Experience and levels

• A creature is worth experience by how dangerous it is: 20, 50, 140, 350 or 800, from common game to the greatest beasts, and 2,000 for an apex creature. A hostile NPC is worth 32 at level 1 and more the higher its level (about 41 for a level-10 bandit, 65 for a level-35 dungeon guard); a town guard pays half.
• Every creature has a level, shown on your target in a colour from grey, green, blue, white, yellow, orange, red, far below you to far above you. A creature's level comes from how dangerous it is; a champion or a dungeon boss is far above its kin.
• A kill pays in full down to 5 levels below you, then less and less, down to a tenth at 20 levels below.
• A level takes 500 experience at level 1 and 20 more at each level after (1,960 at level 74). The level cap is 75.
• Kills also drop gold, more from stronger foes.
• Game animals give meat and hides, and deer, moose, zebras and rabbits their own hides and pelts, which any shop buys. A skinning knife takes more from the body.
• About one dangerous beast or brute in 150 is a champion: bigger, about three times as tough, with a title in gold over its head (Scarred Troll, Lion the Old). It is worth 800 experience and drops legendary treasure, as does a dungeon's final boss.
• Groups share. Every living member within 60 m gets the full experience, plus 5% for each other member (up to +25%). Gold is split.

What a level is worth

A level is worth what it buys: attribute points, training points for skills and power ranks, and the armour and weapons your Class lets you use as you rise. Nothing grows just because the number went up, so how you spend them decides how strong you are.

Everything you buy counts for more against creatures and hostile NPCs: a character who has trained a weapon or a school of spells and raised the attributes it uses is about three times a new character against them. A troll that crushes a new character is a fair fight for a trained one at 40 and a quick one at 75.

Against other players the same choices count for less, and the gap stays about 1.5 times at most, so a skilled newcomer can still win. Armour is the exception early on: heavy armour comes with a Class, so a new character faces one who has chosen a Class in lighter armour. See Weapons, armour and what you can use.

Levels raise your training-point budget, which buys skills at trainers. See Trainers, skills, powers and your Class.