HYPERBOREA / Magic Item Xp

**Posted by Rastus_Burne** 4/29/2015 6:29 am

Say a party slays a band of marauders, one of which has a sword. The sword is magical. The fighter in the party picks it up then decides to use it. Does he get the entire XP value, or is it divided among the whole party?

Last edited by Rastus_Burne (4/29/2015 6:31 am)

**Posted by Blackadder23** 4/29/2015 7:26 am

I give treasure XP to whoever actually gets the treasure. So if the players split the gold unevenly, the XP points are split unevenly as well. And whoever keeps a magic item gets all the points fot it. (Monster points, on the other hand, are divided evenly except in very unusual circumstances.)

I think this is BtB for both AD&D and AS&SH. But of course you could do it however you like.

Last edited by Blackadder23 (4/29/2015 7:28 am)

**Posted by Handy Haversack** 4/29/2015 7:42 am

First off, they should be down on their knees thanking their gods that they got a magic sword off bandits! Award bonus XP for groveling as per the book.

But, yeah, XP for magic items go to the user. And I generally wait until the player has figured out what the thing does (i.e., how cursed it is).

**Posted by Ghul** 4/29/2015 7:48 am

Actually, BTB pretty clearly indicates that it is individual referee preference, so it's really up to you. Generally speaking, I split XP for gold and treasure across the party; this does not precule solo gains through extraordinary accomplishments -- at least in my campaign. Like BA23 said, do what thou wilt!

**Posted by mabon5127** 4/29/2015 8:02 am

That's odd. I've always for 35 years split treasure evenly. If the fighter sells the sword would he lose the xp? Could he have gotten the sword without the help of the other party memnbers? I've never considered the alternative. Not really saying one is better just wondering.

Morgan

**Posted by Chainsaw** 4/29/2015 8:34 am

We split XP for treasure evenly unless there's some unique circumstance.

**Posted by nDervish** 4/29/2015 8:41 am

I've always split the XP for treasure evenly, even if the treasure itself is divided unevenly. Partly because everyone participated (at least relatively) equally in retrieving it, but mostly because I don't like the metagaming of "We got 1200gp of loot and Bob needs 1000 XP to level, so Bob gets 1000gp and the rest of us will share the other 200gp."

If the fighter sells the sword, then I would give no magic item XP for the sword, but the party would get the standard 1 XP per gp for the sale price.

**Posted by Blackadder23** 4/29/2015 8:48 am

mabon5127 wrote:
That's odd. I've always for 35 years split treasure evenly. If the fighter sells the sword would he lose the xp? Could he have gotten the sword without the help of the other party memnbers? I've never considered the alternative. Not really saying one is better just wondering.

In AD&D at least, if you sell a magic item you get XP for gold earned in the sale only. You don't also get the XP normally awarded for keeping the item. If a fighter kept a sword for a while and then sold it, I wouldn't give him any more XP for the gold, because he didn't really "earn" that gold adventuring. He just sold off a possession.

If my players sell a magic item immediately and split the proceeds, they split the XP. If one of them keeps the item, only that PC gets XP for it. Of course I'm not stupid - the PC who claims it and gets the XP has to really keep it, and he has to be able to use it!

**Posted by Blackadder23** 4/29/2015 9:18 am

That's interesting. Reading the relevant sections in AS&SH, it appears that no extra XP is awarded for gold gained by selling a magic item. I never noticed that before. (Not that it matters - I haven't been making any buyers available anyway.)

**Posted by Handy Haversack** 4/29/2015 10:15 am

Blackadder23 wrote:
mabon5127 wrote:
That's odd. I've always for 35 years split treasure evenly. If the fighter sells the sword would he lose the xp? Could he have gotten the sword without the help of the other party memnbers? I've never considered the alternative. Not really saying one is better just wondering.
In AD&D at least, if you sell a magic item you get XP for gold earned in the sale only. You don't also get the XP normally awarded for keeping the item. If a fighter kept a sword for a while and then sold it, I wouldn't give him any more XP for the gold, because he didn't really "earn" that gold adventuring. He just sold off a possession.

If my players sell a magic item immediately and split the proceeds, they split the XP. If one of them keeps the item, only that PC gets XP for it. Of course I'm not stupid - the PC who claims it and gets the XP has to really keep it, and he has to be able to use it!

Me, too. I tend to lessen the XP for items, too.

**Posted by Blackadder23** 4/29/2015 10:26 am

Handy Haversack wrote:
Me, too. I tend to lessen the XP for items, too.

I think that's one of the reasons for individual magic item XP awards in AD&D, and one of the reasons I use them.

You can't gain more than one level at a time in AD&D - no matter how many XP you earned in an adventure. If a first level character somehow gets 40,000 XP, he still only gains one level. Some of the magic items are indeed worth tens of thousands of XP. Suppose a low level party found a powerful magic item that you had rolled randomly and decided (for whatever reason) to retain. If only one of them gets XP for it, only that PC gains a level (and the rest of the XP is just wasted). If you divide the magic item XP among the party, they might all level up from a single item!
Not on my watch!

**Posted by Rastus_Burne** 4/29/2015 4:04 pm

Indeed. I ask because I have a character who found an item but the xp earned for keeping the item would out him decently ahead of the group. I think I'll split it evenly to keep things fair for all involved.