Experience
Experience points (“xp”) are awarded by the GM for slaying monsters and recovering treasure. The GM may also choose to award additional experience points in any situation in which he or she feels that the players deserve it, although the authors recommend that such instances should not be overly frequent nor the awards made too large. For treasure recovered, the guideline is 1 xp to the party per gold piece value, assuming that the money in question is successfully extracted from the adventure area and brought to a suitable home base or town.
An exception is magic items, which should result in an experience point award of no more than one tenth of their gold piece value if kept. (Full experience may be awarded if such an item is sold to an NPC.) Award experience for slaying monsters according to the table given hereafter.
Note that if the player character level vastly exceeds the monster level, a proportional reduction should be made. Hence, for example, a tenth level fighter slaying an orc in single combat should expect no more than a single experience point for so doing. Monster levels may be calculated as follows:
| Monster Level | Experience Value |
|---|---|
| 1 | 20 xp or below |
| 2 | 21-60 |
| 3 | 61-150 |
| 4 | 151-275 |
| 5 | 276-500 |
| 6 | 501-1,100 |
| 7 | 1,101-3,000 |
| 8 | 3,001-5,250 |
| 9 | 5,251-10,000 |
| 10 | 10,001 or higher |
The “monster level” for experience point purposes should not be confused with the creature's equivalent level for combat purposes.
Experience point awards for monsters slain
| HD | Base | Per hp | Special | Exceptional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 1-1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 25 |
| 1-1 to 1 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 35 |
| 1+1 to 2 | 30 | 1 | 10 | 50 |
| 2+1 to 3 | 50 | 2 | 15 | 60 |
| 3+1 to 4 | 75 | 3 | 30 | 70 |
| 4+1 to 5 | 110 | 4 | 45 | 80 |
| 5+1 to 6 | 160 | 6 | 70 | 120 |
| 6+1 to 7 | 225 | 8 | 120 | 200 |
| 7+1 to 8 | 350 | 10 | 200 | 300 |
| 8+1 to 9 | 600 | 12 | 300 | 400 |
| 9+1 to 10 | 700 | 13 | 400 | 500 |
| 10+1 to 11 | 900 | 14 | 500 | 600 |
| 11+1 to 12 | 1,200 | 16 | 700 | 850 |
| 12+1 to 13 | 1,500 | 17 | 800 | 1,000 |
| 13+1 to 14 | 1,800 | 18 | 950 | 1,200 |
| 14+1 to 15 | 2,100 | 19 | 1,100 | 1,400 |
| 15+1 to 16 | 2,400 | 20 | 1,250 | 1,600 |
| 16+1 to 17 | 2,700 | 23 | 1,400 | 1,800 |
| 17+1 to 18 | 3,000 | 25 | 1,550 | 2,000 |
| 18+1 to 19 | 3,500 | 28 | 1,800 | 2,250 |
| 19+1 to 20 | 4,000 | 30 | 2,100 | 2,500 |
| 20+1 to 21 | 4,500 | 33 | 2,350 | 2,750 |
| 21+1 and up | 5,000 | 35 | 2,600 | 3,000 |
“Special” is the bonus for slaying a monster with a special ability. If the monster has several such abilities, several such awards should be made. Examples of special abilities are use of spells or spell-like powers (3rd level and below), invulnerability to non-magical weapons, three or more attacks, and so on. “Exceptional” denotes the bonus for an exceptional ability, such as a dragon's fiery breath, powerful spells or spell-like powers, very low armour class, very high damage potential, or unusual powers such as a gaze which petrifies its victims.
Some character classes allow an experience bonus for high stats.