Experience

Experience is a central game mechanic in Baldur's Gate 3.

All characters start at level 1, and level up when they receive enough experience. Leveling up allows a character to take another level in a class. After reaching level 12, no further levels are gained.

Experience is gained through completing quests, succeeding at tasks, discovering new locations, and defeating enemies.

When a character gains inspiration, they earn a small amount of experience. Experience from all other sources is earned by all characters that have joined the player, whether they are in the active party or at camp.

The amount of experience obtained by defeating an enemy is determined by the enemy level and its category. "Pack" enemies are the weakest category and will provide much less experience than "Boss" enemies. For example, Nere is a level 5 "Elite" enemy, so defeating him rewards 90 experience. His minions are level 5 "Combatant" enemies, so defeating them rewards 75 experience each. Enemies of level 13 and above will provide as much experience as a level 12 enemy.

Defeating an enemy can reward no experience if the player already resolved the encounter without fighting. For example, if the player peacefully talks their way out of an encounter, they will gain the same experience as if they had killed the enemies. Killing them afterwards will not earn the player any more experience. This is to prevent the player to double up on experience.

In many occurrences during the game, the player has the possibility to side with a NPC for the purpose of succeeding a quest, then kill them afterwards. In doing so they effectively gain the experience from succeeding the quest and the experience from defeating the NPC. For example, the player can side with Nere for the purpose of succeeding Free True Soul Nere, then kill him and his minions afterwards to obtain the maximum of experience as possible (in addition of obtaining both the quest rewards and his items).

The amount of experience rewarded by a quest or a defeated enemy is not visible in the game before completing the quest or defeating the enemy. Examining an enemy doesn't provide its category either, preventing the player to determine the precise amount of experience it will reward. However, the player can approximate it using the enemy level, visible in the Examine window or while hovering the enemy.

If the player's main character has more experience than one or more party members (thanks to an Inspiration), you can remove them from the party and add them back, their experience will now be equal to the main character.

Experience Table

	Player		Defeated enemy
Level	Cumulative exp.	Exp. for next level	Pack	Combatant	Elite	Miniboss	Boss
1	0	300	3	10	15	20	30
2	300	600	5	15	25	40	75
3	900	1,800	10	20	40	50	100
4	2,700	3,800	20	40	75	100	150
5	6,500	6,500	40	75	90	150	250
6	13,000	8,000	50	90	150	230	320
7	21,000	9,000	60	110	180	280	400
8	30,000	12,000	75	140	220	350	500
9	42,000	14,000	110	200	315	500	700
10	56,000	20,000	135	250	400	640	875
11	76,000	24,000	170	320	510	800	1120
12	100,000	N/A	210	400	640	1000	1400
13+	N/A	N/A	210	400	640	1000	1400