Dungeon Master’s Guide Exclusive Preview

Experience Point System: First Version

This manuscript excerpt from December 1998 shows a very early idea of how to deal with experience points in D&D. We wrote this so early on in the rules process, there’s no explanatory text written for it yet -- it’s just the bare bones of the system. You’ll notice that, like 2nd Edition D&D, it’s a system based on the idea that you take various qualities of the monster and determine experience points based on those qualities. However, unlike 2nd Edition D&D, the system here is not based solely on Hit Dice and various modifiers (which effectively add more or less HD). This example shows that, even early on in the design process, we recognized that HD are an important factor to a monster’s power, but not the only one -- and perhaps not even the most significant one in all cases.

Careful examination will show that the list of various special abilities is woefully incomplete, and the list of calculations for some sample monsters shows some silly results. Ultimately, we decided that a system that produces such precise results as 86 XP for a goblin, distinguishes between an elf and a dwarf by only 5 experience points and yet still produces grossly inaccurate relative rankings of monster challenges, was not worth pursuing. Plus, doing all those calculations was a pain in the neck.

Notice a few prototype monsters with placeholder names like "energy snake," "lightning toad," and "inviso-beetle," which didn’t make the cut into the new Monster Manual in their original forms.

Hit Dice: 30 x Hit Dice
5 x bonus hit points
Movement: (Best move–50´) x 1/5
Fly: +5
Armor Class: 5 x (AC–10)
Attack: 5 x bonus
Touch Attack: +25
(Missiles: use missile attack and damage if better than melee)
Damage: Min. + Max Damage
Paralyze, Ghoul (x3 attack): 100
Invisibility: 75
Paralyze, Gel Cube: 50
+1 to hit: 50
Lighting (L. Toad): 50
Missiles: 25
Poison, Gt. Centipede (1d10 Str): 25
Poison, Gt. J. Spider (paral., slow): 25
Nonintelligent: 25
Jelly: 20
Immune -- sleep: 10
+2 vs. charms: 5
Jump: 5
Undead: 0

For NPCs, XP is based on character level.
PC 1: 50
PC 2: 100
PC 3: 200
PC 4: 300
PC 5: 500
PC 6: 700

Bat, Large

You’ll notice that some of these monsters have a "previous" entry in their calculation. This is the value given to them in an even earlier XP system that worked much like this one, but with different formulas. Its results were even more wildly inaccurate that this one.

Centipede, Giant

Dwarf

Elf

Energy Snake

Gelatinous Cube

Ghoul

Goblin

Inviso-Beetle

Ochre Jelly

Ogre

Orc

Rat, Giant

Lightning Toad

The idea behind the lightning toad, the inviso-beetle, and the energy snake was to add some monsters with interesting magical powers to the system earlier in the game experience. They were weak but interesting. The lightning toad concept gave rise to a new creature in the Monster Manual called the shocker lizard.

Skeleton

Spider, Giant Jumping

Zombie