Active XP

Experience is your key to power, helping you to discover new abilities and reach higher peaks of strength. But you don't gain experience by staying in your comfort zone—the only way to grow is to push beyond your limits and brave the dangers of the world.

With Active XP, you don't gain experience for simply killing monsters—instead, you gain experience by being active in one of three fields of adventure: discovery, recovery, and adversity.

1. Discovery: Explore the world, meet new people, and uncover secrets—hidden dungeons, ancient cults, legendary monsters. The more valuable and rare your discovery, the more experience you gain.

2. Recovery: Recover treasure and valuables from uncivilized, monstrous, or abandoned areas—gemstones from an ancient tomb, a dragon's hoard, a hidden chest of jewels.

   You gain 10 XP per gold piece (1 XP per silver piece) of recovered treasure, making this the most efficient means of gaining experience.

3. Adversity: Face danger and survive perilous situations—recover from near death, challenge a red dragon, defeat a horde of orcs. The bigger the danger, the bigger your experience—if you can survive.

Leave your comfort zone behind, go adventuring in the dangerous wilds, and get into trouble—take risks, overcome challenges, and reap the rewards.

Advancement

Don't use the standard 5e leveling table with Active XP—instead, use the Character Advancement table listed below. This demonstrates the amount of experience a character needs to spend per level in order to level up.

Character Advancement

Level	XP Needed
0-1	150
1-2	300
2-3	420
3-4	590
4-5	820
5-6	1,150
6-7	1,610
7-8	2,260
8-9	3,160
9-10	4,430
10-11	6,200
11-12	8,680
12-13	12,150
13-14	17,010
14-15	23,810
15-16	33,330
16-17	46,660
17-18	65,330
18-19	91,460
19-20	128,050

Spending Experience

When you gain XP, you can spend it to level up. If the Training rules () are in play, spend the XP after you have completed the required training time.

Valiant, a 1st-level cleric, returns to Darrowmore with 250 XP and a rare, golden goblet worth 10 GP. He donates the goblet to his church and gains 100 XP.

Now at 350 XP, Valiant has enough experience to level up. After a week of training, he spends 300 XP to advance to 2nd-level—leaving 50 XP remaining.

Awarding Experience

Use the following guides to determine the amount of XP a character should be awarded for their in-game actions.

Discovery & Adversity XP

Discovery and adversity rewards depend on two main factors: the Challenge Level of the area, and the Relative Difficulty experienced by the party. Follow the three steps below to determine the XP reward.

Step 1. Challenge Level (CL)

First, you must decide the Challenge Level—this is the minimum level characters are expected to be in this particular area or adventure. A higher CL implies more dangerous monsters, traps, and challenges.

Most civilized areas—villages, towns, cities—will be CL0. It's no challenge to live in a sanctuary.

XP per Challenge Level

CL	XP Gained
0	1
1	3
2	4
3	6
4	8
5	12
6	16
7	23
8	32
9	44
10	62
11	87
12	122
13	170
14	238
15	333
16	467
17	653
18	915
19	1,280
20	1,790
—	—

As a starting point, you can base the Challenge Level on the average level of the adventure or current area being explored by the players.

Step 2. Relative Difficulty (RD)

Next, choose the Relative Difficulty—this describes how dangerous or difficult the event was for the party. Did they lose precious resources, or barely break a sweat?

A challenge is more rewarding the harder it is to overcome—trivial encounters are not rewarding at all.

Relative Difficulty Modifiers

Difficulty	Modifier	Description
Trivial	x 0	The PCs were far overpowered
Easy	x 0.5	The task was no trouble at all
Normal	x 1	The task proved to be a minor inconvenience or obstacle
Hard	x 2	The party lost some precious resources and had a hard time
Extreme	x 4	The party lost nearly all their resources, or someone died
Insane	x 8	The PCs were underpowered and survived against all odds

When you choose the Relative Difficulty, consider the number of resources the party expended. Hit points, hit dice, spell slots, valuable items, wealth—the more resources lost, the higher the relative difficulty.

Step 3. Calculate XP

Once you know the Challenge Level and the Relative Difficulty, you can calculate the experience gained as:

XP

Character XP: Challenge Level x Relative Difficulty

Party XP: Character XP x Party Size

To demonstrate this, we see Chansi use lockpicking to avoid a dangerous fight. She gains some XP as a reward for using her skills to safely overcome a threatening situation.

Chansi is currently exploring the Vault of Sorrow, an area designed for 3rd-level characters. To hide from a patrol of skeletons, she quietly unpicks a locked door and slips out of sight—avoiding a dangerous fight.

The GM decides to award her some adversity XP for the effort. As the CL is 3 (6 XP) and the lock was of normal (x1) difficulty, Chansi receives 6 XP.

Next, we see Valiant and Clanda discover a hidden entrance to a secret dungeon. They barely manage to survive a battle against its dangerous guardians, and are rewarded with a sizable amount of XP for their efforts.

In the Nightless Forest, a dangerous area for 5th-level characters, Valiant and Clanda finally uncover a long-hidden entrance to the Shattered Underhall.

The GM awards some discovery XP. The CL is 5 (12 XP) and they had a hard (x2) time finding the entrance, so Valiant and Clanda each receive 24 XP.

Deep within the Underhall, they battle against the Court of Lies—though eventually victorious, they spend many resources and almost die in the process.

The GM awards some adversity XP for the battle. The Shattered Underhall is CL 5 (12 XP) and they nearly died fighting an extreme (x4) battle against the Court, so Valiant and Clanda each receive 48 XP.

Recovery XP

Characters gain experience by recovering lost treasures and bringing them back to civilization, gaining 10 XP per gp of treasure—precious gems, priceless art, rare jewelry.

The amount of treasure found on an adventure depends on two primary factors: the Challenge Level of the area, and the Threat Rating of the treasure's guardians.

Step 1. Challenge Level (CL)

First, determine the Challenge Level of the area—this establishes the base amount of treasure (for one player) that should be found throughout the adventure.

The higher the CL, the bigger the danger—but the more treasure you are likely to find.

Treasure per Challenge Level

CL	GP Gained
0	0
1	7
2	10
3	15
4	20
5	28
6	40
7	56
8	78
9	110
10	154
11	215
12	302
13	422
14	592
15	828
16	1,160
17	1,624
18	2,274
19	3,185
20	4,456
—	—

Step 2. Threat Rating (TR)

Next, determine the Threat Rating of the treasure's guardians. If there's no threat, there's no treasure—someone else will have looted anything of value long before the party arrive.

You'll need to find and face the biggest threats if you want to recover the rarest treasures—so be bold.

Threat Ratings

Threat	Modifier	Description
None	x 0	A handful of weak opponents
Low	x 0.5	A band of badly organized foes
Average	x 1	A small force with one or more notable leaders
High	x 2	A well-armed force with several tiers of leadership
Extreme	x 4	A large force with formidable strength and influence
Legendary	x 8	A legendary monster such as a dragon, a beholder, or a lich.

Step 3. Calculate Treasure

Once you know the Challenge Level and Threat Rating, you can calculate the amount of treasure to be recovered throughout the adventure:

Treasure

Treasure: Challenge Level x Threat Rating

Hoard: Individual Treasure x Party Size

To demonstrate this in action, below is an outline for a 1st-level adventure—the Tomb of the Bone Prince.

The GM is building an adventure for four 1st-level characters, with a CL of 1 (7 gp) and an average (x1) threat rating. This means that the party should find around 28 gp (7 x 4) of actual treasure in the adventure (not including any random silver or gold).

The GM scatters the treasure across 7 encounters:

1. Encounter: The Bone Sentinels.
2. Encounter: The False Prince. Rewards a 4 gp treasure (some carved bone dice).
3. Challenge: A secret passageway to the undertomb.
4. Encounter: Madrigor, the Blind Cleric. Rewards a 4 gp treasure (a golden chalice).
5. Challenge: A collapsing ceiling and a locked door.
6. Encounter: The Bone Prince and his Retinue.
7. Encounter: The Amalgam King. Rewards a treasure hoard worth 20 gp (well-cut rubies).

Here, Valiant and Chansi return to town with some recovered treasure in hand. Chansi sells her treasure for gold, while Valiant donates his treasure to his church.

Chansi and Valiant return to Darrowmore from their expedition into the Rat's Nest. Chansi carries a jade figurine worth 12 gp. She sells it to a local collector, exchanging the figurine for 12 gp and 120 XP.

Valiant also found some treasure—a rare book of holy scripture worth 12 gp. He donates the book to his local church, gaining 0 gp and 120 XP.

The experience gained from any treasure returned to civilization is split equally across everyone who helped obtain it—including helpers, followers, and henchmen.

Solo Treasure: Stealing or hiding treasure from the rest of the party doesn't grant you extra XP—when you gain XP for treasure, everyone gets an equal cut.

When the group wasn't looking, Clanda secretly palmed an extra ruby from the treasure pile—she later sells it to gain 7 gp and 70 XP. Clanda keeps the gold but shares the XP with the rest of the party.