History Main / LeakedExperience

* ''{{X-Men Legends}}'' did this, because the game would be flat-out impossible if they didn't; there are [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters enough characters]] that it would suck the fun right out if you had to level them all individually, and there are many times when a certain character is needed over others.

* ''GranadoEspada / Sword of the New World'' lets you ''control'' LeakedExperience via "Experience Cards". While completing a quest in most [=MMOs=] gives you direct EXP gain, ''GE'' instead gives you consumable items which grant experience to whichever characters you feed them to. Yes, character'''s''': this game lets you own up to 6 characters and deploy up to 3 of them in your active party. But your LazyBackup do not accrue normal-style LeakedExperience, so at that point it's your decision whether to use the Cards to catch them up, or just keep power-leveling your main party.

* Avoided in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', the only game where you control a pair of characters together. [[BlackMagicianGirl Charlotte]] and [[WhipItGood Jonathan]], in addition to sharing Life and {{Mana}} meters, level in tandem, whether both of them are there or not.

[[folder:TabletopRPG]]

* Avoided in ''{{Castlevania}}: PortraitOfRuin'', the only game where you control a pair of characters together. [[BlackMagicianGirl Charlotte]] and [[WhipItGood Jonathan]], in addition to sharing Life and {{Mana}} meters, level in tandem, whether both of them are there or not.

** The same goes for most other NipponIchi games, particularly stack-attacking in ''{{Disgaea}} 2'', which let you split the experience ten ways.

* Absolutely critical in ''BattleForWesnoth'', which even advocates it in the hint system. While surviving any combat grants XP, the lion's share of XP goes to whoever lands the killing blow, so a typical strategy is to use high-level units to bring a powerful enemy to the brink of death and then have a low-level unit finally kill it.
** Also, max level units gain little benefit from leveling up (most gain a minor health boost as opposed to new abilities), making it pretty pointless to give them killing blow XP.
** This also makes for a good way to specifically level up units with healing abilities. While [[CombatMedic having perfectly useful attacks of their own]], they tend to be a bit more fragile than more dedicated combat units of their level and more importantly lack the ability to heal ''themselves'', so it's usually wise to not expose them overmuch to potential counterattacks.

* The ''[[DotHackGUGames .hack//]]'' games also use this, as characters you don't play with for a while gain levels to close to your new level. Justified as the other characters are people playing an MMORPG, and presumably, they still play the MMO when not in your party.

* In the ''{{Pokemon}}'' series, any Pokémon sent out into battle receives a share of Exp regardless of whether they participate further. Placing a low-level Pokemon on the front line and swapping it out for a stronger one is a known strategy, although it costs the player one turn to do so.

*** To clarify the "instant level 100" - is impossible, as the highest exp you can get is 457,970. ''"This can be done by defeating a level 100 Blissey in a Trainer battle, using an internationally traded Pokémon at level 1 that is holding a Lucky Egg, with Exp. Point Power ↑↑↑, S or MAX active"'' - Depending on the group, a Lv. 1 Pokémon would to grow to either Lv. 87 (Erratic), Lv. 83 (Fast), Lv. 77 (Medium Fast), Lv. 76 (Medium Slow), Lv. 71 (Slow) or Lv. 69[[note]]No joke here[[/note]] (Fluctuating)

*** It's made further impossible by the fact that the EXP a Pokemon can receive from a single victory is capped at 100K.

*** To clarify the "instant level 100" - is impossible, as the highest exp you can get is 457,970. ''"This can be done by defeating a level 100 Blissey in a Trainer battle, using an internationally traded Pokémon at level 1 that is holding a Lucky Egg, with Exp. Point Power ↑↑↑, S or MAX active"'' - Depending on the group, a Lv. 1 Pokémon would to grow to either Lv. 87 (Erratic), Lv. 83 (Fast), Lv. 77 (Medium Fast), Lv. 76 (Medium Slow), Lv. 71 (Slow) or Lv. 69[[hottip:*:No joke here]] (Fluctuating)

* ''PhantasyStarIV'' would leak experience to all characters that have been in, but since left, the party equal to the amount of experience each in-party character received. So if one in-party character dies, not only do the in-party characters get more experience, but the out of party characters get more experience as well.[[hottip:Example:With a five character party (having met four other party members previously) finishing a battle that earns a total of 500 XP, each in-party character gets 500/5=100 XP, and all out of party characters get 100 XP as well. 100* 4=400 XP leaked, total earned real+ leaked 500+ 400=900 XP. If one character dies and instead you earn 500/4=125 XP for each living character, each out of party character will get 125 XP. 125* 4=500 XP leaked, total earned real+ leaked 500+ 500=1000 XP. So you can earn more total XP if some of the active characters are dead. No, it doesn't make sense.]] There is one point in the game were the main character, Chaz, temporarily goes through a short dungeon alone. This makes an excellent place to level up because not only does Chaz get a ton of experience from fighting alone, but each member of the rest of the party gets the same amount of XP from just standing around doing nothing at the dungeon entrance.

** In ''DragonQuestMonsters: Joker'', your active party gets full experience, and not only does your backup party gets a portion as leaked experience, but so does every monster you have in storage.

* Non-party characters in ''{{Legend of Dragoon}}'' gain experience in order to level up. What they don't get is the attack experience or spirit points needed to level up your [[ActionCommands Additions]] and [[SuperMode Dragoon levels]] respectively.

* After plowing through 11 missions as Nero in ''DevilMayCry 4'', you are given control of Dante, and with him, the exact same amount of [[TechPoints Proud Souls]] Nero managed to accumulate, allowing you to immediatly unlock a bunch of Dante's abilities. This applies to level replays as well: if one manages to get some Proud Souls, the other will recieve the same amount.

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' has a single level progression for the PlayerCharacter and every NonPlayerCompanion following them, meaning that your companions are always the same level as you, even if they stay on the ship the whole time. This leads to some bad FridgeLogic late in the game, when new characters join your crew at a near-endgame level, even though [[GameplayAndStorySegregation story-wise, they are fresh out of the basic training]] (such as Sith Inquisitor's Xalek).

* Rather oddly for the type of game it is, ''WorldOfTanks'' implements this - ten percent's worth of a battle's earned experience goes into the players "Free XP" pool, which can be used on any vehicle in the game - either to unlock said vehicle, or unlock modules. As well, a percent of the experience is given to the crew. An elited (or premium) vehicle with "accelerated crew training" turned on gives twice the amount of XP to the least competent member of the crew.