Experience Points

Players gain experience points (XP) for things they accomplish. They accumulate XP until they have 100 points, which they can use to advance to a new level. Once they do, those 100 points are subtracted from the player's total, leaving the remaining XP for future advancement.

Experience points are awarded for each successful encounter. For most encounters, experience points are awarded based on the player's character level, per the chart below. Character progression may be slow, medium, or fast, depending on how quickly you want to level up characters. The XP award amounts listed are individual awards given to each member in the party who participates in the encounter.

Character Level	Slow	Medium	Fast
1	10	20	30
2	8	12	18
3	6	8	12
4	6	8	12
5	6	8	12
6	6	8	12
7	4	6	8
8	4	6	8
9	4	6	8
10	4	6	8
11	4	6	8
12	4	6	8
13	4	6	8
14	4	6	8
15	4	6	8
16	4	6	8
17	4	6	8
18	4	6	8
19	4	6	8
20	4	6	8

Encounter Difficulty

The base XP amounts listed above are for encounters of moderate difficulty. You will always use this as your baseline for how much XP to award the party, though this will increase or decrease depending on how hard the encounter was for the party.

The standard XP system uses Challenge Rating (CR) to estimate the difficulty of an encounter before it happens. Conversely, the hundred-point system evaluates the XP award based on difficulty after the encounter. Particularly hard encounters might help the characters learn more, even if they had a lower CR. Likewise, encounters that are particularly easy for the party don't push them to grow as much and are awarded less XP.

After each encounter, the GM should retrospectively rate its difficulty to evaluate how much the party learns from the challenge. In general, difficulty should be evaluated on the following criteria.

What are the consequences for failure? Is there risk to the wellbeing of members of party? Is the party as a whole at risk? Is a key quest at risk?
How much do the players have to work to achieve success? Can the encounter be won with a few well-placed skill checks, or do a complicated series of puzzles and clues have to be pieced together?
What are the difficulty of the DCs the players face (including attack rolls)? How certain is the success of most rolls for players?

Using these criteria, the GM will make a judgment call, rating the encounter on a five-level scale (very easy, easy, moderate, hard, and very hard), adjusting the base XP awarded depending on the difficulty. The following are a few guidelines for each difficulty level. Generally, most non-combat encounters will be closer to the center in the easy, moderate, or hard ranges.

Difficulty	Guidelines	XP Adjustment
Very Easy	The party is able to succeed with little or no risk. Combat encounters are very imbalanced, and the risk of failure is remote. Most DC checks are hard to fail short of a critical failure or something close to it.	1 XP
Easy	The party has to work for success but the risk to their safety is remote. In combat, opponents are dangerous, but clearly outmatched by the party. DC checks and attack rolls generally have a 75% chance of success. Skill challenges may require 2-3 basic checks, but chance of failure and consequences of failure aren't significant.	50% of Base XP
Moderate	The party experiences some risk to their wellbeing, though competent gameplay generally keeps that risk at bay. Failure in roleplay and skill-based challenges carry consequences that deeply affect the party, and success in these challenges isn't straightforward. In combat, players have received some damage and the possibility of death exists, but most players are still standing. DC's often have a pretty equal chance of success and failure.	Base XP
Hard	The risk of serious harm (death, petrification, banishment) is present for at least one or two players. Some players have been knocked unconscious or "permanently" incapacitated, and may have even died. DC's are difficult to hit, and opponents are hard to damage.	150% of Base XP
Very Hard	Multiple players have become incapacitated or killed and the party as a whole feels risk of being destroyed. DC's generally require only really great rolls to success. Players have a hard time finding a way to wound or damage their opponents and have to really work at it to be successful.	200% of Base XP

It's also important for the GM to determine how much player competence influences the difficulty of the encounter. As players, we've all had encounters that could have gone easier for us if it weren't for our own extremely poor choices. Generally, the guidelines assume a difficulty level based on the idea that players make small mistakes here and there. Large mistakes that immediately threaten the individual or party's wellbeing always make encounters more difficult than they should be and should be taken into account when determining actual difficulty level.

Bonus XP Awards (optional)

Aside from encounters, players may also receive smaller, personalized experience point rewards for gameplay. These rewards are smaller, but players have more opportunity to earn them, so they can end up playing a big part in their characters' progression. Bonus rewards come in three varieties, minor rewards (1 point), major rewards (2 points), and full encounter rewards (a full encounter's worth of XP, based on level). In most cases, you will be handing out minor rewards, but if a player does a spectacular job at any of these, the major reward is a way of recognizing that effort. Full encounter rewards are reserved for a few special occasions, detailed below.

Roleplay: Reward players who have entertaining moments of roleplay. Plot-specific roleplay moments are usually rewarded as encounters, but bonus rewards can be given on any occasional where your players do a little something extra in the roleplay department. GMs should especially consider roleplay rewards when players give up major advantages or items for roleplay reasons.
Clever Ideas: Sometimes players come up with unique combinations of spells, clever ways to solve problems, or brilliant ideas that surprise you as a GM. In such cases, consider rewarding them with an XP reward.
Key Player: Every once and a while, complete success or failure of an encounter comes down to the above-average effort of one player. In such a case, give them a minor or major reward depending on how critical their efforts were.
Life Saver: Sometimes a player will save the life of another through extraordinary means--not just healing someone when they're down or killing the guy standing over them--but through means that require creativity, effort, or self-sacrifice. In such a case, consider giving them a major reward for their effort. Players who save the entire party from TPK should be given a full-encounter bonus reward.
Quest Rewards: Consider giving rewards for completion of critical parts of their quest. These rewards may be minor, major, or full-encounter rewards, depending on the significance of the milestone.