Question about how to get as many XP as possible?

1. Here's a question:- as regards reaching level 20 with 6 member party by the end of TOEE/Co8, I gather I need to go back and forth between hommlet and nulb etc. until I reach level 10 via defeating random encounters galore, and I really ought to have done most of the hommlet quests with just 1 character, and then have the others join and level up(can't be bothered to do that last bit and restart the game, though)? I think I read somewhere that most random encounters do not provide any xp after level 10 is reached? Correct?
   
   Anyway, other than random encounters and doing the various quests, what other ways are there to boost xp beyond the usual quest xp etc.?
   
   Also, my party is technically CN, but most characters are evil. I therefore plan on wiping out hommlet, nulb and verbobonc after completing all the quests such as war of the golden skull, that quarry quest etc. I used to wipe out hommlet and nulb as an NE-aligned party in pre-Co8 days, and it really helped boost my XP enormously, even with an 8-member party. For some strange reason, the only person left able to communicate/perform transactions was Mother Screng?Cannonesss Ydey. I presume that error has been fixed, since.
   
   StrontiumDog, Today at 4:46 AMEditDeleteReport
   #457+ QuoteReply
   

Oh, and whatever happened to the Desperate Housewives quest? Is there a way to reintroduce it, like with the brothel in TOEE? Thanks!

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   StrontiumDogEstablished Member
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   Oh, and what happened to that marvellous Desperate Housewives quest? Can it be brought back like with that brothel add-on?

 

Either Co8 or Temple+ have added many more challenging random wilderness encounters which become available based on your party XP level. So there are wilderness encounters after level 10 that earn XP rewards. Depending on your level, you can sometimes get overpowered encounters, so a Druid or Ranger with a maxed out Survival skill along with Listen and Spot can help avoid serious trouble.

A small trick you can use is to not level up as soon as you can, but wait until you have gained enough XP to be one point shy of the following level up. That way you get more XP because you are still at the lower level. With Temple+, you can set it so that you can earn as much XP as you like until, with no limit before having to level up. The first method is according to normal D&D rules, while the second is not.

Calmert, as a lvl 20 NPC, would net as much XP as Zuggtmoy. If you kill him around lvl 10, that would make for a big XP reward.

 

My intention was to kill off Hommlet/Nulb/Verbobonc only after doing the war of the golden skull, quaryr quests etc. But it seems that xp gain would not be much. Shame, as, c.10 years ago, I would get massive xp gains from killing Terjon and Jaroo, for example. Well, maybe killing Iuz and St Cuthbert in the temple and in deities and demigods(?) will yield lots of xp?!

Oh, one other question:- I was under the impression, that, at level-up, one could change the sorceror's spells, but it seems I am wholly unable to change my level 1 color spray spell for something more fitting a higher-level sorceror. I am only able, it seems, to change the 0-level cantrips/spells at level-up. I vaguely heard of someone changing the protos files to make alterations of some sort, but don't know how to do that or where the protos files even are. Any suggestions welcome!

 

For classes that cast spells as Sorcerers do (Bards, Favored Souls), you can replace some spells, but only at certain levels. This is implemented in ToEE. For sure with Temple+, but probably also with Vanilla and Co8.

According to the Player's Handbook 3.5:

"Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered sorcerer
level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a sorcerer can choose to learn a
new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the sorcerer
“loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s
level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it
must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level sorcerer spell
the sorcerer can cast. For instance, upon reaching 4th-level, a
sorcerer could trade in a single 0-level spell (two spell levels below
the highest-level sorcerer spell he can cast, which is 2nd) for a
different 0-level spell. At 6th level, he could trade in a single 0-level
or 1st-level spell (since he now can cast 3rd-level sorcerer spells) for
a different spell of the same level. A sorcerer may swap only a single
spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the
spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level. "

Bards and Favored Souls are treated in a similar fashion, but it could be with a slightly different schedule.

 

Thanks, so I just have to wait until level 6.

 

With Temple plus, you can use the DM mode to spawn new encounters. Presumably if they have high enough challenge ratings you earn XP for them.

 

Want to reach max level sooner? Use Co8 and T+. Ensure that you can keep getting EXP far beyond the normal max (1 EXP short of 2 levels higher than your current). Stay at level 3 (or effective character level 3 if you have LA). Kill stuff. Purposely avoid leveling until you have all the EXP you want for leveling and crafting. You're also effectively beating the game at level 3 at this point, which I did and which was less fun than I thought.

 

I have no idea how to use the DM mode, though.

 

With temple+ there is a tab on the lower left marked D, in ToEE just use ~and push enter, in the guide/walkthru for new content there is a good list of codes. Gamefaq site has a good listing too