Editing Experience point (section)

{{short description|Role-playing game unit for measuring a character's progress}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2022}}
[[File:Legend of Grimrock screenshot 01 (cropped).jpg|thumb|A character in the roleplaying video game ''[[Legend of Grimrock]]'' who has 23373 experience points: they need 71006 points to reach the next level]]
An '''experience point''' (often abbreviated as '''exp''' or '''XP''') is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop [[role-playing game]]s (RPGs) and [[role-playing video game]]s to quantify a [[player character]]'s life [[experience]] and progression through the game. Experience points are generally awarded for the completion of objectives, overcoming obstacles and opponents, and successful role-playing.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gygax|first=Gary|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/15251827|title=Role-Playing Mastery|date=1987|isbn=978-0-399-51293-3|location=New York, NY|pages=147, 172, 174|oclc=15251827|access-date=2022-01-18|archive-date=2022-01-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121073706/http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/15251827|url-status=live}}</ref>

In many RPGs, characters start as fairly weak and untrained. When a sufficient amount of experience is obtained, the character "levels up", achieving the next stage of character development. Such an event usually increases the character's [[Statistic (role-playing games)|statistics]], such as maximum [[health (gaming)|health]], [[magic (gaming)|magic]] and strength, and may permit the character to acquire new abilities or improve existing ones. Levelling up may also give the character access to more challenging areas or items.

In some role-playing games, particularly those derived from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', experience points are used to improve characters in discrete [[#Level-based progression|experience levels]]; in other games, such as ''[[GURPS]]'' and the ''[[World of Darkness]]'' games, experience points are spent on specific abilities or attributes chosen by the player.

In most games, as the difficulty of the challenge increases, the experience rewarded for overcoming it also increases. As players gain more experience points, the amount of experience needed to gain abilities typically increases. Alternatively, some games keep the number of experience points per level constant but progressively lower the experience gained for the same tasks as the character's level increases. Thus, as the [[player character]] strengthens from gaining experience, they are encouraged to accept new tasks that are commensurate with their improved abilities in order to advance.