Character progression

Character Level Progression Table[]

Character level	Non-ECL XP	ECL +1 XP	ECL +2 XP	ECL +3 XP	Class skill max ranks	Cross-class skill max ranks	Feats	Ability increases
1	0	0	0	0	4	2	1st
2	1,000	3,000	6,000	10,000	5	2
3	3,000	6,000	10,000	15,000	6	3	2nd
4	6,000	10,000	15,000	21,000	7	3		1st
5	10,000	15,000	21,000	28,000	8	4
6	15,000	21,000	28,000	36,000	9	4	3rd
7	21,000	28,000	36,000	45,000	10	5
8	28,000	36,000	45,000	55,000	11	5		2nd
9	36,000	45,000	55,000	66,000	12	6	4th
10	45,000	55,000	66,000	78,000	13	6
11	55,000	66,000	78,000	91,000	14	7
12	66,000	78,000	91,000	105,000	15	7	5th	3rd
13	78,000	91,000	105,000	120,000	16	8
14	91,000	105,000	120,000	136,000	17	8
15	105,000	120,000	136,000	153,000	18	9	6th
16	120,000	136,000	153,000	171,000	19	9		4th
17	136,000	153,000	171,000	190,000	20	10
18	153,000	171,000	190,000	210,000	21	10	7th
19	171,000	190,000	210,000	231,000	22	11
20	190,000	210,000	231,000	253,000*	23	11		5th

For example, consider a Human Cleric, an Aasimar Paladin, a Drow Wizard, and a Deep gnome Rogue. When the Human Cleric reaches 5th level, the Aasimar Paladin will be 4th level, the Drow Wizard will be 3rd level, and the Deep gnome Rogue will just be obtaining level 2, each with exactly 10,000 experience points.

* This is the maximum possible experience points that a character may have in NWN2 without the Mask of the Betrayer expansion. Even non-ECL (effective character level) characters may obtain this amount of experience points. However, the level cap of 20 still remains in place.

Computation for the Table :

Class Skill Max Ranks CAP = CharacterLevel + 3.
Cross-Class Skill Max Ranks CAP = ([CharacterLevel / 2] Rounded up) + 1
Feat gain for levels 1-20 = (CharacterLevel / 3) + 1
Feat gain for levels 20-30 = ((CharacterLevel - 20) / 2) Rounded Up
Ability point gain = CharacterLevel / 4
Required Experience = CharacterLevel * (CharacterLevel – 1) * 500
Each level requires an added CharacterLevel * 1000

Epic Character Level Progression Table[]

Character level	Non-ECL XP	ECL +1 XP	ECL +2 XP	ECL +3 XP	Class skill max ranks	Cross-class skill max ranks	Feats	Ability increases
21	210,000	231,000	253,000	276,000	24	12	8th
22	231,000	253,000	276,000	300,000	25	12
23	253,000	276,000	300,000	325,000	26	13	9th
24	276,000	300,000	325,000	351,000	27	13		6th
25	300,000	325,000	351,000	378,000	28	14	10th
26	325,000	351,000	378,000	406,000	29	14
27	351,000	378,000	406,000	435,000	30	15	11th
28	378,000	406,000	435,000	465,000	31	15		7th
29	406,000	435,000	465,000	496,000	32	16	12th
30	435,000	465,000	496,000	528,000**	33	16

** This is the maximum possible experience points that a character may have in NWN2 with the Mask of the Betrayer expansion installed. Even non-ECL characters may obtain this amount of experience points. However, the level cap of 30 still remains in place.

Epic Levels[]

Characters in Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer can reach a maximum character level of 30. Levels 21 through 30 are considered epic levels and unlock access to more powerful feats and other benefits. While prestige class maximum levels are the same as in NWN2 (3, 5 or 10, depending upon the class), characters can advance up to level 30 in any base class. If a character has multiple classes, it is their total level that determines whether they are an epic character. See the individual base class description pages for a description of the specific benefits for reaching levels 21 through 30 in each of the base classes.

The following benefits apply to all epic level characters, regardless of class level:

New feats are gained every other level instead of every third level (levels 21, 23, 25, 27, 29). These feats are in addition to the bonus feats mentioned in the base class descriptions for specific classes.
Ability score improvements continue every 4 levels (levels 24, 28).
Base Attack Bonus and Base Saves continue as normal.
Epic level characters continue to gain additional attacks per round with every 5 BAB, unlike in D&D where the base number of attacks is capped at 4.
Any spellcaster gains +1 DC to all of their spells every third epic level (23, 26, 29).

Notes on Experience Point Gain[]

XP distance — Illustration of the distance to the party which defines if it's the average level of the party is taken into account, or only the level of the active fighter

While Obsidian has stated that NPCs, summons, familiars, and animal companions do not affect earned Experience Points, this is not entirely true. Summons, familiars, and animal companions are not counted in the calculation for earned Experience. However, the party's average character level (not ECL) is used to determine earned Experience for an encounter. This has a profound impact on high ECL races as they will cause the party to earn accelerated experience points during play because they bring the party average level down.
- Example 1: A Human Wizard of 7th level is adventuring with Khelgar Ironfist (only) and encounters a Bladeling. The Bladeling has a Challenge Rating (CR) of 1. The party's average level is 7. This happens because NPCs have the same XPs as the PC, thus making Khelghar (a Dwarf Fighter) also level 7. The earned experience for this encounter is 17 points for every character in the party regardless of their condition upon earning the points (i.e., dead or alive).
- Example 2: If the same Wizard above had Neeshka instead of Khelgar Ironfist, she'd be a level 6 Rogue (because she's a Tiefling and thus has an ECL of +1). The average party level is thus 6.5 which is rounded down to 6. This results in 19 points of experience for every character in the party for the encounter.
Temporary NPCs such as the 2nd level Fighter in the Neverwinter crypts during the Temple of Tyr quest highly impact the party's average level. Thus, it's advantageous to have such party members in the group to obtain more experience points during combat.
Technically, it's not the party's average character level that impacts the experience gain, it's the average levels of party members who are relatively close to the place of fighting (more or less shooting distance). E.g., if you're soloing an encounter with your main character while the rest of your party is far away on the othe side of the map, then it's only the main character's level that matters. If your main character is a strong, heavily buffed but low-level character with ELC+2/3, you will gain way more experience if you leave all the other party members in the corner of the map and fight solo. On the contrary, in MoTB if your imported main character is a level 20+ hero while the rest of your companions are underleveled (since most of them start at level 17), you will gain way less experience if you fight alone, even if technically your party is full.
Using a companion to solo encounters for you (while your main character is drinking tea far away from the fight) will not give you any experience at all. Only the main character can get experience for "solo" fighting.

NWN1 Differences[]

NWN did not implement PnP's half ranks for cross-class skills. NWN2 continues this trend and thus they are omitted from the table above. They would normally occur at every even level (2, 4, 6, 8, ... 20).
NWN permitted the player to "carry over" all unused skill points from one level up to the next. Thus, it was possible to hoard skill points from the beginning of the game until you obtained a single rank of Rogue at level 20 and then be able to dump all of those skill points into Tumble in one fell swoop.
NWN2 permits you to "carry over" a maximum of 5 skill points at level up. If you do not spend points to lower the remaining skill points to 5 or less, the "next" button does not activate to permit you to finish leveling up.
NWN2 properly permits full-access to any skill once it's been obtained by any of the character's classes. While cross-class skill points must still be paid for non-class skills during level-up, the character may consider the skill a class skill for the purpose of determining the maximum number of skill points permitted to be purchased in the skill. The Able learner feat reduces the skill point cost to 1 making it a very valuable feat.