House Rules - Experience Awards for Noncombat Activities

Overall, there's nothing really wrong with the XP awards as written, but I like to have some loose guidelines for XP awards for non-combat activities. Since I do not use the 1gp=1xp rule granting experience just for gathering treasure, these help give the players a sense of accomplishment and encourage participation during the game session

This is the system I used.

XP Award	Player/Character Action
25	Clever but ineffective idea or action:
100	Clever and effective idea or action:
50	Well role played encounter
150	Exceptionally role played encounter
25	Class ability used successfully Note that spells are considered under "Clever Actions, above, not as class abilities. When applying this to Turning Undead by a Cleric or Druid, the bonus applies to each creature turned, since the Cleric does not have a unique 'death blow' option like the other classes, below.
50	Class ability used to benefit a fellow PC or NPC, not self Note that spells are considered under "Clever Actions, above, not as class abilities.
100	Furthering the game. In other words, Encouraging, teaching or helping other players; avoiding rules lawyering arguments, helping the DM remember relevant rules, etc.
50	Innovative or creative use of the rules.
100	Selfless bravado, placing your character in harm's way to aid another PC or NPC.
100	Solving a puzzle, riddle or similar situation.
50	Playing within alignment guidelines as decided by the DM and players
25/HD	Defeating an opponent (in other words, delivering the death blow). This is in addition to the normal XP awarded for the monster.10 XP per hit die of the opponent defeated.
25/HD	Defeating an opponent with a spell (in other words, delivering the death blow). This is in addition to the normal XP awarded for the monster. 10 XP per hit die of the opponent defeated.
25/HD	Defeating an opponent with a Backstab (in other words, delivering the death blow). This is in addition to the normal XP awarded for the monster. 10 XP per hit die of the opponent defeated.
50	Active participation in the story. This is awarded once per session, to each PC who qualifies.
100	Completing a campaign/story goal. This is awarded to each member of the party.

House Rules - Scaling the Cleric's cure spells

Here's a breakdown of the Cleric's "cure" spells, by level he can cast them and amount of damage healed:

Level	Spell	HP Restored
2	Cure Light Wounds	1d6+1
8	Cure Serious Wounds	2d6+2
10	Cure Critical Wounds	3d6+3
12	Cureall	All but 1d6

The main question I have about this is the disparity in time between CLW and CSW compared to then acquiring CCW and CA. Six experience levels pass while the Cleric can only heal 1d6+1 per spell, but after that, you get an upgrade every 2 levels. Huh?

To me, this only limits the Cleric's choice of spells to cast, and thus, his role in the party. If we want to move beyond the party medic role and encourage the Cleric's player to experiment with some of the other spells available to him, I think we need to overhaul the cure spells. My proposal is simple, get rid of the CLW, CSW and CCW spells, and replace them with this one:

Cure Wounds*
Level: 1
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Effect: Any one living creature

This spell will either heal damage or remove paralysis.

If used to heal, it will restore ld6+ 1 points of damage, however, it will not heal any damage if used to cure paralysis.

The Cleric may cast it on himself if desired.

This spell will never increase a creature’s total hit points above the original amount.

As the Cleric becomes more powerful, the effectiveness of this spell increases; for every 3 experience levels he gains beyond 2nd level(keep in mind the cleric must be 2nd level to cast this spell initially), the cleric may add an additional 1d6+1 points of damage restored:

Level	HP Restored
2	1d6+1
5	2d6+2
8	3d6+3
11	4d6+4
14	5d6+5
17	6d6+6
20	7d6+7
23	8d6+8
26	9d6+9
29	10d6+10
32	11d6+11
35	12d6+12

*This spell may also be reversed, inflicting the listed damage on a single creature after a successful attack roll by the Cleric.

The Cureall spell remains unchanged, providing a more reliable option for high level Clerics to quickly heal large amounts of damage.

What do you think?