Minor XP Curve Updates

Hey folks -
As I went through the final reviews of ACKS, a few XP curve changes have been made. The former XP progression was a hybrid mix of (a) B/X progressions, (b) Player’s Companion rule-based progressions, and (c) my math errors. In the process of fixing the math errors (most egregiously visible in Craftpriest) I took the opportunity to convert all of the B/X Progressions to Player’s Companion progressions.
It’s been suggested to me that this probably wise simply because strict compatability with the B/X progressions are likely covered by copyright. I probably ought to have made this switch earlier in the releases!
In any event, the overall changes are relatively minor for most classes, save for bards and thieves.
Thief
0
1,250
2,500
5,000
10,000
20,000
40,000
80,000
180,000
280,000
380,000
480,000
580,000
680,000
Bard
0
1,400
2,800
5,600
11,200
22,400
45,000
90,000
190,000
290,000
390,000
490,000
590,000
690,000
Cleric/Bladedancer
0
1,500
3000
6,000
12,000
24,000
50,000
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
Assassin
0
1,700
3,400
6,800
14,000
28,000
55,000
110,000
230,000
350,000
470,000
590,000
710,000
830,000
Fighter/Explorer
0
2,000
4,000
8,000
16,000
32,000
65,000
130,000
250,000
370,000
490,000
610,000
730,000
850,000
Vguard
0
2,200
4,400
8,800
17,500
35,000
70,000
140,000
270,000
400,000
530,000
660,000
790,000
Mage
0
2,500
5,000
10,000
20,000
40,000
80,000
160,000
310,000
460,000
610,000
760,000
910,000
1,060,000
Craftpriest
0
2,650
5,300
10,600
21,200
42,500
85,000
170,000
300,000
430,000
Nblade
0
2,775
5,550
11,100
22,200
45,000
90,000
180,000
330,000
480,000
630,000
Ssword
0
4,000
8,000
16,000
32,000
64,000
130,000
260,000
430,000
600,000

For those curious as to what changed:

  1. I standardized the XP curve smoothing to occur at level 7, where the cost to increase in level is rounded to the nearest 5,000. B/X used XP curve smoothing (i.e. 12,000 doubling to 25,000) but without a black-line rule as to when and how. My update to smoothing resulted in the XP requirements for fighters, assassins, and mages increasing by 10,000xp starting at level 8.
  2. Thief and thief-like classes were changed to require 100,000xp rather than 120,000xp per level after 8. There’s no apparent justification for thieves needing more to advance than, e.g., clerics so I went with what my Player’s Companion math suggested was correct. Bards and Thieves get to max level more quickly as a result.
  3. For Nightblades I inadvertently had forgotten to apply the flattening of the level cost and as such they were suffering from a wrongly painful XP curve. This has been fixed.
  4. Craftpriests were just done broke. This has been fixed.

So, when you say these issues have been fixed, that means that the final rulebook incorporates these changes, yes?

Yes, the version we’re working with for final will have these changes. (Unless someone notices I’ve made an error in the course of fixing errors, which I’m prone to do. So, uh, let me know).