You do get more experience if you don't hire a henchman!

[Legacy_Naeryna]

               

I can't believe it. Every time I played, I took a henchman. So I was level 4 when I completed Penisula district which was always my first stop. Now, I'm playing solo and I reached level 6! (Before I even completed Penisula district)

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Naeryna]

               

Edited!

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               

Yes, there's a 20% penalty per henchmen/summoned creature.  So you get 100% alone, 80% with a henchmen, 64% with a henchmen/summon, 51% with a henchmen/summon/familiar, etc.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Malagant]

               

And here I was not realizing that I was being cheated in all those years of PnP group gaming.

 

Just kidding, of course. The mechanics have always dictated that more than one player has xp split between them, so much so that they have formulas to do so.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Naeryna]

               

Yes, there's a 20% penalty per henchmen/summoned creature.  So you get 100% alone, 80% with a henchmen, 64% with a henchmen/summon, 51% with a henchmen/summon/familiar, etc.

 

What about if I summon a familiar, but without any henchman? Is penalty 16%?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               

There is a penalty with a henchman and other associates (the name for NPCs in the player's party) such as summons and familiars/animal companions are the same as henchmen in the default system. So, a PC playing along with a lone familiar will have the same 20% penalty that playing with a lone henchman would.

 

But it's slightly more nuanced than this. The XP per creature killed is lower with extra associates, with the percent penalties noted earlier. But, most encounters (those that are set up as encounters in the Toolset) will spawn more creatures when triggered by a bigger party, which can partly make up for the XP penalty per party member. For the most part, there is no increase in the number or difficulty of bosses (although that is possible with a boss fight set up through an encounter), so a player will almost always see lower overall XP when fighting with associates than without. But, because of the extra opponents to kill, the overall loss with extra associates is not always quite as bad as 20%, 36%, 49%, etc.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Naeryna]

               

I don't know. I played through OC before (with henchman) and every time I reached last Source Stone, I was level 16, so I suppose it's better if I don't take any help. (That was without dying, without multiclassing, and with doing every possible quest)

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               

Yup. Having associates along lowers overall XP in the OC (and in most modules that don't alter the default XP system).

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Empyre65]

               

If you solo the OC, before you turn in the quest object that ends each chapter, hire each henchman, do his or her quest, and then fire them. This gets you a little bit of experience, and some nice stuff that grows in power each chapter. You will still end the OC at level 17, or maybe 18, but dont count on 18.

 

If you like Aribeth and you are playing a male character with a Good alignment, you could follow the OC with the Aribeth's Redemption series and end up at about the same level that you end at in HotU. There's plenty of hack-and-slash to enjoy, but fair warning: it is a love story between your character and Aribeth.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Naeryna]

               

I though you can end at level 20 when you finish OC?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_WhiZard]

               

This is possible because of a factor called "Effective CR Level"  often known in these forums as "Effective character level" or ECL even though an "Effective Challenge Rating Level" is a better understanding of this concept than character level.  What happens is that if you have a few levels in a class the game deems as slow to develop, then when you gain XP for killing a creature, you will gain it as if the creature was at a higher challenge rating.  The best way to gain huge amounts of XP is this way is to multiclass stopping the slow to progress classes at about level 5.  For example, if I took 5 levels of wizard, 5 levels of sorcerer, and 5 levels of cleric any monster I fought and killed at that level (character level 15) would give XP as if it had a challenge rating 9 levels higher.  ECL only works in the original campaign as BioWare dropped it with the expansions.

 

To note that getting significantly more XP by ECL doesn't necessarily mean gimping a build.  Bard 4/Rogue 4/Arcane Archer 10  is a very powerful build that gets XP as if the monsters were 4 levels higher.  The fact that prestige classes do not contribute to a multiclass penalty allows you to keep your "slow to develop" classes at a low level while relying on the benefit of another class to determine your build.
 

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SKIPPNUTTZ]

               

only in this game would you get less xp for using your abilities.....