So, how do you get a lot of exp?

[Angelus BR]

5 hours into the game and everyone is still lv 1. Granted, i'm mostly exploring to get gold and itens, but monsters give very few exp. Do quests give a lot of exp?

[Clovis Sangrail]

Quests do give more, and there are a number you can do early -- Mellicamp the chicken, Marl in Beregost, and some of the quest to retrieve stolen items come to mind.

But how many are in your party? If you filled all five slots right out of the gate, you're watering down the experience.

I like to take Imoen and hit some of these early quests with just us. I don;t go get anyone else until I am level 2 or even 3, and Imoen is the same. Then I go put together my team.

But don;t wait too long, or their hit points will suck.

For more info, find the Baldur's Gate EE walkthrough at gamefaqs or look for one of wikis. And I think Beamdog Forums has a couple of discussion specifically addressing getting experience early.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Well, keep playing. There are enough XP in the game for a full party to reach the level cap.

XP are divided by number of characters in your party - so for example, for a Fighter to reach level 2 at 2,000 XP, a full party would need to get 12,000 XP.

If you say, everyone is still at level 1, better tell the XP value. Some NPC companions join at level 2 or higher, and if you meet them late, they are leveled up.

[Legion]

Farming Ankhegs is one of the fastest ways to grind exp but it's risky at low levels. Each one gives 950 exp though, which is more than almost every side quest in the game. Quests in BG1 give ♥♥♥♥♥♥ exp for the most part. You can also collect their shells for 500 gold each though they are heavy.

Note that farming for gold/exp is not necessary if you plan to clear most of the content, as there is more than enough of both to get hugely overcapped on exp and have a bottomless bank account.

[kaiyl_kariashi]

I wouldnt worry about it too much. The more people you have, the less your level matters.

Levels just means more options (usually), but more people also means more options, just in a different way.

Though it does require examine all of your available resources and learn how to use them to maximum effect.


A lot of people grossly underestimate just how powerful level 1 characters are. (going from level 1 to level 2 or getting two level ones are not the same...it's actually closer to each party member being worth about 4-5 effective levels of a single character, class depending).

[wendigo211]

While some classes scale linearly (melee classes for the most part), that isn't the case for spellcasters who experience sudden spikes in power as they gain new levels. A level 2 mage is roughly equivalent to 2 level 1 mages, but a level 3 mage by virtue of unlocking a new spell level suddenly makes huge gains in power over his level 2 comrade.

Even for Fighters, going through the Nashkel mines as a solo level 6 Fighter is far easier than running it with a full party of level 1s. Although a lot of that is due to:

• The scarcity of equipment. It's easier to equip 1 party member than 6. Particularly, it's easier to get AC to the point where the enemy can only hit you on a 20 for 1 party member than 6.
  
• No loss of efficiency for loss of HP. A level 6 Fighter has something like 80 hitpoints, until he loses 80 HP he's still effective. A party of level 1s has something like 60 hitpoints, every 10 hitpoints they lose is a dead party member that isn't contributing anymore.
  
• The stock NPCs having horrible stats. Seriously having some of the NPCs in the party (Rasaad comes to mind) is more trouble than having an empty party slot.
  
• A lot less micromanagement.

Anyway, the quickest way to gain levels is to dump your party at the start of the game and use Korax the Ghoul to kill the basilisks. That should get you to level 5 and then you can pick up your party members who will match your level. You can also farm Ankegs, kill the Sirines at the coast, kill the Flesh Golems and clear Durlag's Tower which has a ton of XP. A solo character can hit the XP cap in under 6 hours if they know where the XP is (you can get the first 100 K in about 2 hours, but then the quick sources dry up).

[Tario]

Yup, but still even with full party with 2 multiclass characters you are able to go to lvl 4/3 with all of your party members.
Thing is lvl 1 is very fragile even as a fighter, but lvl 2 or 3 is muuuuch more powerful having like trippled his hp. For instance, Jaheira starts at nearly lvl 2 and has 12 hp, but when she lvls up she gets like 20+hp which is much in comparison to 10 or 4.
high five for xzar who has 4 hp at start.

[jonnin]

farming anks II, the pro version.
1 - do the first bit of the game, gain a level or 2 naturally and gear up.
2 - go to the ank farm (N of friendly arms)
3 - do the quest for the farmer
4- use the wand on tougher fights that are worth good xp. Explore dangerous areas and if you get into trouble, boom! 4k+ xp for nothing.

[foodgeek]

You can farm: ankhegs by resting in nest, wyverns by resting in cave, winter wolves in nashkel mines outdoors area. In a tower prior to final battle, flesh golems in cave (doesn't work for me in EE) and sirens outside that cave but I didn't try that in EE. in EE in Rasaads quest, ice trolls for a while (eventually they stopped spawning) and they move slow so fall easily to fire arrows.