facing off against a fleshed out NPC of greater experience, use 10% of the opponents experience category to determine the number of XP received. For example, for a character (PC or NPC) to reach level 5, he must earn 1200 XP. Defeating a 5th level character results in 10% of that characters XP (120 in this case) going to the victor(s).
Size also plays an important factor in rewarding XP. The greater the size of the opponent, the greater the reward. Whatever XP are calculated for an opponent as above, multply that number by 1.5 for targets of size Large. Targets of size Huge receive a x2 multiply, Giant receive x3 and Super Large a x4. This multipler applies to either method of determining XP, whether it be based on Combat Attribute or Experience Level. Therefore, if the same 5th level opponent mentioned above happened to be a Giant (size rating Large), victorious PCs would receive 240 XP (120 x 2).
All of the above numbers apply to a sound defeat of the enemy. However, penalties are applied if the enemy gets away. If the PCs cause the opponent to retreat but don't actually defeat them, the XP value is cut in half. If the 5th level Giant in our example determines that a retreat is in order and manages to get away from the PCs, the 240 XP normally received for a defeat is cut in half for only 120.
2) For certain quests, the GM can apply an XP number. The level of the quest determines the XP. A simply quest to retrieve a stolen ring might only be worth 50 XP. However, if the ring was stolen by and in the possession of an ancient dragon, it might be worth 2000 XP. Points are awarded immediately upon finishing the quest. Quest XP differs from Combat XP in that it is not divided among the PCs. Each person who participates in and completes the quest receives the full Quest XP amount. However, the GM can reduce the Quest XP a specific player receives if that PC was not present for the entire quest. Quest XP is designed to keep players involved on specific quests and not just roaming the praries killing off massive numbers of small defenseless animals for their XP points. The GM is free to decide if a kill is too far below a character to be of any value. A 10th level Knight killing a single rabbit for his dinner would hardly be of any experience value and should not be rewarded with XP. However, for a 1st level Rogue, tracking and killing a rabbit should be rewarded with the 2 XP a rabbit is worth.
One final note on Experience. A PC must actually be involved in the combat to be rewarded. Even if the player never actually scores a hit, if he helped in some way (either as a distraction, field medic, etc.) he should receive XP. Also, if a player is taken out of the fight (knocked unconscious, teleported away, magically frozen, etc.), XP is still received. The only case where XP would not be received is when they choose to not enter the fight at all (hiding behind a rock, running away, turning invisible and staying out of the way, etc.), flee from combat before it is finished or get knocked unconscious (or killed).
View the Experience Table
Or proceed to the next section, Spending Skill and Attribute points