XP, Levels, & Scroll Stands

[stcaFylnO]

The higher a character's level, the more XP that is gained from stands. It is actually based upon total XP earned during a playthrough, so it is best to save the stands until the last possible moment, after all other XP sources are exhausted.

Up to 30 Scroll Stands can be saved if playing Closed Fist (only 29 for OP), just leave the one on the ship alone, since it can't sail away with a broken dam. Also, the Black Leopard school must be kept open for two of them, if playing CF; OP will retain access to the school, but needs to read the ship's scroll before flooding the valley.

The only way I've found to reliably level a character, prior to using scrolls, is to kill respawns within the forest, see further below for details.

Examples:

At character level 6, reading a scroll provides 297 XP

At character level 19, reading the same scroll provides 1,542 XP.

High level characters (~30) will receive ~15,000 XP from various scrolls.


Gem of the Frail Scholar:

Location: Tien's Landing > Ru's barge to pirates > Gao's Treasure Room.

Bonus: Provides +100% XP when reading.


Lost Spirit XP plummets in Necropolis:

Forest Respawns: 86 XP (variable, depending upon gem, revisit, level, locations visited)

Necropolis Respawns: 29 XP (also varies, but respawns are discontinued later).


Multiple variables are affecting the respawn XP:

Level:
Higher is better, but level 18 is the earliest that I have noticed a large increase.

Gem:
Gem of the Frail Scholar

Revisit Forest:
If the player remains in the forest, the extra XP is not seen, only 86 XP. I tested this up to level 25. "The Mother" must be left alive to retain respawns.

Locations, Levels, Rewards:
Returned during (& after) Lotus Assassin Fortress, at levels 18-19, received 161 XP.
Returned after landing in palace, at level 20, received 289 XP.
Returned after landing in palace, at level 28(?), received 297 XP.

[stcaFylnO]

I finally got a level 32 character in this game. It ended up being a 60 hour playthrough. I had to farm the forest until level 25. Then farmed intermittently to top-off levels. Once I learned to leave "The Mother" alive and return for 297 XP ghost kills, the scrolls were giving 10-15k XP. I was so nervous I'd miss 32 again, I ended up over-shooting by 200k; level 33 required 2,146,483,647 more XP :O

[stcaFylnO]

Scroll/Book Stands (Save List for XP)

Tien's Landing and Surrounding Regions:
1, Ship
2, Boat House (keep a quest active, or doors will close)
1, Dam
1, East of Boat House, near Big Tan
1, Near entrance to the Tea House
1, Near Minister Sheng's burnt building
2, Forest shrine, portal to fox spirit
1, Pilgrim's Rest (in forest)
10 Total

Imperial City and Surrounding Regions:
2, Imperial Arena
2, Merchant's Square
6, Scholar's Garden
1, Golden Way
4, Necropolis
2, The Black Leopard School (CF: Aisha first, then read scrolls, then attack First Brother)
1, Lord Lao's Heaven
2, Imperial Palace
20 Total

There are more in game, but some are in areas that will become inaccessible, examples:
3, Pirate Camp (Read after defeating Gao, stay and collect prior to leaving with Kang)
2, Fox Spirit Heaven (Read before final exit if OP, or before last fox fight if CF)
5, Lotus Assassin Fortress (See below)

Lotus Assassin Fortress:
In the Golem Press Room, read 1 before the ritual (fight with 2 Jade Golems).
Save the other 4, until escaping; read them before going up to the main hall.

[EIGHTYGR8]

8 years later but I'm using this as I reexperienceone of my favorite childhood games:Jade Empire it was on sale on steam and I'm loving it. But I never min maxed or really premeditated on quests or xp or anything I played it blind as a 12 year old lol love this re experience. Thanks for your info about xp scrolls and such

[xShapelessx]

Originally posted by stcaFylnO:

I finally got a level 32 character in this game. It ended up being a 60 hour playthrough. I had to farm the forest until level 25. Then farmed intermittently to top-off levels. Once I learned to leave "The Mother" alive and return for 297 XP ghost kills, the scrolls were giving 10-15k XP. I was so nervous I'd miss 32 again, I ended up over-shooting by 200k; level 33 required 2,146,483,647 more XP :O

Why 32?

[stcaFylnO]

Wow! I tell people I play this game every few years. Same with a lot of old games like XCOM, It turns out the last time was 8 years ago! It is time to start dredding birtdays I guess.

I'm glad this was useful for someone other than me, enjoy.

[stcaFylnO]

32? Because i'm not masochistic enouugh for 33. :)

Acutally, after 8 years, I don't remember why "32". It was probbly a skill threshold, or I didn't see a way to find another 2.1 billion XP.

[EIGHTYGR8]

When's the point of no return? When is the moment in the game when we should go back for the scrolls/books cause we will lose access if we continue, I read somewhere that it is the elevator at the palace, but what does that mean?

[EIGHTYGR8]

Also there's a gem for more xp from ghosts that you can apply to the forest farm. There's an extra xp gem for humans too

[stcaFylnO]

EIGHTYGR8,

The PoNR is different for varioius scroll stands. I don't remember every detail after so many years, but as in my posts above:

Originally posted by stcaFylnO:

...just leave the one on the ship alone, since it can't sail away with a broken dam. Also, the Black Leopard school must be kept open for two of them, if playing CF; OP will retain access to the school, but needs to read the ship's scroll before flooding the valley.

Originally posted by stcaFylnO:

...leave "The Mother" alive and return for 297 XP ghost kills,

Originally posted by stcaFylnO:

2, The Black Leopard School (CF: Aisha first, then read scrolls, then attack First Brother)

There are more in game, but some are in areas that will become inaccessible, examples:
3, Pirate Camp (Read after defeating Gao, stay and collect prior to leaving with Kang)
2, Fox Spirit Heaven (Read before final exit if OP, or before last fox fight if CF)
5, Lotus Assassin Fortress (See below)

Lotus Assassin Fortress:
In the Golem Press Room, read 1 before the ritual (fight with 2 Jade Golems).
Save the other 4, until escaping; read them before going up to the main hall.

As for the combat XP gem, I don't recall the name, but I vaguely remember using it after reading my old posts:

Originally posted by stcaFylnO:

Lost Spirit XP plummets in Necropolis:

Forest Respawns: 86 XP (variable, depending upon gem, revisit, level, locations visited)

[stcaFylnO]

EIGHTYGR8,
I found this web site with the info.

Essence Gems
https://jadeempire.fandom.com/wiki/Essence_Gems

Absolute Dedication Gem:
More XP but no power-ups from human enemies
Room of Kai Lan the Serpent

Spirit Harvest Gem:
More XP but no power-ups from ghosts
The Necropolis - Found in ceramic urn within the Tomb of the Dignified Collector

[EIGHTYGR8]

Nice. Thanks. I just finished the lotus assassin fortress and so far I'm doing perfect for the scrolls being left for last(I killed the mother tho) I guess there's a ng+ mode tho for jade master difficulty. I'm about to go-to the palace. I guess I'll save scum my way to the farthest point of being able to go back for scroll/book stands and will post my findings

[EIGHTYGR8]

Okay, after you go-to the palace there are like three fights. But all the way up the stairs is the point of no return. The room with the elevator puts you in a cutscene and you can't go back from there. I went and got all the scrolls/books went from 21-28. I guess I should have saved the mother for last but oh well. My Mirabelle is wrecking everything but ghosts anyways. I'm strong enough

[Kira]

If you leave the mother alive but also attack the cannibals, you can go all the way to the stone bridge (do not cross it though) before getting to the cutscene and being told that "there's no point going back". Just something to do while hunting spirits.

I was a bit disappointed that the harmonic combos don't seem to work on the forest spirits, even though they start working on the graveyard and later spirits (after completing the fortress).

EDIT: Reading a scroll gives you 1% of your current experience points. So if you have 254k XP (just made L24) and you read a scroll, you get 2540 XP from reading it (or 5080 if the Gem of the Frail Scholar is equipped).

EDIT2: It seems that the Furnace can be visited one last time in Chapter 7, just after arriving at the palace. The slight downside is postponing the acquisition of the Inner Peace technique as the Furnace scroll belongs to the Celestial Order series.