Skill points are referred to as Discipline Points in Dragon's Dogma. As you complete tasks, hunt monsters in the fields or survive the horrors of the night, you'll gain a set of experience that is meant for you to use to advance in any of your selected vocations. Discipline Points aren't tied to any of your selected vocations but to the character itself. It is used to purchase and upgrade skills as well as gaining access to any vocations you've unlocked.

It has been reported that Discipline Points have a direct correlation to the amount of Experience points you earn from a kill or quest. The following formula is the current speculation:

For anything higher than 1,000 in Exp gain, the Main Pawn and Arisen gain 7.5% in Discipline Points.

For 101-1,000 Exp gain, the Main Pawn and Arisen gain 15% in Discipline Points.

For anything that gives 100 or less Exp, the Main Pawn and Arisen gain 37.5% in Discipline Points.

When the Arisen is without the Main Pawn:

For anything that gives 100 or less Exp, the Arisen gains 67.5% in Discipline Points.

The easiest way to know how many Discipline Points you'll receive from an Experience gain is to multiply by 0.075 for anything over 1,000 Exp, 0.15 for anything between 101 and 1,000, and 0.375 for anything under 100. For example, if the Arisen kills a beast that gives exactly 100 Experience, the amount of Discipline Points earned will be approximately 37-38(the equation would look like this 100x0.375=37.5) and so on and so forth.

• This math is not confirmed 100%, but seems fairly close by all accounts of players who have attempted to find out the formula.

• It is also not confirmed if using items such as Veteran's Periapt also affect Discipline gain. i.e. it is unknown if the Discipline gain is based off the base amount of Experience gained, or the total amount of Experience gained after Veteran's Periapt multiplies it.
• After recent testing, it appears that items such as Pilgrim's Charm and Veteran's Periapt do affect Discipline gain. The X2 multiplier appears to be applied to DCP gain as well. i.e. the DCP gain is NOT based off the amount of EXP earned AFTER the Charm is applied, DCP gain is factored off the base EXP gain then multiplied by 2 via Puilgrim's Charm, Veteran's Periapt and the like.
• It is also completely possible that DCP is a base amount for each creature and each quest. For example, while travelling alone you will gain more experience from slaying an enemy than when travelling with a party. In these instances, it has not been thoroughly tested if you gain higher DCP with the higher EXP.
• Testing: Soloing wolves for testing gives me 98 xp and 32 DCP. Soloing normal goblins is 127 xp and 36 DCP. Soloing hobgoblin leaders is 1074 xp and 72 DCP. Soloing an unarmored cyclops is 7813 xp and 141 DCP. This was on a lvl 43 warrior which spent 11 lvls as a strider and the rest as an assassin just switching vocations in between lvls for the augments. I have more numbers that I am working on.
• It appears that DCP gain may be 'capped' at approximately 1,000 DCP for any one experience point gain.
• SPOILER: In Post Game, when you run from the Duke's Demesne, you can go to the wall adjacent to the church and climb up. If you have multiple Sorcerers in your party with the ability to cast AoE type spells (such as High Bolide or High Maelstrom) you can quickly gain DCP from killing the guards in this manner (28Dcp + 82xp/guard). Further, you can prop something under the Right Stick of your controller to rotate your camera angle and continuously spawn the guards and then leave the game for a while as your character(s) gain DCP and vocation ranks.(Take a Wakestone with you just in case! Spells can knock the guards up on the wall and that might kill you if you are AFK.)