Character level

Definition

Character level refers to the sum of a player character's total levels, including multiclassing choices. For example, a character who is Fighter level 2, Rogue level 3, and Sorcerer level 3 is character level 8.

Gameplay Mechanics

Gameplay mechanics affected by character level are limited. Listed below are known examples:

• Proficiency bonus is +2 for character levels 1 through 4; it increases to +3 for levels 5 through 8, and +4 for levels 9 through 12.
• Cantrips which deal damage gain an additional damage die at character level 5, and another at level 10. For example,  Poison Spray starts at 1d12 damage; it increases to 2d12 at level 5, and 3d12 at level 10. There are two known exceptions to this rule:

1.  Eldritch Blast - instead of dealing more damage per beam, it shoots additional beams: 2 at level 5, and 3 at level 10.
2.  Booming Blade - receives its final upgrade at level 11, not level 10.

• Hit points increase with each additional character level, though the amount gained per level depends on the class chosen at level-up.
• The Life Domain Cleric class action  Preserve Life heals allies for an amount of hit points based on the sum of the character's cleric levels.
• Some race-specific features are based on character level. These include:
  • Innate spells learned by Drow, Duergar, Tieflings, and Githyanki at levels 1, 3, and 5.
  • Breath attacks of Dragonborn, whose damage scales similarly to cantrips, but increases at levels 6 and 11 instead.
• Experience rewarded for discovering locations is based on the the lead party member's character level. For example, when discovering Crèche Y'llek, the game grants 120 experience if the lead character is level 4, 240 experience if they are level 5, 280 experience if they are level 6 and 300 experience if they are level 7.
• Inventory held at traders is based on the highest character level of any party member who has spoken with them, until the next long rest or character level-up, upon which their Treasure Tables (and other inventory items) are reset and follow the same guidelines.
  • Example one: a trader who sells five rolls on the Healing Potion Table is effectively guaranteed to have five Potions of Healing at level 3, but might have a mix of Potions of Healing and Potions of Greater Healing at level 5.
  • Example two: The first party member to speak with a merchant who sells armour is character level 4; they may be able to purchase (or steal) Ring Mail Armour.
    • Another Party Member who is character level 5 then speaks with the same merchant, which may unlock the availability of Scale Mail until the next long rest. The level 4 character may now also purchase this armour.
    • After this, another party member levels up to 6 and speaks with the same merchant; they may be able to purchase Half Plate Armour. The level 4 and level 5 characters may now also purchase this armour (at least until the next long rest).
• Raising the Attitude score of individual party members with merchants (for more favourable pricing) becomes more expensive as the characters trading with them progress in level.
• Spell Scribing for multiclassed player characters who have levels in Wizard may afford an unexpectedly wider set of options:
  • If a party member tries to scribe a wizard spell scroll whose level is too high, a text says the wizard level is not high enough. This is not necessarily true. Instead, in order to scribe a higher-level scroll, the combined caster levels of that character's spellcasting classes must be high enough to cast that spell, yet a character only needs one level of wizard to scribe any wizard spell contained on a scroll. For example, a character with wizard 1/bard 2 has 2nd-level spell slots, and thus can scribe the 2nd-level wizard spell Detect Thoughts Detect Thoughts (although in this case they would not be able to learn 2nd level spells from either class during the level-up process).
    • When considering combined caster levels and wizard spells to scribe from scrolls, it may be helpful to bear in mind which spellcasting classes are full, half and one-third casters.