The Experience Cap of every game is different. Levels beyond 8,000,000 XP in the main campaign can't be reached. In The Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay a total of 8,950,000 XP would theoretically be possible, as the rule defining files exist for such levels, but it's also an experience cap applied at 8,000,000.
In the Enhanced Editions, if the protagonist's experience exceeds certain thresholds at the time companions first join the party, the exact threshold number of XP will be set to the under-leveled companion for the player to manually level them up instead of the auto-leveling in the classic games. The XP will only be given to the active classes, so dual-class characters can actually benefit more. The maximum threshold numbers vary among campaigns.
Baldur's Gate:
Enhanced Edition
Siege of Dragonspear (2016)
This icon indicates content in the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition campaign that's only available if Siege of Dragonspear is installed. If the Siege of Dragonspear expansion is installed, there is a bug with Imoen's script where even if she joins your party after leveling the main character, she won't get an experience boost[1].
| Symbol | Game | Experience Cap | Max XP set to joining companions | Starting XP for new characters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Baldur's Gate (1998)This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate campaign. |
Baldur's Gate | 89,000 | ||
 Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999)This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast campaign. |
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast | 161,000 | ||
 Baldur's Gate:Enhanced Edition (2012) This icon indicates content from the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition campaign. |
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition | 161,000 | 32,000 | |
 The Black Pits (2012)This icon indicates content from the Black Pits campaign in the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. |
The Black Pits | 161,000 – 600,000 (varies by class) |
||
 Baldur's Gate:Siege of Dragonspear (2016) This icon indicates content from the Siege of Dragonspear campaign of the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. |
Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear | 500,000 | 250,000 | 64,000 |
 Baldur's Gate II:Shadows of Amn (2000) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn campaign. |
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn | 2,950,000 | 89,000 | |
 Baldur's Gate II:Throne of Bhaal (2001) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal campaign. |
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal | 8,000,000 | 2,500,000 | |
 Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition – Shadows of Amn (2013)This icon indicates content from the Shadows of Amn campaign of the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition. |
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition | 8,000,000 | SoA: 1,250,000 | 89,000 |
| ToB: 2,500,000 The new NPC (spoiler warning): 2,700,000 |
2,500,000 | |||
 The Black Pits II:Gladiators of Thay (2013) This icon indicates content from the Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay campaign in the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition. |
The Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay | 8,000,000 | 500,000 |
| Level | Fighter, Barbarian | Ranger, Paladin | Monk, Cleric | Druid | Bard, Thief | Mage, Sorcerer, Shaman |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 2,000 | 2,250 | 1,500 | 2,000 | 1,250 | 2,500 |
| 3 | 4,000 | 4,500 | 3,000 | 4,000 | 2,500 | 5,000 |
| 4 | 8,000 | 9,000 | 6,000 | 7,500 | 5,000 | 10,000 |
| 5 | 16,000 | 18,000 | 13,000 | 12,500 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
| 6 | 32,000 | 36,000 | 27,500 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 40,000 |
| 7 | 64,000
|
75,000
|
55,000
|
35,000 | 40,000 | 60,000
|
| 8 | 125,000
|
150,000
|
110,000
|
60,000
|
70,000
|
90,000 |
| 9 | 250,000 | 300,000
|
225,000 | 90,000 | 110,000 | 135,000
|
| 10 | 500,000
|
600,000
|
450,000
|
125,000
|
160,000
|
250,000
|
| 11 | 750,000 | 900,000 | 675,000 | 200,000
|
220,000 | 375,000
|
| 12 | 1,000,000 | 1,200,000 | 900,000 | 300,000
|
440,000
|
750,000 |
| 13 | 1,250,000 | 1,500,000 | 1,125,000 | 750,000 | 660,000 | 1,125,000 |
| 14 | 1,500,000 | 1,800,000 | 1,350,000 | 1,500,000
|
880,000 | 1,500,000 |
| 15 | 1,750,000 | 2,100,000 | 1,575,000 | 3,000,000 | 1,100,000 | 1,875,000 |
| 16 | 2,000,000 | 2,400,000 | 1,800,000 | 3,150,000 | 1,320,000 | 2,250,000 |
| 17 | 2,250,000 | 2,700,000
|
2,025,000 | 3,300,000 | 1,540,000 | 2,625,000
|
| 18 | 2,500,000 | 3,000,000 | 2,250,000 | 3,450,000 | 1,760,000 | 3,000,000 |
| 19 | 2,750,000
|
3,300,000 | 2,475,000 | 3,600,000 | 1,980,000 | 3,375,000 |
| 20 | 3,000,000 | 3,600,000 | 2,700,000 | 3,750,000 | 2,200,000 | 3,750,000 |
| 21 | 3,250,000 | 3,900,000 | 2,925,000
|
3,900,000 | 2,420,000 | 4,125,000 |
| 22 | 3,500,000 | 4,200,000 | 3,150,000 | 4,150,000 | 2,640,000 | 4,500,000 |
| 23 | 3,750,000 | 4,500,000 | 3,375,000 | 4,400,000 | 2,860,000
|
4,875,000 |
| 24 | 4,000,000 | 4,800,000 | 3,600,000 | 4,700,000 | 3,080,000 | 5,250,000 |
| 25 | 4,250,000 | 5,100,000 | 3,825,000 | 5,000,000 | 3,300,000 | 5,625,000 |
| 26 | 4,500,000 | 5,400,000 | 4,050,000 | 5,500,000 | 3,520,000 | 6,000,000 |
| 27 | 4,750,000 | 5,700,000 | 4,275,000 | 6,000,000 | 3,740,000 | 6,375,000 |
| 28 | 5,000,000 | 6,000,000 | 4,500,000 | 6,500,000 | 3,960,000 | 6,750,000 |
| 29 | 5,250,000 | 6,300,000 | 4,725,000 | 7,000,000 | 4,180,000 | 7,125,000 |
| 30 | 5,500,000 | 6,600,000 | 4,950,000 | 7,500,000 | 4,400,000 | 7,500,000 |
| 31 | 5,750,000 | 6,900,000 | 5,175,000 | 8,000,000
|
4,620,000 | 7,875,000
|
| 32 | 6,000,000 | 7,200,000 | 5,400,000 | 4,840,000 | ||
| 33 | 6,250,000 | 7,500,000 | 5,625,000 | 5,060,000 | ||
| 34 | 6,500,000 | 7,800,000
|
5,850,000 | 5,280,000 | ||
| 35 | 6,750,000 | 6,075,000 | 5,500,000 | |||
| 36 | 7,000,000 | 6,300,000 | 5,720,000 | |||
| 37 | 7,250,000 | 6,525,000 | 5,940,000 | |||
| 38 | 7,500,000 | 6,750,000 | 6,160,000 | |||
| 39 | 7,750,000 | 6,975,000 | 6,380,000 | |||
| 40 | 8,000,000
|
8,000,000
|
8,000,000
|
- In summary, Bards and Thieves level fastest, followed by Clerics and Monks. Druids are special in that they level faster than every other class early on till level 12, but then rapidly slow down and become the slowest leveling class for some time. Ultimately Mages / Sorcerers / Shamans have the slowest progression overall, followed by Druids. The Warrior category is in the middle, with Fighters leveling remarkably faster than the other Warrior classes (Paladin, Ranger).
Baldur's Gate:
Enhanced Edition (2012)
This icon indicates content from the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition campaign. Playing without Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear installed, the level caps in The Black Pits vary by class: multi-class fighters can get 500,000 XP (this leads to Fighter 10/Thief 11 being possible), while Mage / Thieves, Cleric / Thieves and Cleric / Mages are capped at 250,000 XP; Cleric / Rangers gain up to 600,000 XP. For dual-class the XP is limited by the second class XP cap, and XP is counted cumulatively across both classes toward this cap.- Baldur's Gate:
Siege of Dragonspear (2016)
This icon indicates content from the Siege of Dragonspear campaign of the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. With Siege of Dragonspear installed, all classes are capped at 500,000 in The Black Pits. - Newly created playable characters will start with: 64,000 XP in SoD; 89,000 XP in SoA; 500,000 in BP2; and 2,500,000 in ToB.
- Because of the large gaps between level 39 and level 40 for thieves and clerics, both of these classes retain (almost) all of their endgame potential when being dual-classed to.
Experience rewards[]
Experience rewards are by default divided as equally as possible amongst the party members. Any remaining experience is granted in party order. For example, if a gibberling worth 35 XP is killed by a party of four characters, each will gain 8 XP (4 * 8 = 32, with a 3 XP remainder), with the party members in their portraits in the top three positions receiving an additional 1 XP (the remainder of 3, split equally). Thus, over the course of a full game, party members nearer the top portrait slot will accumulate noticeably more experience, though the size of experience rewards means this is more noticeable at lower levels. Note that party members already at the experience cap still consume experience in this way.
It is possible for you to miss out on an expected XP reward for a kill when the killing move does not correspond to an ally of yours. A common reason for this is when mind control magic is in play (which is one of the downsides of spells like Chaos). A less common reason is that the finishing attack has lost its owner. This can happen when your character dies before the XP is rewarded (double-kill) or when you have hit an opponent with a slow-killing effect (such as Melf's Acid Arrow) and moved to another area before they died. In some cases, traps can lose their owners, too. They will still work for you, but they will no longer reward you with XP for their kills.
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn introduced a special reward, dubbed Quest experience. It is named this way because it is only granted as a quest reward. The term quest being a loose term for an event that is not a monster kill and doesn't always update a quest journal entry. It does not mean that all quest rewards that grant experience are quest experience. The log will clearly indicate when quest experience is being rewarded, by listing each member that receives it separately and by using the term.
Quest experience grants a predetermined amount to each party member. For example, if you have 4 party members and the quest experience is 25,000 the total experience rewarded is 100,000. But for a 6 member party the total will be 150,000. Quest experience by design has no left overs. The disadvantage is that the quest always grants the same amount to a character. Doing a run with fewer party members or even solo will not give you more experience, whereas "normal" a.k.a party experience does.
Creatures - Experience Rewards[]
See the Enemies page for a table of creatures and experience rewarded.
See also[]
Modded games[]
For modded games with additional adventures or for the EET or BGT mods that enable one continuous game from the trilogy, the experience capping can be immersion breaking and consequently mods have removed or tweaked the tables to adjust them to their purpose. The most popular replacements of the original systems can be found here:
- Tweaks Anthology
- EET Tweaks (this mod works for all EE games, despite its name)