Not anymore, i built straight from source and the XP bonus you start with doesn't decay anymore the higher your stats. dunno if the change has made it to the stable release yet.
Yes this is something I am working on (not really fully released - so both you and
quiboune are correct), I am tweaking the XP curve to both be more forgiving, but ALSO it will now reward you for starting out with low stats.
This is the new function for XP multiplier I am testing out:
For instance, if you have 1 fitness-1 intellect-1 charm, your XP multiplier would be 2, whereas if you are an "average" character (5, 5, 5), you have a normal 1x multiplier.
And yes I had to come up with a logarithmic function to fit it exactly to those data points haha
ADDITIONALLY, I am "softening" some of the XP curves needed for gaining stats. So it is a little harder at early levels, and a little bit easier at high levels.
Anyhow, we will see what the results are after people play, but in my testing it feels pretty fair, since now with the new 0.18 changes, starting as a low-stat character actually poses some significant hurdles and challenges, however now you gain a permanently increased XP bonus.
In future there will be other ways you can raise / lower the XP bonus, such as taking strengths / weaknesses.