The Party System

“Adventure is safer — and richer — with a companion at thy side.”

Classic Astonia never had a real party system: if you grouped up and shared kills, you split the experience, so teaming up usually meant leveling slower. Pen Islandia flips that on its head. In a party, nobody splits anything — each member earns their full solo experience from a shared kill, plus a bonus for grouping. Playing together is always better than playing alone.

The four rules of party experience

• Full exp + 25%. When party members are close in level, everyone earns 125% of what the kill would be worth to them solo.
• Level-aware Exp Earn Rate. Your rate scales with your level compared to the party's highest-level member. Group with someone near your level and you get the full bonus; a very low-level character being “carried” by a much higher one earns a reduced share (so parties can't be used to power-level alts).
• Killing-blow bonus. Whoever lands the final hit on a monster earns the full rate plus an extra +25%. Landing the blow proves you're pulling your weight, so the level-gap penalty is waived for that kill — even a much lower-level member is paid in full (about 150%) when they do the heavy lifting.
• Be there. You only share a kill if you're within about 12 tiles of it. Parties hold up to 5 members and are local to your current area (crossing into a new area ends the party).

How to Party

Type these into the chat bar. Most sub-commands can be abbreviated (e.g. /party inv).

/party invite <name>

Invite a player who is near you in the same area. The first invite makes you the leader.

/party accept

Accept a pending invite (/party join also works).

/party decline

Turn down a pending invite.

/party leave

Leave your current party. If the leader leaves, the party disbands.

/party kick <name>

Leader only — remove a member from the party.

/party disband

Leader only — break up the whole party.

/party

Show the roster: each member's level, Exp Earn Rate, kills, and experience earned while grouped.

/p <text>

Talk on the private party chat channel.

The Exp Earn Rate

Your Exp Earn Rate is the multiplier applied to your normal solo experience for a shared kill. At its best it's 125% (full exp + the 25% grouping bonus). It only drops when you are meaningfully lower level than the strongest member of your party.

The key idea: the penalty is based on your level as a ratio of the party's top level — not a flat number of levels. That's deliberate. Being 5 levels behind at level 10 is an enormous gap; being 5 levels behind at level 100 is nothing. So the same absolute gap barely matters late-game, letting lower-level members keep pulling their weight once builds diverge in the mid-to-late game.

Why It Scales With the Game

Here is the same 5-level gap at different points in the game. Early on it's a real handicap; by the mid-game it's gone entirely.

Once character builds diverge in the mid-to-late game, modest level differences stop mattering — a level 95 pairs perfectly with a level 100, but a level 5 tagging along with a level 10 earns a fraction of the reward.

Party Demonstrations

These worked examples assume a monster whose kill would be worth the listed solo exp to each participant. Party exp = solo exp × Exp Earn Rate. The member who lands the final blow (marked ⚔) earns the full rate — even if a level gap would normally reduce it — plus an additional +25%.

1. Two friends, same level

2. A late-game trio

3. Mentor & apprentice, early game

3b. …but if the Apprentice lands the killing blow

4. The carried alt

Your solo exp for a kill already depends on how appropriate the monster is for your level — a creature far above you is worth less to begin with. The Exp Earn Rate is then applied on top of that.

The On-Screen Party Panel

While you're in a party, a live panel is drawn right on the play field (near the action bar). Each line shows a member's name, current Exp Earn Rate, kills landed, and experience earned while grouped — so you can compare contributions at a glance. Your own line is highlighted in blue, the leader is marked with a *, and the tallies update with every shared kill.

Ready to Group Up?

Create a character, grab a friend, and /party invite them. Not sure which role to play? See the Classes — the new Priest is built to keep a party alive.