I'm not gonna lie, I didn't do much exploration - but I was literally so far from levelling that exploration wouldn't help that much. Maybe if I had explored and did a few more sidequests i would have been closer to levelling to level 2.

One thing I never understood is why the exp that the game says you gain is entirely different from the actual exp you do earn!

Often time the games says 1000 exp gained from a quest, but I only really got 100 at most.

Your XP is split between your party members, so 1000 can be divided by 6 (167xp ea.)

Sometimes it's best to have less party members early on, since when you get your new party members they're automatically near your player characters level.

As well, if you're playing a multiclass character, that 167 XP is divided between your two classes, so a FTR/CLC multiclass would get only 83 XP in each class.

XP and quest spoilers.. DONT READ UNLESS YOU WANT SPOILERS !!





spend all your money on a heal potion in the keep,

meet up with imeon, grab the loot from the battle, then travel to cross roads, Dont talk to monty and xzar, follow road, go south to beregost. goto the burning wizzard and drop off imeon. Goto feild post and talk to marl.. Listen to his tail, cheer him up and then buy him a drink at the end and get 900 XP. Go get imeon and Go stock up on ranged weapons at the smithy, then go back to the first map and go bear hunting, watch out for wolves though.

For an extra 2k xp, travel to high hedge map, goto the southern side, travel, go east, kill the wolf and then talk to the chicken, offer to help him. take him back to the wizzard at high hedge, be sure to kill a skeleton and take his head on the way. talk to the wizzard, tell the tail, offer to help. Save the game before you talk to him next to give him the skull.. You may need to reload if he doesnt survive..

Basicaly these 2 easy quick quests can get you a lotta XP fast. If you dont wanna share it with imeon just disband again at the highhedge, she wont go anywhere.

easy way to grab atleast a lvl, or even 3 depending on your class..its a good way to make the early game a little easier.



But remember, its dnd in a way, NPC are supose to die along the way.. I highly recomend mixing and matching many different combos along your way to the final battle. Just make sure your final party is lvl'd up.. finish with durlags tower and the island.. you should be good to go.

DONT READ UNLESS YOU WANT SPOILERS !!





Something else you can do in Candlekeep, if you don't mind a 4 point reputation loss, is once you've delivered the scroll to the mage in the inn, get yourself a ranged weapon and lots of ammo. Go next to the stairs and force-attack the mage. Immediately go up the stairs (this interrupts the mage's spellcasting). Wait long enough for the round to end. Go back down and take a shot, then immediately duck back upstairs. Rinse and repeat until he's dead. He's worth 2700 XP and drops the scroll, some cash, and a mage robe. It's cheesy, but a cool way to start off an evil character.

*Only do this after you've done all your other quests in CK and are ready to move out to the main game.