Skip to content

Experience

Characters earn experience points (XP) by adventuring — overcoming enemies, finishing quests, disarming traps. XP is a concrete measure of improvement that translates into hit points, better attacks, and (for spellcasters) more spells once enough is banked to reach the next level.

Group experience awards

The XP earned for slaying monsters and finishing quests is shared equally between the characters in your party. Even a member who took no swings still benefits from being on the adventure. In certain cases each character (or a subset of characters) may also receive specific individual rewards.

Multi-class characters (non-humans only)

Multi-class characters choose more than one class at creation and gain levels in two or three classes for their entire careers, using the abilities of any class at any time.

  • XP is evenly divided among all classes.
  • The character gains levels in each class according to that class's XP table.
  • See the XP progression table for the per-class thresholds.

Dual-class characters (humans only)

Dual-class is a humans-only option that lets a character focus on a new career mid-career.

  • When they dual-class, they stop gaining levels in their original class and start gaining levels in a new class.
  • They cannot use any of their old class's abilities until they have gained at least one more level in their new class than in their old class.
  • After that threshold, they may freely use abilities from both classes.

Armor / weapon restrictions still apply

Multi- and dual-class characters can use the abilities of all their classes — but if they wear armor (except robes) or wield weapons that aren't allowed by one of their classes, that class's abilities are disabled until they swap gear.

The experience cap in Baldur's Gate II

Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition raises the BG:EE XP cap significantly:

  • Shadows of Amn raises the cap well above the 161,000 limit of BG:EE — enough to take most builds well past level 10.
  • Throne of Bhaal raises it even further, unlocking High Level Abilities (HLAs) for every class.

When deciding the level at which to dual-class your character, keep the cap in mind — it limits how far they can advance before the game ends.

You can become truly powerful, indeed!

— Volo

Yet there is always another with greater power than your own.

— Elminster

Source: bg2ee/original_manuals/baldurs_gate_2_ee_mastering_melee_and_magic.pdf — "Experience and Gaining Levels", "Group Experience Awards", "Experience Points for Multi- and Dual-Class Characters", "A Note on the Experience Cap".