What decides the EXP NPC's start with in this version?

Fionordequester

I asked because I noticed something odd when doing my F/M solo. When my CHARNAME was Level 4/4, and had something like 21,563 EXP, all those I recruited got a mere 16,000 EXP; so I had essentially lost 5,563 EXP on those I recruited.

BUT, when that same CHARNAME got to Level 5/4 (which required 32,000 EXP), all the NPC's started with 32,000 EXP! So it seems like there are different "benchmarks" for how much each starts with; does anyone have any further information on that? Would said NPC's get 40,000 EXP if I leveled my CHARNAME to Level 5/5?

Thanks for your time!

Gallowglass

It's a change in BG1ee v2.0+ from how it worked in earlier versions.

As your protagonist levels up, new recruits get increased starting xp (in stages, so 16K, 32K, etc.) so that you can immediately level them up to be close to the protagonist's own level. However, there's a maximum starting xp of ... er, I forget ... 64K, I think.

(A similar system now also applies in SoD and BG2ee, but also only up to a certain limit.)

Fionordequester

So 32K EXP is the second highest amount then?

JuliusBorisov

@Fionordequester With the 2.X version, NPCs' XP in BGEE goes by these intervals, based on the charname's XP:

1K, 2K, 4K, 8K, 16K, 32K

So 32K is the highest amount.