Do you split up story awards?


Rules Questions


Up until recently, I had assumed that the Story Awards given in pre-made adventures (i.e. If the party managed to capture someone alive, they are given an extra X many experience) should be divided by the number of characters in the party, just like combat experience. But I was reading on of the adventure path modules, and saw that it awarded 50 xp for something, which struck me as odd.

So, was I really supposed to be spliting that stuff up, and my four man group each gets 12 xp, or have I been wrong all this time, and they should have been getting more?

Sorry if this question has been asked before, kinda new here.


As I recall, Paizo modules/APs list total XP, to be divided amongst the PCs. For example: in the Kingmaker AP, exploring a hex is worth 100 XP; a party of four PCs would get 25 XP each.

Hope this helps! :)

EDIT: Here is a relevant post from James Jacobs, Paizo's creative director.


Okay, cool. Thanks very much for your help.


You're welcome. :)


Yeah, make sure to split the XP. Your characters will level very quickly if you don't.


Sorry for being late on this, but I'm new to pathfinder and I was wondering this : if the party splits, and half the party fights and half just do stuff elsewhere, do they also gain xp, or do I split xp just to those present to fight?


Avenka Thalma wrote:
Sorry for being late on this, but I'm new to pathfinder and I was wondering this : if the party splits, and half the party fights and half just do stuff elsewhere, do they also gain xp, or do I split xp just to those present to fight?

I have run it so that the members who fight are the ones who earns the xp.

Liberty's Edge

Avenka Thalma wrote:
Sorry for being late on this, but I'm new to pathfinder and I was wondering this : if the party splits, and half the party fights and half just do stuff elsewhere, do they also gain xp, or do I split xp just to those present to fight?

It depends, when doing other stuff, are they still contributing to the group or advancing the story in a reasonable manner? If so, I still split it between the whole group.

For example, if they split the party while exploring a dungeon, if group A triggers a fight with some orcs, while group B is discovering new parts of the dungeon, I'll award the orc XP to the whole group as group B is still positively advancing the story for the whole group—and it's likely they'll trigger their own fight anyways.

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