Experience Points Experience Points ( or XP for short ) are a measurement of character progress . The player character can earn experience points for killing creatures and solving quests . They are used to determine when a character should gain a new level . Different amounts of experience points are awarded for killing more dangerous creatures . For example , in " Fallout 3 " , killing a deathclaw nets 50 experience points while killing a radroach gives only 1 . Experience points can also be gained for disarming mines and traps , picking locks , hacking computers , passing speech challenges , doing sections of a quest and , in " " , completing passive challenges like killing a set amount of an enemy . The number of experience points earned for an accomplishment are not dependent on character level . " Fallout " . XP in " Fallout " is a conventional type similar to " Dungeons and Dragons " where levels are separated by a large amount of experience . For example , it takes 1 , 000 XP to reach level 2 , 3 , 000 for level 3 , 6 , 000 for level 4 , and so on . " Fallout 2 " . " Fallout 2 ' s " XP system is similar to " Fallout ' s " . The only major difference is that leveling requires more XP than in " Fallout " . " Fallout 3 " . " Fallout 3 " difficulty modifier . Changing the difficulty level will also change the experience gained from killing enemies . Playing on Very Hard instead of Normal makes a kill worth 50 % more experience , while playing on Very Easy makes it worth 50 % less . For example , a deathclaw is worth 25 XP on Very Easy , 50 XP on Normal , and 75 XP on Very Hard . The additional experience from fights on Very Hard compared to Very Easy is somewhat compensated by the enemies being much tougher . In the end , the player ' s skills and play style determine which difficulty setting allows for optimal leveling . XP caps at level 20 on all difficulties without the " Broken Steel " add - on , which increases the cap to 30 . " Fallout : New Vegas " . " Fallout : New Vegas " does not reward XP based on the level of difficulty selected , despite the manual ( PC and X360 version ) stating otherwise . This somewhat alleviates the stress encountered while playing the game simultaneously on Hardcore , as it is not necessary to play it on Very Hard . Unlike " Fallout 3 " , " Fallout : New Vegas " awards XP for kills made by followers . This increases the usefulness of followers and significantly reduces the hassle of having to compete with them for XP . " Fallout 4 " . The higher the Sole Survivor ' s Intelligence , the more experience points they earn . The Idiot Savant perk offers significant XP increases . The higher the Intelligence , the lower the chance of activating the perk . Similar to " Fallout : New Vegas " , " Fallout 4 " also awards experience points for kills made by a follower . However , the player must get in at least one hit before the follower makes the kill in order for the experience points to count . If the player is soloing , XP is awarded for enemies that kill each other within sight of the player , as though they were companions . In Survival mode , enemies that are killed by the Sole Survivor yield twice as much experience . This is the first time since " Fallout 3 " where a higher difficulty means more experience gain . " Fallout Tactics " . XP in " " are given to all party members , regardless of the number of members . The game does not feature difficulty modifiers ; however the Tough Guy game mode can provide 100 % XP bonus ( 30 % in versions prior to 1 . 27 ) .