XP awared that is off the charts

[thecrimsondawn]

So, thanks to gestalt and two tier1 classes, I was able to solo a CR20 monster at lv9. Of course, the xp chart does not calculate past 8 levels. I am facing 2 issues here and I seek advice.

The first is the monster in question. Its base CR is 20, but the DM upgraded his size twice to reach the largest size on the chart. I am not sure what the CR change would be from that, and that information would be needed as well to calculate the xp reward.

The second issue is that I am gestalt, and did this solo to boot. Everyone is playing things that no sane DM would allow, but we are having fun doing it, so everything is fine there. However as a gestalt, I feel that the level you are not is a true ECL. We have been adjusting CR of encounters since our party is only 2 players right now by adding 2 to our level to determine CR.

So broken down, a level 9 gestalt (who unless someone has information unbeknownst to me would be treated as a lv 11)
Just took out a CR20 boss (who is 2 sizes larger, so they may cancel each other out)

What kind of xp reward would be issued?

[Douglas]

DM's judgment, because any time you go off that particular chart in that direction something screwy is going on.

[Crake]

Yeah, unless the CR20 monster was played badly, or there was some circumstance that gave you the upper hand, either way, the challenge was not a CR20 one, or you'd be dead. Something was mitigating the difficulty of the encounter, and thus it needs to be Ad Hoc adjusted to a more appropriate CR, which is entirely within the purview of the DM

[Flickerdart]

If you're in this kind of game, then CR doesn't really mean anything, and neither do the XP tables.

[Bronk]

Well, RAW, you're right, the XP tables don't cover that, so it's up to the DM.

Also RAW, you can't gain enough XP to raise two levels at a time, so that would be another factor for your DM to consider... normally, the max amount you could make would be enough to get to your next level, then one point away from the level after that.

[AuraTwilight]

Pretty much what everyone else said. In a game I ran a couple years ago, the party reached the point where they had basically already won and the rest of the plot was just a formality, so at some point they were challenged by a CR 75 goddess to a fight when they were level 17.

They won through diplomacy.

Yea, I know. This was a game involving liberal abuse of Iron Heart Surge because it became a comical farce long before that point. Anyway, on a lark we tried to calculate the XP rewards by following the formula provided.

They earned millions of levels. Not millions of experience. Millions of LEVELS.

The entire group paled and begged me if they could just have "like, eight levels, so we're epic." I agreed.

[SinsI]

You can switch to Level-Independent XP awards from Unearthed Arcana, that way XP awards will always stay on the chart.