Hail, Honorable Warriors of the Drakaran Empire!
Yep, experience has been calculated, and various folks are advancing in level. Five characters advance in observable skills, and for comparison purposes I'll indicate rough progress for everyone.
Isaku, Zenako, Ashi and Hatori all advance to 3rd level and are about 1/4 of the way to 4th level.
Mulan also advances to 3rd level, but is a little behind the leaders of the pack due to a later start.
Gorvak doesn't quite make the cut, due to an even later start -- but
will pretty much be guaranteed of advancing next time unless he dies in
the attempt...
Meanwhile, the absent Kit, going deep undercover in the local underworld, is having unmentionable experiences as well which have her about 3/4 of the way to 3rd level.
And the poor lads Noku and Zazu, who spent a little time communing directly with their ancestors, thanks to their other recent experiences (in addition to dying) are back to about 1/2 way from 2nd to 3rd.
General note -- I was quite pleased with the overall level of playing 'in character' last session, everyone on the expedition got a little extra for that, which is not included in the 'generic' experience that gets halved for absentees. The roleplaying awards are not very large, but they can help -- just try to play in character, and you should make out okay in that regard. Which means that sometimes doing something that the character would do even when the player knows it is not the most effective choice (or may even be an error!) is not totally unrewarding. Basically, the more you stick to playing your character the way the character itself would act, the better!
In addition, there was a fairly decent 'story award' for completely clearing both the Keep and the Mine in a timely fashion -- that amount didn't make a difference this time for anyone except Mulan, getting her past the 3000 mark by a fair margin, but it was definitely a significan part of the total award. Not all experience comes from slaying monsters! Story awards are a way of rewarding characters who succeed in the task set them, accomplishing goals etc., without having to slay monsters as a requirement for the gaining of insight and ability. Unlike specific bonuses for players, I am including story awards in the generic experience that gets halved for absentees, as there may be a fair amount of such experience in the overall totals for the world. And things like liberating slaves and letting them actually have some of the loot, most honorable! (Okay, pragmatic too, y'all couldn't carry all that copper anyways without really burdening yourselves, but even so.)
I believe I have a good idea what everyone is doing for their advancement -- but if there are any special things I should know or questions that you have, feel free to let me know!
Pete, have Laura roll a hit die with you there to observe and that will be fine, Mulan is clearly continuing on as a Ranger I presume. Do you own Masters of the Wild? If so, might take a look at possible prestige classes for Mulan, in case there is something she really likes that she might need to take a feat for...
Eric, I popped over to the website and downloaded some stuff, so no need to email me the stuff we were looking at. (Assuming I downloaded the right stuff, of course!)
All for now... -- Ernie III