Financial Ruin

I'm a firm believer in sticking as close as possible to the "XP for monetary value and monster hit dice" model as possible. But, of course, that model is way more flexible than some believe. Here's an idea that might make sense in some campaigns: if you are running a heavy-intrigue game and players get the idea to ruin an NPC financially, they earn XP for the value of what the NPC lost, or some portion of that value, whether the PCs personally acquire the loot or merely route it elsewhere. Publicly embarrass a noblewoman (at the request of her rival) by dumping pig's blood on her at the ball? You earn a couple hundred XP, for half the value of the dress she wore. Reveal the secret sins of the local curate, to get him defrocked and his holdings taken away, and you earn maybe half the value of the holdings (and his eternal enmity.)

It works also for a raiding expedition. If you are hired to provoke the neighboring kingdom by looting and pillaging border villages, you get full value for treasure retrieved and half value for property destroyed.

The act has to be intentional though; no "Oops, we misfired the Fireball and set fire to the lord's mansion. Do we get XP?"