Larian please auto-XP the party

[Obi]

I always hated BG1 for not giving XP to party members who are not in the party.

They were recruited but were retired for a particular mission/dungeon quest. Unfortunately the XP loss for them was permanent.

This made is so that they seriously handicap as a result. I was forced to never include them in the party for future missions due to their low levels and lack of XP for them. This made them completely unplayable and undesired in the party solely because of lack of XP. Please don't amputate these characters, I like to be able to choose different party members at different times and I want them to auto-level up with the main active party.

If I retire a character in the tavern for a mission, I would like upon return from the quest, that character to gain the same XP amount as the main party received during the quest.

Whoever implemented that bad mechanics in BG1 should go to jail without probation for crimes against the rpg community lol. Please don't kill my party members like that

[AsianGirlLover]

Auto-XP was in Divinity, so it’ll probably be here too

[功夫kappa]

That isn't how D&D works though. If you aren't there for the kill or the quest, you don't earn XP.

[Dragon Master]

Unless you're using the milestone method. It's a method in D&D where you reach a certain point in the story and at the DM's discretion everyone will level up.

[功夫kappa]

Even with milestones, a GM doesn't just hand out XP to someone who didn't do the event in question.

Willy nilly XP and power creep is the biggest thing that breaks D&D games and makes them fall apart.

[Obi]

What is so difficult to understand that I want to use my party members ?

What do I care about DM rules ? I challenge the rule as boring and bad

[Coldhands]

I'm sure they will; that's pretty standard in CRPGs today. With only a four person party size, and a lot more than four fully written companion characters, there's too much risk of players getting pot committed to a specific group and missing content with all the other companions.
It's one of the reasons why AD&D's dumb dual class system got pitched; nobody liked spending X+1 levels not having the X levels worth of perks they'd gained in their first class available while they went back to scrub mode to level the new class.

[功夫kappa]

I don't think it is boring or bad. If there are so many companions and quests that you can't have them all in your party at the same time, then that provides all sorts of opportunities for party management, and different groups of quest runners, etc.

Making sure your party is the appropriate level should be your responsibility, since that's part of the game.

Now, on the flip side, of course that means the devs would need to provide enough varied content that lets you do this, to match the amount of companions they put in.

[Obi]

No it is very boring because I get tired of bringing the same party members over and over. I want to use the other members too but I want them to be capable and receive party XP on completed missions.

[Dr.Gloom]

If I remember correctly, in NWN2, companions were gaining XP even if they were not in your current party.

[Coldhands]

Originally posted by Shred:

If I remember correctly, in NWN2, companions were gaining XP even if they were not in your current party.

Practically every party based RPG since BG2 does this.
There's a reason it's a standard feature. Same reason gold doesn't have weight or take up inventory space. There are rules for it, and how much food and water characters need to carry, and how much weight a backpack can hold (it's not high) ... but unless you're making a super hardcore D&D survival game, those rules almost always get handwaved away because they just bog the game down with tedium and get in the way of the fun adventuring

[Obi]

+ 1

[Decker]

Should be a pretty easy thing from a coding perspective to include a toggle for, I've seen a number of RPGs do it.

[OH! MY CAR]

Yeah, everyone in the game will probably have the same exp.

If you were playing D&D in real life, and you have another player that wants to join, you are probably going to have them randomly join with about the same exp.

You are not going to be like, "hey join our campaign. we are level 7, you start at 1. Have fun!"

[sick duck]

The way experience rewards in baldurs gate and experience progression worked is that you could let level 1 NPCs join you in attacking the cloakwood mines for example, and that level 1 would be at least level 4 at the other side of the quest. Not long after that they'd be pretty close to caught up. It is a very short term handicap if you ask me.

[AsianGirlLover]

If you have to justify new party members matching your level, just head canon that while you were busy monster slaying, questing, etc., they were also keeping busy and leveling up as well.

Simple.