Awarding experience

[Spider]

I saw something odd and would like an explanation if anyone is able.

 

I completed the Find Joia's Flamedance Ring quest in BG1 Friendly Arm Inn. I kept track of my experience points before giving her ring back to her. My character received 110 points, Imoen 200 points, Xzar 110 points and Monty received 100 points. That adds up to 530 points distributed unevenly. Can someone please explain the unevenness and the larger than quoted experience to me.

 

As a test I dropped Xzar and Monty. This time my character received 290 points and Imoen 320 for a total of 510 points. Joia's dialogue script awards 400 points which is what the in-game dialogue states as well.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well the party order has something to do with the XP distribution, as the levels could as well as what you do... say there's a trap or a lock, the thief get's the XP from that action, the rest is distributed to the party, so the first/party_leader get's most. And depending on your rule set, you can have more XP from unlocking a door or disarming a trap the higher your level is.

And according to some, the BGII game gives a 110% xp rewards from the quests, which can be removed by installing the ToBEx primary component and having the fix in it active.

[Spider]

Well the party order has something to do with the XP distribution, as the levels could as well as what you do... say there's a trap or a lock, the thief get's the XP from that action, the rest is distributed to the party, so the first/party_leader get's most. And depending on your rule set, you can have more XP from unlocking a door or disarming a trap the higher your level is.

And according to some, the BGII game gives a 110% xp rewards from the quests, which can be removed by installing the ToBEx primary component and having the fix in it active.

You would think that yes, the party order might have something to with it, but in this case it does not. My character is the leader and thus should have received the majority of the experience following the example above. And neither does it matter in who's inventory the item is as I tested that as well.

 

As pertains to your comment about BGII awarding 110% I can see where that holds water. Except I came up with two values, 132% and 127%, give or take some percentage points depending on how many are in the party. I'm going to test the same theory with Unshey's Girdle and see what I come up with. It might be tilting my lance at the windmill, but interesting nonetheless.

 

I'm also going to see what reply I get with Unshey when someone is wearing the cursed girdle. According to his dialogue script she should give you her latest work, which is not in the items list. The script says Book32 which differs from her dialogue. I can see where a modder could use the oddity for some nefarious fun. Change's Unshey's script to BookUnsh and have the book do something later in the game. Or have a new quest collecting material to correct errors in the original book, High Cleric Unshey’s Practical Guide to Bodily Health. 'Tis also interesting that though the book is by a cleric, her CRE file does not indicate this. Is she, perhaps, a phony cleric, and some book publisher has horsed around.

[Spider]

Update.

 

With a party of four: me, Imoen, Xzar and Monty, the experience awarded figures out to 320, 220, 260, and 220. With only me and Imoen I get 520 and 420. When it is me and Imoen, she being the leader, the values are still the same, 520 and 420.

 

I'm still trying to trigger the giving of Unshey's book. And failing miserably. It matters not who is wearing the girdle nor that it has been identified. This was upstairs. It might be that to trigger Action 1 you have to meet her downstairs and be friendly. I believe something has to happen to trigger State 5 which in turn triggers Action 1.

[Blades of Vanatar]

In 2nd edition AD&D, PCs could get an XP % bonus, depending on their Prime Stats. Str for Fighter, Dex for Theif, etc. Was the bonus/Prime stat added by the developers?

[Spider]

In 2nd edition AD&D, PCs could get an XP % bonus, depending on their Prime Stats. Str for Fighter, Dex for Theif, etc. Was the bonus/Prime stat added by the developers?

 

I cannot say. Pulling out my books it is 10% for the prime requisite of each individual. In the case of my character it becomes problematic in that I'm playing a cleric / mage with a wisdom of 14 and an intelligence of 18. We can only assume that, as the Imp suggested, that there is an internal routine in the game that handles this for which we can only assume that it follows the strict rules of 2nd Ed. AD&D. As for one member getting more than fifty percent of the award that must be an internal decision as well.

 

We may never know other than it seems to follow no rhyme nor reason.

[plainab]

Make a duplicate of a save file. Use Near Infinity to edit their ability scores so that all values are the same (i.e. 18 in each). Then test your XP rewards. If they all get equal amounts then you may be on to something about there being an adjustment based on ability scores.

 

Then again crazy as it sounds... perhaps distance from the event might play a factor. Why should a party member on one side of the map get XP for something that happened on the other side of the map?

[Blades of Vanatar]

In some ways, I have to disagree with individual XP in certain things. If the party is adventuring through an abandoned keep, why should the slayer of the monster get the XP? What if the mage held the monster with a spell first. How do you decide who gets what? When a thief disarms a trap, he just taught the other party members not to go running through the doorway first. They just learned something. Hence an XP gain. But, what do I know?

[Spider]

Make a duplicate of a save file. Use Near Infinity to edit their ability scores so that all values are the same (i.e. 18 in each). Then test your XP rewards. If they all get equal amounts then you may be on to something about there being an adjustment based on ability scores.

 

Then again crazy as it sounds... perhaps distance from the event might play a factor. Why should a party member on one side of the map get XP for something that happened on the other side of the map?

 

You might be right. I'll have to edit Imoen (she's the easiest) and see how that reflects in any experience awarded. In essence, come up to something that give you a nice round number for experience and save the game. Then play once with nothing being done. Then reload, change Imoen's dexterity and reply the same thing. When I get back to it I'll let you know what transpires.

 

In some ways, I have to disagree with individual XP in certain things. If the party is adventuring through an abandoned keep, why should the slayer of the monster get the XP? What if the mage held the monster with a spell first. How do you decide who gets what? When a thief disarms a trap, he just taught the other party members not to go running through the doorway first. They just learned something. Hence an XP gain. But, what do I know?

 

I hear ya' BoV. The question is more: Why does Character A get X experience points and Character B get Y experience points? It should be take the experience points, divide those points by the number of characters, apply any bonuses as per character prime requisite stat, and award the amount to each. In other words: (800 / 2) * 10% = 440xp for Character A. For Character B: (800 / 2) * 0% = 400xp. Not 520 for Character A and 420 for Character B when each receives a 10% bonus on their portion of 800 points. Screwy and likely only a crack shot modder knows the answer.