Gaining Experience Points

The following page details all the ways that players can expect to obtain experience points. If you have any further questions, ask a Referee.

Gaining Experience Points

As Referees, we want all kinds of players to have fun while progressing their characters. The standard rules for awarding XP state that XP earned in an adventure is divided evenly between all surviving characters, including retainers (who suffer a –50% penalty to XP earned, as they are only following instructions). The division of treasure is agreed by the party and does not influence the amount of XP each character gains. Players gain the bulk of Experience Points they need to level up based on three key things. Slaying Monsters, Spending Gold Pieces, and Discovering Locations.

Additional Experience Points

A referee may also award additional Experience Points at the end of a game session for a player engaging in excellent Roleplaying, moments of Ingenuity during play, or out of Pity. Ultimately the amount of the awarded experience given for roleplaying, ingenuity, or pity is at the discretion of the Referee.

Slaying Monsters

At the end of a session the Referee will calculate the value of the total experience points earned from slaying any monsters. This experience point total will be divided equally amongst surviving characters and retainers (who suffer a –50% penalty to XP earned).

Spending Gold

Player characters earn a point of experience each time they spend gold equal to the value in gold pieces (rounded down). A player character must spend at least one gold piece to earn experience points for it.

Experience points are only dolled out in whole numbers (Rounded Down).
- e.g. A character cannot buy an item worth 5sp six separate times and then earn 0.5 experience points each time until gaining 3xp, but you can buy six items worth 5sp for a total of 6 gold and therefore earn 6xp.
During Character Creation, if a player chooses to purchase starting items according to the optional rule instead of rolling quick equipment, they cannot gain experience points from purchasing starting items. In general, gaining experience points from spending gold only begins after a character is approved.

Discovering Locations and Exploration

Players can gain experience points for exploration and discovery based on Jon Britton's Feats of Exploration. Using this system, player characters can earn experience points by accomplishing specific "Feats of Exploration" with award values based on the total experience points needed for a level up and a percentage of that total experience points needed based on the difficulty of the feat.

- Minor: yields 2% of TXP per Feat. Minor awards are the most commonly achieved during a session, and represent the normal challenges faced during exploration.
- Major: yields 5% of TXP per Feat. Major awards represent either less common challenges or more difficult versions of minor challenges, e.g. disarming a significantly complex trap or solving a puzzle with remarkable outside-the-box cleverness.
- Extraordinary: yields 10% of TXP per Feat. Extraordinary awards are very rarely achieved, and usually coincide with major campaign developments and shifts, e.g. factions changing alliances or filling power vacuums due to PC actions, major quest completions, etc.
- Campaign: yields 15% of TXP per Feat. Campaign rewards are created by the referee as bespoke and extremely difficult goals for entire campaigns. They are usually highly specific, e.g. “Retrieve the Ancient Regalia from the four corners of the Empire”, “Reinstate the Lost King to his throne”, “Banish the Ravening Horde to the Abyss”, etc. In emergent play (As is Sidhranor), campaign rewards are often created and awarded on the fly as the story unfolds.

Feats of Exploration

Here is a basic description of the kinds of feats available to players.

Feats of Exploration

- Exploration: Explore at least 5 areas of a single dungeon level.
- Lore: Apply in-world lore in a useful or flavorful manner.
- Rumor: Confirm a rumor’s veracity.
- Secret: Find a secret or interpret hidden lore.
- Puzzle: Solve a puzzle.
- Trap: Overcome a trap.
- Hazards: Surmount an environmental obstacle or hazard
- Skills: Use equipment or abilities in an unorthodox but useful manner.
- Location: Discover an important location.
- NPC: Interact beneficially with an important NPC when stakes are at play.
- Faction: Manipulate or cripple a faction to your benefit.
- Quest: Complete a quest..
- Safe Haven: Establish a reliable safe haven.
- Weather: Successfully navigate particularly dangerous weather conditions.
- Settlement (Major): Enter and rest in a particular settlement for the first time
- Explore (Major or Extraordinary): Discover and interact with all features of a single location.
- Pathmaker (Extraordinary): Forge a navigable route through wilderness between two points of civilization.
- Stronghold (Campaign): Construct and maintain a stronghold.
- Authority (Minor or Major): Discover who holds the real power in a scenario where it is not obvious.
- Business (Extraordinary): Establish a profitable business venture.
- Deity (Extraordinary): Proactively encounter and interact with a deity in a beneficial manner

There is no limit to the number of times a given Feat can be achieved during a session.

Additionally, players gain a "Extraordinary" feat of Exploration for attending their first session to the end, and "Major" feat of exploration for every subsequent session completed.

Downtime XP and Feats of Exploration

Just like with spending gold, downtime (see Downtime) can be spent on certain feats of exploration, earning Experience Points as a result. Some feats of exploration are more obvious then others, research could be spent on the Secret feat or establishing a relationship could be used with the NPC feat. But one may also spend downtime to build a reliable safe haven. Ultimately Feats of Exploration and their usage will rely more on Referee fiat than guaranteed math.

A downtime action is considered a session for the purpose of determining maximum XP gain.

Feats of Roleplay

Players participating in the Play-By-Post Roleplay channels on Sidhranor can gain experience points through their roleplay as well.

At the end of a Play-By-Post roleplay scenes, Players can notify a Referee and ask them to determine the tier of their roleplay with some input from the participants and spectators.

The Referee can then award the participating player characters some experience points similar to "Feats of Exploration" based on the TXP value of participating characters.

Minor: yields 2% of TXP per Feat. Minor awards are the most commonly rewarded category. These represent the average PBP roleplay.
Major: yields 5% of TXP per Feat. Major awards represent either less common roleplay with larger stakes or more complicated scenes where a large amount of players were participating. Major awards are the most common reward for participating in Roleplay Events run by Referees.
Extraordinary: yields 10% of TXP per Feat. Extraordinary awards are very rarely achieved, and usually coincide with major campaign developments and shifts, e.g. factions changing alliances or filling power vacuums due to PC actions, major quest completions, etc.
Downtime: When a player is awarded Experience Points in this way, they can instead choose to be awarded a Downtime Action (See Downtime) instead of Experience Points with the approval of a Referee. You cannot take a Downtime Action as an award for a Play By Post Roleplay Scene that was initiated with a Downtime Action.

Leveling Up

When a character gains enough experience points to reach the next experience level, they must spend their next downtime action to do so. This represents the culmination in practice and study that it takes to break one's initial limits over time and helps prevent characters from losing out on experience points as a result of OSE's maximum XP gain.

Performance Based Experience Points

Sometimes during a game session a party may have a player exhibiting extreme beneficial or negative behavior. Sometimes this behavior can be rewarded or punished respectively by the Referee, especially if other players are in agreement.

"This Guy" Experience Point Bonus

The Referee may award a player with supreme, "This Guy", behavior a bonus to their experience points for being a regular champion of a player. This Guy is the stereotypical good player, maybe not exceptional in roleplay or combat, but always bringing their enthusiasm to the game and being kind to others. He is the man we all want to play with, a man you will be proud to call your friend. Generous with play time, friendly and fun. He loves to talk games, he loves to debate setting and system, and he loves to rattle them bones. He will never pick your pocket, stab your back, or forget your familiar's name.

The Referee may open this decision up to the rest of the party during the end of a game session and award said player with an experience points bonus up to 250%!

Nomination: Players of a party playing with a "This Guy" that notice good behavior can nominate them as such and even reference the below table for a general guideline.

"That Guy" Experience Point Penalty

A referee may also decide to give players with, "That Guy", behavior a penalty to their experience points gained during the session if the behavior exhibited is noticeable but not extreme enough to warrant a ban or kick from the server. That Guy will always bring so much cheese to the table that the other players instantly become lactose intolerant and choke. That Guy will exploit every loophole in the rules to his advantage or require an utterly anal level of rule following whenever it suits him. That Guy will try to fight against the party and consider himself clever (because he's "winning"), but will rage quit when the party pushes back. He may not have been breaking rules, but we absolutely don’t want to give him any rewards for his behavior.

Following a polite but firm discussion in private, "That Guy's" experience points gained in the session will be reduced by up to 100%.
It should be noted that this isn't meant to penalize a player for being new to the game or being incompetent at play, but rather to deter malicious intent during game that can spoil everyone's fun.

Nomination: Players of a party playing with a "That Guy" that notice bad behavior may wish to speak to the DM, who may apply a penalty based on the below table.

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