Experience Points with Mixed-Level Parties

[Lhurgyof]

I was almost positive that player characters of different levels got experience differently, but I'm not really sure how exactly that is supposed to work. It's been a while since I've perused the old DMG.

For reference, our party consists of two level five PCs and the rest being level four PCs.

[Âmesang]

I believe the general idea is to calculate the experience normally for both sets of levels; i.e. calculate how much experience a "5th-level" party would get, divide by the total number of players, and that's how much the 5th-level guys get. Then calculate how much experience a "4th-level" party would get, divine by the total, and that's how much the 4th-level guys would get (which'll be a little more, making it easier for them to "catch up").

The d20 Encounter Calculator (http://www.d20srd.org/extras/d20encountercalculator/) should help. :smallsmile:

[Uncle Pine]

Âmesang is right: you can use the longer method (calculate the exp reward for every character comparing his ECL to the EL, then divide the sum for the number of party members, minus cohorts), or the d20 Encounter Calculator. I prefer the latter, if only because it's faster and you can easily recalculate rewards on the spot if you ended up using one more or less creature than expected.