How is Experience handled in Dragon Age?

Question

How is it distributed to the characters?
Do dead characters get experience?
Do characters not in the current party get experience?
Does the character who actually kills the enemy get more experience?

Thanks.

Answer 1

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Experience gives a lot of info on experience in Dragon Age. Characters are given experience for their individual actions, and experience is not shared between party members.

Actions that give experience:

• Killing an enemy (only the final blow counts)
• Completing quests
• Picking a lock (if successful)
• Disarming a trap (if successful)
• Acquiring a new codex entry
• Donating to your allies

So, to answer the questions in order based on the info in the wiki page:

• Experience is distributed to individuals, not among party members, who perform one of the above tasks
• Dead characters do not gain experience because they do not perform any of the above actions; however, their level is automatically adjusted to one level below the Warden's once you return to camp if they are two or more levels below his level
• Unused party members do not gain experience; rather, their level is adjusted to be one below the Warden's under the same conditions as dead characters
• The character who actually kills the enemy is the only one who gets experience.