The OC - levelling

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I am about 3/4 of the way through Chapter One and I'm already at level 7. I understand the level cap in the Original Campaign is level 20. Does the levelling up slow down at some point? Or do you reach level 20 really quickly and then be stuck at that level for the rest of the game.

I know I do like levelling up and I can't wait to get my first Shadowdancer level, but this seems a little accelerated.

 

Level 16 was all I got. Where did you get all that XP?

 

16? So for the whole rest of the game I might only get 9 more levels. So I might get 8 levels in Chapter One and another 8 in the next 3 chapters? I wish they had spread the XP out a bit more.

But otherwise, I am enjoying this game so far after having my expectations at rock bottom given all the criticism I've read on these boards

 

People get 17, maybe even 18. Don't know what gives. I was soloing, so I probably should have got more XP than normally. Maybe switching between henchmen and their quests can give you like two levels' worth of XP.

 

I think the XP calculations are fairly odd in this game. I think you get varying amounts of XP depending on the average level of whoever is involved in each battle. I believe if you summon a low level animal to help out, you get more XP overall but have to share that with the summoned help. So that would mean that a sorcerer who summoned a high level elemental would get less XP than a ranger who summoned a weaner badger.

 

XP also depends on your class and level. The same goblins in the begining worth 40XP but later at Rogue(9) only 4 or 5...

By the way Rogues get more XP than fighter types (Ranger, Paladin, Fighter, Barbarian). And there are milestones... A Rogue(3) or (4) are at the same difficulty level, but at level 5 there is a break and they gey much less... I guess this difficulty level calculates the feats and ability scores. It is sad that with a Rogue level 20 is normal even with henchman and summons...

 

Well, my paladin pounded hard. I remember hitting in excess of 40 dmg without critical with the right selection of spells and feats. Those two corrupted dragons at the end of the game went down in little above 10 rounds and Morag took about the same. I got level 16 luckily before the end. Perhaps they considered him too powerful to give decent XP. But I was still getting 600 for the bosses and probably the normal amount of XP for quests.

 

My paladin was lvl 15 in Luskan already, that is at the end of chapter 2. but I had done every availeble quest I could find and all the henchman subquest etc. still you will play the last two chapters the same way (checking every corner of every map) if you want to make it to lvl twenty.

 

Rogues dont get more XP than other classes.
I'm completely sure it's not this way when you're playing multiplayer, i havent come across a world where rogues get more XP.

Also, feats and skills you choose have absolutely no effect on the amount of XP given.


It should be calculated by CR (challenge) of the encounter. Simply the sum of your party character levels&HD against the enemy CR. If you've ever messed around with the DM client you must've noticed the monsters CR beside it's name. If you're in the game, CR's indicated by effortless/easy/normal/hard/impossible when you examine an NPC.

Obviously though, there are some messed up CRs for certain creatures. Some deserve higher, others lower, depending greatly on your character class as well. Rogues will fing golems/undead/constructs considerably tougher than fighters.

I'm not sure how the XP's split, once you get the message that you received whatever amount you got.

 

I made it to level 18 the one time I started out the OC with a fresh character. I used a henchman but I played as a monk so no familiars/summons.

The only other time I went throught the OC I brought over my shadowdancer from SOU and I still barely managed to reach level 20.

The scaling of XP as you level up makes it damned hard to get up to those higher levels in the OC.

 

Perhaps the order in which you do quests and location affects the amount of XP you get. But the difference coming from fluctuating CRs shouldn't really exceed one level and this by just a small amount of XP.

 

The order of the quest is very important, if you do main quest things late in the chapter you will encounter very strong enemies there which will give more xp.
I still remember the time I did the prison quest with a lvl 8 characker, only groups of five of the toughest enenmies which all cast Melfs acid arrow augh, that sucks!
And i'm really sure I was lvl 15 when I finished the arcane Brotherhood's tower

 

I remember doing side quests between doing the main quest things and reporting them.

 

I played solo with a Paladin (easier moral choices...) and I ended the game at level 16. I had the rougue as a henchman, I did many (but not all) the side quests.

 

Well, I played with a sorcerer and reached the cap somewhere at the beginning of chapter 4. I did all the side quests.

By the way, those two corrupt dragons didn't last a second against my sorc.... timestop + 2x finger of death.... CHA 33 rocks!

 

NWN uses an effective challenge rating system in determing XP. Gothmog is mostly correct, but wrong in one very important respect: through seventh level the effective level of non-fighterish classes are reduced for purposes of calculating XP.

Rogues recieve XP as though they were one level less (two levels at 4th level) till 8th level, when they recieve the same XP as would an equivalent level fighter, ranger, barbarian or paladin. Bards keep receiving a one level adjustment till they hit 14th level.

Wizards/Sorcerers and Clerics receive the greatest advantage, eventually getting a 3 level adjustment at 5ht level (yes, a 5th level wizard receives the same number of XP for a fight as a 2nd level fighter). These three classes lose their advantages slowly until they hit 8th level when they get the same XP as fighters.

While a fighter would finish Chapter One at about 6th level, a pure Wizard will finish it at 9th-10th level. A fighter type will finish the OC at about 16th level, a pure wizard will finish it at 18th-19th level.

This system can be gamed to really boost character level. The effective level advantages are cumulative, thus a Rogue 4 / Wizard 5, a 9th level character, receives the same XP for a fight as a 4th level fighter. Adding in prestige classes to "lock in" the advantages of, e.g., a Wizard 5 would allow a character to keep the effective level advantages forever. For example, my Rogue 5 / Wizard 5 / Arcane Trickster X (available from the PRC) made it to 23rd level in the OC and 30th level by the end of HotU.

Using just the core classes, a Cleric 5 / Sorcerer 5 / Bard X would generate the greatest advantage by having an effective level 7 levels below his character level. While such a combination looks weak, the fact that you are about 5 levels ahead of any pure class character evens the real power out quite nicely. Substitute Red Dragon Disciple for Bard and the character will only have a 6 level adjustment, but it will be a melee monster.

 

@Khemsa: So if I reach the level of 8 with a Rogue, it is the same if i take a Figter or another Rogue level next time, the difficulty level will be the same?

I am using an XP tactics in chapter one. Because the monsters worth more at low level, I try to finish a many quests as possibile, but wait with the reward. At the end of the great killing, I collect the money and fixed XP amounts. With a Rogue and doing all the side quests I finish the first chapter very close to the 10th level...

But if Khemsa is right there is no purpose doing this after the level of 8...